Dogs

I’m sure you’ve had the experience of telling someone you feed your dog a raw diet, only to receive a reaction such as “Oh, he’ll choke on a bone for sure!” or simply, “Why?” Mostly, the reactions will be negative simply because it’s not “normal” and people typically react defensively to the unfamiliar. Try to realize that most people are generally just curious about the raw food diet for dogs. They don’t mean to come off so negatively. Here are the top negative reactions I’ve received from people about feeding my dog raw, followed by some potential responses: 1. “Your dog will get sick from the bacteria in the raw meat.” While there is a slight risk a dog could get sick from the bacteria in raw meat, a dog could also get sick from bacteria in dry dog food. Bacteria is everywhere, but let’s remember dogs are designed to eat meat. They have highly acidic stomachs made to handle a larger amount of bacteria than we can. They have teeth and jaws designed for ripping and tearing and swallowing large chunks. Eating raw meat is natural to a dog. Quick response: Dogs are not furry humans. Their digestive systems are set up for consuming raw meat and bones. They can handle the bacteria found on fresh raw meat. 2. “Your dog will choke on a bone or it will get lodged in his insides.” This is just fear mongering from dry dog food companies and people who don’t understand raw dog food diets. Edible raw bones like chicken and turkey bones are generally soft and safe for dogs to chew and eat. Cooked bones can be dangerous because they are harder and potentially sharp. Larger raw bones like beef and pork bones are unsafe for some dogs because some of these bones are harder and could crack a dog’s teeth. Larger, harder bones can also be unsafe for dogs to swallow. Quick response: Raw turkey and chicken bones are soft and safe for dogs. It’s cooked bones that can be dangerous. To be safe, I supervise my dog whenever I give him bones. 3. “Homemade raw dog food is not balanced and your dog will not get the nutrients he needs.” Miraculously, we humans seem to get by just fine by eating a variety of foods in any given day. We even feed our children a variety of foods without measuring and balancing every single meal. Yikes! How could we be so careless? Oh, wait … it’s because we strive for balance over time. Why would it be any different for our dogs? Quick response: My dog gets a variety of meats, fruits and veggies in his diet. Every meal is not perfectly balanced, but he eats a balanced diet over time just like you and I do. 4. “How nice that you can afford raw dog food. That’s too expensive for most people.” Yes, feeding raw dog food is generally more expensive than feeding dry dog food. I spend about $100 per month on raw dog food without paying much attention to sales or going out of my way to find cheaper meat sources. I just shop at the grocery store and Costco for most of my dog’s food. If cost were an issue, I could save money on raw dog food by buying in bulk, shopping when the meat is on sale or obtaining meat directly from hunters, farmers and ranchers. Quick response: Feeding raw dog food doesn’t have to be expensive. The commercial brands are out of my price range, but I save a ton of money by buying the meat at Costco. It’s not much more than feeding a high-end dry food. 5. “It sounds way too complicated. Who has the time for that?” It seems complicated at first, but once you get used to feeding raw it doesn’t take any extra thought. You will get used to picking up some extra meat for your dog when you visit the grocery store. You’ll find a system for storing and de-thawing the meat. You’ll have a few “recipes” you rotate. Quick response: It’s not complicated. Today I took a chicken quarter out of the kitche

It’s a cute and cuddly little idea. So why does it give me horror-show-like chills? I was thumbing through the latest issue of The Bark magazine –  print version — when I came to a page devoted to spotlighting new products, including “Cuddle Clones, one of a kind plush animals made to look just like your [...]

Dog theft is becoming an alarmingly commonplace crime. We keep hearing shocking stories: stolen dogs used as bait dogs, sold to research labs, and held for ransom. One particularly brazen theft occurred just last week, when Actress Tricia O'Kelley, from The Secret Life of the American Teenager and The New Adventures of Old Christine, had her Yorkshire Terrier dognapped right from her yard. Fortunately, the dog was dropped near her home unharmed -- the thieves might have been thwarted by all the media attention the theft had received. Now, we get a heartwarming story about the other side of dog theft -- sentencing. In the District of Columbia, 18-year-old Christopher Young just got four years in prison for stealing a Yorkie at gunpoint. And the dog, thankfully, wasn't dognapped for very long -- he escaped right after the crime and made his way home by himself. Share this image Yorkshirer Terrier by Shutterstock.'> Yorkshirer Terrier by Shutterstock.'> Yorkshirer Terrier by Shutterstock. function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) Here's how it went down: On Jan. 5 at about 10 a.m., Young approached a woman walking her Yorkshire Terrier in the area of Fifth and Kennedy Streets. He displayed his handgun and said, “Give me your dog. Yorkies cost a lot of money.” The woman gave him the dog, and he ran. But this was no master criminal -- this was Christopher Young. He dropped his phone when he was running away -- of course he did. Also, Christopher Young was wearing a GPS ankle bracelet, thanks to a previous crime. GPS ankle bracelets allow police to keep tabs on people like Christopher Young. This particular GPS bracelet put Christopher Young right at the scene of the crime and also in the flight path as described by witnesses. It was the very definition of an open and shut case. And the dog? He escaped right after being nabbed and simply ran home. Nothing to it. Share this image An amazing Terrier by Shutterstock.'> An amazing Terrier by Shutterstock.'> An amazing Terrier by Shutterstock. function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) Young pleaded guilty in March 2013 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. During the proceedings, Judge Robert I. Richter hefted the book, judged its weight in his hand for a few beats, and then threw it at Christopher Young, giving him four years in prison followed by four years of supervised release. Judge Robert I. Richter is our hero of the day. Via DCist

