Kim Gaebelein, Canine Relations for Bil-Jac

Kim Gabeline, a representative from Bill Jack, shares tips for keeping dogs happy and healthy. She advises pet owners to take precautions when exercising their dogs in areas with poor air quality, ensure proper hydration, and choose dog food with meat or animal-based protein as the main ingredient. Gabeline also discusses the importance of monitoring a dog's weight, signs of good health, and the variety of treats and foods offered by Bill Jack. The products can be found at PetSmart, PetSupplies Plus, and online retailers. One thing that you want to make sure, whatever pet you have, that you want to make sure that your pet is both happy and healthy. And my guest who's joining me now at the RNJ Morning Program, what a fun job she has, canine relations with the company called Bill Jack, and she's here to share some tips of what makes a dog a happy and healthy pet. We have Kim Gabeline who's with me here at the RNJ Morning Program. Kim, good morning. It's Burt Barron, WRNJ Radio in New Jersey. How are you? Good morning, Burt. How are you? I'm doing great, thank you. Are you from anywhere in this area of the country, Kim, or where are you calling from this morning? You know, it's funny you should say that. I just flew through Newark on Tuesday this week, so I wasn't far away from you, I don't think. Oh, well, you got here... But I do hail from Cleveland, that's where I'm at. Oh, gotcha. Okay. Well, you got in and out before this smoke and this wildfire smoke that we're dealing with here. I don't know, the airport wasn't even open yesterday because of the conditions that we have here. So you just made it through just in time. Yeah, I did definitely see some of it. And I know we're having a little bit of it here, but not nearly as tough of a time as you guys are having. Obviously, if that's affecting people, right, that could affect your dog as well. Oh, that's true. I mean, if you're outside, you want to get out and maybe exercise with your dog, you have to take precautions for how you're breathing. I would think your pet would have to follow similar regulations. You want them to be nice and safe, of course, also. Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, maybe not as long of a walk, you might have a quick walk or a quick outside and back in at least for the next couple of days until things get a little better. Yeah, very important. And another thing, too, Kim, is hydration. You know, you see people, they go out on these hot summer days, they're going for a walk with their pets, they've got their bottle of water. And you've got to make sure that your pet has proper hydration as well. Yeah, that's a really big thing. You know, you want to make sure that you take a bottle for you. And there's so many neat things nowadays that you can take something out. You could take, you know, just a little cup that you can fold up and put in your pocket that they have for dogs, that they can have a little bowl that you can pour some of your water in there. Or, you know, there's a lot of different things that you could use to be able to kind of make sure that you're staying hydrated and you're keeping your best friends hydrated, too. Yeah, all good information. Now, when we're shopping for our pet foods, Kim, you know, when we shop for ourselves, right away we're looking at nutrition labels. I'm a big carb guy. I make sure that the carbs are minimal on anything that I buy and anything that I eat, of course. When I'm shopping for pet foods, what do people want to look for when they're looking for dog foods? And they're checking out those nutrition labels. What do they want to look for when they flip that bag or that can around and they want to see what they're looking for as far as nutrition goes for dogs? What should they be looking for? You know, one of the main things that you're really going to want to look for is a meat or animal-based protein as the number one ingredient. So we're talking about chicken, you know, beef, fish, you know, one of those as a main protein. And that's, you know, the way that the ingredients are listed. You know, pet foods are very highly regulated and so the way we have to list ingredients is by the one that's in there the most and then the second most and then the third most. So you're always going to see them in order of weight and so you're going to want to look for that meat protein because that meat protein provides the amino acids that your dog needs from their diet to be able to live healthy, build protein and, you know, have all the nutrients that they need. And I guess it goes back to whatever sort of ties to the wild that dogs and cats have. First things first, carnivores, they're all about having a meat and protein diet. So that's why that's so important when it comes to choosing pet food? Absolutely, absolutely. You know, if you think about it, you don't really see, you know, a dog attack a field of wheat or a fish field of corn, right? I mean, they do need to have some of those carbohydrates to stay healthy because it kind of gives them that, like, first burst of energy, like that beginning energy. And then as they digest that protein and that adds on to that energy and it keeps it consistent and sustained. So that's why it's important to be able to make sure that you get them the protein that they need in their diet. And, you know, and it's also, you know, really important to be able to measure your food because, you know, if you're not seeing your dog's ribs or you can't feel them, I mean, you shouldn't see them too much, but if you can't really feel them very easily and you're seeing your dog's, you know, stomach like pooch out at the bottom, you know, as opposed to you see their ribs and then their stomach is equal with it, it shouldn't look like that from the side, right? They should have a little bit of a waist when you look at them from the top down. And so if you're not seeing that, they may maybe, you know, maybe you need to be on a diet, right? Maybe watch what they're feeding, watch what you're feeding them. You might want to look for a reduced fat food, for example, or, you know, if you're feeding, are you looking at the feeding instructions on the bag? That's another really important thing that we put on the bag is we give you a starting point, right? So if you have a, you know, if you have a couch potato, for example, you know, they might not need all of the food that we recommend, you know, that we start feeding with. So you might have to do a little bit of budgeting based on your dog's typical or if you have some, you know, if you have a dog and they're really active, then they may need a little bit more food, right? To keep their weight at that same weight. That's very interesting. It's not just get the biggest bowl possible and keep it full. That's not the best way to do it, right? That's really, really important. Absolutely. Yeah. Good information. Now, my