Never has there been a more important time to support local, shop local and buy local. By that, I mean support businesses in your immediate area, and in New Zealand in general. When we support local, more money is kept in the community as local businesses are more likely to support other local businesses. Supporting local now, means you are supporting that business, the businesses that business supports and, ultimately, New Zealand’s economic future. Well, that got a bit serious there! I promise that’s the last time that’ll happen in this post, if only for my own sanity – it’s giving me scary flashbacks of my economic classes in college!
 
One way that we at Healthy Dog & Co can support local is to share with you all the fantastic local/NZ businesses that we use and recommend.
 
We love our pics on our website and there is no one we would trust more to get the right images for us than Kirsty at Dog and Co photography https://www.dogandco.nz/ Kirsty always knows how to get the best out of our furry models. She is friendly, professional and, above all, a fantastic photographer. This crazy situation has helped make us all realize just what, and who, is important. Arrange an appointment with Kirsty to capture some special memories of your besties.
 
We love Little Green Dog compostable poop bags at Healthy Dog & Co. So much so, that we stock them on our website. Little Green Dog poop bags are fully biodegradable, 100% home compostable and are derived from plants. Result! You can support an NZ business and help look after the planet. What’s not to love?
 
 
We are very excited about our new Dog Healing Balm.  It is is created and made by a local lady, just a few km from us, who has been using this natural balm on her own dog for years. It can be used on broken skin and applied up to 4 times a day to relieve redness, inflamed skin, itches and minor cuts. It has been tested on dogs and humans, is natural and non-toxic.
There are so many fantastic dog trainers in our area, and all over New Zealand. You might be thinking about some training to help resocialise your dog as we move back to a new normal, or you might simply want to help support your dog in more positive behaviour. Our favourite dog trainer is Sacha from Dog Life NZ https://doglife.co.nz/ Sacha is a Progressive Reinforcement Trainer who uses methods that empower and support your dog to make different choices. She even does phone and Skype consultations for those that live outside of Auckland.
We use Jazz Print http://www.jazzprint.co.nz/ for all our labels, biscuit boxes and display boxes for our leads, collars and harnesses. They have premises in Auckland and Christchurch and meet the printing needs of many different industries including retail, real estate, corporate, automotive, industrial, and creative. They have been in business since 1974, which shows you just how good they are at what they do. Give them a call to see what they can do for you and your printing needs.
We also wanted to give a shout out to all the couriers, delivery drivers and companies that are paddling furiously to meet the enormous needs of New Zealand at the moment. They are doing a brilliant, and often thankless, job in these tough times. Please be patient if you are waiting on a delivery at the moment , and thank/smile at/give a thumbs up/acknowledge your driver. Your thanks might be just what he/she needs to get them through their next few hours of extremely hard work and rushing from place to place.
 
Speaking of acknowledgment, there are other ways that you can support local. Leave positive reviews, follow businesses on social media, like and share posts. I received a parcel yesterday and loved the products so much I fired off an email right away telling the company how amazing they were. It took a bit longer to get here than usual, so what? It got here and I know the courier companies are doing everything they can at the moment to get my deliveries to me as soon as they can. I acknowledged this in my email. I felt the need to send it as I knew that many businesses are receiving emails and phone calls about late deliveries and might not be getting the positive communication that is more important than ever at this time. In less than 5 minutes I received an email back thanking me for my feedback. I could tell it meant a lot for that company, and perhaps that particular person. It’s actually a thing of mine – to email and praise good service and products. So many people only contact companies or leave reviews when they have complaints but for me, it’s the good services and products that deserve your time and attention. Lets boost each other up, in any way we can – financially or otherwise.
 
As well as supporting businesses, it’s important not to forget the charities that are struggling at the moment. Our two favourite dog rescues are Saving Hope Foundation and Ruakaka Dog Rescue
 
 
 
Saving Hope https://savinghope.co.nz/never turn a dog away and put the welfare of their dogs as their top priority. They have dogs fostered in Auckland, Hamilton, Whangarei, and Whanganui and a veritable army of volunteers to help with looking after the dogs, administration, and social media. The foundation was set up in 2017 and is constantly growing, having rehomed over 1000 dogs already in the short time since they began. There are many ways that you can help them to provide the happy and safe life that all these dogs deserve. You could foster, donate money, donate food or other dog essentials, fundraise, or, if the time is right, you might even adopt your next family member.
 
Ruakaka Dog Rescue https://www.ruakakadogrescue.com/ are based in the Northland area. As well as helping to rehome dogs, they also aim to bring about change and introduce responsible dog ownership to their local community. This involves helping to support low income families with kennels, flea and worm treatments, and promoting and providing desexing to help reduce the number of unwanted and uncared for dogs.
 
There are so many fantastic business and enterprises in New Zealand, we wish we could support them all. Together, we can all make a difference.
 
Support local
 
Shop local
 
Buy local 
 
If a team of 5 million can beat Covid-19, just imagine the effect we could have on the New Zealand economy.