Quote: Joe Valenzuela

....Right now I give him one pork hock every other day. I plan on building up to chicken quarters again. When I like about the pork hocks is that it takes my dog about 25-30 minutes to eat one, while he can inhale a chicken quarter in less than 3 minutes if I take off the skin (add another couple of minutes if I leave the skin on).

With digestive upsets, I'd re-think the pork.

I know lots of dogs eat pork with no problems at all, but I think I'd use something else until the diarrhea was gone.

Also, you don't mean ham hocks, right? I feel pretty sure you don't, but just in case ... the stuff pork is cured with to make ham doesn't agree with some dogs (not to mention the sodium and the nitrites/nitrates).

Thanks, Yuko

The half chicken makes a lot of sense and is certainly easy for me to do myself. And I really appreciate Ali sharing her menu plan...Thanks, Ali!...as it gives me more ideas.

Can I just say again how much my pup LOVES his food! He is literally airborne at feeding time he is so excited. It's great to see.

 Quote: sarah_morris

Thanks, Yuko

The half chicken makes a lot of sense and is certainly easy for me to do myself. And I really appreciate Ali sharing her menu plan...Thanks, Ali!...as it gives me more ideas.

Can I just say again how much my pup LOVES his food! He is literally airborne at feeding time he is so excited. It's great to see.

I too never tire of seeing my dogs excited about their food and satisfied by it.

One of them has such a hard time sitting quietly while I prepare the dishes of food. He's a fairly recent adoption, a senior, and he was on one of the worst of the commercial foods for the years we have history on (no meat at all except by-products, and corn in three different forms).

Anyway, he will sit and wait with the others because all preparation activity stops if anyone gets up and gets underfoot. But his butt pops up every few seconds in excitement, then he remembers and lowers it again, and he makes a quiet little moaning whine (like "oh my God, how long can this TAKE?").

When the dish is ready he FLIES across the room, does the fastest "sit" you ever saw so he can dig in, and plunges most of his face into the food.

I'm kind of looking forward to the day when he accepts that this is permanent, and calms down a bit. It will be nice not to have to actually wash his face (including tips of ears) after meals.

 Quote: Yuko Blum

Ali: your pup is adorable! He looks so calm and patient - I had a lot of trouble getting my pup to sit still for a photo at that age. Hee hee.
What's he like, personality-wise?

He is very well mannered! I'm shocked at what an amazing dog I've gotten. Obviously, there are times where he drives me to insanity, but he is still one of the better mannered dogs I've seen. He's really nervous around other dogs though...his hair goes right up on his back when he's around other dogs. He doesn't like being sniffed...

 Quote:

The half chicken makes a lot of sense and is certainly easy for me to do myself. And I really appreciate Ali sharing her menu plan...Thanks, Ali!...as it gives me more ideas.

Just like his little pup, Ali is also a boy...
Sorry for any misunderstanding, hehe..

Thanks again on everything, and I will let you guys know how everything went when I start the feeding next week!

- Ali

 Quote:

Just like his little pup, Ali is also a boy...
Sorry for any misunderstanding, hehe..

Yikes! My sincere apologies, Ali. I have a girlfriend with the same name so I just assumed. Feel free to take one of those newly-purchased eggs and hurl it at my face

Hehe, that's ok.

Real quick question on the diarrhea thing...when Caesar goes to poop, he goes twice, in two difference places. The first place he goes to he poops a normal log, but the second time he goes he poops out pudding diarrhea. Does that mean anything? Why is it doing that?

Hey, I thought you were a guy this whole time Ali!

I got a little confused when Sarah said "she" - glad you cleared that up

I've never known any girl named Ali, but I do have a male friend with that name.

Is yours an arabic name too (like my friend)?

Glad to hear what a well-behaved gentleman your little Caesar is! As for being scared of other dogs, it means that you should be doing more to protect him.
As a pack leader, it is your responsibility to drive off strange dogs (or any dog that your pup finds threatening). If you do this, he will respect you a lot more as his leader and you will improve your bond with him.

