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The Ridiculous History of Dog Food · Ridiculous History

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  Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. We can't wait to hear
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  Speaker 1: from you on this one. Just off Mike, we were
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  Speaker 1: talking uh with each other, and I asked the question
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  Speaker 1: Noel Brown, super producer Max, have any of us eating
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  Speaker 1: dog food?
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  Speaker 2: Max said, maybe once on a dare.
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  Speaker 3: No, definitely on a dare.
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  Speaker 2: Definitely on it.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, oh yeah, I know, I've I've done with cat
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  Speaker 3: food also, but like you know, you're you're dumb kid, like, oh,
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  Speaker 3: let's do it, but never for suscedence, never like, oh,
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  Speaker 3: this is my meal for the day.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Noel, you've got a story as well.
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  Speaker 2: Oh only that back in the day when we used
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  Speaker 2: to get snacks at one of our early offices, our
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  Speaker 2: delightful office manager who we still work with to this day,
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  Speaker 2: but is in a different position, much more on the
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  Speaker 2: content creation side. It's an awesome human being. Tamika shout out.
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  Speaker 2: I think she accidentally put in an order for some
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  Speaker 2: doggy chicken jerky choo sticks that were mixed in with
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  Speaker 2: the you know, human meat stick type things, and I
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  Speaker 2: certainly ate most of one before realizing that something wasn't
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  Speaker 2: quite right. My teeth are healthier than they've ever been, though,
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  Speaker 2: so sharp and clean. So that is dull brown. I
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  Speaker 2: have been bulleted. It was fine, it wasn't. No, something
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  Speaker 2: was wrong. I didn't need the whole thing. I got
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  Speaker 2: about halfway through when I realized, I'm gonna need to
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  Speaker 2: look a little closer at this label.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, that's her super producer Max, and we got
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  Speaker 1: super in to the idea of of dog food. Now, look,
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  Speaker 1: not everybody likes dogs, but we are, without apology, a
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  Speaker 1: very pro Kade nine show.
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  Speaker 2: Big time funny story. I think I've maybe mentioned on
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  Speaker 2: this pod before. I've sort of got a co dog
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  Speaker 2: named Apollo, who I get to spend some time with.
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  Speaker 2: Is here right now, And yesterday I realized I didn't
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  Speaker 2: have any dog food left, so I just cut him
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  Speaker 2: some nice tasty little bites of the steak that I
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  Speaker 2: was making for myself, and he loved it. Oh yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: The one of the most privileged dogs I have ever
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  Speaker 1: met is my old man's dog. Now, my old man
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  Speaker 1: is kind of a as you know, noal, He's kind
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  Speaker 1: of a Colonel Kurtz character.
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  Speaker 2: But ever Hitpook quite like that. But I teach to me.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you cube interact horror so he uh he has
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  Speaker 1: a lovely little shazoo uh named Leo.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: Leo eats better than any of us ever, will Well.
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  Speaker 2: I mean a lot of people out there love to
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  Speaker 2: make you know their own blend. They make like almost
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  Speaker 2: like a beef stew sich. I love a blend. I
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  Speaker 2: love we all love a blend. We do love a blend. Because,
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  Speaker 2: of course, early canine domestication did not involve kibbles or
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  Speaker 2: wet food of any kind. It involved like feeding them
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  Speaker 2: either from the table or having them do some hunting
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  Speaker 2: and feeding themselves, or feeding them much more lean proteins
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  Speaker 2: and meats.
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  Speaker 1: Oh and let's also shout out our earlier episode on
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  Speaker 1: the domestication of doggo fascinating.
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  Speaker 2: It's wild. Also an early episode that we did on
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  Speaker 2: the idea of spit turned dogs.
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  Speaker 1: Oh no, oh, vegetable dogs.
