How Wolfried Came to Life (and Refuses to Be Just Another Brand)

When I say, “life is about the dogs”, people either assume I’m the crazy dog lady or am exaggerating. Let me be precise: our life is the dogs. Everything in our world revolves around them. It’s not cute. It’s not curated. It’s deliberate. Five dogs at all times, all sizes, all ages—including one beautifully disabled soul who reminds us daily that care isn’t a trend, it’s a commitment. From that dog life, Wolfried was born. Wolfried is a lived brand, not a lifestyle brand.

Over the past 15 years, we’ve had eight dogs. Never fewer than five. I was the child who got told “no” when I begged for a West Highland White Terrier. My response to my father? “When I grow up, I’ll have all the dogs in the world.” And I meant it. I still do. I am just not a hoarder (that’s the responsible answer, isn’t it?).

The Return

But when we lost Sir Francis Drake, our heart-Doberman, something shifted. His death didn’t just leave a big gaping hole; it lit a fuse. We started asking more questions. Not the superficial ones. The uncomfortable ones. Why do some dogs die too early, even when they’re fed "right"? Why does so much advice contradict itself? Why does everything—natural or not—feel like someone’s marketing funnel?

So I went back to what I knew: Research. Science. Patterns. I had spent years before this full return to reason and evidence caring full-time for my disabled mother, which meant I was busy putting out other fires, too busy to even truly recognize that something in the pet world didn’t add up. But when I finally pulled the thread, I found myself growing disillusioned with both sides. Conventional medicine offered band-aids. Holistic products often offer fantasy. And somewhere in between sat the truth—muddied, inconvenient, rarely click-worthy.

WOLFRIED.

That’s where Wolfried. begins. Wolfried. practices Renaissance Canine Nurtrition™ through Wolfried’s Realistic Holistic™ Method.

Wolfried is not just a service or product. Our stance is food first. That means no pill, powder, or potion will ever replace the foundation: real, species-appropriate nourishment. What we create or recommend as supplements is designed to support—not overshadow—what you feed. We formulate to complement personalized raw and fresh diets, not to patch up dry food. And we build on what nature already intended, not what the feed industry rebranded as “complete.”

Everything we offer is straight-shooting, transparently formulated, or, in the case of supplemental products, sourced and backed by evidence where available—and honest about limitations where it isn’t, which we call Realistic Holistic ™. Because clarity matters more than claims. And you deserve the whole picture.

Who Inspired Us

The name Wolfried is, in part, a nod to Friedrich der Große (Frederick the Great), the king who significantly shaped the area I am from: Berlin, Germany. When I read how he lived with his dogs—really saw them—I felt right at home. In his time, animals weren’t individuals. ‘Pets’ were mostly assets. Yet Friedrich’s relationship with his dogs cut through centuries of disconnect. He recognized something we’re still fighting to reclaim today: dogs are not ornaments. They are not projects. They are beings. And they deserve better than what most of the pet market has to offer to them and their caretakers.

So no, Wolfried is not a trend. It’s a return. A return to feeding with intention. To question with boldness. To honor dogs not with cute packaging or “clean” promises, but with real, rooted, rigorously crafted support.

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