There are two ways to preserve treats, freeze drying and dehydration. We choose to Freeze Dry our treats because dehydrated meat has the moisture cooked out, and many of the essential nutrients are destroyed.
By skipping the condensation phase and going straight from a frozen fish treat to an almost weightless treat for your dog, we preserve all the important nutrients and enzymes, and sublimate away the water and with it, the weight.
Mountain Dog™ treats are nutritious and weightless, with a crunch your dog will love.
Salmon bellies have long been prized by us, and our fellow Alaskans who know, as the best part of the fish that doesn’t fit into a fillet. Salmon bellies hold the highest fat and oil content, but also have a small portion of bone, cartilage and calcium from the fin to provide a balanced nutritional profile. It’s mostly trim, with extra vital nutrition included.
Sean McPeck, owner of Tier 1 Veterinary Medical Center located near our headquarters in Alaska was our first veterinarian endorsement. As a Special Operations Veterinarian, Dr. McPeck authored and implemented the first Comprehensive Canine Conditioning Program, which is currently still being conducted by multiple SOCOM units.
He was also accountable for all the preventative care, nutrition, and husbandry of hundreds of Military Working Dogs. Sean also created training and certification classes for dog handlers to be proficient in Canine Tactical Combat Casualty Care, and knowledge of current medical equipment and procedures, which led to the successful life saving interventions by handlers in real world operations. Dr. McPeck has traveled throughout the US and abroad, training and briefing handlers on K9 husbandry, and veterinary care. In his own words:
As an expert in canine performance and veterinary care, I fully endorse Mountain Dog™ treats as an excellent, virtually weightless nutritional supplement for any working dog or pet.
Dr. McPeck also pioneered a fitness app for dogs called ACAP (Advanced Canine Athletic Program, and Mountain Dog™ Treats align perfectly with the nutritional component of advanced training and athleticism. They are weightless, effortless to pack and carry, and the perfect motivational reward for ordinary and high-level obedience training.
Dr. Pepe Hernandez (PhD, CPDT-KA) is a behavioral neuroscientist and certified professional dog trainer based in New York City. His work focuses on the intersection of reinforcement quality, neurophysiology, and real-world behavior outcomes — particularly in training and performance contexts. He is the founder of PJH Dog Training NYC, where he works with companion, sport, and working dogs across a range of behavioral and performance goals.
“Treat quality is not a nutrition sidebar. It is a behavioral and neurological variable that directly determines how engaged your dog is, how strongly they respond to reinforcement, how well they learn, and how that learning holds up when the environment demands more.”
“The quality of the reinforcer determines the strength of the behavior. This is not metaphor — it is neuroscience.”
“A treat that checks all three boxes — like a single-ingredient, freeze-dried wild-caught salmon treat — is not just a reward. It is part of how your dog’s brain learns, remembers, and performs.”
About Us – Kevin Thompson is joined by his wonderful wife, Hannah, and their two amazing children. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoys hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking. In addition, Kevin is a serial entrepreneur with past businesses ranging from pawn shops to trucking companies to firearms training facilities.
Kevin is a US Army veteran who served in Iraq from 2003 – 2004. After leaving the military, due to injuries sustained in combat, Kevin worked as an advisor with various companies working for the Department of Defense. While working as a contractor, Kevin obtained his helicopter pilot’s license and transitioned careers to become a helicopter pilot flying in multiple countries. After meeting his wife, he began flying domestic missions and starting businesses. Kevin moved to Alaska in 2016 with his daughter and wife, who was pregnant with their son. Immediately the Thompson family knew this was where they wanted to stay. Kevin returned to school to obtain his fixed wing ratings and planned to fly commercially as an airline pilot when he contracted Covid. Unfortunately, after a seconday infection, 32 days in the hospital, and eight days on a ventilator with a year-long recovery, Kevin has not been able to pursue the airline career he had chosen.
The Thompson family firmly believes God does not close one door without opening another. Before Kevin was sick, Hannah had purchased a Harvest Right freeze dryer to produce backpacking meals for the family that were healthier than the store-bought ones. One thing led to another, and the Thompson family created the brand Mountain Dog.
Having grown up around farming and ranching with the dreams of being a large animal veterinarian, Kevin has a background working with various animals. After looking at the dog treat markets and reading the back of the boxes, Kevin knew that he could create a healthier treat for not only his dogs but his friend’s dogs. He then proceeded to call his veterinary friends, talked to local veterinary experts in canine nutrition, and developed this high-quality single-ingredient treat.