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  Speaker 2: Ah, you're right, the ones that were like little Schnauzers
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  Speaker 2: type that would run on a conveyor belt to turn
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  Speaker 2: the spits of dripping meat that they themselves were not
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  Speaker 2: allowed to partake of for the drunken revelers in the
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  Speaker 2: public houses of days of your What a parable about
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  Speaker 2: economic disparity and capitalism. Research suggests that dogs were domesticated
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  Speaker 2: probably around sixteen thousand years ago, but that was after
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  Speaker 2: they had been hanging out with humans in some version
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  Speaker 2: for more than thirty thousand years. When the cadids, or
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  Speaker 2: when the dogs we call them now, when they moved
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  Speaker 2: to official domesticated status, as you were saying, they no
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  Speaker 2: longer hunt for their food, so their human pals start
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  Speaker 2: feeding them or take responsibility for their diets. If you
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  Speaker 2: look around now, and this one is for the dog lovers, folks,
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  Speaker 2: if you look around now, you'll see any number of
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  Speaker 2: things you can feed your pooch, dry kibble, maybe, a
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  Speaker 2: soft wet food from a.
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  Speaker 1: Pataid can as perhaps, yeah. Or you can even get
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  Speaker 1: some online services to mail you a specific subscription diet
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  Speaker 1: for your pet.
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  Speaker 2: It's weird.
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  Speaker 1: This is why it's ridiculous history to us. Until quite recently,
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  Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of things, human owners did not
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  Speaker 1: really think about how to best feed their canine friends. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: it was like, hey, here are the scraps, you know,
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  Speaker 1: go eat this. If you haven't found a rat or
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  Speaker 1: a duck or whatever you eat outside.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the old trope of the dog just getting the
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  Speaker 2: last bits of meat off the bone, which is apparently
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  Speaker 2: an awful thing to do for a dog, as they
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  Speaker 2: can splinters that you know, they ingest and the comprest
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  Speaker 2: real problem exactly, they can cause real digestive problems, if
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  Speaker 2: not outright choking or you know, death. I'm sorry to
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  Speaker 2: hear that, Ben, but it's true. It wasn't really so
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  Speaker 2: much of a front of mine thing, this idea of
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  Speaker 2: like what should we feed the dogs so that they
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  Speaker 2: can flourish. It was literally they were like the the
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  Speaker 2: pig in the flintstones that was under the garbage, that
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  Speaker 2: was acting as the garbage disposal.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, if we go back to two thousand BCE, we
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  Speaker 1: see the first published or documented recipe for what we
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  Speaker 1: would call dog food. It is a Roman farming manual
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  Speaker 1: during this time. Look, your dogs are not your furry compagons. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: they're sort of like indentured servants. Well, if we're putting
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  Speaker 1: it honestly, they're like slaves. They're meant to herd livestock,
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  Speaker 1: protect the sheep and goats and whatnot from predators. And
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  Speaker 1: the Romans said, hey, we got to feed these pooches
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  Speaker 1: so they can do a good job for protecting our investment.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty relatively for the time. Smart fellow by the
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  Speaker 2: name of Marcus Terentius Varro in his manual Farm Topics,
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  Speaker 2: which sounds like a podcast, Linda Richmond, whatever can we host?
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  Speaker 1: Can we make farm topics?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know that we're a subject matter experts enough
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  Speaker 2: in the ways of agriculture. But Marcus was at least
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  Speaker 2: to a degree, and he had opinions that some of
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  Speaker 2: which still track to this day. In terms of dog nutrition,
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  Speaker 2: he said, the food of dogs is more like that
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  Speaker 2: of man check than that of sheep. You could or
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  Speaker 2: should rather feed them barley bread, however, not without soaking
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  Speaker 2: it in milk, I guess to soften it up. They're
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  Speaker 2: also fed on a bone soup, and this is the
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  Speaker 2: part that gives me the willies, or even broken bones
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  Speaker 2: as well. And now you know, we do see bone
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  Speaker 2: stand in materials, raw hides, etc. That they do say
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  Speaker 2: are good for the dog's teeth, to make them stronger.
