Meet Verm-X Ambassador Dee Dee
If you love healthy recipes for dogs and Foodie Fridays (often with freshly picked herbs from the garden), then Verm-X Ambassador Dee Dee is your girl.
She's smart, energetic and affectionate, the perfect companion to Alex and James: "We love nothing better than hiking, bouldering and wild swimming with Dee Dee by our side!"
Sprollie breed information
Dee Dee is a three-year-old Sprollie. A Sprollie is a cross between an English Springer Spaniel and Collie or Border Collie.
An active breed, Sprollies are agile and full of life.
About choosing this breed for their first pet, Alex says, "We eventually settled on this mix, as a family member has a Sprollie and we liked the traits of both breeds. They would suit our active lifestyle. Turns out Dee Dee is nothing like the family dog in terms of looks! She is small and lean at around 16kg but she is ball obsessed (think that’s the collie in her!).
"Coming from working lines she loves to engage her brain and, from a few months old, we enrolled in obedience classes. She picked everything up so well. We kept going until we had reached the platinum level of the programme. Following that, we have continued to take part in UK Dog Sport which is a mix of obedience, working trials and fun agility.
"Last year we also started taking part in UK sniffer dogs as Dee Dee is fantastic with her nose and we have quickly progressed, gaining a distinction at bronze and silver level. We are just about to start training for Gold."
Dee Dee's diet
Dee Dee is a raw fed dog, an idea proposed by Australian veterinarian Ian Billinghurst in 1993 (his feeding suggestions became the BARF diet, an acronym that stands for Bones and Raw Food, or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) which has become more popular in the UK in recent years.
Rather than the traditionally cooked or dry food, this diet consists of raw meat, poultry, offal and eggs, as well as fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs, plus supplements like our own Crunchies for Dogs.
Alex says, "We have been feeding a raw diet since Dee Dee was a year old. After a lot of research, I decided that I wanted to feed her a healthy diet that I felt a dog would naturally eat, and she has just thrived.
"Her coat is always so shiny and soft and she has a lovely athletic physique. She gets so excited by her food that I decided to do a dedicated weekly Foodie Friday Instagram post showcasing her adorable face and the food that we were feeding to hopefully inspire others about the benefits of her diet.
"Whatever you choose to feed your dog, I believe there is always room for some natural and healthy additions. Around the same time as I changed Dee Dee’s diet, I started considering the products we treat our pets with and the impact they can have on health and the environment.
"I decided that if I can use natural products to support Dee Dee’s health then I would! One of my first additions to her health regime was Verm-X Crunchies to make sure that her gut has the nutrients it needs to help itself.
"That, teamed with a natural diet and regular worm count checks form part of our prevention routine. I find something so inspiring about using natural products for health and seeing Dee Dee thriving thanks to them is a lovely feeling."
You can find out more about raw feeding and Dee Dee by following her on Instagram.
