Friday, June 13, 2008

Natural Foods for Dogs Recipe Book

***Dec 2010 Update --- we abandoned home cooked meals about 6 months into it because either directly or indirectly his urine developed a weird PH level and he started having pee dribbles. I suspect it had to do with our homecooked meal that was FAR from properly balanced. Since then we went to different commercial foods finally settling on hiring a proper canine nutritionist to make a raw food diet plan just for us. There are upwards of 8 different ingredients and 10 supplements used to make it balanced. Moral of the story: Don't just wing it like we did back then.****




Its been about 1.5 months since the change from kibble to natural food. I ordered a great book that has a ton of recipes that are easy to follow. The book also lists foods that are dangerous for dogs (ie. onions, chocolate, etc.) and also has a section on calcium supplements.

Read more about it here (including how to buy!)

www.naturaldogfood.com

I hypothesized that Duke's improved behavior may have been because of the food, but I'm convinced that its an absolute fact. In fact, the author of Natural Dog Food clearly states that a change in diet can fix behavioral issues.

Its worth noting that cooking for your dog doesn't mean cooking every day. We typically prepare batches of food and freeze it and serve throughout the week.

If you think about it, its worth it - after all - if kibble can sit in the open for months and not get moldy, it means that its either loaded with preservatives or it lacks nutrients to the point that bacteria can't even thrive off it.

Monday, June 9, 2008

his favourite cuz

we're really lucky that we have a beagle we can take off leash. his recall is pretty good and he is ball obsessed. duke gets a lot of exercise b/c he loves to play fetch!

2 days ago, however, the designated off-leash area was filled with tents and there were a lot of trucks and cars driving around getting ready for a festival on the weekend. so, i decided to play fetch in an area that is technically an on-leash area (despite 85% of all dogs being off leash there).

duke and i were happily playing fetch when all of a sudden he caught a scent and dropped his ball mid-way through bringing it back. despite calling him, he wouldn't come back. he started running across the park. he was definitely on to something.

that something was a lady's sandwich! as i was running after him, i saw him approach the lady and her baby on the lawn. as i got closer, duke jumped up and took a bite out of the lady's sandwich directly from her hand!! CHOMP!

needless to say, i received a well-deserved lecture on keeping dogs on-leash.