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  Speaker 2: But broken bones is a bad idea, even if it
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't be an immediate issue. It might even be like
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  Speaker 2: something that would you know, it's like eating ground up
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  Speaker 2: glass or something. You might not die right away, but
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  Speaker 2: over time.
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  Speaker 1: It's not going to be good for your guts and
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  Speaker 1: overtime is a great point here because our pal Marcus
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  Speaker 1: also notes that hungry dogs are not only physically less
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  Speaker 1: capable of protecting the flock, but they are also less trustworthy.
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  Speaker 1: If you have ever traveled to a part of the
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  Speaker 1: world that has a bunch of stray dogs, you've seen this.
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  Speaker 1: A hungry dog does feel cornered, just like a hungry human.
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  Speaker 1: It might bite its the things it treats as friends.
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  Speaker 1: It also might betray its one north star it's guiding principle,
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  Speaker 1: which is to protect the flock of sheep or goats.
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  Speaker 1: It might just eat one because it's hungry.
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  Speaker 2: This is where the old expression don't bite the hand
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  Speaker 2: that feeds you has to have come from. Varro did
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  Speaker 2: advise against feeding dogs the meat of sheep lest they
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  Speaker 2: get a taste for it. You know, definitely don't want them.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know. You know, a hungry dog is going
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  Speaker 2: to probably go for a sheep, as you know, a
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  Speaker 2: hungry cat will eat the eyes of its owner left
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  Speaker 2: without food for long enough.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Romans still were human, right, despite being great
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  Speaker 1: plagiarist of the Greeks. They understood that the way you
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  Speaker 1: win affection with your doggo is to give them a
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  Speaker 1: little treat. So our buddy Marcus describes a good old
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  Speaker 1: fashioned bone as kind of like a frozen peanut butter
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  Speaker 1: kong toy. You know, let them chew it and then
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  Speaker 1: get the marrow Inside's.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, that's it's for sure. It's nature's cong toy.
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  Speaker 2: Their jaws, he said, are spread with greater force, and
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  Speaker 2: the savor of the marrow makes them more keen.
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  Speaker 1: So where does the shift from employee nonhuman to pet
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  Speaker 1: companion occur? We know that by the fourteenth century CE,
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  Speaker 1: really rich people started having great romance with their hunting
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  Speaker 1: and hawking dogs. If we're talking about you know, greyhounds, pointers,
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  Speaker 1: English setters. If you go to folks like and I
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  Speaker 1: can't believe this is still the real guy's name. If
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  Speaker 1: you go to folks like the French Aristo, Count Guston
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  Speaker 1: the Third, then you see he wrote a hunting guide
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  Speaker 1: that says dogs have to get a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: brand bread and meat from a hunt, and if they're sick,
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  Speaker 1: you have to take care of them.
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  Speaker 2: Cool check. He also says they should have more nutritious
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  Speaker 2: foods like bean broth, buttered eggs, on goat's milk.
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  Speaker 1: I'm super into all three of them.
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  Speaker 2: Bullish on buttered eggs and goat's milk for sure. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 2: in the medieval Islamic world, they also were starting to
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  Speaker 2: get some ideas around dog nutrition. Medievalist Nat pointed out
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  Speaker 2: that the Islamic world had this concept of dogs being
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  Speaker 2: considered unclean animals and therefore that they should not be
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  Speaker 2: kept as pets. However, people with financial means still had
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  Speaker 2: them around for hunting, for safety and for animal hurting.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, according to the Arab boffins at the time, during
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  Speaker 1: the fall and winter months, dogs should only be fed
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  Speaker 1: once a day around sunset. Otherwise the dogs will not
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  Speaker 1: be fit enough when the hunt begins the next morning.
