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Diet

When I started taking Jack to training classes the first week was spent talking about the methods of training employed, and learning to understand how to work with our dogs to achieve the best results. Towards the end of this session one of the things discussed was appropriate diet for your dog. At this time I was quite confident in the knowledge that both of my dogs were fit and well and in good condition on their current diet.

Shiela Hamilton-Andrews introduced the subject of feeding your dog a natural diet, and to be completely honest my initial reaction was 'why bother?' Although a lot of what was said did make sense, there was nothing wrong with my two who were eating a commercial complete dog food. As this was the case why would I want to change them to a diet that clearly involved a lot more work than simply poring hot water and adding a bit of meat to an already balanced biscuit. I was also very wary of changing their food, as Jack in particular was very prone to upset stomachs and was intolerant of many things such as dairy products.

It was suggested we consider reading a book entitled The Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog by Wendy Volhard and Kerry Brown, which would explain the whole subject in far greater depth. Initially I didn't give any of this much thought, but soon afterwards Jack became ill with another seemingly endless bout of colitis. At this time I borrowed a copy of HGHD and started reading. It was a huge amount of information to take in, and the main message I got was that it seemed like a lot of work. Some of the suggested ingredients I had never even heard of, and had no idea where to start to get hold of these.

Although still fairly sceptical I did agree with many of the ideas that were raised, and the book certainly seemed to address a lot of the problems I was having with Jack. After a lengthy phone call with Sheila who was able to answer many of my more specific questions, I decided to give the diet a trial run. I went out and bought all the ingredients, and then fumbled about in the kitchen attempting to prepare the dogs their first home made meal.

For the first week I wrote down everything I fed, and waited for the dogs to drop down dead of malnutrition due to me having misinterpreted something in the book (although this is almost totally impossible as it includes diet sheets detailing exact quantities of everything based on the weight and activity level of your dog). Some of the ingredients (such as yoghurt) I had to introduce very slowly due to Jack's intolerance of them, but I was surprised to find that both dogs quickly grew accustomed to their new diet and wolfed it down. Over time they were both able to eat everything needed without any adverse side effects.

When they started the diet they were already in good condition, but I certainly noticed many small changes. Things such as an improvement in the condition of their coats, their behaviour improved, they had more energy, and became more tolerant to a wide variety of foods that previously would have caused problems.

Since then all my dogs have been transferred across to this method of feeding within a week of arrival, and all seem to enjoy their food and are quick to catch on. Since starting down the road of home prepared food for my dogs I have researched the subject fairly thoroughly, and am no longer religious in following the Volhard diet. I feed using the combined knowledge from several sources, although I have to say that not only did Volhard offer me the confidence to begin raw feeding, but it also convinced me of the huge benefits of this type of nutrition for dogs.

I accept that natural feeding is not for everyone, as it does take organisation and commitment. You also need to consider storage space, because if you are feeding more than 1 or 2 small dogs you will either need to shop every couple of days or have dedicated freezer space. Many people have concerns about bacteria in raw meat or the implications of feeding raw bones. My advice to anyone who is interested in what they feed their dog is to thoroughly research all the options available to them so they can make an informed and educated choice.

I have included reviews of some of the books I have read about preparing food for your dog here.

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