by Sasha Riess | 23.07.26. | Nutrition
Before we change a dog’s diet, we must first prepare its digestive system. This is not simply about changing what goes into the bowl. Instead, it is a strategic process in which prebiotics play a key role.
Bone broth, broccoli, and specially prepared “cookies” serve to prepare the dog’s digestive microbiome for the “cooking” of either raw or thermally processed food. Therefore, learning how to restore a dog’s gut microbiome is the essential first step before introducing any species-appropriate, biologically active food.
The Awakening Process Is Not Inflammation
Many owners give up at the very beginning because they become frightened by the reactions they see. Diarrhea, a sensitive stomach, and gas that may appear are often not signs that something is wrong. On the contrary, they are clear signs that the organism is waking up and adapting to new food. These processes, which may resemble inflammation, are actually symptoms of a body awakening after being fed artificial nutrition for too long.
This is where the main problem appears. Owners withdraw from the process prematurely because they believe the food does not suit the dog, when in fact the process of deep change has just begun. Fear of these initial digestive reactions remains the most common reason why people step back instead of continuing toward health. Understanding how to restore a dog’s gut microbiome allows you to navigate these temporary cellular shifts with confidence and patience.
A Protocol for a Safe Transition
That is why a gradual approach and structural support throughout the entire process are absolutely essential. I have created a special program and protocol that I will share with you on a daily basis. As we prepare our natural “bread” and daily appetizers, follow the steps that allow a dog to safely transition to a more natural diet.
Initial digestive shifts are not signs of illness, but symptoms of a toxic cellular system waking up to real nutrition.
The goal is for your dog to go through this process without unnecessary stress on the body. All details of the protocol can be followed through our live sessions, which remain saved, and can also be read in detail on the Formula portal in the category Nutrition. This structured guidance shows you exactly how to restore a dog’s gut microbiome safely and professionally. Your readiness for this awakening is the first step toward your dog’s longevity. To explore more about how freshly prepared, raw meals and natural enzymes restore internal balance, read our holistic nutrition guidelines.
At Sasha Riess, we look past commercial labels to honor the unique biological blueprint of your companion. True health requires addressing the subtle internal patterns that create lasting vitality and pureloveandharmony. Discover the customized path to your dog’s longevity: Linktree Sasha Riess
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by Sasha Riess | 19.07.26. | Nutrition
The essence of nutrition and the “cooking” of food inside the body lies in the microbiome. If there is no microbiome, there is no real processing of food. Without healthy microorganisms in the intestines, there is nothing the dog’s body can truly absorb from what we give it. Unfortunately, when it comes to dog nutrition based on artificial food, the microbiome almost does not exist. Therefore, understanding why artificial food ruins dog immunity helps you protect your pet from the hidden long-term dangers of processed commercial diets.
The Problem of “Powder” and Ready-Made Solutions
Why is artificial food problematic? Because everything in it is reduced to powder. Calcium is powder, vitamins are powder, proteins are powder. Everything is already “available” and processed. It is no longer a biological unit from which the body must extract nutrients on its own.
Nature is based on the second law of thermodynamics: minimal energy expenditure for maximum result. If you give the organism everything on a plate in the form of powder, it loses the need to maintain the microbiome. The organism will not spend energy on something it does not “need” to digest such food, and that is where the fatal mistake occurs. This metabolic shutdown explains exactly why artificial food ruins dog immunity by making the digestive tract completely redundant.
The Microbiome: The Home of Immunity and Defense Against Disease
Food that we prepare ourselves stimulates the formation of the microbiome, but it does not serve digestion alone. The dog’s immune system lives in the microbiome.
When a dog reaches older age and its body is attacked by malignant cells or serious diseases, it has nothing to defend itself with if its microbiome has been destroyed by decades of artificial feeding. This biological depletion is the primary reason why artificial food ruins dog immunity over a lifespan, leaving aging dogs vulnerable to chronic illness.
A living, active, and strong canine immune system is built exclusively through real, whole food.`
Food That Builds or Food That Destroys
The microbiome and immunity are built through food. In the same way, they are destroyed through food.
Feeding dogs artificial products leaves the organism without its natural army. For your dog to have the strength to cope with the challenges of old age, it must have a living, active, and strong microbiome that is built exclusively through real, biologically valuable food. To explore more about how freshly prepared, raw meals and natural enzymes restore internal balance, read our holistic nutrition guidelines.
See you next time.
