The Best Advice I Can Give Any Dog Owner
- RuffStartDogTraining
- Jul 2
- 4 min read
My news feeds have been full of influencers telling me what I should and shouldn't put into my own body. Most of the time I can shrug it off as marketing.
What worries me more is seeing the same trend creeping into the dog world.
I've seen people post photos of dogs with open wounds on social media asking strangers what they should do instead of taking the dog to a vet. That's the point where online advice stops being entertaining and starts becoming genuinely dangerous.
If we were sitting in a café with a cup of coffee and you asked me for the single biggest piece of advice I could give you as a dog owner, it probably wouldn't be about training, food or flea treatments.
It would simply be this:
Dog advice online Learn to think for yourself and ask better questions.
The internet is full of conflicting dog advice.
Feed raw.
Never feed raw.
Use monthly flea treatments.
Never put chemicals on your dog.
Reward everything.
Correct unwanted behaviour.
By the time you've spent ten minutes on social media, you'll wonder if you're accidentally trying to raise a wolf instead of a Labrador.
So Dog Advice Online: Who Can You Really Trust?
The honest answer is...
Sometimes all of them.
Sometimes none of them.
The truth is that a huge amount of the information we consume about our dogs isn't just information.
It's marketing.
That doesn't automatically make it wrong. It just means it's worth asking one simple question before accepting it:
"What are they selling?"
Sometimes it's obvious.
Dog food.
Supplements.
Training packages.
Medication.
Flea treatments.
Other times it's less obvious.
Books.
Affiliate links.
Online courses.
A social media following.
Or simply a reputation that eventually becomes a business.
In a sense, I'm doing it too. I run Ruff Start Dog Training, so I'm hardly in a position to criticise people for making a living from dogs.
But I do think we owe dog owners honesty.
The Great Kibble Debate
Let's use one of the internet's favourite arguments.
"Kibble is terrible."
"The cooking process destroys everything."
"It's full of chemicals."
It usually doesn't take long before you discover the person saying this also happens to sell... raw food.
Does that make them wrong?
Not at all.
Raw feeding can work very well for many dogs.
But that doesn't automatically make kibble the villain.
Yes, kibble is cooked.
That's actually one of its advantages.
Cooking destroys harmful bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli that may be present in raw ingredients, making the food safer to store, handle and feed.
It's also true that some nutrients are reduced during manufacturing. That's why reputable manufacturers formulate their foods to recognised nutritional standards and add vitamins and minerals back into the finished product.
Then there's that scary word...
Chemicals.
I spent a large part of my career in science education—more specifically, chemistry.
One of the first things you learn is that everything is a chemical.
Vitamin C is a chemical.
Calcium is a chemical.
Water is a chemical.
The vitamins and minerals added to quality kibble are chemicals because that's what they're made of.
Could you buy poor-quality kibble?
Absolutely.
Would I buy the cheapest bag on the supermarket shelf simply because it's cheap?
Probably not.
Personally, I'd rather feed a good-quality kibble and add a sensible amount of safe fresh food where appropriate than obsess over whichever feeding trend happens to be fashionable this year.
The important thing isn't whether your dog's food comes in a bag or a freezer.
It's whether it provides balanced nutrition and suits the dog standing in front of you.
The Problem With "Natural"
Then we come to another favourite marketing word.
Natural.
It's amazing how often "natural" is used as if it's the opposite of "chemical."
It isn't.
Everything your dog's body interacts with is chemistry.
Garlic is a good example.
People often recommend garlic as a natural flea and tick treatment because it contains sulphur-containing compounds called thiosulphates, which are thought to make dogs less attractive to parasites.
The evidence that garlic provides reliable flea or tick prevention is largely anecdotal, and the scientific evidence supporting it is limited.
What we do know is that thiosulphates can damage a dog's red blood cells if enough is consumed.
I'm not saying everyone who has ever given their dog a small amount of garlic is harming their dog. I know owners who swear by it, but also check their dogs thoroughly with a flea comb every day.
My point isn't whether garlic works or doesn't work.
My point is that calling something "natural" doesn't make it automatically safe, just as calling something a "chemical" doesn't automatically make it dangerous.
Arsenic is natural.
Chocolate is natural.
Poisonous mushrooms are natural.
Nature doesn't automatically mean safe.
Synthetic doesn't automatically mean dangerous.
They're marketing words far more often than they're scientific ones.
Fear Sells
Fear is one of the most effective sales tools ever invented.
"If you don't feed this..."
"If you don't buy this..."
"If you don't use this..."
A frightened owner is far more likely to reach for their wallet than a confident one.
Good professionals should be doing the opposite.
Our job should be to explain the evidence, acknowledge where there isn't a clear answer, and help owners make informed decisions—not frighten them into buying something.
So What's the Right Answer?
I'm afraid there usually isn't one.
Every dog is different.
A young working Border Collie isn't the same as a twelve-year-old Cavalier.
A nervous rescue dog isn't the same as a confident puppy that's never had a bad experience.
The best decisions come from looking at the individual dog, considering the available evidence and using a bit of common sense.
A Confession
I suppose I should admit that I'm trying to sell you something too.
Not dog food.
Not supplements.
Not miracle flea treatments.
I'm trying to sell you the idea of thinking for yourself.
Question the kibble manufacturers.
Question the raw food companies.
Question dog trainers.
Question your vet if you don't understand something—they should welcome the conversation.
And question me.
If I can't explain why I recommend something, then you shouldn't simply take my word for it.
Because the best dog owners aren't the ones who know all the answers.
They're the ones who keep asking good questions.
If more people did that, I think there'd be a lot less noise online, a lot less fear-based marketing, and a lot more happy, healthy dogs.
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