Life-Saving Service Dog Wins Free CANIDAE!

By Julia Williams

Where else can you win a stockpile of premium-quality pet food just by subscribing to a blog? I don’t know, but I love that the sponsor of this blog, CANIDAE Natural Pet Foods, awards one new reader every quarter with their choice of a six-month supply of CANIDAE dog food or FELIDAE cat food. I can only imagine how exciting it would be to get THAT email!  I’d probably fall off my chair…wouldn’t you?

I always enjoy getting to know the winners and finding out their unique story. Our latest lucky winner was Deborah Van Gelder, who lives in California with her canine friend Denver, a purebred Australian Shepherd. Denver is both a Service Dog and a Therapy Dog, and he and Deborah go to visit the veterans every Friday at the VA Hospital in Loma Linda, California. “Denver and I LOVE going to the VA hospital,” said Deborah. “He will pull me down a certain hallway so that he can visit his favorite patients.”

Deborah and Denver also participate in a fun reading program at local libraries called “Sit, Stay and Read,” which is very popular with both children AND adults. During the summer, they volunteer at a special Kids Kamp helping children who have been abused or neglected. Deborah is a K9 Specialist who trains Service Dogs and Therapy Dogs, and has been doing this for several years.

Since Deborah and Denver do so much for others, I was particularly pleased they won this fantastic prize. I was also happy to find out that Denver has been a “CANIDAE dog” for about three years, and that Deborah credits the food with helping to save Denver’s life!

As Deborah told me, “A while back, Denver suffered from intestinal shutdown (I almost lost him) and had to be placed on bedrest. During that time, I gave him the CANIDAE grain free pureSKY formula. That's what kept him from being sicker, and it stabilized his system. Since then he’s been doing great!”

Deborah has had Denver since he was a wee 9-week-old pup, and they’ve forged a special bond because Denver is her Service Dog and constant companion. “Denver goes with me everywhere, and people always comment about how beautiful he is,” said Deborah. “They ask me what I feed him and I tell them all about CANIDAE! I have often thought about being a spokesperson for this PAWSOME dog food!”

Deborah said that Denver has saved her life on more than one occasion. “He’s prevented me from falling down a staircase by getting right in front of me and automatically ‘bracing’ for me,” she said. “And when we were in a parking lot, a person was backing out too fast, Denver saw it before I did and he pulled me in between 2 parked cars. I was quite shaken by it and Denver stayed in his ‘brace’ task until I stopped shaking.”

Deborah was overjoyed to learn that she’d won a six month supply of premium-quality CANIDAE dog food for her best friend Denver. “Thank you so much for your generosity! The free dog food is greatly appreciated,” she said.

Congratulations Deborah, and enjoy your prize! I have no doubt that Denver will love every tasty bite of his favorite dog food.

Read more articles by Julia Williams