‘Dogs are not eating like they used to’: Business aims to address diet changes
Many dog owners insist they know their pets very well but an emerging trend may have you second-guessing that relationship.
Townsville
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A love for dachshunds was what led couple Linda and Paul Welsh into the growing world of nutritional dog treats.
Today they sell everything from cow tracheas to shark cartilage and emu necks, but their journey started 12 years ago at Townsville’s Bushland Beach markets with baked dog biscuits, and has grown into ‘Ground Floor Dog Treats’, an Australia-wide online business.
“Dogs are not eating like they used to 20 years ago,” Mrs Welsh said.
“They need to have offal in their diet, they need to have bone components, and that doesn’t just mean a big bone to chew on.”
The Welshes have been dipping their toes in the city’s retail scene with a regular Saturday pop-up stand in Castletown, so when the opportunity came knocking for a short-term lease on a retail space in Townsville Shopping Centre (formerly Stocklands), they took it, opening their doors for the very first time on Monday, October 14.
Browsing shoppers have been reacting well to the collection – which includes dried chicken hearts, turkey necks, lamb liver, pig lungs, and more.
“It’s interesting, when you have an online store you have a certain type of customer who knows what they want,” Mrs Welsh said.
“Whereas when you see people face-to-face it allows you to discuss what their dogs are like, what are their health issues? What are their allergies?”
Mrs Welsh said beef and chicken are the most common allergies in dogs because of the overexposure in their modern, processed diets.
“Nutritional treats are really the best supplements for a dog’s diet,” she said.
“Our most popular product is the shark cartilage because of the benefits they get out of it, like chondroitin.”
Chondroitin can act as a joint supplement, due to the way it keeps cartilage healthy.
Ground Floor Dog Treats sources its meat from around Australia, using cuts which normally would’ve been thrown in the bin – such as chicken feet, pig lungs and shark cartilage from Australian gummy sharks legally caught for shark meat.
“This is reducing waste because normally it would’ve all ended up in landfill,” Ms Welsh said.
“It is all Australian made, and we dry our products in Queensland. Unfortunately, we can’t dry them right here in Townsville because of the humidity.”
Ground Floor Dog Treats is also sharing the retail space with Mr Welsh’s business Kingfisher Drone Services, which specialises in the sale and repair of commercial-grade drones.
“This is an opportunity to let local people know I am here (in Townsville), because most of my customers are in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth,” Mr Welsh said.
Interested shoppers can find Ground Floor Dog Treats next to Lorna Jane in Townsville Shopping Centre.
The store will remain open until January 2025.
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Originally published as ‘Dogs are not eating like they used to’: Business aims to address diet changes
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