If you are a dog lover and owner, then you have probably tried GREENIES with your pup before. This brand understands dog dental health better than most. So it probably comes as no surprise that they also understand overall health with our dogs.
As part of the introduction to their new line of complete care for our dogs, they partnered with none other than Dancing with the Stars judge (and former pro dancer) and Emmy winning choreographer Derek Hough. Considering he understands what it takes to be healthy and active, it just feels like a match made in doggy heaven.
The new Greenies line features dry dog food in a variety of flavors and options. We have products for sensitive digestion and skin, high protein for adult dogs, and even an option for small breed dogs. As a pet parent, we all want the best for our dogs. And the same holds true for Derek Hough, who has more than one dog in his life.
And we were lucky enough to get a chance to chat with Derek about not only his partnership with greenies, but also his dog Luna and more.
Derek Hough talks about his partnership with GREENIES, his dog Luna, and what breed of dog he thinks he would be
Dog O'Day: Can you tell me about your partnership with GREENIES and why you wanted to work with them this holiday season?
Derek Hough: "Right now I'm on this 40 city tour. I'm traveling across the country, and there's no way we could do that without our beautiful Luna, our dog. You know, we have five animals at home, but she is by far the most adaptable animal, and she loves being on the road. And we love her being on the road so much, but it's really important that she has a routine. You know what I mean? She has a routine. We wake up, we feed her, and we've always been big fans of GREENIES dog dental treats. As so many are. So we're really excited to find out that they actually have come out with a new dog food line called GREENIES Smart Essentials, which is really good. It's convenient, it's easy to digest ingredients. She loves it.
You know, it's dry food too, so it's easy to travel with, which is really important as well. And it's good because they support six vital areas of our health, digestion and teeth and skin, immune system, muscle and bones and joints. All the six vital areas. And so it's for us to get in that routine, doing that in the morning, take Luna for a walk, and just having her on the road with us has been amazing. So, working with GREENIES has been fantastic. They're the trusted company. They've been around for a long time, and so we're excited that they came up with this new product, and Luna seems to love it. So it's been great."
DOD: Are there any challenges that you find with traveling as a pet parent?
DH: "The biggest problem is finding grass. Yes, honestly, like finding grass. She's fantastic on the bus. She goes right to sleep. She's just like, it rocks like a baby. And in fact, she doesn't just go out and sleep. She comes up on the little bed with us. So we're already crammed in the back and she's spread out on her back, but she's the queen, so we let her do what she wants. But yeah, going to find places for her to go to the bathroom, honestly, are one of the hardest things, especially during the winter time. And if, when we go in cities, like right now we're in Kansas City and there's not a lot of grass, but we found somewhere. So it's funny how you think about, okay, what kind of restaurants do I want to go eat at? What do I want to...No, no, we think about, Okay, where is there grass in the next city we're going to. That's our priority, more than anything else."
DOD: So one of the things with traveling with Luna, do you guys ever get to do things with her that maybe you wouldn't normally get to do?
DH: "Yeah actually, we take her out a lot more, as far as like we'll go into restaurants, or we'll go to cafes, because we never want to leave her in the hotel room or anything like that. I mean, she's with us all day. On show days, of course, she's in the dressing room and she's backstage and stuff. But on our days off, she's with us the entire time. So we're going to monuments or to museums or something like that. So she's getting to see the country. And sometimes we feel bad because we have another dog, Romie, he's at home, and we're like, oh man, I wish Romie was here. But, he's a bit older. He's 15 years old. And so we'll let him just be home, in his little castle at home and rest. But she gets to see the country. It's pretty awesome."
DOD: The holidays are upon us, how are you including your animals into your holiday festivities?
DH: "Well, they are getting all the gifts. You know, it's actually funny. One of our dancers actually was on the laptop, and I'm like, 'What are you doing?' And he's like, 'I'm buying my dogs Christmas gifts.' It's so funny, but we were just in a Dog Bakery here in Kansas City.
But we will be spending time with them, just giving them cuddles and love, because we've been away from a lot of our animals for a couple months. And I have a multiple pictures of Haley, just on the couch with literally all five animals, just like on her and and she just looks at me and she goes, 'this is my heaven.' So, yeah, a little slice of heaven awaits for the holidays. But we're gonna be very relaxed, very chill. We might be spending the day with my sister, Julianne and her dog Sunny and it'll just be a big old animal, festive, joyous time."
DOD: One thing I love to ask everybody is, if you were a dog, what breed do you think you would be?
DH: "Probably a Golden Retriever. I think I've been called that before, and so I didn't quite understand what it meant. And then when I read about it I was like, 'oh yeah, that checks out." I can see myself being a Golden Retriever."
DOD: And for my final question, I wanted to ask, what is one thing that you wish more people knew about you?
DH: "Not to get too deep about this, but you know, it's funny because I do the meet and greets when I'm on tour and I do Q and A's and stuff. And people often say, how you're 'so positive and you have certain outlooks' and I kind of joke, but I'm also serious and say, I think it's because I'm really messed up. Just meaning that there's been lots of things that happened, that I don't know, that just encourage me to seek out sort of concepts or tools and things to use to work through things. So I think sometimes people see the gloss, and they see the veneer, and they see the polished product, if you will. But, I think that just like everybody else, I think there's always heartbreak, there's disappointment, there's struggle, there's all those different types of things. And I think that we all have that. And I think that's the way we connect with a lot of people, I think it is through that."