If you enjoy country music, then you may already be familiar with Chris Lane. With three albums under his belt, his is a voice we know. And now, he and his wife Lauren are using their voices to help raise awareness about pet obesity with the help of Hill’s and their annual End Pet Obesity Campaign.
You might be wondering why Chris Lane and Lauren are taking part in this campaign, but they are avid animal lovers and as pet parents, it actually does make sense that they would be mindful of something like pet obesity. In fact, it seems as if one of their pups even needed a little help with their weight and they actually turned to Hill’s in order to help their pup lose the pounds.
We had the chance to chat with both Chris Lane and Lauren Bushnell Lane about their dogs, their partnership with Hill’s, and why they think this campaign is important.
Chris Lane and his wife Lauren partnered with Hill’s on their Annual End Pet Obesity Campaign
Dog O’Day: So first, I wanted to ask more about your pets. What pets do you have? What are their names? How did you get them?
Chris Lane:
"Yeah, so our dogs, their names are Cooper and Chloe. You know, to give you a little backstory on how they came into our lives, Cooper was the first that my wife rescued. He was left at a dog park with a sign that said can’t take care of him and his brother. And when Lauren’s friends who started Wags and Walks here in Nashville, called and said, ‘Can you potentially watch this dog until we find them forever homes?’ I was out on the road touring at the time, and I get a FaceTime call from my wife, and she’s holding a puppy in her hands and the first thing I’m thinking is there’s no way that we can take on a dog right now because we just traveled so much.It’s going to add a little more stress than we need into our lives at the time. But I am incredibly thankful that we were able to keep him because he has truly been… I know every dog parent says this about their dog, but he’s truly been the biggest blessing to our life in the best way. And Chloe, who was rescued in a very similar fashion, I was out on the road and got a very similar FaceTime call from my wife who was fostering her at the time. And it turned into the same exact situation and she has also been a major blessing in our life. Two completely different dogs but these dogs are I mean, I’ve never seen dogs love each other more than these two love each other. It’s weird."
Lauren Bushnell Lane:
"They are the best of friends and needless to say, I have been banned from fostering anytime soon. At least until our two children get a little bit older, then maybe I’ll be allowed to foster again. But yeah, they both complete our family and they were our first children."
Dog O’Day: So what inspired you guys to partner with Hill’s on this particular campaign?
LBL:
"So actually, this all kind of started at a vet visit for us back in the summer time for both of our dogs. They kind of had their annual visit and our vet was like, I actually wasn’t there Chris took them in but he was like, Chloe needs to drop some weight.We know she loves to eat and we know she loves food and that’s her favorite time of the day but he’s the one who kind of got that conversation going. And then we just as pet parents, didn’t really know what to do, honestly, because I feel like our dogs live a healthy lifestyle in terms of walks with a big backyard, they exercise all that stuff. We keep them busy, but in terms of the actual weight management, we didn’t really know what else to do. So that’s kind of where Hill’s came in.And so we’re really excited to partner with them because they have a great line of weight management dog food. It makes it so easy for pet parents. You don’t have to cut back on what you’re feeding them and feel guilty that you’re holding out on them and they’re not getting what they’re used to eating."
CL:
"For Chloe’s sake that is a very important piece because I think it’d be very hard to cut back her portion and with the Hill’s product, we don’t have to do so."
LBL:
"I’m sure a lot of pet parents are like me where I show my dogs love by feeding them. And so I would feel really bad doing that to her. So it’s just been a really easy way for us to manage their health and their weight because obviously, I mean we didn’t even realize that she was overweight and even a few pounds on a dog can really negatively impact their health. And obviously we want our dogs to live a healthy, long life. So we’re excited about this partnership because hopefully it’ll help other pet parents to manage their dog’s weight and keep their pets healthy."
DOD: How difficult is it being a pet parent with such busy schedules?
CL:
"I mean, it definitely makes it a little harder when you travel as much as we do. But now that we have two young boys we’re at home a little bit more. I’m taking a little time off in the beginning of this year to be here to write all that kind of stuff. But obviously we’ll get back out there and start touring pretty heavy here right after the first quarter of the year. So yeah, it’s definitely hard. We actually try to get them a walk in every single day. You know, they also go to this place it’s the funniest thing we’ve ever seen because this bus will show up at our house. He’s got all a bunch of dogs in there our dogs jump in there.And they go down to a place here in Tennessee where they get to run around and we do that for them every single week. And that helps us get one day of them out of the house and you know they arrive back here around 5pm exhausted for a couple of days."
DOD: We are Dog O’Day, and we have to ask if you were one breed of dog what would you be and why?
CL:
"Yeah, that’s a great question. I mean, I honestly feel like Lauren tells me that I kind of look like Cooper, our dog, and even fans have commented and said I feel like Cooper and Chris look similar.I would say, I mean we got a little DNA test done for him a long time ago and he was part Beagle part Australian cattle dog, so I guess I’d be a little mix."
LBL:
"I feel like I would be maybe like a Chihuahua. Growing up, we had a Chihuahua and she loved the sun, like she would just sit in the sun and sunbathe. And I think that’s a common thing with Chihuahuas. They love to just be warm and cuddled up and cozy and like cuddle in the sun or like with blankets around the fire, so I feel like I would be a Chihuahua because I too love to be warm and cuddly."
You can follow Chris Lane over on Instagram, and we also recommend not only checking out his post with Hill’s, but of course his music!