Gordi's Engine is Starting to Rev

It's a beautiful day in Miami and I feel fabulous. Wow! I guess I was spending too much time lounging around, but now that I'm on Halo, I can't sit still!

I've even starting to get my money's worth from that tennis club membership, and how I love chasing those yellow orbs around. Now my days are craaaazy -- between Doga, tennis, and the gym (one has to get out and about before the crack of noon). I've changed my opinion of “morning” dogs … they are a blast! So to fit my new lifestyle, I've decided to have an impromptu mixer at the loft for a few of my new gal pals.

Although I started the Halo Program vainly to look even more fabulous, I never expected to feel this much better so quickly, and to make a couple of new friends, too.
 
Let me tell you, finding a new outfit and few nibbles and kibbles for my guests isn't easy. I am not keen on shopping, and it can be a bit hard for me to part with a buck (I don't get that from my father's side), but necessity breeds comfort … and with Resort 2010 just arriving at Neiman Barcus, I figured it was time to start looking at a few new frocks for the cruise and Bart's Gala. And why not make a whole shopping day out of it, too? Lucky for me, there is a PETCO just across the street from Merrick Bark Mall. But before I started out the door, I decided to do a little search online to see what sort of Halo snacks would be best to serve at my little dogtail paw-tay.

Being that Dr. Spector from Halo Pets is an authority on animal nutrition, I immediately went to her exposé on “What's really in dog food.” And let me tell you, what you thought you knew and what you really don't know will blow your mind. It's fascinating, and all of the information is right there on the label -- if you just bother to look.

Dig this: Just because a food is labeled as “gourmet,” “premium,” or even “ultra premium,” there is no guarantee that it is any of those things. These words are not even regulated by the food industry. But some words are, and the only way to know what you're putting into your body is to know the rules on word order.

The 95 percent rule says that if a label says “Chicken for Dogs,” it must be 95 percent chicken. If it says “Chicken and Liver for Dogs,” it must be a combined 95 percent of the food, with the chicken making up the greater part, since it is named first.

Wow! I would never have guessed this, but wait, there's more.

There are ways around the 95 percent rule, so that food makers can use less meat and more filler (more on that soon). The 25 percent rule only requires at least 25 percent of the named ingredient, but it has to say “dinner,” “entree,” “grill,” “platter,” or “formula.” For example, “Beef Entree Dog Food” must contain at least 25 percent of beef, but the term 'entree' tells you it is still less than 95 percent.

And then there's the 3 percent “with” rule, which can be really tricky. If the food says “Chicken Entree for Dogs with Liver,” it still has to have at least 25 percent of the chicken, because the chicken is named first, and at least 3 percent liver ... but, if the label says “Dog Entree with Chicken,” it only has to have 3 percent chicken. Nuts!

Last, but totally not least, is the “flavor” rule, which does not require any meat at all. If the label says “Beef Flavor Dog Food,” it only has to taste like beef. I hate to think of what might be used to “make” a beef taste. The rest of it? Fillers like corn and rice, which just fill our bellies with empty, nutrition-less calories that raise our blood sugar and lower our metabolism, making us fat, lackluster, and slothful.

Better for us dogs are carbohydrate energy choices like barley and high nutrition veggies like sweet potatoes, which I love, love, love, and which Halo uses abundantly … thank goodness.

I know this stuff is dull and boring, but once you get it, you really get it! Reading labels is a must for our humans too, since many of the same ridiculous labeling laws apply.

But don't worry about filling your pretty little head with these arcane rules, just print them out and take them with you when you shop. Eat smarter, be gorgeous, darling!