Happy Spring To You All!
It’s finally here and the world is new again here in the North County. The rivers are raging, the flowers are poking up and the grass is turning green. Most definitely my favorite time of
year.
April brings lots more new to our world as we have just launched our new website. We certainly hope you like it. We designed it with you in mind. It's user friendly and focuses on what you want for your dog, cat or horse. All in all it should be a wonderful user experience for you, our amazing customers.
Even more exciting news for you horse lovers. We are offering an Equine Wellness Life Stress Scan! You’ve asked and we listened. Now you can find out what grains, grasses and environmental issues are causing your horse to be out of balance. We will have a protocol for any energetic imbalances with our full line of horse products. Remember the Daily Defense now has probiotics included with the wide array of herbs for daily health. Look forward to our new probiotic paste, due to be out by summer. Horses’ health relies on gut health, and probiotics is the place to start if you show, jump, barrel race, endurance race, or any other sport where your horse is stressed.
But wait... that’s not all we have new for spring. Many customers have asked for a larger size of our Glacier Peak Gold so now we are offering a 2 oz as well as the original 1 oz. This is a perfect size for multi-dog or large dog families as well as the barn. Horses can benefit from its wonderful anti-fungal properties too. Used internally for skin fungus, scratches, and so much more!
We hope you will peruse our new site to your hearts content. If you experience any issues with your account login info, please feel free to give the girls in the office a call. We are here to help. |
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As the seasons change, so do the needs of our pets. We like to use this time to remind you that it's a great time to boost your pet's immune system and get them ready for warmer weather.
A healthy immune system can create the perfect environment to ward off pesky parasites. |
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| Peak Immune is on sale in April, Click here to read more and purchase. |
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| Diesel's testimonial is a shining example of what happens when you get to the root of your pet's challenges. Thank you Bark Avenue Market and Bakery for all you do and thank you Andrea for sticking to the protocol even when it got hard. We are so excited to put Diesel in the spotlight this month. |
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Before (Above) & After (Below)
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My Husband and I adopted our boy Diesel two years ago. He is the most loyal, smart and sweetest boy you will ever meet. From the beginning he has had issues with his skin, ears and odor. We were tired of taking him to the vet and having no results. Our groomer told us about the Pet Wellness Life Stress Scan from Glacier Peak Holistics. I did some research and ended up contacting them. They referred us to Bark Ave. in Colleyville, TX, who had their scan.
The minute we walked into Bark Ave we were welcomed with opened arms. John, Tammy and their staff are amazing. Diesel's scan showed he was sensitive to many things. Tammy has helped tremendously at taking out all of Diesel's triggers. He is now a raw fed dog and on products from Glacier Peak Holistics. Many times I have wanted to give up (it wasn’t easy), but Tammy wouldn‘t let us give up. It has now been a six month journey and Diesel is healthier than ever. Thank you all so much. Diesel and his family love you! |
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Prairie Dog Pet Mercantile located in Spokane, WA believes in the importance of nutrition to dogs’ and cats’ health, behavior, and overall happiness.They employ people with special interests and expertise in health and animal behavior.Above all, we respect the special relationships people have with their pets. They consider it an honor to serve their customers, and believe that their store is one way to nurture the human-animal bond. |
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Why did you open up an Independent Pet Store? Is it something you always wanted to do?
"Prairie Dog became (part of) our lives more serendipitously than by design. Amy had a career in the photography field but became more interested in dog training after facing some serious behavioral and health challenges from Loki, a handful of a Husky-Malamute. Dan grew up with and loves animals but works as a librarian. Amy took classes with Loki at Diamonds in the Ruff in Spokane and became an instructor and then a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed. Amy eventually took a position at Prairie Dog, under its founders and then-owners Don and Cyndi Cutler, who opened it in 2009 as their “retirement” business. In 2013 they decided they wanted to really retire and offered to sell the business to us. They based their store on providing natural, holistic products to pets and their owners and respecting the connection between nutrition, environment, behavior, and health. We share these values, as well as the belief in the importance of small, independent business to a strong and healthy economy and community. The opportunity to combine all these in a well-loved business that embodies our interests and the things we believe in, was one we couldn’t pass up."
What do you feel is unique about your store?
"We’re committed to responsible sourcing of foods, ingredients, and products. We don’t carry food and treats with additives and byproducts. We look for US-based and preferably local producers and manufacturers. Prairie Dog is a business that wants to give our customers only the best. We want them to trust that whatever they get from us will make their pets happy and healthy. Our staff are all passionate about nutrition and the effect of diets and environmental factors on our pets’ behavior and well-being. They are continuously learning about our food and products and the latest developments in nutrition. We give every customer individual attention and information tailored to each animal’s unique circumstances. Our customers get a conversation and a consultation, not a sales pitch, and we think their loyalty and satisfaction demonstrate that."
What seems to be the main concerns of the pet parents that walk into your store?