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  Speaker 1: So the idea is that you can't feed them too
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  Speaker 1: much because they'll get lazy if it is. However, the
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  Speaker 1: hotter time of the year spring and summer, dogs have
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  Speaker 1: to get fed little snacks, small portions several times a day,
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  Speaker 1: usually meat soaked in beef soup.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe a little bread and milk, meat soaked in beef soup.
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  Speaker 2: That's kind of putting a hat on a hat. There,
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  Speaker 2: isn't it very much?
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, and it would also need to be served
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  Speaker 1: not piping hot. It's got to be tepid or cold,
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  Speaker 1: because otherwise, according again to the boffins of the time,
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  Speaker 1: if you feed them hot stuff, they're gonna throw it up.
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  Speaker 2: Okay jack. So unfortunately, though, back in Europe, some dog
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  Speaker 2: owners were folks with very little means. They weren't able to,
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  Speaker 2: you know, treat the nutrition of their dogs with much priority.
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  Speaker 1: Am I gonna feed my human children? Or am I
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  Speaker 1: gonna feed the dogs?
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  Speaker 2: So we had all kinds of gnarly things happening around
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  Speaker 2: this time, including plagues, famine, or goot poisoning, just to
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  Speaker 2: name a few. So we are talking about at the
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  Speaker 2: very very most dogs getting fed table scraps, bits of bone,
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  Speaker 2: leftover trimmings of cabbages and beans, and you know, the
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  Speaker 2: most discarded bits like crusts of bread. I love a
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  Speaker 2: crust of bread, by the way, you love a crust.
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  Speaker 2: I know that about you. I know you will never
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  Speaker 2: ever would I have a crust cut off of my
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  Speaker 2: PBNJ No.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, just think of the time, so edihow we
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  Speaker 1: know that if we fast forward from the ancient eras
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  Speaker 1: to eighteen sixty, we meet a businessman named James Spratt.
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  Speaker 1: Spr Att he introduces the first dogg o snack dog biscuit.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Industrial Revolution, which as we know, began in
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  Speaker 1: England coincided with the reign of Queen Victoria. Right before
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  Speaker 1: the Industrial Revolution, to your earlier point, England was mainly divided,
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  Speaker 1: right in a cartoonish a cartoonish study of wealth disparity.
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  Speaker 1: There was a society of lower class farmers most of
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  Speaker 1: the people, and then a very tiny easy bit of
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  Speaker 1: upper class aristos.
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  Speaker 2: Of the one percent, of the one percent, of the
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  Speaker 2: one percent of the one percent, the percent of no
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  Speaker 2: middle class to speak of, not really until modern businesses factories, right,
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  Speaker 2: they create a mercantile middle class. Now you got secretaries,
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  Speaker 2: you got accountants, middle managers, middle managers, you have artisans.
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  Speaker 2: This is a new rank of consumers and they come
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  Speaker 2: with a little bit of disposable income, so maybe they
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  Speaker 2: can feed their pooches a bit better. And of course
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  Speaker 2: it opened up a whole new market in terms of
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  Speaker 2: more bespoke numb numbs for our furry children. I love
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  Speaker 2: numb numbsies. I love the name that we're about to
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  Speaker 2: reveal to you, folks. Economists.
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  Speaker 1: This is real name though, n f R Craft, how
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  Speaker 1: many how many initials should a person be allowed to
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  Speaker 1: have in their name?
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  Speaker 2: I'm gonna say three. Cool, well just made it, n
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  Speaker 2: f R.
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  Speaker 1: This guy is right at your threshold.
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  Speaker 2: I know, I know, I was gonna say two, but
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  Speaker 2: I don't know. N f nfr Craft, he just won
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  Speaker 2: you over. He did win me over. He also went
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  Speaker 2: over the British crown with his with his stats.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, he found that British income as a result of
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  Speaker 1: the Industrial Revolution rose per per from about four hundred
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  Speaker 1: dollars adjusted for inflation in seventeen sixty to four hundred
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  Speaker 1: and thirty dollars in eighteen hundred. So people are making
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  Speaker 1: something like thirty more actual dollars. And then if you
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  Speaker 1: go to eighteen thirty, our pal Nfrcraft finds that this
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  Speaker 1: income has risen to five hundred dollars equivalent in eighteen thirty,
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  Speaker 1: and then by eighteen sixty, buddy, it jumps to eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars actual income. We're not gonna we're not going
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  Speaker 1: to do the inflation calculator, Shenanigan, because Georgetown Law already
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  Speaker 1: did it for us.
