BLACKFOOT — It started when Bostun Hansen decided he wanted to find a premium dog food at a better price. He didn’t just find a food for his dogs; he found a product he believes in so much that he became a regional dealer.

He started his search on a website called dogfoodadvisor.com.

“What they do is take dog foods and pull them apart piece by piece, tell you what they do like and don’t like about each ingredient,” he said.

Hansen has always had German Shepherds, a dog known for a tendency for hip and joint problems. Historically, he has used premium dog foods, adding other products to help supplement their hip and joint health. What he found in his search was Extreme Dog Fuel, a product that takes those concerns into consideration and adds the ingredients to boost hip and joint health.

“I started researching it and found I could get it close by,” Hansen said. “I started feeding it to my dogs, and I liked the results.”

His biggest indicator he found the right feed was his 14-year-old shepherd, whose food he was supplementing. He said that dog has been more agile and mobile since starting him on Extreme Dog Fuel than he ever was on the old feed with the supplements.

“Extreme Dog Fuel is very nutrient dense,” Hansen said. “It’s more calorie dense than other feeds, so you feed them less. There is also a lot less to clean up because they are using everything that is in this feed rather than it just passing through.”

He started telling his other people about it, and they wanted to try it. Hansen found himself suddenly ordering Extreme Dog Fuel by the pallet rather than the bag, becoming the single source of the feed for his friends. When it became two pallets at a time, he started looking deeper into the company and found there was an opportunity for a product dealer in Southeast Idaho.

He formed Idaho Extreme Dog Fuel DC and has been getting deliveries by the semi load ever since. He says business is brisk and he will go through a semi load in about two months. He has 12 retail operations he works with and about 75 individual customers he still delivers feed to.

“It’s getting busier and taking off,” Hansen said. “It’s creeping into my full-time job more and more all the time.”

Extreme Dog Fuel is based in Magnolia, Arkansas, and has been around since 2002. It only recently found a Western distributor for the product when Roger Kynaston, a dog trainer in Altamont, Utah, stumbled upon Extreme Dog Fuel looking for a better feed for his dogs.

Kynaston has had thousands of dogs come through his facility for training and is a dog owner as well. He has searched throughout the years for the best feed for the dogs in his care and, like many, opted for a long time for the combination of the best feed he could find with supplements to round out the nutrition. He continued his search for a better dog food.

“The foods are always lacking in complete balanced nutrition,” he said. “We had to spend extra money and work to have supplements to add to the feed to get any kind of decent results out of it.”

Almost three years ago, he found Extreme Dog Fuel and Kynaston says he saw results immediately in his own dogs and those he was training for others.

“I saw a difference in trainability,” he said. “Their thought process is different, and the only difference is the food.”

That led Kynaston to look deeper into Extreme Dog Fuel, and he realized there was an opportunity. He created BlackLine Sales Solutions, through which he secured the distribution rights for Extreme Dog Fuel for the Western U.S., which for the company constitutes about 75% of the country, Kynaston said.

A customer base had already built up in the Intermountain West through word of mouth and others researching the food on their own, similar to Hansen’s experience. As a distributor, Kynaston received his first truck of product in January of 2024.

“Within four days that first truckload was gone,” he said. “It was 1,100 bags on 22 pallets. We pulled the first pallet off on January 21, and by the 25th, we ordered two more semis.”

Since then, he has brought in several dealers, like Hansen, and turned some of those into distribution points. He has distribution centers in Idaho, Utah, Oregon, Wyoming, Texas and Ohio.

“I just started this so I could help supply it locally so I could buy it,” Kynaston said. “It really snowballed from there.”

Beyond the benefits they are seeing in their dogs, Hansen and Kynaston both said Extreme Dog Fuel also brings affordability, priced a little lower than other brands. Hansen said although it comes in a 40-pound bag, compared to a 50-pound bag for most other premium dog foods, it lasts longer because you are feeding the dog less due to how much more nutrient-dense the food is.

Those interested in feeding their dogs Extreme Dog Fuel can reach Hansen at 208-680-5564. Those considering dealer opportunities can reach out to Extreme Dog Fuel directly through their website, extremedogfuel.com.