Commercial fishing to specialist dog food - living the dream with TameWolf

Waikato-based Jacob Hatten went from living life on the seas to settling down in the Waikato and launching his own raw pet food brand. He talks to us about why he’s an advocate for the raw pet food diet, and how he came about launching TameWolf.

“My dream job was always commercial fishing. I couldn't shake this childhood dream of wanting to go to sea and see big icebergs, chase big storms ... so I left my job and went out to commercial fishing and had the best time of my life. I did that for four or five years before I met my wife, Tiri.”

After returning to the Waikato and taking a job at a pet food abattoir, Jacob was super-impressed with the quality control of the business, and being a dog lover
was bringing home and feeding his dog the product. 

"I only took this job as a temporary job between commercial fishing and figuring out what I wanted to do next, but I decided I was pretty keen to get into selling this pet food myself,” he says.

"I was seeing the difference the food was making in my dog's health and behaviour, and I know what's in it, it's really natural and basic. It's like a paleo for dogs. So after convincing everyone it was a good idea, I invested in a trailer and went for it." 

After launching in May last year, the company has now launched in Auckland and partnered with The Dog Den, based in Takapuna and Silverdale, who are TameWolf's exclusive stockists in the region. The Dog Den are an award-winning outfit offering daycare, training and grooming services. 

“The folks at Dog Den are super dedicated to animals, really genuine people and we are super excited to have them on board,” Jacob says.

Raw pet food can make significant changes to a pet’s health, and Jacob says pet owners can expect to see improvements pretty quickly. He says the differences to standard supermarket pet food is huge.

“There are no additives, no preservatives, no fillers – nothing that dogs can't process easily. So they get smaller stools, shinier coats, they get a lot less skin conditions and things like that, and dogs who tend to get a lot of allergens don't get them as much,” Jacob says. 

“The bones help cleanse and clear out their bowels, the frozen blocks clean their teeth really well, they get less bloating, they build more muscle rather than fat, so it's good if your dog is struggling with weight. It's an all round better product.

“We do encourage people to do their own research and talk to a few people who have been feeding raw, because there is so much contradictory information out there,” he adds. 

“You want to find out what resonates with you and find what you feel is the best thing to feed your pet. You can usually see an improvement in your pet pretty quickly, and you can tell if your pet isn't happy.”

Since launching last year, Jacob says feedback on the TameWolf's raw product has been fantastic. 

"A lot of people are finding it is a lot meatier than some of the other raw brands, with others saying their dogs won't even eat other dog food now. And people are really impressed with the value for money,” he says. 

“But the biggest thing for me is when people come in and tell us about their pets and how much they love them, how good they are looking, seeing photos of people's dogs eating a big meaty bone, seeing them eating some meat and just loving it."

TameWolf currently offers 12 different flavours of pet food including salmon and lamb, venison and lamb, beef, and chicken and hoki. 

For more information on what Tamewolf products are available and where you can find them check out their website: www.tamewolf.co.nz

You can follow both The Dog Den and TameWolf on social media.

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