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  Speaker 2: They sure did. Yeah, and this is a big deal
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  Speaker 2: for doggos because all of that disposable income and their
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  Speaker 2: owners could afford to feed them, you know a little
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  Speaker 2: bit more. And like I was saying earlier bespokenly, which
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  Speaker 2: created a demand. So another win for dogs that this
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  Speaker 2: new middle class brought around would be the fact that
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  Speaker 2: it didn't necessarily specialize in manual labor, so that they
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  Speaker 2: didn't need the dogs anymore to herd the animals to
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  Speaker 2: you know, turn the meat spits. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Now they're just hanging out and they're saying, where's my
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  Speaker 1: slice of Rabbi? And this is where our pal James
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  Speaker 1: Spratt enters the stage. He is Spratt enters the chat
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Spratt in the chat Chat Spratt, Spratt chat a.
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  Speaker 2: Fat that is a fact.
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  Speaker 1: He is based in Cincinnati, Ohio in the sense, and
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  Speaker 1: he is traveling often across the pond to England for work.
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  Speaker 1: And because he's traveling all the time, he's similar to
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  Speaker 1: folks like us. He always finds himself in his version
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  Speaker 1: of an airport and he sits around and he people
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  Speaker 1: watches and the dwarf at the wharf, and while he
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  Speaker 1: is at the fourth shout out to star Trek, he
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  Speaker 1: sees sailors hanging out with stray dogs, and they're feeding
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  Speaker 1: these dogs something we would call pemmican or hard attack.
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  Speaker 2: Ship biscuits, ship biscuits, stuff that wouldn't rot because it
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  Speaker 2: was basically like borderline, not even food, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: mean the level of density that these things were about pure,
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  Speaker 2: just like get some calories. There is no flavor to
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: speak of. Dude.
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  Speaker 1: Also for all of us, why does it sound like
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  Speaker 1: a perfect British insult to call someone a ship biscuit?
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  Speaker 2: Ship you ship biscuit? I love that.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's kind of good. Melfeelike it even.
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  Speaker 2: More of the way it's actually printed in the research
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  Speaker 2: It was a ship's biscuit, like a you know, the
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  Speaker 2: biscuit of the ship.
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  Speaker 1: You shut your mouth, you're a ship's biscuit.
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  Speaker 2: Ship's biscuit. I don't give a ship's biscuit about that.
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  Speaker 2: I won't ship a biscuit.
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  Speaker 1: So James Spratt says, oh my gosh, look at these
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  Speaker 1: adorable stray dogs. They're loving this stuff. Also, I should
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  Speaker 1: make some money from it, and this is where he
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  Speaker 1: comes up with his banger idea. One of the first
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  Speaker 1: commercialized dog o treats. The name didn't age. Well, the
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  Speaker 1: name is Sprat's patent meal fabrine dog Cakes.
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  Speaker 2: I think you needed to take that one back to
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  Speaker 2: the wood shop a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, a little briefer, but you know, we do a
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  Speaker 1: show called stuff they don't want you to know, so
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  Speaker 1: that's true.
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  Speaker 2: But I think that is objectively better than Spratt's patent
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  Speaker 2: meal fabric. I can't even say it out loud, s
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  Speaker 2: pm FDC. It was the recipe. We do love a blend,
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  Speaker 2: and it was a blend.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a mix of sweet meals, vegetables, beetroot and
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  Speaker 1: beef blood.
