March 21, 2005

From Dynamite Director Lila Hlebichuk, Denver, CO

I live within a few miles of Chatfield State Park/Reservoir. I love to take my dogs for walks in this park where they have a dog training area with trails and ponds and dogs can be off lead. Giardia is what I like to refer to as Colorado's beloved state parasite. Although it is the most common waterborne parasite in the United States, it is so pervasive in Colorado that most veterinarians won't treat it if found in a fecal sample unless the dog is symptomatic. The symptom is diarrhea, sometimes with mucous. I'm not sure why Sara, my truly beloved, specialty winning, champion, smooth coated collie was so susceptible to this parasite. I have always been very conscientious about what my dogs are fed. I had also been separating vaccines as much as possible and she was very active and looked spectacular. I was showing and training Sara in conformation, agility competition, obedience competition and backpacking many miles with her. She seemed to love it all. Something however, was out of balance as Sara contracted giardia when she was almost 2 years old and was indeed symptomatic. For the next nine years I dealt with mucous stools, lots and lots and lots and lots of accidents, especially if I was running late for work. I was starting to resent this beautiful, wonderful, giving, loving creature. I spent close to $400 on fecal tests one year. I tried regular vets with heavy medications, holistic vets, acupuncture, an animal communicator (not our Joan), an intuitive vet, homeopathic remedies, pro-biotics of every type imaginable, homemade diets, raw diets, special prescription dog foods. They all worked; for a short time. I was using Dynamite® products for my horses and also just beginning my study of microbial balancing. The DynaPro made sense to me since it wasn't about adding a live culture, which didn't work for us anyway. It was about balancing the gut so the good microbes would flourish thereby creating an inhospitable place for the so called ":bad" microbes. In July of 2003, when Sara was 11.5 years, I put her on daily DynaPro, the Dynamite® dog food and a 28 day Herbal Tonic cleanse. I had hoped the things I had tried before would work, but this time I KNEW we were on the right track. However, after 28 days there was no change. She still had accidents and mucous in her stools. I was devastated. I had been so sure that this was indeed the solution. I now felt there was nothing else I could do and resigned myself that this was our lot in life. I kept up with the DynaPro and the dog food because microbial balancing and the quality of Dynamite® products made so much sense to me. I felt it was still the best thing I could do for her. After another two weeks I was cleaning the yard and noticed there were no mucous stools and believe me you notice those. The next day I watched her to make sure and it was true. It is also true that the road to true health can take patience. She has been clear ever since and turned 13 in January 2005. She still has her schoolgirl figure and looks spectacular. She has very little stiffness, which I attribute to a lifetime of Ester C supplementation. The DynaPro did not "blast" the giardia. It got her in balance so she could resist the giardia as well as heal her ravaged digestive system from all the past medications. So often we think we need to annihilate those entities we perceive as being bad. Nature does not think any of her creatures are bad and annihilation means imbalance. For the last few years every item imaginable has been advertised as anti-bacterial. Now I see they've switched the terminology to anti-microbial. I remember hearing a story once that Mother Theresa was asked to join an anti-war march. She declined saying if they ever held a march for peace she would be happy to participate. So what is the difference? I refer to the book Power vs. Force by Dr. David Hawkins, MD. Everything has energy and that energy has the power to weaken or strengthen. Anti weakens, pro strengthens. DynaPro is pro-balance and pro-health. It is not anti anything. Hip, hip hooray for DynaPro power!

Sara, also known as Ch.Pinewynd's Sunrise Seranade CD,NA,VC,TT,CGC,CERF,OFA, is a specialty best of variety winning breed champion (Ch.) with a novice obedience title (CD) obtained when she was 12 years old, a novice agility title (NA) obtained three months before her 9th birthday where she was required to jump the highest jumps of 24 inches. Sara also has a versatility title (VA) awarded by the American Working Collie Association, and has passed both the Canine Good Citizen test (CGC) and the Temperament Test (TT). She has soundness certifications for normal eyes (CERF) and normal hips (OFA). She has completed the requirements for a backpacking title (BPD) from the AWCA. Her full brother André, is the top producing (based on number of champions sired) smooth coated Collie of all times and second top producing Collie (rough or smooth coated) in the history of the breed.