Happy HowlReviews of thehappyhowl.com

Would like a better notice when I have up coming orders so I can make changes if necessary. Other than that my dogs love the food

wished delivery was a little faster. food is top notch. web site is easy and efficient.

My Powder is eating this better than she have other pet foods.

I believe you have a good product and pets like it. Reasonably priced. The one thing is there is not a better variety. Need more different meals.

The food looked great the packaging is great. My picky furbaby that eats everything but her food will eat it on her own time and sometimes when I hand feed it. Still early only on her 3rd day though but hopefully she will get a little better.

Good svc . Trying to still find the right flavor for my pup.

I really like the product and so do my dogs! My only criticism is regarding the packaging. My hands are somewhat arthritic and I find they are difficult to open. And once open they are messy to manipulate and close. Any improvements would be welcome. Thank you

My dogs genuinely love Happy Howl food, and I want to start with the positives. The food appears to be high quality, my dogs are excited to eat it, the packaging is attractive, and the cartons are convenient and easy to open. I would be very happy with the product if I could trust the quantity printed on the package especially for the price. Unfortunately, I have now documented repeated net-weight shortages, including in replacement cartons Happy Howl sent after I contacted the company about this exact issue. My original order consisted of six meals labeled 14.6 oz (414 g) net weight. After discovering one carton contained only approximately 13.8 oz of food, I contacted Happy Howl. I explained my measurements and even calculated the monetary value of the missing product. Happy Howl responded: “We take net weight seriously. Each carton is filled to a 14.6 oz (414g) target, and our process follows federal net-content standards (NIST Handbook 133), under which a production run’s average meets or exceeds the labeled weight. Any fill-by-weight product will vary slightly carton to carton.” To their credit, customer service was polite and offered either a refund or replacement. They ultimately sent me three replacement cartons. Because Happy Howl specifically referenced its 14.6 oz target and NIST Handbook 133, I decided to carefully document the replacement cartons as well. I verified my digital scale using nickels of known weight, placed a separate dish on the scale and tared it to zero, and recorded myself opening the cartons and emptying the food directly into the dish. The three replacement cartons measured: Lamb Delight — 13.8 oz Advertised: 14.6 oz Shortage: 0.8 oz Tasty Turkey Feast — 405 g / approximately 14.3 oz Advertised: 414 g / 14.6 oz Shortage: 9 g / approximately 0.3 oz Grandma’s Beef Stew — 13.7 oz Advertised: 14.6 oz Shortage: 0.9 oz So all three replacement cartons I tested were below the labeled 14.6 oz net weight, including the replacements sent specifically because I had complained about underweight cartons. The three cartons should have contained a combined 43.8 oz. My measurements totaled approximately 41.8 oz, about 2 ounces short overall, or roughly 4.6% below the combined labeled quantity. What concerns me further is Happy Howl’s reference to NIST Handbook 133. NIST itself explains that there is not simply a blanket “tolerance” allowing manufacturers to routinely put less product in packages. According to NIST, reasonable manufacturing variations can occur, but the average net quantity of packages in a lot must at least equal the quantity declared on the label, and individual packages cannot have unreasonably large shortages. For packages in this weight range, NIST Handbook 133 also establishes a Maximum Allowable Variation for evaluating individual package shortages. Importantly, NIST explains that an MAV does not mean manufacturers are entitled to routinely underfill packages by that amount. NIST’s own FAQ answers the question of how short a package may intentionally be with: “There is no tolerance.” Reasonable variations are permitted only for unavoidable deviations associated with good manufacturing and quantity-control practices. I understand three cartons from different products or production lots do not establish the average weight of an entire production run. However, as a customer, I can only evaluate the products actually sent to me. After initially receiving an underweight carton, reporting the problem, receiving an explanation specifically citing a 14.6 oz target and NIST standards, and then measuring all three replacement cartons below 14.6 oz, I find the pattern concerning. I have video documentation of the weighing process as well as photographs showing the lot/best-by information. I really wanted to give Happy Howl five stars because my dogs absolutely love the food. The product itself has been great from their perspective, and customer service was courteous and did make an effort to compensate me. But when food is sold and priced based on a stated 14.6 oz (414 g) net quantity, consumers should be able to rely on the accuracy of that declaration. I hope Happy Howl investigates its filling and quality-control process because I would otherwise be happy to continue purchasing the food.