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  Speaker 2: Hell yeah, nice go sign from Nola that one. I
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  Speaker 2: do love some beef blood. They were super popular with
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  Speaker 2: the English who fed them to their hunting dogs.
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  Speaker 1: And by eighteen eighty one, our pwell Sprat patents his
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  Speaker 1: product here in the United States.
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  Speaker 2: So he goes with a bit of a name change.
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  Speaker 2: He did. He took our advice in the past. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I took it to the wood shop and came up
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  Speaker 2: with Sprat's Dogcakes and Puppy Biscuits. Oh beautiful. Yes.
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  Speaker 1: He also takes advantage of the boom in the printing press, right,
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  Speaker 1: so he takes out magazine ads and he starts to right,
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  Speaker 1: directly to dog lover institutions like the American Kennel Club.
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  Speaker 2: Right. He's also doing direct mail work because at the
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  Speaker 2: bottom of this handbill and or magazine, you know, advert,
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  Speaker 2: it says here we shall be pleased to send free
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  Speaker 2: samples of foods suitable for your dog. All you gotta
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  Speaker 2: do is state the breed. Sprat's Patent limited twenty four
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  Speaker 2: to twenty five Finchurch Street, London, ec.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: I think it's a little bit to eugenic friendly to
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: me to say, state the breed.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: State your breed. Can you give us a little bit
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: more of the promised or the important points that he's
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: trying to use to sell the public on his miraculous
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: dog feed.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Perfect nourishmental frame and body because they are made from
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: our pure meat, fibrines, selected wheat meals and etc.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: It's made up word or I don't know, I don't
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: know about fibrine. Oh I love this, and a lot
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: of these are still used to this day. Ben the
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: idea of a full and glossy coat because.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: The blood is fully nourished and renewed stamina. And then
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: because good wholesome food gives good health and vigor spoon
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: your way to health, vitim meter, vegimin for dogs, perfect
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: cleansing of the teeth because they are well back baked,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: excuse me, and compel the dog to gnaw love a gnaw. Yeah,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: they're talking about the biscuits, not the dog's teeth.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: And again a lot of these things very much the
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: same kind of things you see today. With these dog
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: biscuits that are all about they're a little bit on
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: the tough side because the dog doesn't just you know,
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: munch them down in one go. They got to chew
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: on them.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta put the work in for the reward. Also,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I think our mutual favorite thing in all capital letters
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: is freedom from all objectionable odors.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: Now, and I little bs on or should I say ds.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: They get a specific smell though, well for sure, and
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I don't know man. Dog poop is dog poop no
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: matter what kind of food they eat. If you feed
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: your dog, they say, with sprats, meat fibrine, dog cakes,
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: you give the very best biscuit procurable, You do the
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: very best thing for your dog, and you get the
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: very best value for your money.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Insist on sprats, only sprats, nothing but spratt dog cakes.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: For your dog's sake and for your own.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Insist on sprats. Insist on sprats. Nothing but sprats. There
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: will only be sprats fun.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: I know, like I'm picturing I'm picturing someone at a
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: general store, like the thing that inspired Cracker Barrel, and
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: someone's like, oh, we've got these other dog biscuits, and
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: they slap it into the air. I'm a dapper dan man,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: I'm a dapper dan man. Are you using my hair treatment?
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Are you asking me not to give my dog sprats?
