"You're feeding low-quality food..."

Goodness she was a snipey snotty thing wasn't she??   I would have been hard pressed to keep from asking her why on earth she would sell such crummy food in her store??     I have never heard anyone lump the foods you mention in the low quality zone.  And giving a coated breed like your shepherds a supplement to insure coat maintenence is just common sense. I would not let her remarks bother me unless you can buy the food of your choice elsewhere then I would take great delight in informing her how much her snotty attitude just cost her store in sales.

BTW depending on the store and supplier I have heard something "bad" about just about every brand of dog food there is. I think it can be the nature of the beast.  As a business woman she should be smarter,  if the economy gets much worse  the expensive lines of dog food she sells will not be moving off the shelf as fast as she may need them to! 

Bonita of Bwana

Huh!  I probably would have been very rude to her in your shoes.  I also would have said something like - "What a great idea!  I'll buy some Orijen instead, you sell it at the same price right?"

How rude! I honestly would have asked to speak to a manager. You are a patron of their store, purchasing a product they endorse (simply by stocking it), and to judge your purchase is out of line. Let alone to be so absolutely rude. If one of my employees ever spoke to a client in that manner their job would be on the line.

I'm not familiar with EP or Fromm, so I couldn't comment on their quality, but I thought they were in the high-end group too. So heck, we'll all be wrong together and Ms. Sassy Pants can be right and not have customers :P

Well, since you've said it was the store owner, I would be writing her a letter explaining why you won't be shopping at her store anymore and not bothering to explain why you feed what you do, #1 it's none of her business and #2 given the economy and the number of animals you're lovingly and selflessly caring for she can take her opinion and stick it where the sun don't shine.  Even if you were feeding Ol'Roy, you know what, you're feeding them and sheltering them and loving them, that's what matters! 

stormyknight

I said that it seems to help keep the shedding down with my shepherds' coats and the dogs just seem to do well on it. She replied snippily, "Well, you're feeding a low-quality food with EP and Fromm, so you should probably try something like Orjen or Timberwolf instead."

stormyknight

I know that there are better foods out there than EP or Fromm, but with 3-5 dogs to feed, depending on how many fosters I have, in addition to 3 cats that are on EVO and canned, (not to mention the horses) I cannot afford to feed the dogs Orjen, plus the canned and homecooked that they get too. I was under the impression that, especially for the price, EP and Fromm are decent, middle-of-the-road foods;

OMG! What nerve!!! I don't think I've ever heard anyone refer to EP or Fromm (any of their formulas) as low quality. They're both good quality foods, and Fromm has a long history in the feed market. EP has excellent R & D behind all their formulas, and their ingredient lists read very well.
     Don't feel guilty about feeding what you can afford, because not only are those two foods excellent, I don't know too many people feeding them who haven't taken some sort of an interest in their dog's diet. Not only that, but a while back, back when this forum wasn't forum.dog.com and I was posting under Urban beagles, there was a massive thread regarding Timberwolf - that spanned over a year and was umpteen pages long! I was just taking them off Eukanuba and was convinced that TWO was the way to go because everyone on this thread swore it was so great. Hmph. I broke the budget purchasing the 33lb bag of the SW Chicken & Herbs formula. I have one 64lb mutt who, for all his adult life, has weighed 64lbs. On TWO, I was feeding him 2.5 cups, whis was 1/2 cup more than he was getting on Euk, and he was rapidly loosing weight, as were a few of my Beagles, tho nothing as drastic. He dropped down to 57lbs and his coat was just horrendous, dry, shed profusely and dandruffy. The Beagles had good coats, however. BUT, several of them did have loose stools and were crapping more than they were eating. Thunder had always been a friendly, reliable dog, but he went NUTSO on this feed. His bark started to change. There was somethign "off" about the way he looked at me. Long story short, he attacked me. Twice. He did not look right shortly before the attacks and I maintain to this day that there was something in the feed affecting his brain. He had both a full blood panel run plus a thyroid screening and everything was normal. I did not make the connection to the food at the time until a week or so later, the Menu foods recall happened, and I switched them all to crockpot food. Thunder's temperament returned to normal like a switch was turned off. I would feed the TWO one day, and you could hear that his bark was not the same, it was deeper, gutteral. Change him off for 24hrs, and he was a happy, peppy dog again. So much for TWO being the better food.

