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About us: Roxy, Bracken and Honest Dog Food

By Chris and Steph

We're Chris and Steph, and we share our home with two dogs: Roxy, a 10-year-old mixed breed, and Bracken, a 3-year-old border collie. This site is everything we've learned about raw feeding since switching them to Bella & Duke about three years ago.

Bracken, a black and white border collie, and Roxy, a tan mixed breed, sitting side by side and looking at the camera

Meet the dogs

Roxy, our 10-year-old tan mixed breed, licking her lips in a studio portrait
Roxy10, mixed breed. Our senior.
Bracken, our 3-year-old border collie, running towards the camera through autumn woods
Bracken3, border collie. Young and very active.

Why we feed raw

We didn’t start with raw. We tried Tails.com, Butternut Box and other raw brands, and the other foods either didn't agree with the dogs' tummies or the quality wasn't good enough. Bella & Duke is the one that stuck. About three years on, this is what we’ve noticed in our two:

  • Clean bowls, every mealBoth finish everything and are keen at mealtimes. No more fussing or leftovers.
  • Smaller, firmer poosA noticeable change, and easier pick-ups on walks.
  • Better coats and skinShinier coats and less scratching than before.
  • Steadier weight, more pepEasier to keep both at a healthy weight, with plenty of energy.

The one downside: finding freezer space, which is the same with any frozen raw food.

This is what we noticed in our two dogs, not a promise of what any food will do for yours. A starting point, not veterinary advice. Ask your vet before changing your dog's diet, especially for puppies, pregnant or nursing dogs, or dogs with a health condition.

You’ll see lick mats in a lot of our photos. We feed them that way because they love the food so much they'd scoff it all in one go, so spreading it on a lick mat slows them down.

Bracken and Roxy lying down to finish their lick mats
Two empty, licked-clean steel dog bowls on a stone floor

That’s our experience with two dogs, not a promise about yours. Raw also comes with real handling risks, which is why our safety guide is one of the first things we wrote, and why we’re honest in raw vs cooked and raw vs kibble about when another food is the better choice.

Why Honest Dog Food?

Because honesty is the one thing we could promise that most dog food sites can’t. We’re customers, not a brand or an affiliate network, so we can tell you the downsides, show you a better offer when there is one, and say plainly when another food would suit your dog better. The name isn’t connected to any shop or brand.

How we stay independent

The Honest Dog Food promise

  1. 01Not affiliated with any brandWe're Bella & Duke customers who share a friend code. Nobody pays us to write about them, and we don't accept free products for review.
  2. 02Downsides firstPrice, freezer space and handling raw meat come before the good bits, so you can rule a food out quickly.
  3. 03Every figure sourced and datedPrices, offers and scores link to where we found them, with the date we last checked.
  4. 04Better offers, even when we earn nothingIf another code or brand would save you more or suit your dog better, we say so.
  5. 05Only what our dogs actually did"We" means Roxy, Bracken and us. Everything else is researched, and we never make health claims.
  6. How this works in practice: our editorial policy and how we make money.
  • Every figure comes from a primary source, with the date we checked it. See our editorial policy.
  • We only say “we” about things we’ve actually done with our own dogs. Everything else is researched and sourced.
  • We’re dog owners, not vets. Nothing here is veterinary advice.
  • The full detail is on how we make money.

Get in touch

Spotted something out of date, or got a question we haven’t answered? Email hello@honestdogfood.co.uk or use the contact page.

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