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: So the public loves this, and now they're primed to
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: buy specialized dog food, which launches a thousand ships of industry.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: We gotta talk about nineteen twenty two NL someone saw
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the biscuit and then someone said, let's get in on
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: this and make some coin.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: We're quickly approaching the moment we get to in all
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: of these stories about a thing that is now ubiquitous,
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: where we hear about when the big one kind of
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: enters on the ground floor. Right, Yeah, nobody really hears
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: about sprats anymore, unfortunately. But before we get to that one,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: we do have maybe one more lesser known hit with
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: a fabulous name. Oh Zullus, Oh it's ken l ration,
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: I believe, and maybe I'm mistaken, but I don't know
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: about this one still being on pet store shelves to
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: this day. But maybe it's a specialty. It was, in
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: fact at the time, though made with only the highest
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: quality of horse meat. Yeah.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: By the mid nineteen thirties, fifty thousand horses per year
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: are slaughtered to make the product, and by the way,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: their hoofs ended up being glue. It's nineteen forty one.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: If we fast forward, can dog food dominates the fancy
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: doggo market. But Uncle Sam, as a result of World
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: War Two, starts rationing tin and meat, and this means
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: that dry dog food takes that King of the Hill
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: spot and ken El rations kind of go the way
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: of the Dodo. It's tough to make quality dog food
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: consistently at this time.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: A lot of.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Dog owners are really po about the texture, the appearance,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: and the inconsistency of dry dog food, the stuff we
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: would call kibble.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Until this is what I was teasing. Sorry I did
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: it a little prematurely, But in nineteen fifty we have
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: the big dogs entering the chats, the ones that are
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: still around this day. And if I'm not mistaken, like
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: they sponsor all kinds of dog shows and things like that.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: It's huge dynasty of pet food, the Ralston Purina company,
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: which I did not know this ben because I associate
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: this with another brand entirely. I believe Kellogg's the maker
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: of checks Cereal, which was made Yeah I love a
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Check's mix. I do love a check Cereal, which was
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: made using an extruder.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, cooking extruder. They started using this to make
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: their checks cereal. And honestly, folks, we're big Cereal fans.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Max's dad loves Cereal in particular, but we can all
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: admit I think here in twenty twenty five that Cereal
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: is kind of like dry dog food for humans. In
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: its commercial version, they would push these ingredients or this
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: mixture through a tube, cook it under high pressure, puff
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: it up with air. This is what allows Checks to
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: stay crispy in milk. And so this company has already
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: figured out the technology, right, and that informs them or
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: inspires them to launch Purina dog Chow in.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Nineteen fifty six. I still think it's so weird. To
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: this day, it still seems relatively normal and even to
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: me kind of yummy to put dried cereal checks in milk.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: It's a weird thing that was sold to us by
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: an industry that we just kind of come to accept.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: You know, it's unusual. I can't think of anything else
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: you'd eat floating in a vat of milk.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean maybe noodles, depending on where people are from.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: But also I love that you're pointing this out, because
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: let us remember, not too too long ago, the Romans
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: said you gotta soak the bread and the milk.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: That's true to feed the dogs. Yeah, in the same
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: food pyramid column as bread. Yeah, I'm mistaken. It's no
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: longer a pyramid, I believe. I believe now it's a plate. Yeah.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the food pyramid was definitely a grift.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Anyway.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: The main ingredient in Purina dog child's first iteration is corn,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: and dog owners dog friends don't love it. This is
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: why we see stuff in the nineteen seventies like Hills
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: and Neutro too, brands that purport to feed your canine
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: family member a more nutritious fair.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I guess that. Why didn't they like corn?
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: Do you think? I don't know?
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know why they didn't like corn? Corn's not
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: that bad. I don't know, it's just it doesn't have
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: the meat.
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: I could jump in here. Traditionally, dogs can't really digest corn.
