If one of my articles simply appeared in your Substack feed because the title sounded like something going on with your dog, welcome.
You may have no idea who I am, what The WellOiledK9 is, or why there is a paid membership attached to this Substack.
So let me start there.
The Well Oiled K9 Membership is not simply a paid newsletter.
Substack is one part of a much larger education and support membership I’ve built for dog parents who want to understand their dogs better, make more informed wellness decisions and have a useful place to come back to when the next question comes up.
And with dogs, there is always a next question.
Who Am I — And Why Am I Teaching This?
I’m Dana Brigman, a Certified Holistic Pet Health Coach and canine nutritionist (Cert.CN), and I’ve spent more than a decade working professionally with dogs and their people.
My work actually started heavily on the behavior and training side, but over the years it became impossible for me to separate behavior from what was happening physically in the dog. Food matters. Digestion matters. Pain, hormones, stress, sleep, the nervous system and the environment all matter. What we put on, in and around our dogs matters too.
That is what led me deeper into canine nutrition, fresh feeding, aromatherapy, herbs, homeopathy, Reiki and other complementary approaches to wellness.
Today, I look at the whole dog. Your Dog.
That might mean helping a pet parent improve the food bowl, understand allergies, support a senior dog, think through digestive problems, learn how to use natural remedies more confidently or recognize that an anxious or reactive dog may have more going on than a training problem.
I do not believe every dog needs a complicated protocol and twelve supplements.
I also do not believe every question should end with “ask your vet” and no further explanation.
Veterinary care matters. So does understanding your own dog well enough to notice changes, ask better questions and make thoughtful decisions.
That middle ground is where much of my work lives.
Why I Built The Membership
I kept watching dog parents get good information, use it successfully, and then end up right back at square one when the next issue came along.
Maybe the dog stopped eating.
Maybe diarrhea showed up.
Maybe an allergy flare started.
Maybe their senior suddenly seemed different.
Maybe they wanted to improve the diet, learn more about essential oils, understand a supplement or figure out whether something they were seeing was worth worrying about.
Then back to Google or FB they went.
And Google can give you 4,000 answers, three sponsored products and six new reasons to panic before breakfast
Social media can be even worse. Ask one dog question in a large Facebook group and by lunchtime someone will have told you to change the food, never change the food, give pumpkin, never give pumpkin, fire your veterinarian and buy seven supplements and what a terrible pet parent you are. 😂
I wanted to build something more useful than that.
The Well Oiled K9 Membership gives you a place to learn, ask questions, find reliable resources and gradually become much better at understanding your own dog.
What Will You Learn Inside The Membership?
This is not about memorizing protocols.
It is about learning how to think through your dog’s wellness more confidently.
Inside the membership, we talk about things like:
Nutrition & Fresh Food — improving the bowl, fresh feeding, homemade food, ingredients, protein rotation, fats, hydration and feeding through different stages of life.
Natural Remedies — essential oils, herbs, homeopathy, botanicals and when each type of support may make sense.
Digestive Health — diarrhea, reflux, poor appetite, nausea, food sensitivities, elimination diets and recurring GI problems.
Chronic Health Concerns — education and supportive strategies around conditions involving the kidneys, liver, pancreas, thyroid, heart, skin, immune system and more.
Senior Dogs & Longevity — mobility, cognition, nutrition, prevention and helping older dogs stay comfortable and engaged.
Behavior & The Whole Dog — anxiety, reactivity, stress, nervous-system health and the physical pieces that can influence behavior.
Seasonal Wellness — parasites, environmental exposures, detoxification, immune support and proactive seasonal care.
First Aid & Everyday Questions — the things dog parents actually need when something happens and they are trying to decide what belongs in the “watch it,” “support it” or “call the vet” category.
And because dogs rarely arrive with one tidy little problem living in its own box, we also talk about how those pieces connect.
What Does Membership Actually Include?
Here is where the membership becomes very different from the typical paid Substack.
Member-Only Education
You’ll receive deeper articles and educational posts here on Substack, along with ongoing discussion around the topics I teach and the things I’m seeing in my work.
Live Q&A and Zoom Sessions
Members can participate in live sessions where we talk through questions, current topics and practical wellness issues. Replays are available when you cannot attend live.
A Growing Support-Guide Library
The member area includes a growing collection of wellness guides, troubleshooting resources, seasonal support material and practical references you can return to when something comes up with your dog.