James Bryan says in recent years he has lost his farm, home, wife and most of his personal belongings. The only real piece of his previous life the homeless Florida man still had was his dog, a blue pit bull named Handover. On the morning of May 8, he woke up — along U.S. 19 in Hudson [...]

Hey, Micah here.  Sorry we missed a couple of Thankful Thursday posts.  Last week I wanted to post about what I was thankful for but Miss Computer Hog ... well, hogged the computer. On Mother's Day Jan came home from church with two long stemmed red roses.  They were given to everyone there for their mother or in her memory, if she had passed away.  I never met Jan's Ms Mother (Jan says we

Wednesday morning Lukhkily fur the soon-to-be-fledglings, Mom didn't leave The GKP until 7:10pm - and she started at 6:50am - that is so furry wrong - but this meant reduced daylight to snag some shots Inching khloser to trying out the parental perch! Monday morning I took one of my three Blue Dog breakfast biskhuits and ran off with one of them - Mom was so surprised as I hadn't done that fur sometime SO she was ready Tuesday morning - and I entertained her and took one to the living room sofa Mom and I were looking at my Dogster page a few weeks ago - so we pulled off some pikhtures to share - this one is my profile pikh This is my pal Tundra - we won Tundra at a Tails on The Trails raffle five or so years ago Tundra is MY chair!Tundra was watching fur those KHATS - Tundra loved 'em too!We rehomed Tundra to a pal in The Mitten State as part of a The SiberNut Sekhret Santa exchange - Auntie Donna has since moved to The Blast Furnace State after some time in Virginieah - I don't know if Tundra went along or not - Happy Thursday EvFURRYone!Hugz&Khysses,Khyra

As most of you know, I live in Northeastern Ohio, close enough to Cleveland that it was very big news when the three girls who had been kidnapped ten years ago were found alive. What I didn’t know until more recently is that the kidnapper also had three dogs in the house. A Chihuahua was [...]

"I never lost consciousness, and I hollered for my little dog, and he didn't answer, he didn't come, so I know he's in here somewhere," says Barbara Garcia of Moore, OK, gesturing to the rubble around her. Share this image function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) It's a scene of utter devastation, and Garcia is describing how she survived the tornado to a reporter from CBS News. Her voice trails off, her eyes darting around, looking at what's left of her house, her neighborhood. She pushes the thoughts of her dog aside for the moment and gets back to the interview, telling of the horror that flattened everything around her. And then a quiet, shocked voice from someone from CBS off-camera, interrupting the newscast. "The dog. The dog." Share this image function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) The camera turns, lowers, and there, right at Garcia's feet: two eyes peeking out of the rubble. Her little dog, buried, right next to her. At the sound of his owner's voice calling his name, the dog starts moving, wiggling, trying to get free. Share this image function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) Share this image function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) Garcia herself pulls the rubble off of her dog, who crawls out of the wreckage under his own power. He seems stunned, shell-shocked, but he's able to move on his own. It's an amazing scene, and Garcia, overcome, delivers a heartbreaking coda. "I thought God just answered one prayer, to let me be okay. He answered both of them. Because this was my second prayer." Share this image function changeWidth(obj) { if(parseInt($(obj).parent().width()) > parseInt($(obj).width())) { $(obj).parent().css({'width':$(obj).width()}); } if(parseInt($(obj).width()) Watch the video here.

Reddit user I2izzo took this photo of a dog and duck going for a swim. The two have had a serious bond for at least three years. The duck is too fat to fly and apparently swimming is too much of an effort so he has taken the dog as his lifelong buddy. “Dude, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen ducks like you swimming.” “No, no. Ducks drop like a rock. Just keep paddling. You’re doing fine.” “In fact, I’m pretty sure they can fly too.” “Fly?  What nonsense is that?” Some Reddit  commenters are seeing a sexual component here, but we are not going to touch that. H/T to Carl

Gary Downie, a 42-year-old Scotsman living in Cheshire (UK) and former Manhattan banker who spent a decade in New York working in the the global oil and gas markets for asset management giant Investec, has turned his knowledge to designing a system of putting the power of dog doo to work. After... Visit my blog to read more! Woofs!