"Allergies and sensitivities are a big topic of discussion with our customers. They frequently come to our store after dealing with issues they haven’t been able to resolve any other way. They look to us for food options that avoid many of the common ingredients that seem to contribute to health and behavior conditions. Nutrition is an area we deal with a lot, so we try to keep up with it, and our customers trust that we will give them the attention to work through their allergy and dietary concerns."
Do you have a success story to share about how the GPH Pet Wellness Life Stress Scan and/ or products have helped a dog or cat get back into balance?
"Our first and most inspiring success story with GPH products is our own Samoyed, Piper, who just turned 10. She had a few issues, like yeast and itchiness, that we’d dealt with for awhile. At age 8 she was also developing mobility changes in her hind legs. We had tried a few supplements with some luck, and had good results with hydrotherapy and exercise to maintain her strength and mobility. But we could see that she was struggling on hikes and even avoiding play and movement at home. Since hiking and play are some of our favorite things to do together, giving them up was hard to face for all of us. We knew that nutrition and environment were huge factors in overall health, and that herbal and nutritional supplements had the potential to address specific conditions--these beliefs are central to our business philosophy--so when we heard about GPH we were definitely receptive to the idea that we could address some of Piper’s issues this way. We sent in Piper’s samples for a Pet Wellness Life Stress Scan and set up a training with Traci on the other GPH products to learn more.
She has also had food and intestinal issues since she was a puppy. We thought Piper was getting a good diet of quality foods, since we’re particular about the ones we carry and what we feed. But when we got the results of the panel, we learned that we should try to eliminate certain foods to cut down on her triggers. By making sure she was getting as few of those as possible, we did see some improvement. When we added in Glacier Peak Gold and Peak Immune to jump start the detox process and enhance her immune system, we saw those improvements take a big step forward.
The most dramatic results were when we started her on Inflapotion and Herbal Aspirin. Even though we trust the effectiveness of herbal remedies, we have to be objective when trying new products so we can give our customers the most accurate information when it comes to their pets. We started supplementing Piper with Inflapotion for a few days and watching her for changes. Individually, we each thought we noticed her moving more easily, trotting across the yard, getting up more quickly, and starting to play with our Duck Toller, Declan. We didn’t mention it to each other because we weren’t convinced these changes would manifest so quickly in three days. Then about seven days in, we watched her leap up from a settled down, pounce playfully on one of our cats being obnoxious, and looked at each other to see if we had both seen the same thing. We had, and since we were able to see her transformation right before our eyes, we couldn’t doubt the effectiveness of GPH products on improving her quality of life, even if her renewed energy and movement can make her kind of a bossy punk with our other cats and dogs! She plays with our 2 year old retriever every day now!"
Do you have a Holistic Vet that you refer people to if needed?
"We have a few holistic vets in the area. Holistic practices aren’t yet very common here in Spokane. There are a lot of factors in choosing a vet that should be considered to finding the right care. Our general advice when picking any vet is to try to find reliable information on your own, go with lots of questions. Also understand it is a relationship you have to be comfortable with, so if it doesn’t fit, then it’s OK to look elsewhere.
Furthermore, if we don’t have personal experience with a vet, then we don’t really feel comfortable sending someone their way, even if they have a great reputation in the community. That said, we have personal experience with Rosemarie Asterino at Acupuncture Center for Pets, Sonni Gilbert at PhysioPaws, and Gordon Armstrong of Indian Trail Animal Hospital. If someone asks, we can speak from a place of knowledge about those providers. We have also heard excellent things from customers about Jonathan Wright at Lily Pad Holistic Services and Megan Bauer at Latah Creek Animal Hospital."
Do you work with any local animal charities?
"We donate to many local rescues, shelters, meals on wheels. We also donate food and equipment to the Pawsitive Dog Prison Training Program. It is an amazing cooperative effort between the Airway Heights Correctional Center, SpokAnimal, and Diamonds in the Ruff. Offender handlers train shelter dogs to make them more adoptable under the guidance of professional dog trainers Kim Imel, CPDT-KA and Carol Byrnes, CPDT-KA using force free positive training methods."
What are your plans for the future?
"We want to be the store people come visit to talk about raw food and their pets in Spokane. That means making it a more prominent segment of our merchandise. There will always be a place for our high quality kibbles but even a little raw food can make a significant difference in a pet’s life. So we’re learning as much about the benefits of a raw food diet to pets’ health and well-being as we can to share with our customers. We hope to be able to expand our freezer section to offer more fresh raw products and bring in more of the dehydrated and freeze-dried products like Honest Kitchen, Ziwi Peak, Vital Essentials and Steve’s Real Food. We think our passion and enthusiasm in the raw category will be one of the main things that sets Prairie Dog apart."
Thanks so much Prairie Dog Mercantile for all you do to help keep pets happy and healthy! If you happen to be in the Spokane area, make sure to stop into Prairie Dog Mercantile!
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Oatstraw green tops have been used for generations for its nutritional benefits. As early as the Middle Ages it was thought to boost mental health. It has also been used to support nerve function and as a ‘vulnerary’ which helps to heal tissues, and to relieve muscle spasms. It has mild sedative properties. |
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