ABOUT US

We are Indrė and Laimonas Daujotai, founders of Top Dog Bistro and owners of seventeen sporting dogs.

As our four-legged friends grew up in our home, we began to look for nutrition that would help keep them fast, healthy, and long-lived. In 2018, we decided to share our experience with other dog and cat owners - we started producing healthy and biologically adapted raw food (BARF). We would like to invite you to join us on the journey that gave birth to Top Dog Bistro.

Crazy beginning: two city dwellers exchanged the Old Town of Vilnius for a country estate!

In 2005, we took a slightly crazy step that we do not regret at all - we exchanged the center of Vilnius and all its amenities for a country estate near Kernavė. One of us - Indrė, has always been a child of nature, while Laimonas was overcome by his love for horses. So, the first horses and our little dog, which we found on the street and took in while still living in Vilnius, appeared on the farmstead. To feel safe, we bought a few large dogs - they were Siberian Huskies. Yes, this is not the best choice for protecting the farmstead, but at that moment dog sledding appeared in our lives.
We quickly realized that just walking or running around the yard was not enough for our huskies. We discovered what lies in their nature - dog sledding. At first, it was a fun leisure activity - we harnessed the dogs and rode along forest paths. In 2007, we participated in the first dog sledding competition. The result was not impressive, but looking back from today, it was a great victory - something trembled in our hearts and dog sledding became a way of life. We started training purposefully, participating in international competitions, and the number of dogs at one time exceeded 30.

The first step to success - switching to natural nutrition
After starting to participate in competitions in Lithuania and neighboring countries, we quickly became regular prize winners, but the first starts in serious international competitions were like a cold shower for us - athletes from Austria, Germany or Scandinavian countries would overtake our dinghy as if it were standing still. We began to analyze our own and others' results, the equipment we used, and to plan training in a structured way - all this ended up in endless Excel tables... Naturally, a question arose that we had no answer to: "What are we doing wrong?" Fortunately, the veterans of dinghy sports answered this question. "Nutrition", the answer was simple. They fed the dogs with natural meat feed, and we - with dry food.
Having realized that a large part of success is the dogs' nutrition, we began to experiment. At first, we combined raw meat with dry food in different proportions, but the conclusion was always the same - the more raw meat, the better the dogs felt and the faster they ran. At that time, we had over 30 dogs and daily preparation of raw meat feed seemed like a big challenge, but we were not afraid and switched to natural nutrition. This is where the first Top Dog Bistro recipes came from, which we still create and improve ourselves. The sketch of each recipe is born simply by marking one or another ingredient on paper. Then they are “tested” by our team of dogs - their well-being during training, competitions and rest best shows which recipes are worthy of being in your pet's bowl.

At first, we did everything with our own hands
On our journey with Top Dog Bistro, we met many wonderful people. One of them was our friend from dog sledding, who at that time already worked in the international dog food industry. It was she who suggested that we start making dog food ourselves. At the beginning, we had to answer the fundamental question - should we choose simpler ingredients, less variety and add synthetic additives, or should we make it from higher-quality and more diverse ingredients, thus obtaining all the necessary substances from natural products? We chose the second option.
At that time, we already had practical experience in compiling nutritional recipes for our dogs, but we also wanted to deepen our theoretical knowledge. We both completed certified courses on natural dog and cat nutrition conducted by US doctors of veterinary science and other specialists.
At the beginning, we did absolutely everything ourselves, starting with careful selection of products from suppliers, grinding meat, freezing and packaging patties, and ending with delivery to customers in our first van with the “Top Dog Bistro” logo. We faced several barriers that we had to jump over. When we started, we could not even imagine that the production of dog food is so strictly regulated: numerous hygiene and safety requirements, constant inspections, adherence to sustainability ideas (we mean meat products of the third category, which could be consumed by humans, but are not sold for commercial reasons - these are some of the most useful ingredients for pets).

Natural fresh food for a long and happy life
Today we are happy with fast, healthy and long-lived four-legged friends and happy customers. At home, we count not only medals from European and world championships (we have one gold, three silver and two bronze), but also years of long-lived dogs. Frequent our former four-legged athlete reaches the age of 16, when large breed dogs usually live 10-12 years.
One of our first clients is the giant poodle Aiko. The first years of Aiko's life are remembered by his owner as endless digestive problems and visits to the vet. Increased acidity was replaced by acute inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, and so on many times. During the first year, they tried more than ten types of dry food, but they never found a suitable one, so they began to be interested in natural nutrition, buying ingredients at the market. However, Aiko's owner did not always manage to get certain products, and portioning raw meat in the home kitchen was not very appealing either. That's how they discovered "Top Dog Bistro" at the very beginning of our activities. Today, Aiko is in his ninth year of life, he only visits the vet for vaccinations, and the recent comprehensive blood tests were excellent.
When creating recipes and making Top Dog Bistro food, we sincerely care about the health of our dogs and think about the benefits that our food can provide to your pets. That is why you will not find any artificial flavors, flavors or synthetic vitamins in Top Dog Bistro food.

These are foods balanced according to the laws of nature and evolution.