Shaggy Dog Stories

Warning: Can cause extreme canine euphoria!

You were warned. Bring one of these packages into your home and open it up, and your dogs just might experience some of the following symptoms: dancing, bouncing, smiling, begging, mischievous glints in the eye, drooling, spontaneous tricks, and general wild hopefulness.

That’s what happened when we opened our sample package of Wild Meadow Farms Beef Bites. Old deaf Charlie, who was out in the yard at the time, scrambled up the stairs and through the dog door at the merest mention of these treats. The middle two boys tried climbing up on each other to get closer to the package. When I placed it into the fridge, Dinah very nearly climbed in there to retrieve it.

If you’re at all into dog training, you’ve probably heard the term “high value rewards.” Unless your dog can’t have beef for some reason, you will hardly find a higher value reward than this one. When the arthritic old 14-year-old dog threatens to do backflips for a piece, you know you have something special in hand. Heck, you could probably eat these yourself and ingest fewer preservatives than you would from trying one of the human jerky treats for sale next to the register at the local gas station.

Wild Meadow Farms is a Pennsylvania-based boutique producer of hand-crafted, one-ingredent, all-beef dog treats that dogs will do just about anything to get. Their motto: “1 Source. 1 Ingredient. 1 Great Dog Treat.”

Just look: Nothing but beef!

If you exhibit at dog shows around the area, you might be lucky enough to have seen them at the shows. If your dog is turning up his nose at the bait you brought with you — or if you’re running short of bait — you should drop over to the Wild Meadow Farms booth and be prepared to make your dog’s day. Even if you’re not local to PA or you don’t do conformation or performance events, you can order these simple, irresistible treats and have them delivered to your door. Just be sure to get to them before your dog knows they’ve been delivered!

These all-beef treats are prepared in small batches to ensure that you receive them at peak freshness. Once you open the package, keep it in the fridge to preserve quality. If necessary, the treats do freeze — but Wild Meadow Farms suggests ordering in small enough quantities so you’ll always have fresh treats on hand.

I was lucky to be able to ask Justin, the owner of Wild Meadow Farms, a few questions about the treats and the business. Here’s how the conversation went:

Shaggy Dog Stories: What inspired you to create Wild Meadow Farm treats?

Wild Meadow Farms: As a family, we try to eat food that is as close to the source as possible and when we looked at dog treats, we realized that there was a dearth of locally sourced treats available, so we tried to solve that issue. In the process, we also discovered that there were few treats that didn’t have a laundry list of ingredients. We tried to create a treat that was locally sourced (Lancaster, PA USA) and had the minimum number of ingredients, and didn’t fill our dog with unknown and mystery ingredients from unknown places.

Shaggy Dog Stories: Where do you get your beef from? Do you raise your own?

Wild Meadow Farms: We get all of our meat from local farms in Lancaster County, raised on small (read: less than 200 acres) family-owned and operated farms. It’s the same farm that we as a family buy our meat from. We work with the local farmers to get cattle that are raised on a grass-based diet and are fed NO grains, hormones, or antibiotics.

Shaggy Dog Stories: Do you have any helpful hints to keep the treats fresh for the maximum amount of time?

Wild Meadow Farms: We don’t make the treats until the consumer orders them so they are as fresh as possible. We also avoid chemical preservation, instead using only a drying method for preservation. As a result we vacuum-seal our treats and mail them directly to consumers for the freshest possible treat. Because of their freshness, we recommend placing the bag of treats in the refrigerator upon receipt even if it remains unopened for a few days. Many people ask us about freezing the treats. The point of the treats is to make them as fresh as possible, so we encourage people to order them as needed.

Shaggy Dog Stories: Do you keep a schedule of the dog shows and events you’re visiting so people can come to your booth?

Wild Meadow Farms: We are still working on establishing our schedule for the 2012 season. At this point we don’t have an official posting of the shows we will be at, but we are looking into it.

Shaggy Dog Stories: What about your dog(s)? Do you show or do performance events? Do you use your treats as bait in the ring?

Wild Meadow Farms: Our family dog is 15 years old and is past the point of being able to be a show dog. We just enjoy time with him at home and he loves sleeping and eating our treats.

Shaggy Dog Stories: Is there anything else you’d like folks to know?

Wild Meadow Farms: We want people to know that we are passionate about our treats and we really want to provide the best treat we can for all the dogs out there. We wanted to fill in a hole in market that we discovered. We wanted to make locally sourced, all grass-fed meat dog treats. We also make it a point to not put anything extra into the treats, so they are free of grains, salt, soy, fillers, preservatives, organ meats etc. It is just lean meat cuts. What dog wouldn’t want that?

We have had an overwhelmingly positive response and are excited about what the new year holds for Wild Meadow Farms. Although we will attend dog shows, we would really love to connect with consumers online so that we can deal directly with them and provide them with the freshest treat we can.

We wanted to start with grass-fed beef treats, but we anticipate eventually making treats from lamb, goat, and bison meat that also meet our high standards of quality.

The treat is a softer treat that is easy to tear into smaller pieces. Since our dog is older, he is missing many teeth. We wanted a treat that he could also enjoy, so our treat is made for young and old dogs alike.

It is important to us that the animal from which we get the meat leads a quality life as well. That is one of the many reasons we choose the meat that we do. The animals spend their lives on open pastures and are free to roam, not being confined in feed lots and cramped quarters.

We’ve also found our treat is great replacement for handlers, trainers, and owners who end up having to make treats week after week to ensure their dog’s happiness, health, and attention when it really matters.

We believe that our tag line “1 Source 1 Ingredient 1 Great Dog Treat” really helps sum up our thoughts and vision as succinctly as possible.

Sounds Good to You?

You know your dog wants to try these amazing treats! How about a giveaway? The lucky winnah will receive a package of Beef Bites, prepared and shipped absolutely fresh from Wild Meadow Farms. All you have to do is follow the usual Wicked Simple Rules…

Wicked Simple Rules

1. Leave a comment here on the blog and tell me what you think your dog would do for a Wild Meadow Farms treat. Responses on Facebook, while always appreciated, just don’t count.
2. Visit Wild Meadow Farms’ website. (They don’t have a Facebook page yet.)
3. If you’re on Twitter, follow Justin and crew at @wildmeadowfarms.
4. If you’re not already a fan of Shaggy Dog Stories on Facebook, come on over and show us some love.

The drawing will take place on Monday, January 9. As usual, the winnah will be drawn at random by our fancy-dancy number picker.

So… what are you waiting for? Your dog wants you to enter this giveaway!