I am switching my dogs to raw (Need people with experience)

[Fleabuskitty]

Yeah, I know that ground meat isn't the best, but there's always a little bit in the boxes of scraps, from when they clean out the grinders, I guess, and I figured I might as well just give them some of that with the fish since they're already used to beef. I've also found that it is good for hiding Dan's allergy medicine in

Anyway, the people who fed them for us reported no problems. Not with their food, anyway. Jackie and Homer dug under the fence and went for a swim in the pond

We put electric fencing along the bottom of the chain-link fence, though, so all is well. Oh, and we forgot to mention that they were supposed to be fed outside, so apparently Dan took his fish and ate it on the couch

Anyway, tonight they got raw meaty pork bones and tomorrow morning they get pork ribs, then we'll pick up more beef scraps

 

[watchdogps]

regarding the pyr pup - I dont limit my pups intake. I give them a lot, and if they are still hungry they get more. I've had growing pups eat %5 of their adult weight easily. No fatties, either. If you can trust him not to make himself sick, let him eat as much as he wants. He knows what he needs. If he will eat himself sick, start with the 2 lbs, but keep an eye on him. If he looks too lean (but puppies should be a little lean, just not boney) give him more.

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Although I've had Homer for only a little more than a month, I know he'd take full advantage of that and just eat everything

Example: today I set their food on the ground before dividing it between them (will never make that mistake again), and he ran over and snatched a mouthful of the meat, and even with me pinning him down trying to take it away he gulped half of it down before I got it back

I know puppies, LGD-type breeds especially, should be pretty lean and I have a pretty good idea of what he should look/feel like, so I'll just feed him 2lbs and increase or decrease it accordingly.

 

[dainerra]

It takes a week ir so on an amount of food to decide if it is too much / little. I would try feeding him more. If he is hungry, that will just encourage him to sneak food and gorge whenever he gets the chance.
ETA: A growing pup, especially a large breed, is going to use a LOT of energy towards growing. Add in an active pup, and they are going to eat even more. I would feed him more, for at least a week. After that time, adjust the percentage accordingly.

Also, you shouldn't be feeding 2% of his current weight. It's 2% of his adult weight. If you want to use his current weight, you would feed 7-10%. For an active/.growing dog I would feed 3-3.5% of the expected adult weight.
So, an average GP male will weigh 100lbs, so that would be 3.5 lbs as a starting point. You already witness that he is grabbing the food and gulping. Part of that may just be "OMG this is the best dinner ever! I want to eat it before the other dogs eat all the good stuff" (this especially fits if you were trying to take the food away from him). Part of it could be that his stomach hasn't adjusted yet to needing smaller amounts of food vs kibble.
Feed him 2 1/2 lbs for at least 2 weeks THEN access his body condition. It takes about that long for an amount to adjust weight. Don't tweek too much in the first month or so of switching to raw. Their systems are adjusting to a whole new healthy diet. It will take them some time to balance out their requirements and if you keep changing things up, you will make it more difficult.

 

[naturalfeddogs]

I just watch their weight. If they seem too thin, I increase. If they are getting too fat I decrease. Even though they can become overweight, most raw fed dogs are on the thinner side partially due to no carbs. They tend to have an increase in energy (also keeping weight down) and increase in muscle tone.

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Well, it turns out that what we thought was old fish in the freezer that we gave them last weekend was actually alligator

They had no issues after they ate it and it as been in the freezer a couple months (which would kill any parasites), so I guess it was fine.
Anyway, they've all been doing fine and getting about the right amounts (1/2lb a day each for Dan and Jackie and 2lbs/day for Homer) and seem to enjoy eating their meat. They seem to think they're getting treats all the time

Speaking of treats (and pretty much off the topic of raw feeding), I've been using Nutro Natural Choice Crunchy Treats for training treats for Homer. Since he has a short attention span (like most puppies

) his training sessions stay <15 minutes. So he's been eating a small handful of those treats a few times a week. Is that bad? I know too many treats are bad, but 1. How many are bad and 2. Should I be using something else for training treats? I'm going to make some jerky and cut it up into pieces, which I know is good, but it'll be a while before we can do that. I would use little pieces of raw meat, but I hate touching it with my bare hands

I wear gloves while preparing it for the dogs

What does everybody else use for training treats?

 

[Jubilee1111]

Freeze dried liver, turkey hearts, beef liver... Even my not food motivated boy goes bonkers for freeze dried turkey hearts.

You could also just cook up some meat and tear it into treat sized bits.

I use Zuke's treats sometimes, too. The square ones, not the tiny pencil eraser shaped ones.

In an aside, If you use training treats that don't require crunching, they stay in tune with you instead of focusing so much on the individual treats. Gulp, got the reward, moving on to the next exercise

 

[naturalfeddogs]

I put some some pieces of raw liver, chicken or beef in the dehydrator and make my own treats. And, not neceseceraly (*sp) for training, but just treats in general I use use chicken feet. Good and crunchy and good for joints.

 

[Fleabuskitty]

Okay, cool. When we bought/processed three pigs a while ago we kept heart and liver and cooked it and gave a little to the dogs as treats with their food, and it's in the freezer right now so I think I'll chop it up and use it. We had three dehydrators about a year ago, but somehow between then and now they all broke or something

We'll be getting a new one eventually, so when we do there will be jerky treats.
Jackie has been weird the past few days about eating in the mornings - she just won't. She leaves her food on the ground and wanders off and Homer eats it (which is fine, I guess). Then, in the afternoon she eats like she usually does

 

[naturalfeddogs]

As long as she is otherwise healthy, don't worry about her walking away. After about fifteen minutes, take it up and offer it again at the next meal. She will eat when she is hungry. When she does that, just keep this in mind: You are not starving her, even if she goes days without eating. You are offering, SHE is the one choosing not to eat.

I always keep that in mind when mine take their notions.