I couldn’t be more excited about the changes you will see in this month’s issue of WDJ, not least of which is the new illustration of a dog on the cover, which was based on a photograph of my nine-year-old mixed-breed dog, Otto! Nepotism may have gotten Otto the spot, but I honestly think he serves as a perfect representative of what WDJ is about: a vibrantly fit, happy, intelligent, confident “everydog.”
I shouldn’t sound critical of a dog who has been such a hard-working member of the WDJ family for so long, but I never really gave my heart to the Golden Retriever who used to appear in the Journal’s logo. I always wanted him to lose some weight, and show a little more enthusiasm for the job.
We’ve also added a little more color and a little more air to the pages, modernizing the entire look a bit. It’s time! With this exact issue, WDJis 20 years old, after all!
It’s hard for me to believe this is our 20th year. For me, time has just flown by; this has been such an exciting time to be involved with dogs. In the two decades since the first issue of WDJ was published, training dogs with positive reinforcement has gone from being a novelty to the mainstream training method of the most committed, educated dog owners and trainers. Today, there are entire generations of trainers and dog owners who have grown up training with only flat collars and classical conditioning, variable schedules of reinforcement, and other humane, effective training tools.
Canine nutrition and holistic healthcare, too, have been revolutionized during WDJ‘s time in print. There are hundreds of good dog foods to choose from today; when we started the Journal, there were fewer than 10 that met our existing selection criteria. I could go on and on – and I hope to! – for years to come. I hope you’ll come along; there is still much more to learn!
Recall Notice for Evanger’s Canned Beef Dog Food Variety
On February 3, 2017, the FDA announced that Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food had recalled five lots of its canned Hunk of Beef dog food, for a “potential contaminant,” pentobarbital. One dog has died as a result of eating the contaminated food. Evanger’s canned food appeared on WDJ‘s “approved canned dog foods” in our October 2016 issue. Evanger’s makes its own canned foods, and is blaming its meat supplier for the problem.
Evanger’s dry foods, which appear on our “approved dry dog foods” list in the February 2017 issue, are produced by a contract manufacturer and are not involved in the current recall. For breaking news on pet food recalls, see the U.S. Food & Drug Administration website.
For active coverage from Whole Dog Journal, see my blog post about the recall, and check back for weekly updates.
