Maritime author’s new book shares the secret to having a healthy dog

While there are plenty of recipes to cater to our taste buds, a Maritimer has written a book filled with recipe ideas for our furry friends.

Rodney Habib is the author of "The Forever Dog," a recipe book with tons of ideas on how to give your dog the best food to live a long and healthy life.

“We travelled the world looking for the longest-lived dogs, 20 to arguable 30-year-old dogs, took that information to the top longevity scientists, broke it down into bite-sized science pieces,” Habib said in an interview with CTV Atlantic’s Ana Almeida on Tuesday.

The book has since exploded, being named a New York Times Best Seller and translated into 22 languages worldwide.

The book is divided into two segments, one on how to better the bowl and the other on how to better the home. It has around 120 recipes for readers.

“So it’s kind of like a lifestyle book, if you may, showing you how to level your nutrition up coming away from ultra-processed foods, adding in more minimally-processed foods, and cleaning up your home. Because according to research today our homes have never been more toxic than today with cleaners, scented products, and so on,” Habib said.

The author said having a clean home has a large part in your dog’s health.

“Indoor air pollution is a really big problem, something that a lot of people don’t consider, it can be problematic for children, it can be problematic for pets,” said Habib.

“So taking care and cleaning up your home from some of those volatile organic compounds that come off of those cleaners. And switching to a more traditional, easy, do it yourself, three-step cleaners that can be healthy for not only your pets but your children if people walk around the home.”

Habib says some of the world’s best and award-certified veterinarian nutritionists and pet food formulators helped him assemble the recipes.

Many of those recipes are even good enough for a human to eat.

“We have 30 balanced recipes in there, recipes that you and your pet can share,” he said.

There are even options in the book for people on a budget.

“We’ll show you with tablespoons how to make something at home minimally processed and how to incorporate it into the bowl, and we can show you science-wise how you can reduce inflammation with just a tablespoon,” Habib said.

“It’s taking that first initial step because obviously today globally we’ve never consumed so much ultra-processed food than ever before. It’s delicious, but it’s not ideal for our health.”

"The Forever Dog" can be found in stores at Indigo and Chapters locations, as well on social media and Amazon.