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, I know cats can't. It's a filler.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Mostly people can't really digest corn.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point. Also, Oh yeah, we do
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: see the little nibblets in the never mind, we don't
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: have to go there. We're talking about. So by this
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: point it was absolutely, you know, passe or unpopular. It
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: was not considered to be good etiquette with your pets
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: to feed them table scraps. It was no longer considered
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: a good option. So brands like this continued to sort
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: of further that notion.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, The idea here is that if you really
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: love your pooch, you are going to go a step beyond.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: You are not going to go the grocery store and
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: pick up whatever is on the bottom shelf of aisle eleven.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: You are going to pay extra for things like neutro.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: They are recommended by veterinarians, dog groomers, et cetera, et cetera.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: There is a calculated scarcity to this, and as our
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: research associate Ren points out here, the main grift of
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: dog food as we know it today is a culmination
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: of ridiculous history. It's a marketing ploy for centuries and
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: centuries and centuries, it was totally fine to feed your
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: dog table scraps well.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: And not to mention, I mean a lot of the
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: even the most persnickety dog owners make their own food
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: for their rugs, like your pops you were talking about, Ben.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've fed Apollo some little pieces of steak
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: and he absolutely loved it, and it was didn't go
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: down weird. He you know, used the bathroom just like normally.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: And a lot of folks that make these mixes they'll
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: put vegetables in there, they'll put different herbs in barley
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: and a lot of the things they were talking about
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: back in the earliest days. So but it doesn't really
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: behoove the industry if you're not out there buying the
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: fifty pound bags of kibble, right, just probably is more
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: affordable in the long run if you're taking the things
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: that you eat at home and not feeding them scraps,
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: but using bits of it to maybe make your own
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: dog food.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, look, there are some rules, right, no bone shards,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: no chocolate, you know, but your dog is a pack animal.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: So if it sees what you're eating, it wants to participate, right, And.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I know it's certainly possible that we'll have some dog
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: parents out there that might disagree with that. We'd love
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: to hear from you and what your thoughts are around
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: the dog food industry and what do you feed your doggoes,
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: I think we all like to know.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: And we also want pictures of your dogs as unreservedly,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: unapologetically we are fans of man's best friend, Humanity's best friend.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Better put big big thanks to our research associate Red
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: and Fest big big thanks to the legendary super producer
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: mister Max Williams. Max, while we got you here, do
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: you like dogs? You like Dax and I just watched
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Snatch again?
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: Sorry? I do love dogs.
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: I mean I am primarily a cat personal cat star
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: like generally the animals always have, but I've had some
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: dogs in my life and I absolutely love them.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: If you, if you were a dog, Max, what kind
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: of dog would you be?
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: Are you?
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: Are you asking me as if like, based on personality,
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: which one I would choose to be?
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, then the answer is the golden Streamer. Nice. That's
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: a good one. What about you nol. I don't know.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: I want to, in the last handful of years truly
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: become a dog person. And now I really very much
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: am I think I would. I think I would want
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: to be one of those little little cuties. Oh, it
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: just gets to like be in someone's lap all day
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: and you know, eating eating delightful cubes of steak. Oh
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: that's sweet. It doesn't sound so bad. Me and me
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: and Apaula could kick it. That's awesome. You.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Oh well, I would want to be a different dog,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: but I'm I'm probably a bruiser unfortunately, probably an Anatolian shepherd. Okay, yeah, well,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: you know we work with the army we have, and
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: we can't wait to brag to you about the army
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: we do have, starting with a J. Bahamas Jacobs.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, of course that would be the puzzler. And uh
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: Jonathan Strickland, the e quistorn.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Oh what kind of dog would he be?
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: I don't know. There's no negative spin we could put
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: on any dogs, so I don't know how to proceed.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, what kind of animal?
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: We love them all?
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: We do love the ball all right, all right, Quister,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: you got away in the credits on this one.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Some sort of gullum, perhaps some sort of dragon hoarding
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: his gold in a volcano.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: Would be a middle aged man who is very bald.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: That's the animal he would be.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: That's the only.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Cares Let's not hurt his feelings because he does listen
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: to this show only at the end to hear us
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: talk trash about him. Big, big thanks as well to
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: Christopher Hasiotis, Eve's Jeff goat here in Spirit and uh
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: our pals at Ridiculous Crime and nol. If I could
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: say it, I love when you bring Apollo on the show.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: Well you know what he's He's on the bathroom floor,
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: curled up, taking a little napperor I would have, but
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: thanks Ben. Hopefully he'll be around next time. We'll see
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: your favorite shows.