the honest library
Short, straight guides grounded in the published evidence - every number cited, every claim checkable. Written by Ben, co-founder, for owners who are tired of being sold to.
Why dogs itch, how to read the clues, what your vet will check first, and the one test that actually answers the food question.
8 min read→
Ingredients are listed by weight, and everything else is marketing. The five-minute skill that changes how you buy dog food.
7 min read→Itchy skin, ear infections, the food question - what the evidence actually says.
Ears, paws, year-round itching and a dodgy tummy - the pattern that makes food worth testing, and the signs that point elsewhere.
The only reliable test for food allergy in dogs: how it works, why the shortcuts fail, and what counts as a proper novel protein.
Beef, dairy and chicken top every list of confirmed dog food allergens - not because they're villains, but because they're everywhere. Including where you'd never expect.
Switching food to test an allergy? This series walks the whole eight weeks, honestly - what to expect and when.
The baseline shots to film before you switch your dog's food, and how to take week-by-week clips you can actually compare.
The day-by-day plan for moving your dog onto a new food, what's normal in week one, and when to slow down.
A couple of soft poos after switching food is usually the gut adjusting. What's normal, what needs the vet, and the myth to ignore.
Gut problems can respond to a food change in about two weeks. Skin takes far longer. The timeline the studies actually show.
A food trial only works if nothing else passes your dog's lips. The seven things that break trials in real households, ranked.
Half of food-allergic dogs haven't improved by week three. What the studies say about the quiet middle of a food trial, and what to check.
Week five is the biggest milestone in a food trial - more than 8 in 10 food-allergic dogs are dramatically better by now. What to do either way.
Week six is the honest checkpoint of a food trial. What no improvement really tells you, and why finishing the eight weeks still matters.
How to film an after shot that actually matches your day-one footage, plus the happy shot that makes the whole eight weeks worth it.
The optional last step of a food trial: reintroduce the old food, watch what happens, and know for certain. How to do it safely.
Labels, proteins and poo - the unglamorous knowledge that makes you hard to mislead.
Why a protein most dogs have never met matters for allergies, what the nutrition actually looks like, and the caveats we'd rather tell you ourselves.
Form, colour, frequency and what they mean - the daily health readout most owners scoop straight into the bin.
the food behind the library
Some Grub is a cold-pressed, hypoallergenic dog food built around insect protein - a protein most dogs have never met, which is the whole point of a food trial.
See the food→