Better Winnipeg: Premium pet food manufacturer made in Winnipeg

Walk into a pet store and you’ll see row after row of different kinds of dog food. No surprise when you consider, more than one in every four Canadian households has at least one dog. Finding its place on the shelves is a made in Winnipeg premium product called Smack.

Michael Giller first got the idea of making a high quality raw dog food after Zorro, the family’s Great Pyrenees cross fell ill with cancer. With a belief in the benefits of homeopathy and natural remedies, the vision became clear.

“Unfortunately, by the time we found out what kind of food he should be eating, it was too late for Zorro.”

But it ignited a passion to create Smack. And in 2007 at the age of 21, Giller began researching and testing out recipes for a raw, dehydrated dog food in a small-scale production in his parent’s basement. The focus was on selecting quality ingredients with strong health benefits.

“For example blueberries help night vision and helps improve exploratory behavior in dogs,” explains Giller. “Parsley is good for gut health and improves a dog’s breath. Cranberry helps to eliminate and unbind harmful bacteria from the lining of the bladder. Carrot can improve heart health.”

Organic fruits and vegetables are combined with antibiotic free chickens raised in Manitoba and BC wild salmon.

“Our ingredients are definitely what sets us apart. We use bar none the best quality fruits and vegetables, herbs and meats in the human food industry.”

The product is sold in 200 stores in Canada. Production has doubled twice in the past year. And now the company is producing over one thousand kilograms of Smack a week.

“It’s not kibble, it’s not frozen raw; it combines both those benefits so shelf stability by dehydration, integrity with raw food and we hand make it here into a packaged product for the store shelves,” explains Giller.

The Moose Jaw canine unit has switched to Smack dog food for their police dogs and has been so pleased with the results that they have invited Giller to talk about the product at an upcoming national seminar for the Canadian Police Canine Association in June.

“The Moose Jaw canine unit is telling us that their digestion is better, their coat is better, energy, in fact even muscle mass and agility. So they’re performing their tasks at a higher level and even faster than previously,” says Giller.

As the business grows, so does a sense of pride knowing that it could all come together, right here at home.

“You can make something that looks and feels like a really premium product that’s made here in Winnipeg,” says Giller

“It fills me with a lot of pride. There are a lot of tools in Winnipeg that make it very easy to have your business and have a family. And it’s great to have it in one place.

Better Winnipeg is a weekly feature that focuses on people and events that make Winnipeg better. If you have suggestions for stories, send them to betterwinnipeg@globalnews.ca.