At Sasha Riess, we look past commercial labels to honor the unique biological blueprint of your companion. True health requires addressing the subtle internal patterns that create lasting vitality and pureloveandharmony. Discover the customized path to your dog’s longevity:Linktree Sasha Riess
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by Sasha Riess | 16.07.26. | Nutrition
When we talk about dog behavior, we almost always start from the assumption that behavior is the cause, not the consequence. A dog barks because it is disobedient. A dog pulls because it is not trained. A dog reacts because it is “like that.” Then, we look for solutions in correction, discipline, techniques, and methods.
But rarely does anyone ask the question that changes the direction of the entire story: Does behavior shape the body, or does the body shape behavior? In other words, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Does a dog react because it learned to react, or does it react because its biochemistry cannot function differently? Exploring how dog nutrition affects behavior changes this entire paradigm, proving that biological input dictates outward actions.
Biochemistry Before Psychology: Understanding How Dog Nutrition Affects Behavior
This is where what I call nutritional behaviorism begins. It is the idea that a dog’s behavior cannot be understood without understanding its nutrition, mineral balance, energetic capacity, and nervous system. A dog does not react only psychologically; instead, it reacts biochemically.
At the center of this biochemical space lies the relationship between sodium ($\text{Na}$) and potassium ($\text{K}$). These are two minerals that most owners associate with basic hydration, but rarely with the acute perception of reality. Sodium and potassium regulate the electrical charge of the cell. They determine how a nerve impulse is created, how it travels, and how it ends. Consequently, they determine how a dog experiences the world around it.
Perception of Reality Through the Sodium and Potassium Ratio
When their relationship is stable, the canine nervous system has clarity. The dog sees a stimulus, processes it, and reacts proportionally. It maintains the internal capacity to learn, to calm down, and to receive information without becoming overwhelmed. But when this relationship moves out of balance, perception changes entirely:
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Low Sodium (Na): Often connected with adrenal fatigue and chronic stress, it creates the picture of a dog that lacks inner fuel to face the world. The dog appears insecure, withdrawn, and anxious. It is not that the dog does not want interaction, but that it lacks the biochemical platform for it.
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High Potassium (K) Relative to Sodium: Increases reactivity, forcing the nervous system into a state of hypervigilance. Stimuli become louder than they really are. The dog reacts faster, more impulsively, and sometimes more aggressively.
This is not disobedience. It is an overstimulated nervous system. In both cases, we observe behavior, but the dog lives inside a mineral relationship. This direct correlation demonstrates how dog nutrition affects behavior before any psychological training even begins.
The Training Paradox: Why Commands Do Not Work Without Minerals
This is where nutritional behaviorism gains its deepest meaning because food shapes not only the body, but perception. Food influences the adrenal glands that regulate sodium. Food influences cellular energy that determines potassium balance. Furthermore, food influences the stress response, recovery, and overall nervous system stability.
A dog without a stable sodium and potassium relationship does not see the world the same way as a dog that has one. One sees a threat where there is none, while another does not see a signal where one exists. One reacts before processing, while another withdraws before trying.
This is where we reach the paradox of the modern dog world. We take the dog to a trainer, and we use methods, corrections, and punishments. We demand obedience from a nervous system that lacks the biochemical capacity for stability. It is like asking a person with severe fatigue to be spontaneous, social, and emotionally open. Nutritional behaviorism therefore establishes a different order:
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First stability, then behavior.
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First minerals, then commands.
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First perception, then correction.
The ideal diet is not created from a formula, but from a dedicated relationship between owner and dog.
Why the Owner Holds the Key to the Ideal Diet
The key to this process is not held by the pet food industry, the trainer, or the veterinarian. It is held entirely by the owner because only the owner decides what enters the bowl. Only the owner can observe how food affects energy, sleep, reactions, and focus. Only the owner can connect daily meals directly with behavior.
The ideal diet is not created from a generic formula, but from a relationship. When the owner understands how sodium and potassium shape perception, how minerals shape the nervous system, and how food shapes behavior, the search for quick solutions ends and the building of stability begins.
Behavior and biochemistry feed one another, but the first move always comes from the bowl. A dog behaves only as far as its nervous system can support, and the nervous system can support only what it receives through mineral balance. That is why only the owner can turn food into a tool of harmony, not just satiety. To explore more about how freshly prepared, raw meals and natural enzymes restore internal balance, read our holistic nutrition guidelines.
Until next time.
At Sasha Riess, we look past commercial labels to honor the unique biological blueprint of your companion. True health requires addressing the subtle internal patterns that create lasting vitality and pureloveandharmony. Discover the customized path to your dog’s longevity: Linktree Sasha Riess
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by Sasha Riess | 14.07.26. | Nutrition
I thought it was time to move on to recipes. To reach the practical part, cooking, concrete combinations, and nutritional formulas. But it is not happening—not yet. This delay is not because I do not know the recipes, but because an obstacle appeared that I did not expect on this massive scale.
