I'm interested in taking a canine/animal nutrition course. I've been doing some internet searching but have not found anything useful. Purdue University has an online course but it seems there are some requirements for this course and it's an old link.

Does anyone know of a class or where I can look?

Thanks,
Alex

I'm pretty sure the Washington State university has some distance ed courses on animal husbandry in their school of agriculture.

A couple of months ago I ordered an e-book - "THE WOLF’S NATURAL DIET – A FEEDING GUIDE FOR YOUR DOG?" They send me follow up e-mails. Right after I read your post I checked my e-mails and I had another follow up e-mail from them. It doesn't sound like this is exactly what you're looking for but you may be interested. They sell a video about raw food and you can see a few excerpts from the video on the website. It is called "Feeding Your Dog - the Natural Way". Here is the link:

http://k9joy.com/FeedingYourDog/

I have no affiliation with this company - I simply purchased their e-book and receive e-mails. I'm not one of the experts but I did find the e-book extremely interesting and it makes perfect sense. I recommend it.

Alex,
CSU offers a pet nutrition course online: http://www.learn.colostate.edu/courses/ANEQ/ANEQ322.dot

It's an undergraduate credit course and I believe there is a basic nutrition prerequisite but the instructor might let you enroll if you contact her.

Excellent! Thank you all for the replies.

Cathi, I have read "Raw Dog Food", by Carina Beth MacDonald & "Natural Nutrition", Kymythy R. Schultze. Have you read either of those? I'm wondering how the info would compare.

I have read both of those. It's been a while since I read those two and I liked them as well. I have to admit that I didn't completely finish THE WOLF’S NATURAL DIET – A FEEDING GUIDE FOR YOUR DOG but what I liked about it was that it drilled down to the DNA similarities between our domesticated dogs and other animals that dogs are commonly compared to. The wolf was the closest at 98% (don't hold me to that but I think it's accurate). If one or both of the other books did that too I don't remember.

Yeah, that's awesome. That would help me out for what I'm looking for. I will look into it more closely. Hopefully tonight. Thanks!

So when I got home I decided to remind myself of why I recommend the e-book and now that I’ve had a chance to review it again I forgot just how much I enjoyed it. My main reason is because it is very clear about what we do and DON’T know. Here is what the book says:

The objective for this book is to provide an understanding of
1. what we know and don’t know about the wolf’s diet;
2. the possible effects of the dog’s domestication;
3. the principles we can and should apply in order to use this knowledge when putting together a meaningful diet for our dogs.

Another excerpt that I found very interesting is the following:

“According to Dr. David Mech, wolves prefer to hunt large ungulates, including bison, musk ox, caribou, moose, elk, deer, and similar big herbivores that are available in the territory. Second in priority come wild sheep and goats. Then beaver, marmots, hares, and rabbits. Last in order of preference come all kinds of smaller animals, like birds, mice, chipmunks, squirrels, gophers, etc., as available. He will also include any other items when the occasion presents itself, such as berries, fruits, scat, soil, and many vegetables, when available. However, chances are slim that this will happen to any large extent if more attractive food sources are available, but we do not know where this limit goes, so we cannot tell for sure how big a fraction of the wolf’s diet is constituted by, say, vegetables, or what the exact conditions are for a wolf to eat those in amounts that would make a difference, in terms of nutrition. The list could even go on to encompass other carnivores, including other wolves! But this would generally take place on the verge of severe starvation only.”

Hey Alex,

Have you asked Connie? She has mentioned she took canine nutrition courses but I don't know if it was online or not.

 Quote: Cathi Kemp

Another excerpt that I found very interesting is the following:

That's one of the most interesting paragraphs I've ever read. I'll have to look into that e-book.