I'm fairly new and have only posted once, but I've been reading this forum for days and have found so much useful information.

So here's my question:

I started my dog on a raw diet about a week ago, cold turkey as was suggested on here many times. Ollie LOVES it. But I have some concerns about where and how I'm feeding him. We are outside all of the time as we are a very active family, and I have been feeding Ollie on our back deck in the evenings after we eat so he can be with us and also because it's easier to sanitize afterward. I've read where some feed in their crate, which I'm not so sure about because of the mess. I only have the one dog, so his crate is in my bedroom. I would think it would be an aweful mess in his crate with his blanket ect... So, yesterday, I had him out training him on a 30 ft. tether and he goes and digs up a piece of chicken and starts eating it!!! I took it away because I was afraid he would get sick and I have no idea how long it had been there. He's never unsupervised, so I have no idea how he managed this without me seeing him bury it. Am I feeding him too much if he is wanting to bury a portion? Should I try to construct a more secure place for feeding? How dangerous is it to him if he does this again and I don't react quickly enough to take it away??

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question. THe more I read on here, the more cluelss I realize I am! I'm getting all kinds of compliments on my dog's behavior...and it's because of all the information I've got on his site!

If you feed in a crate, that means no blankets or anything that you cant wipe down to clean. Like a plastic crate. They clean up the mess pretty good, so its just a matter of cleaning it with something like those Clorox wipes or something.

I'm not really sure why he's bury part of his meal. There's a lot of things like that, I don't spend too much time on the why's, I just don't let them do it.

So, would you recommend feeding him in the crate? Should I give him a certain amount of time to eat and then take away anything he's left or wait it out for however long it takes? Sometimes he'll take an hour or more to finish. He's the least interested in food of any dog I've ever seen!

I don't feed mine in a crate--but many do. It's just a personal preference, whatever works best for your dog/family/situation.

I feed mine in the kitchen, on a large mat. I stand there and wait for them to finish (usually less than 1 minute) then I pick up the bowls. I wouldn't give your dog an hour to eat his meal. Put it down, wait a reasonable length of time (10 minutes?) and then pick up the bowl. Anything that's uneaten goes toward the next meal.

How old is your dog? Breed? How much does he weigh? --and how much, in ounces, are you feeding per day?

I feed my pitty mixes in their crates and my large dog in our 4 season room on a towel. My female's crate in in my walk in closet under hanging clothes and on carpet. I take the blanket out when she eats, and put it back in after she's done. She cleans up very well. I may be a little lax but I don't spray the crate unless it smells.( I haven't done so in about 2 months) I don't have toddlers so there's no possiblity of cross contamination or any of those worries. She licks the crate for quite a while when she's done. My pitx male has been wierd and didn't want to eat last night. He pulled the food out of his dish and licked it ate a little kidney and fresh green beans and then laid down next to it (it was about 20 minutes) I just picked it up and put it in the fridge for tomorrow.

Like Tracy is saying, it depends on what works for you. The meals that have bone in, like the backs or whatever, my dogs will get that all over. The meals I give with meat and organs, no bone, they eat it from the bowl with no mess.

And I would take it away if he doesnt eat it right away. I don't really think about how many minutes or anything.

Thanks, guys.

Tracy - He is a 9 month to one year old rescue. My vet is guessing a Boxer/Beagle mix. (He looks like a shrunken Boxer with big ears, and some say he looks like a pitt mix) He weighs 30 lbs. and I'm feeding approxiamtely 5 % of his body weight. He's gained a bit since I adopted him a month ago. I'd love for him to eat his meals in minutes! I actually took him to my vet after a week because he wouldn't touch the premium kibble I was feeding him. I thought he may be sick, but he's as healthy as can be. That's when I started considering raw. He does eat it, but still not vey enthusiasticly.

One more question. If I feed him in the evening and he doesn't eat much/any, should I offer food the next morning? I confess, I do break up his portions and offer twice a day becasue I worry that he's not eating enough.

PS. Too bad I can't feed him fishy crackers. He found a stray one on the kitchen floor from my son, and now he goes CRAZY when the kids have then! LOL.

It's possible that it is simply too much food. Try cutting back the meal sizes by a little.

He may simply need less food and is self-regulating (which is preferable to having a pig dog that would eat until they pop--like a couple of mine!)

If I were you, I would establish a routine that works for you--crate, outside, wherever. He doesn't care a bit where the food is served. But consistency and routine are important to dogs. So pick something and stick with it. And then just offer the food, give him a chance to eat it, and then pick up the bowl, regardless of whether it's empty, full, or half-full. Meal time is now over. Nothing until the next meal.

As long as he is healthy, then just try to chill out about his eating. If you're constantly anxious about him eating he cannot help but pick up on that. It could be that since you've only beed feeding raw for one week that he's still getting used to the new foods.

I should say I clean the crate if it looks or smells funky, like after raw fish. Otherwise the closet will smell like a fishmarket.

We have only been feeding raw a few months and we feed a lot of chicken, in crates usually, though the little brussels mixes inhale so fast it doesn't matter where. What I noticed is that my bigger dogs took longer to eat and the one Border Collie finally decided against it altogether. She has had issues with chicken so she is the only one back on kibble since it is harder right now to find a none poultry for all of them. (if it ain't broke....) She is also eleven and very OCD. The other eleven year old BC only eats so much...we were trying to put weight on her but she balks at more than 3% of her weight.

So I would wonder two things with your guy. Is he sensitive to what you are feeding? (do you feed a variety and is he slow on all types of meats?) or is he just not growing that much and not needing 5%? That would be my take.

A side note. My toy poodle would NOT gain past 4 # til we changed to raw then he put on another 1.55 # in three months.
Every one of the dogs, even the kibble eater will KILL for fish in any form.