I feed my Shepherd a mix of kibble and table foods, what I eat, in other words... and she is healthy as hell, but haven't ever fed her raw meat, nor any other animal I've ever had. I always cook it before I give it to them. I boil whole chickens a few times a month for my cats and let them have that..... with the dog, she eats just about the same diet I do, and they will all eat just about anything I eat.

We just recently lost our Boxer that was 13 years old and had never been to a vet in his life.. he never got sick and I am not one to shove shots and pills down their throats if it isn't needed. He lived longer than any other Boxer around here without having ever been to a Vet's office. He ate a mix of what we eat and kibble as well. He was in no way obese, but was very muscular and strong as an ox. lol

I had a cat a few years back, a Persian, it was my first one, we took him to the vet religiously and fed him what we were told by the vets, the whole 9 yards and he started getting very sick on that damn Science Diet crap they had him on. I spent a small fortune trying to do what was "expected" of me, and as a result, he was staying sick and of course, constantly at the Vets office as that's the only time I take them to see a "Dr". I got him off that shit, started feeding him like I do the rest of my animals and he never had to see a Vet again... and lived to be 12 years old as well.

I just don't feed them corn based anything. I can't digest corn, it hurts me to eat it, so I don't feed it to them. lol

Oh boy, I can't feed it something I can't even stomach picking up... oh lord, and I just ate, yuck!!! lmao

I do get what you are saying though, and I know they are animals, so I try and keep them as close to natural as I can get them.... with the exception of cooking it first... but that's because I always thought raw would hurt them. Kasey eats all sorts of veggies and she loves her meats.. lol

They told me not to feed my mini horses on the ground too, so I spent a fortune buying bags to put their hay in and they refused to eat.. I put it all over the ground where they can graze like they would in the wild.. and they love it.

When I was a kid one of my friend's dad would cook just for their dog. He made the dog steak and burgers, sausage and all kinds of stuff. I'm not sure how long the dog lived, but he was probably 13 or 14 years old when I graduated high school (and then fell out of touch with this friend) and he was happy and healthy. We always used to joke that the dog ate better than anyone else in the family.

That is done by the breeders vet at 2 to 4 days old because at that age the tail is more cartilage so it?s less painful and does not need anesthesia.

At least I didn?t have his ears cropped, that I think is cruel.

Here is at 4 months floppy ears and all.
http://directme.com/hungry.JPG

Do you think he?s trying to tell me something?

well, have you ever heard of wolfs eating carrots or bananas??? surely NOT ... and a dogs stomach is made for rotten meat ... just try it ... one bowl of bought food and one with the recipe i described ... i bet my bony ass that yer dog will ALWAYS go for the "stinky" bowl ... 200% :winkwink: i have seen mine (a lazy, kids loving staffy) swallowing an almost "liquified" hare (must have been dead and rotting for over a week!) with joy and other stuff you might find disgusting (like the head of a wild hog - it even cracked the skull to slobber out the BRAIN!) - and it never had any probs with digesting (and shitting) ... died at the age of 16 (1998, never got a new one - *sniff*), so it got pretty damn old :thumbsup

see? feeding animals (in an) unnatural (way) is no good at all ... just like corn for cows = oh lord! why would one do that?

Mine don't eat better, but they eat as good as.

The Boxer, Bo, he was my husband's dog and if we had spaghetti, that dog had it, it was his favorite.... and my husband's. We always made fun of him about that too. BUT, I am the same way with Kasey, if I eat it, so does she. NEVER from my plate though, she eats either at the same time or after, but never from our plates, I cross the line somewhere. lol

This is Kasey, at 6 months old, she's pretty damn healthy. lol

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...49265250_o.jpg

I would bet my life and your skinny ass she'd go for the nasty shit too... it's getting it past MY damn nose that would be the problem. lmao

She loves to go into the horse pen with me and if she will stop trying to herd my horses, or once she has them all right in front of me, she spends the rest of her time out there eating their shit, which is pretty damn vegetarian... I just have to turn my back on it, but it's natural for her and I leave her alone, seems the less I complain about it, the less she does it.

And I do give her what is not fit for us to eat when I clean out the fridge and she loves those days. She has to just sit in the living room and wait for me to clean out the fridge sometimes, I think. If she hears that door open, she comes running and taking out anything in her path to get there. Doesn't have to really be bad, just bad enough where we've had enough of it.. lol

That is a good looking dog!

Thanks kane, she is my baby. She's already been put into a position of defending me once and she stood up to it, so she and I are extremely close. We keep her outside during the day and she gets to come in at night... she is huge and needs to be outside so she can run her big ass around. She helps me with the horses from time to time, but she'll get wired sometimes and she'll get the shit kicked out of her, they don't put up with her puppy energy even for a second. lol

I'm jealous. I fucking love dogs.

ahh very cute

Awwww how cute he's going to be fucking huge,

yeah - "where's my tail?"

cute dogs. i could never own a large one, but a little one wouldn't be so bad.

You sound a lot like me on this one... I hate it when they crop their tails and ears. Unfortunately the tails are always cropped by the owner/breeder and there isn't a lot of choice in that one unless you are one to buy the pups before they are born and request it and that's almost impossible.

We had a Boxer when we were much younger and we cropped his ears, that was the worst thing we've ever done and haven't ever or wouldn't ever put an animal thru that again... it's just cruel as far as I am concerned. I love the big floppy ears on the breeds that typically have them cropped... lol

DWB.. I've had a few small dogs and I hated them, too yappy and bitchy, give me a moose over a small dog any day of the week. I'd rather feed a tank than to have a cranky small dog that's pissed off because they are small. lmao

Dobby is so cute,these dogs are smart...i have dog like Dobby :)