Thursday, September 18, 2014

Can't Win Them All

A few years ago I read a book written by Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner called In Pursuit of The Common Good: Twenty Five Years of Improving The World, One Bottle of Salad Dressing At A Time.
It told the story of how the Newman's Own brand of foods came about and their standards for their products. I was impressed by their decisions on ingredients and production requirements and especially the fact that they gave all the profits to charity.

I bought a bag of Newman's Own dog treats and was pleasantly surprised. I chose either the cheese or peanut flavored treats and they were small heart shaped biscuits that my dogs loved.
Feeling virtuous, I bought some of the Newman's Own dog food but my dogs didn't like it.  They reluctantly ate it but it was obvious they didn't much care for it. We went back to their old food brands, but continued to buy the treats. The Newman's Own peanut butter treats turned out to be one of Sebastian's very favorites, so we use them as his bedtime cookie.

A couple weeks ago Chewy sent me the September review options and I was pleased to see Newman's Own among the choices. I thought the selection was peanut butter. Great, we were almost out of Sebastian's favorites. I chose them and we looked forward to receiving our Chewy box.

When I opened the box, I was disappointed. It contained a bag of Newman's Own treats, but they were lamb and sweet potato flavor. Due to a personal hangup of mine, I've never fed my dogs lamb and never plan to. Now here was a bag of lamb treats and I was torn. Should I give them to my dogs despite my own feelings, or should I donate them to the shelter? Rob talked me into trying them.
The second disappointment came when I opened the bag. These treats are huge. Yes, they are scored, but they're so hard that I find it difficult to break them with my weak hands.
I fed one to Sebastian at bedtime. He took it, put it down, sniffed it, turned it over and sniffed it some more. He finally ate it. OK. The following night he did the same thing, but the next morning he refused his breakfast and then got sick. He seemed OK all day and ate his dinner. At bedtime I gave him another of these treats. He ate it, but the next morning was sick again. It may or may not have been the treat. He has pancreatitis and could just be having a flare up. Or maybe the treat is causing a flare up. Who knows? But I do know that I'm not giving him any more of these treats. We're going back to his peanut butter treats at bedtime. I'll toss the rest of the lamb treats.

I still like Newman's Own and will continue to buy them. I'll also continue my boycott of lamb dog food and treats. No harm done, we just learned a lesson, don't take old favorites for granted, things change.

12 comments:

Two French Bulldogs said...

That's funny because we only liked the peanut butter treats too
Snorts
Lily & Edward

Ruby said...

I didn't like those either! Ma tried givin' me one and I just poo-pooed it.
I do loves the heart shaped ones though! I don't know, maybe there is something just off with the recipe or something...
Any of those peanut butter ones left??? ☺
Kisses,
Ruby ♥

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

Ya gotta believe the dog! We love ANY treats....but PB is a favourite with us, too.

Hailey and Zaphod and their Lady said...

Sorry those treats didn't work out for you.

Marjie said...

I've yet to meet a dog who didn't love peanut butter or cheese treats. I wonder why they made those treats so big?

Anonymous said...

Give us peanut butter, give us peanut butter, give us peanut butter!

The Mad Scots
Pees, No lamb here either

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

I think we are kindred spirits both in our experiences with our dogs, and our thoughts about lamb... I don't feed or eat veal either. And as far as the big treats, they're supposed to be a *treat* not a meal, and those treats are huge! I buy puppy treats, but will look for the Paul Newman ones now, our pups do love their peanut butter!

Ruby Rose and the Big Little Angels 3 said...

I like their lemonade but I wouldn't buy Sunny Delite dog treats

bichonpawz said...

We had exactly the same experience with them that you had! They went in the garbage. I actually used a hammer to break them up!! Sure hope everyone is feeling better now!!

Molly the Airedale said...

We remember the treats being heart-shaped too and we liked them. Mom hasn't bought them in a long while.

Love ya lots♥
Mitch and Molly

SissySees said...

Scary! We're sorry Sebastian got sick and the treats were a bust. That happens here too, sometimes even with flavors we otherwise love.

Lapdog Creations said...

Like you, I try to stay away from lamb. I swore it made Tut sick or he was allergic... not sure if that's true, but since then we stay away from it.
When we pick our Chewy selections each month, we also pick the flavor. I'm very particular and with allergy prone dogs, it's most helpful.
Hope Sebastian is feeling better!