When I was working in a clinical practice in New York City, food choice conversations came up every day. 

Frequently, dog parents were seeking a higher quality option than the traditional dry or wet diets. They didn’t have the time to manage home cooking, and raw foods came with lots of risks to both dog and human family members. 

My husband, Michael, and I co-founded Sundays for Dogs as we considered this question at home one night. We realized an air-dried recipe could be the ideal sweet spot for dog health and human convenience.

The benefits of air drying food for dogs and dog parents

All of Sundays for Dogs’ recipes start with high quality, human-grade ingredients — and we hold our entire manufacturing process to human-grade standards. This ensures our food is as healthy and safe as possible all the way to your dog’s bowl, and your dog gets the maximum nutritional benefits from it. 

Our ingredients are gently cooked, enough to kill pathogens while avoiding the ultra-processing required to make kibble. As a result, our recipes are easily digestible, while still avoiding the risk of potential pathogens found in raw foods. 

The real benefit of air-drying food is the versatility. Our air-dried food can be stored at room temperature for as long as 8 weeks once open, or 12 months sealed, with no refrigeration or freezing required — and no artificial preservatives needed either. It couldn’t be easier to store or take on the go; air-dried food can go everywhere your dog does, from traveling and adventures, to a stay at the sitter’s, or even fed on a walk as treats. 

How Sundays arrived at our air dried recipe

Sundays’ air-dried recipes were designed by me, a veterinarian, alongside a team of nutritionists, both PhD Animal Nutritionists and Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists. 

To create a dog food that’s truly better than what already existed needed two things — healthier for the dog, and practical for the dog parent. In veterinary school we’re taught about this concept of “adherence,” and how if the recommended course of care isn’t feasible for the pet parent, it’s not a useful recommendation. 

Home cooking food allows you to avoid the harms of ultra-processing, but isn’t a realistic solution for most people. Even services that deliver frozen food ask a lot of customers to manage freezer inventory, daily thawing, and a lot of mess — let alone the massive amounts of frozen water being shipped around in the food and packaging. 

Once we settled on air-drying as a technique to preserve natural nutrition, in a format no more complex to use than the dry food most people are already feeding, we flew to New Zealand with my 4 month old daughter (who slept the entire way!) to learn more about the techniques. After returning home to the States, and 100 iterations later, we found a domestic partner who could deliver what we wanted.

How does air drying food work?

Air-drying food is an ancient process. Some cultures are dated as having actively dried their foods as early as 12,000BC. From using the sun, to specially constructed drying buildings, and eventually techniques like smoking, it’s a practice about as old as civilization!

Using state of the art facilities, we air-dry our food by mixing our raw ingredients together, then slowly heating them to between 140ºF to 180ºF. As the water and moisture evaporates during this dehydration process, it destroys and prevents the growth of any potential bacteria, yeast, or mold. 

Simultaneously, the natural nutrients in our healthy ingredients are locked in. Your dog gets all of the nutritional benefits of the blend of high quality meats, and superfoods like blueberries, kale, and fish oil. Air-drying also concentrates the flavor of those ingredients, making a meal dogs go crazy for, with zero synthetic flavors! 

The result is a food with the texture of a jerky, not biscuity and crumbly like a piece of kibble. It’s softer to chew, less messy and dusty, yet still stores easily at room temperature.  

Recipes designed by vets and veterinary nutritionists 

A technique like air-drying might be novel in the dog food world, but we’ve worked with veterinary nutritionists to create recipes that are healthy for dogs to eat every day. 

All of our recipes are nutritionally complete and balanced to AAFCO standards, using only naturally occurring nutrients from our fresh, healthy ingredients. There are no synthetics (which also helps with palatability for pickier dogs) and plenty of superfoods, supporting everything from digestive and immune systems to skin and coat. 

We also tailor portion recommendations to your unique dog, making it as simple as possible to feed a healthy food that dogs love, in quantities that feed their longevity. 

Try Sundays for Dogs’ air dried recipes today!

With Sundays for Dogs’ recipes, we’ve made it as easy as possible to feed your dog a healthy diet. 

To get started and try an air-dried diet for your dog, just click here. Tell us a little about your dog, and we’ll provide tailored portioning guidance just for their needs — and our customer service team is standing by to offer any assistance. 

Get started feeding the dog food of the future, today!