Here's a really good article written by Ed Frawley on dog parks and why it's dangerous to take your dog to one: http://www.leerburg.com/dogparks.htm

Not saying that you do take him to dog parks and let him run in packs, but the principle is the same. It's best to avoid letting your dog play with other dogs.

Maybe one on one play with a very safe dog that you know is friendly, but even that shouldn't be done if your pup is afraid - it'll only hurt his self confidence and his trust in you and your protection.

Anyway, I look forward to reading about your feeding progress!

I just remembered something else that I read about switching a dog to raw for the first time. If he doesn't adjust well at first, it might be a good idea to stick to just one type of meat (like chicken) until he's eating it without diarrhea and then to slowly introduce other meats.

If he does well from the start, no need for that


(As for the two poop thing... I don't know. Puppies usually have softer poops than adults to begin with. I wouldn't worry about that).

 Quote: connie sutherland

With digestive upsets, I'd re-think the pork.

I know lots of dogs eat pork with no problems at all, but I think I'd use something else until the diarrhea was gone.

Also, you don't mean ham hocks, right? I feel pretty sure you don't, but just in case ... the stuff pork is cured with to make ham doesn't agree with some dogs (not to mention the sodium and the nitrites/nitrates).

Definitely not ham hocks. These are unprocessed pork hocks for... well... I have no idea what people would do with them. I think the young cashier wanted to gag as she bagged them.

I read that about pork, but my dog doesn't seem to do well with turkey, and chicken is what set off the problem initially, so I wanted to go with a different meat. I don't know if it has been dumb luck or what, but he seems to be doing much better on the pork than he was on turkey or chicken. I've also found that he does better if I add some veggies to his diet. I know the prey-model folks will flame me over that observation.

I envy those who can throw practically anything at their dogs without issues. (Yes, that's you, Yuko!)

Has anyone ever fed a pork picnic shoulders to their dogs? I just wonder if the large breed dogs can crunch through that big bone. And I wonder if that would be too much bone at one sitting.

I always thought that the raw diet would be simple, but it seems so complicated right now. I can't wait to get past this "growing pains" stage.

 Quote: yuko blum

Hey, I thought you were a guy this whole time Ali!

I got a little confused when Sarah said "she" - glad you cleared that up

I've never known any girl named Ali, but I do have a male friend with that name.

Is yours an arabic name too (like my friend)?

My background is Persian, but my name is derived from Arabic.

 Quote: yuko blum

Glad to hear what a well-behaved gentleman your little Caesar is! As for being scared of other dogs, it means that you should be doing more to protect him.
As a pack leader, it is your responsibility to drive off strange dogs (or any dog that your pup finds threatening). If you do this, he will respect you a lot more as his leader and you will improve your bond with him.

Well, I read that article, but the thing is I don't want to yell at other people's dogs. Then I'd probably start a fight with the person, and I don't want that to happen. I guess it's just best to avoid it, but if it does come up, how should I go about telling the other dogs to go away?

- Ali

Ali,

I've had to get over that sense of guilt, too...if someone else's dog isn't on a leash, in most places they are breaking the law. If their dog attacks you or your puppy they are liable.

My next door neighbor has a pit bull that came after my daughter and my puppy!

I immediately went to her and said I liked her dog, but it has to be on a leash because it's dog aggressive and came after my kid while she was walking our puppy. She tried to say that it's friendly(which it is with only people)and wouldn't hurt anyone.

I reminded her that pit bulls have recently killed a couple here in the Houston area that were going to adopt the dog that got loose and killed them both!

Then I told her that if her dog wasn't on a leash or under the control that I wouldn't call the pound, I'd call the police.

From that day her dog has never been loose.

You have to take care of yourself and your pup because no one else will and it is certainly within your right and power to do so. Screaming and cursing isn't necessary, but certainly being forceful and deliberate about your safety and their illegal behavior with their dogs is just common sense to any cop or judge

one other thing, addressing the dog and not the owner sometimes will avoid a direct confrontation...try that and see if it works.

screaming and cursing is further down the list

Edited by Mike Morrison (02/27/2007 11:19 AM)
Edit reason: bad grammar:S