The Remedies Class
Annual members receive access to my complete Remedies Class covering essential oils, herbs, homeopathy, botanicals, first-aid resources and practical ways to build a useful natural-remedy toolkit.
The Homemade Food Class
Annual members also receive my complete Homemade Food Class, designed to teach you how to think about balanced fresh food instead of simply following one recipe forever.
Community & Conversation
You can ask questions, participate in Substack Chat and learn from the questions other dog parents are asking too.
Resource Direction
Sometimes the biggest problem is not that information doesn’t exist — it’s that you have no idea which piece applies to your dog.
Part of my role is helping you find the right guide, class, article or next step instead of getting lost in a giant information library.
Member Discounts
Members receive discounts on eligible guides and private services when a situation needs more individualized support.
What Membership Is NOT
This part matters just as much.
The membership is education and group support.
It is not unlimited private coaching, emergency support, custom diet formulation, individualized treatment protocols, detailed lab interpretation or ongoing case management.
Sometimes your question will have a straightforward educational answer.
Sometimes I can point you to exactly the right resource.
And sometimes your question tells me your dog needs a deeper review.
When that happens, I will tell you.
I would much rather say, “This needs more than a membership answer,” than pretend every complicated dog can be responsibly managed in a comment thread.
You Do Not Have to Be “Super Holistic”
You do not need to arrive here feeding a perfectly balanced raw diet from a stainless steel bowl while diffusing Frankincense and growing medicinal herbs in the backyard. 😂
Some members are deeply immersed in natural wellness already. Others are just beginning.
Some feed fresh food. Some are trying to improve kibble. Some use herbs, essential oils or homeopathy regularly. Others have never used any of them.
Some are managing chronic health problems. Others have healthy dogs and are primarily interested in prevention and longevity.
There is no purity test at the door.
My approach tends to be food-first, whole-dog and lower-tox. I like fresh food. I use essential oils, herbs and homeopathy. I think prevention deserves much more attention than it usually receives.
But I also work in the real world.
You start where you are.
Why Substack Then?
The WellOiledK9 existed long before I started using Substack.
I am here because Substack gives us something a traditional website does not do particularly well: conversation.
I can publish something, you can respond to it, members can use Chat, we can keep discussions going and I can communicate directly with people who actually want to hear from me.
But Substack is not the entirety of the membership.
The simplest way I can explain it is:
Substack is where you subscribe and where part of the conversation happens.
The WellOiledK9 Membership is what you are actually joining.
Some of your membership experience happens here.
Some happens in the larger member resource library.
Some happens during live sessions and Q&A.
And some of the value is simply having someplace useful to start the next time you find yourself staring at your dog thinking, Okay… now what?
Why Join?
Because you are probably already spending money on your dog.
Food.
Supplements.
Veterinary visits.
Products somebody recommended online.
Things you tried because they sounded promising.
Sometimes the most valuable thing you can have is not another product.
It is better information before you buy the next one.
The membership is designed to help you:
understand what may matter first;
recognize when you are dealing with a foundation problem instead of a supplement problem;
ask better questions;
make more intentional decisions;
understand the options available to you;
stop starting from scratch every time something changes with your dog.
My goal is to help you become much better at understanding and advocating for your dog.
Current Membership Pricing
The membership has grown considerably from what it was when I originally priced it.
Beginning September 1, 2026, new membership pricing will be:
$49/month
or
$399/year
But through August 31, you can still join annually through Substack for $150/year.
And this is important:
If you join at $150/year through Substack before August 31 and keep that annual subscription active, your renewal price remains $150/year.
That is not just a first-year promotional price.
You keep that rate for future annual renewals while your subscription remains active.
If you cancel and later decide to return, you will rejoin at whatever the membership price is at that time.
I am comfortable giving early members that advantage because you are joining while I am still actively expanding and organizing the membership.
You came early.
You get the cheap seats. 😂
If You Just Found Me Today
You do not have to decide anything because one article landed in your feed.
Read some of my public posts.
See how I think.
See whether my approach to dogs makes sense to you.
But if you are already the dog parent who wants to understand more, be more proactive and have a reliable place to turn when the next question comes up, I would love to have you inside the membership.
And if you are reading this before August 31, this is also your chance to lock in the $150 annual membership price before it changes.
You can join or upgrade directly here on Substack.
Questions are always welcome.
Welcome to The WellOiledK9.
Dana