guest this morning here at the RNJ Morning Program, really good information about keeping our dogs and our pets nice and healthy. Kim Gabeline, who is with Canine Relations for Bill Jack Company is with me here. And as far as ideal weight, depending upon the breed of dog we have, Kim, that's something our veterinarian can help us out with? Absolutely. And, you know, a lot of times, you know, when we're looking for signs of health in our dogs, you know, you want to look at the different pieces and parts of them, right? So their ears, you know, being clean and clear of earwax, not smelling or having a yellow tinge. You know, if you're seeing something or smelling something, you might want to talk to your vet about that. Their nose should be, you know, generally cool and moist. Not always, but generally cool and moist. But it shouldn't have any discharge or mucus or sneezing, you know, or difficulty breathing. You know, their mouth also should be warm and moist, you know, no bumps inside, healthy looking pink gums, you know, not red gums. But if you're having some teeth issues or they're building up some tartar, that's another time to really talk to your veterinarian and see if it might be time for a teeth cleaning to, you know, make sure that they stay healthy. And obviously, we talk a lot about food and taste and those kinds of things. But, you know, your dog's appetite, their whole digestive system, right? So first of all, starting with their appetite, you know, do they have a regular appetite? Are they eating, you know, once or twice a day at least? Are they, you know, feeding, you know, are they eating about the amount that they should be eating every day? So that's really an important thing. Are they keeping that food down? Are they having some upset stomach issues because maybe they have a sensitive stomach? And so you want to pay attention to that if that's an issue, right? And you know, sometimes dogs just generally have a sensitive stomach, right? But if all of a sudden your dog has a sensitive stomach, then you definitely want to talk to your vet about that, right? Make sure that it's not something more serious than just, you know, something that popped up briefly. And then, of course, you know, I don't know about you, but we're always talking about potty habits and what does the backyard look like. So, you know, that's the best way to measure what's happening with your dog a lot of times is, you know, are you having those small firm stool in the backyard that you're picking up and tossing out? So if you are, then that's a good sign that your dog is feeling healthy as well. That's a good way to monitor things, I guess, when you put it that way. That's for sure. Now, I do a lot of work, Kim, in this part of New Jersey with Seeing Eye, some of the other shelters and other groups like that, and they all go crazy for the Bill Jack line of little dog treats. They use it when they're doing training and they use it as a little treat for their pet and whatnot. You guys also do a full line of foods also. Is that correct? Yes, yes. We have a lot of different treats, especially for training. We have Little Jacks, which are small, soft treats, and you can, you know, break them kind of in half if you want and, you know, break them up while you're feeding, and especially when you're treating for a particular kind of behavior, right? If you're trying to teach your dog to sit or to lie down or to roll over, you know, you don't want to be giving them a ton of treats, right? You want to be able to make sure that you're giving them a healthy amount of treats, not too much, but you're getting them excited and they want to be able to perform for you. That's an important thing. And then we also have a full line of foods, so we – and that really ranges, you know. Certainly, as you're thinking about a food for your dog, you want to think about what is their age? You know, how old are they? If they're under one year old, then they should be on a puppy food, and so that has a little bit more fat, a little bit more protein, right, for those growing puppies, for those growing years, laying that nutritional foundation for the rest of their life. And then, you know, from ages one to, you know, maybe five if they're over 50 pounds and they're a large dog. If they're, you know, a smaller dog, maybe until seven, that's that adult range, right, where they're going to be from one to five, one to seven, an adult. And so they're going to have a, you know, good protein, again, good protein, good fat, but not too much in that formula. And then as they get a little older, then you might want to look at a senior food. So we have all of those formulas available, depending on the size of your dog. And so, you know, some of those things adjust a little bit because it's hard to believe, but little dogs actually have a faster metabolism than larger dogs do. And so they don't quite, you know, the amount of calories that a small dog needs per pound is a little bit different than the amount of calories that a large dog needs per pound. So some of those things are all the kinds of things that we adjust for when we're making food. That's very interesting. And the people that I work with that do the dog training, Kim, they love using the treats. And you should see their eyes light up any time there's a Bill Jack food that's being donated. Yeah, because they really get excited about it because they know it's quality stuff. Exactly. Really good. So if you're interested in maybe trying some of the products out, the treats, the food, where around here, where in New Jersey can we find the Bill Jack line? Yeah, you know, the best places to find us are at PetSmart and PetSupplies Plus. You can find us also online at those retailers and as well on Chewy. So, you know, there's a variety of places. We have a great store locator on our website at BillJack.com, it's B-I-L-J-A-C.com. And we've got a store locator out there. There's a place you could sign up for our monthly newsletter if you want to get the chance to ask for some coupons, we'll give you the opportunity to do that. So we have a lot of information about, you know, what we're talking about now. You can actually go to our pet parent section and go to our blog and type in, you know, signs of a healthy dog and you can get a little bit more information about that as well. So we thought it was really important for people to know and understand their dogs better and, you know, we just think that that really enhances the relationship that you have with your dog. All good information this morning from Kim Gabeline, K-9 Relations for Bill Jack. Thank you for the time. Hopefully, when you come back to New Jersey, we'll have some better air quality for you here the next time you cut through our state here. But I thank you for the time and really great information this morning, Kim. So thank you so much again and you have a terrific day. Thank you, you too.