After my previous column and all the conversations I opened about kibble and industrial food, I received an avalanche of messages and comments. People write to me saying they “no longer give kibble” and that they now buy cooked or raw food. In those sentences, everything becomes visible: a person believes they have changed their dog’s life simply because they changed the commercial product. However, the point is not changing the product. The point is changing the relationship toward responsibility. Therefore, understanding why homemade meals beat store-bought food is essential, as true health requires personal involvement rather than buying a new commercial label.
The Trap of the “Easier Path”: From Kibble to “Fresh” Labels
Over the past year, more products have appeared than ever before. The dog food market is literally exploding. Whenever someone begins to speak the truth about kibble, the market immediately offers a new version of the same old story. It is no longer just “a bag of kibble.” Now it is labeled as “fresh,” “cooked,” “raw,” “human grade,” “chef made,” or “farm to bowl.”
Once again, owners face a label, advertising, and the act of buying instead of practicing genuine responsibility. People feel better because they believe they have done something big. In reality, they have simply moved from one manufacturing industry to another.
The problem is not only what the dog eats. The problem is who controls the path of that food. When you buy commercial cooked or raw meals, you buy food that has passed through mass production, chemical packaging, cold chains, storage, transport, and sales. One single interruption in that chain, one mistake, or one faulty batch, and the consequences become enormous. Industry operates on an industrial scale, and so do its errors.
The Risk of a Long Supply Chain: Why Industrial “Cooked” Food Can Be Dangerous
This systemic vulnerability is why massive lawsuits are being conducted worldwide against dog food manufacturers. When something goes wrong, it goes wrong collectively. These are not isolated problems; they are tragedies that affect waves of owners at once. Only then do you realize how powerless the phrase “freshly cooked” on a plastic label is against the reality of a long logistical chain.
People say, “But it is cooked, it cannot be dangerous.” It can—very much so. Cooked food spoils, becomes contaminated, and can be stored improperly. It can lose its cold chain or sit at the wrong temperature. It can look perfect, smell good, and still be lethal. All it takes is a single point in the logistical chain to fail for harmful bacteria to develop. These pathogens gradually destroy the microbiome, multiply excessively, and create chronic problems from which there is no return. This fragile delivery chain shows why homemade meals beat store-bought food when it comes to basic biological safety.
Every single stop in a massive commercial supply chain introduces a potential risk of contamination or failure for store-bought dog food
Why I Will Never Have My Own Dog Food Brand
No one can do better for your companion than you. No brand, no commercial “chef,” and no marketing company can assume responsibility better than an owner.
What surprised me most was how many companies called me to advertise food, promote brands, or become the face of someone else’s formula. Many invited me to help create recipes to build the “best cooked food on the market.” Some even enrolled in my school with the sole goal of launching their own dog food businesses because the market appears to be a perfect financial opportunity.
However, after a single serious meeting, people realize the heavy reality. They understand that it is an enormous risk. Regardless of the financial model or potential profit, the emotional risk is not worth the investment. When you make food for dogs, you literally hold someone’s life in your hands. If you make a mistake, the consequence is a funeral.
I will not create a food brand, nor will I promote anyone’s commercial food. I refuse to participate in an industry where one oversight can kill someone else’s dog. My mission is not to profit from another person’s concern; my mission is to awaken people.
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A Vision of a World Without a 500 Billion Dollar Empire
The dog food industry is a global empire worth over 500 billion dollars. Imagine that money remaining in people’s pockets instead. Imagine owners having knowledge, security, control, healthier dogs, fewer veterinary visits, and less suffering.
A dog was not given to us so we could feed consumerism and the greed of the world. A dog was given to us so that through it we might learn what real care means. Next time, and only next time, I will speak about recipes. I will explain how to cook for a dog properly and professionally, how to balance meals, and how to accomplish a stable nutritional routine. But first, we must all admit one thing: there is no perfect store-bought food. There is only perfectly accepted responsibility. To explore more about how sourcing fresh, living ingredients at home rebuilds your dog’s vital systems from the inside out, read our holistic nutrition guidelines.
See you next time.
At Sasha Riess, we look past commercial labels to honor the unique biological blueprint of your companion. True health requires addressing the subtle internal patterns that create lasting vitality and pureloveandharmony. Discover the customized path to your dog’s longevity:Linktree Sasha Riess
by Sasha Riess | 13.07.26. | Nutrition
When the question arises whether a dog can eat cooked organ meat and rice, the answer is clear: not in that way. Within the Pure Love and Harmony Wellness formula, which we have been developing for years, there is no place for wheat, corn, or even cooked rice. The reason is simple.