 How rude!  I would NOT be shopping there anymore if you have any other food suppliers available.  If any of my associates spoke to a customer like that, they would be written up, at a minimum.  Since she's the SO, you should definitely write her a letter telling her why you're ceasing your patronage and where she can stuff her comments on foods that she shouldn't even be STOCKING if she thinks they're so sub-par.  What kills me is that you're feeding GOOD food, no doubt about it.  Fromm is in Nike and Honor's rotation, and I definitely wouldn't be feeding it to them if it was "low-quality".  UGH!

 Oh don't even get me started on store owners.  I've found there are 2 types.  Those that love animals and don't make a dime in their stores, and those that just want to make money.  The one you are talking about is obviously the second of the two types.  Both of the little pet shops here are of those types.  One thinks she's an expert, but is clueless.  She tried to tell me Chicken Fat on an ingredients list was just like poison for dogs....uh...what?  She also tried to tell me that my dogs should be getting about 75% carbs and veggies because they are domesticated animals and not carnivores.  I literally laughed out loud at her at this one.  I then explained to her that the opposite of carnivore was herbivore, not domestic.  She told me I should feed Barking at the Moon, and that Acana and Orijen were junk.  She quit selling EP because it was low quality, but she sells Purina One.  She told me not to give my dogs raw bones because of bacteria, but I should give them the smoked ones or the rawhides.  And aside from food...well, prongs are bad, but choke chains are great, don't put anything but the Kong Stuffers in a Kong, wire crates are no good, get a plastic one for 3 times as much, and Cuz toys are flimsy so she won't carry them. 

Honestly, we travel 4 hours to go to a certain pet store in TBay to get our food, that's how bad it is here.

 I feed the EP Holistic fish and Oatmeal and I wasn't aware it was low quality, good to know.

I would say the store owner is a stone cold idiot. And I don't say that just because we switched to EP. If a person has such an upside down view of things, and completely gets it wrong on customer relations, they may go out of business. Unless, of course, they are hooked up with organized crime to launder money. In that case, operating at a loss is no big deal because they get their money off the laundered bit, rather than public sales.

did you ask why the store owner felt comfortable selling such "low quality" products? 

mudpuppy

did you ask why the store owner felt comfortable selling such "low quality" products? 

LOL!  Exactly!  The owner of the feed store where I get my sheep stuff and also my dog food explained that for him, there's a couple products he's required by contract to stock because he sells, for instance, Purina line feeds (they make Maxximum Nutrition).  He was also in a long term contract with Purina pet foods so until just recently he sold Pro Plan and whatnot.  He doesn't any more.  He's right around the corner from Pet Smart and Pet Depot which recently arrived, and there's no point in selling at his price point.  He's opted to offer "five and six  star" foods at a good price instead.  Smart guy. 

Unlike that person, who would have seen a big smile from me (my "wow, I can't believe you just did that!" smile), and the back of my head and a quick breeze as I ran out of there as fast as I could go, sans purchase.

What kind of idiot states to a customer that what they are selling is low quality?   The foods you are feeding are excellent.  I'd definitely write a letter stating that you won't be shopping there, you've done research and don't need to be made to feel ignorant while shopping in her store and will find somewhere else to shop.  Maybe you'll get some gift cards for the complaint or something lol. 

brookcove

He's opted to offer "five and six  star" foods at a good price instead.  Smart guy. 

That is very smart. With the big box stores selling what he used to sell, he will get more sales selling the premium if he's the only one in reasonable driving distance doing so. And offering some of the premiums that the box stores may not sell in bulk, though someone has mentioned that Petco will order the food for you by special order, they're just not going to carry it in bulk. I think that goes along with my theory that for Petsmart or Petco to carry a certain food, it must have a certain wholesale price that fits into their retail pricing structure in order to carry it. OTOH, many of the brands are offering their version of "holistic" because that has become a preference in the market.