Meet “Thunder” - a 4-year-old healthy, active black Labrador Retriever living in New Hampshire
with his owner, Scott Haight. A cabinetmaker by trade and an outdoorsman by desire, Scott is single and
has no children - except, of course, Thunder.
life,
T H U N D E R
Thunder lives the ideal Lab life,
spending a lot of time with Scott,
hunting pheasant and waterfowl
in the fall and fishing in the
spring and summer. According
to Scott, Thunder is a very
successful fisherman. While
Scott does have to bait the hook
for him, Thunder quickly takes
over and watches the fishing line
and bobber intently from his
favorite rock. As soon as the
bobber goes under, Thunder
barks to alert Scott that they
have caught a fish.
Life, however, was not always
so idyllic. A frustrating set of
problems in Thunder’s early
years - in particular, his special
dietary demands - presented
daunting challenges to Scott.
In fact, Scott believes that
Wellness Dog Food is the major
reason Thunder is fit and healthy
enough to enjoy his active
outdoors life today.
Thunder has lived with Scott
since he was a puppy. When
Thunder was only 4 1/2 months
old, he ruptured the cruciate
ligament in his right rear knee
THE FINICKY GOURMET
Thunder
“I had purchased Thunder to be
a hunting dog,” Scott explains.
“This injury could not have been
worse for Thunder or more
disappointing for me.” As it
turned out, the ligament problem
was just the beginning of what
would be several years of
difficulty for Thunder and Scott.
Thunder underwent surgery to
repair the ligament and was
neutered at the same time in an
attempt to slow his growth and
allow the joint to heal properly.
The veterinarian also
recommended Scott switch
Thunder’s diet from a high
protein/high fat puppy formula
to a regular adult maintenance
food, hoping that this would also
serve to control the dog’s growth.
Scott had been feeding Thunder
a premium puppy food without
any problems, so he decided to
switch to the same brand’s adult
maintenance formula.
Surprisingly, Thunder hated the
new food. Uncharacteristically,
he refused to eat for days at a
time, only picking at his meals.
Scott tried mixing in table scraps
and canned food, but even that
didn’t help.
Over the next several years,
Scott tried virtually every brand
of premium dog food on the
market. Thunder would eat for
a few weeks but, in every
instance, he would eventually
begin to refuse food, leaving
Scott to continue his frustrating
search for a brand that would
make Thunder happy. Because
of his finicky eating habits,
Thunder lost weight. Scott
and his veterinarian became
increasingly concerned that the
dog’s lack of eating would have
long-term health consequences.
Finally, after almost two years of
searching, it appeared that Scott