Carbohydrates eventually break down into glucose molecules, which can create serious metabolic strain and contribute to chronic allergic reactions. Therefore, understanding why fresh organ meat is healthy for dogs—and why cooked grains fall short—is foundational to reversing chronic inflammation.
The Myth of Cooked Rice
Rice can be part of a dog’s diet, but not in its cooked form. A dog can digest plant proteins only when they are fermented. Through fermentation, rice, beans, or soy can be transformed into proteins and cheese-like substitutes that may form up to fifty percent of the meal.
Without that specific biochemical process, cooked rice is simply a source of sugar that burdens the dog’s organism. This glycemic overload illustrates why starch-heavy commercial foods cause issues, and why fresh organ meat is healthy for dogs because it supplies ancestral nutrients without the glucose spike.
Organ Meat Versus Steak: What Is “Styrofoam” and What Is Food
Many owners make the mistake of thinking that a clean filet or steak is the highest quality part of meat. The truth is very different. Compared to liver, heart, or kidneys, a regular beef steak is like “styrofoam”. It contains almost nothing that a dog truly needs.
Organ meats are nutritionally superior because they are packed with essential minerals and vitamins that pure muscle meat does not provide. In nature, animals eat the organs first, not the muscles, because instinctively they know where the real nutritional power lies. Knowing why fresh organ meat is healthy for dogs reshapes your raw feeding strategy, guiding you to prioritize systemic vitality over human aesthetic preferences.
Finely chopped organ meat like liver and kidneys provides the concentrated, bioavailable minerals that pure muscle meats lack.
Prioritizing Mineral Power Over Visual Appeal
If you want your dog to receive the highest nutritional value, focus on the bioavailable minerals found in internal organs rather than on the visual appeal of clean muscle meat. When you match cellular needs with natural biochemistry, the body achieves homeostasis.
To explore more about how freshly prepared, raw meals and natural enzymes restore internal balance, read our holistic nutrition guidelines.
At Sasha Riess, we look past commercial labels to honor the unique biological blueprint of your companion. True health requires addressing the subtle internal patterns that create lasting vitality and pureloveandharmony. Discover the customized path to your dog’s longevity: Linktree Sasha Riess
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by Sasha Riess | 10.07.26. | Nutrition
It is time to question what truly lies inside the shiny packages we buy for our dogs. My message is clear: discard canned meat. Although it seems practical, canned dog food is often a major unknown that directly affects your dog’s health and the body’s acidity levels.
Therefore, discovering how canned dog food harms dogs helps you protect their digestive environment from hidden industrial hazards.
What Is Actually Inside the Can?
When you buy industrially processed food, you rarely know what is truly inside. These cans are often filled with carbohydrates and low-quality fats. Instead of pure meat, they frequently contain ground skin, horns, hooves, feathers, and organ byproducts. Together, they create a mixture that disrupts the stomach’s optimal acidity. Consequently, this metabolic imbalance serves as the first step toward severe digestive problems and weakened immunity. This structural breakdown explains exactly how canned dog food harms dogs by altering their natural digestive pH.
Apple Cider Vinegar as a Natural Remedy
As a counterbalance to poor industrial food, we must return to nature. My grandmother used to make remarkable apple cider vinegar by soaking apples in water and leaving them in the sun for several weeks. It was a drink I consumed throughout my childhood. That same fermented apple cider vinegar can support your dog as well.
Apple cider vinegar helps regulate the acidity that canned dog food often reduces due to excess low-quality fats. It acts as a natural probiotic and supports the body’s cleansing processes. Furthermore, the recipe is simple—you can make it yourself at home.
Fermented apple cider vinegar acts as a natural probiotic to safely restore your dog’s digestive balance.
How to Properly Dose Apple Cider Vinegar
You can add apple cider vinegar directly to food or to the water your dog drinks. The procedure is simple:
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Prepare a basic solution with a 1:1 ratio—one tablespoon of vinegar to one tablespoon of water.
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From this mixed solution, administer half a teaspoon for every 5 kg of the dog’s body weight.
Returning to natural fermentation and removing questionable canned products is one of the fastest paths toward your dog’s vitality. To explore more about how freshly prepared, raw meals and natural enzymes restore internal balance, read our holistic nutrition guidelines.
At Sasha Riess, we look past commercial labels to honor the unique biological blueprint of your companion. True health requires addressing the subtle internal patterns that create lasting vitality and pureloveandharmony. Discover the customized path to your dog’s longevity: Linktree Sasha Riess
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