"I would say to all dog owners whose prejudices are aroused by my opinions and my ideas, or even my literary style , please ignore me, it is not what you think that matters - it is your dog."

We only feed raw meat, raw meaty bones, raw fish and natural plain biscuit, they also enjoy cooked liquidised vegetables, I do not believe in feeding complete diets, my personal opinion is that they are responsible for many structural problems that you see today. Most complete foods are corn based and can be unsuitable for some dogs, being far too high in Protein, synthetic nutrients and carbohydrates. Complete food has been well researched over the last decade and has been known to cause itchy skin, hyperactivity and in extreme cases temperament problems and also Anal Funculosis (AF) I have personally lost a dog through AF, it was the most horrendous experience I have had to face with my dogs and losing my boy 'Flynt' was a turning point in my life and a time to rethink my feeding regime. I am not a vet and you don't have to believe me but if I can persuade just one owner to think about how they feed their dog, I may enrich one dogs life, prolong it, or indeed save his life.
 
When I was a child our dogs ate heart and lungs from the local butcher and scraps from the table, do you remember those days when dogs lived to a ripe old age? Today dogs are mirroring human illnesses like cancer and diabetes, it is the covenience world we live in today, complete foods are 'ready made' meals for dogs. We live in a world governed by convenience and that is what complete foods are designed for, just because you can buy a ready made meal from your local supermarket, with all the nutrients that your body needs for a day, it does not mean that it is better for you than meat and three veg.

I receive numerous telephone calls and e-mails from people looking for advice on feeding their pets, which suggests to me that there is a big dilemma around the issue of feeding dogs.
 
Dogs are non-obligate carnivores. They are carnivores with opportunistic omnivorous tendencies, they will scavenge eating insects, berries, roots, carrion and would probably only make a real kill 2 or 3 times a week. In doing so they devour the whole carcass, bolting down everything from the contents of the guts through to the skin and bone. First and foremost the dog is a meat eater, his entire anatomy is adapted for a meat diet, from the teeth designed for tearing meat from the bone and then crushing those bones with his powerful jawbones and muscles, the small, very muscular stomach , the short intestines (to avoid putrefaction of flesh foods) and above all the very powerful digestive juices peculiar to the carnivorous animals - digestive juices that can dissolve even lumps of bone. In health, the dog's juices, both of mouth and stomach, are strongly antiseptic and thus 'high' meat and even flesh from diseased animals - food which would kill a human being in a day - can be eaten without harmful effects. But meat of an unnatural (very inflamed) colour should be avoided. It generally denotes previous high fever of the animal, dogs usually reject it.
 
Only when on the point of starvation will a dog eat growing crops. During the widespread myxomatosis plague, artificially introduced by man to control the rabbit population, the fox was found to be robbing the wheat when starved of his largely rabbit diet. The intestines of slain foxes were found to be filled with wheat and oats direct from the plants and they avoided starvation that way. This shows that, when compelled, carnivores have been known to eat raw cereals.

What the wild dog does is eat the semi digested grains and vegetation from the stomach and intestines of it's prey and this is why your dog will feast on horse poo - the digested vegetation of herbivorous animals. Vegetable eating animals chew and salivate, much digestion takes place in the mouth as well as the intestines, dogs on the other hand bolt their food and digestion occurs in the stomach. Therefore unlike flesh food, cereal grains fresh from the plant cannot be digested by the dog. Dogs need vegetables but they need to be lightly cooked / steamed and liquidised - thus simulating digestion. With virtually all complete foods the main ingredient is cereals and rice but the process removes most of the nutrition. The natural diet for dogs is predominently meat.

Our dogs still retain the instinct of their wild ancestors, some breeds more than others, whether he is a cute fluffy Bichon Frise or a German Shepherd, all of his bodily functions and requirements are descended over hundreds of generations from the wild dog and ultimately the wolf.

You may also think 'but my dog does eat grass' dogs eat grass not because they are hungry but for medicinal reasons, he will eat Goose grass in order to purge, usually in order to remove toxins and worm eggs from his gut. Our dogs use their instincts, I sadly recall a friend's dog digging up roots on her daily walk, her behaviour appeared obsessive as she was increasingly not interested in the fun the other dogs were having around her, she spent her entire walk searching for a root, I don't know what plant she was searching for, it is my mission to find out as shortly after this behaviour she was diagnosed with Lymphoma and found to have massive tumours in her stomach and chest, she died within a week of diagnosis.

It is far healthier and far more enjoyable for your dog to eat as naturally as possible. I get a real sense of joy feeding and rearing my dogs on thier natural diet, youngsters grow at their natural rate, teeth are white, strong and healthy, skin is free from disease and temperaments are steady and the only occasions my dogs have needed to visit the vet is for complications during whelping, in short they are healthy. It is easy too, several companies will deliver to your door, they have a whole range of raw food which is as convenient as opening a bag of complete mush. The company we use is Landywoods but there are quite a few now who all deliver to your door, Nurturing By Nature,  Natural Instinct  Durham Animal Feeds

Dogs digestion starts in the stomach. Which is why dogs don't need to 'savour' their food or chew it up in to tiny pieces. Saliva is just a lubricant to get the food chunks down to the stomach. Unlike dogs, our digestion starts in the mouth with saliva breaking down the starches and sugars in food. Which is why we need to chew our food.

A dogs stomach has a very low ph level between 1 and 2.The same as 0.4 % of Hydrochloric acid . Which is why dogs can eat rotting meat and not get sick, being natures' scavengers. The ph level is too low for salmonella or e- Coli to live . Whereas humans ph level is quite high, almost neutral, not low enough to kill these bacteria so we are prone to food poisoning. Our ph level is just right to digest cooked food and to digest carborhydrates such as rice and corn and wheat. A dogs ph level cannot digest these carborhydrates. Cardorhydrates also cause tartar on teeth because there is no saliva to break it down.
 
Raw, meaty bones are a big plus to feeding alongside your dogs diet, great for strong teeth and bones, with the added bonus of keeping your dog occupied when you are not there. No supplements are necessary, too much of anything is far more damaging than too little, we never feed calcium supplements. This is an excellent way to cause growth problems in your dog. For your dog to absorb calcium it must be in the correct ratio with other minerals. You must know exactly how much is missing as to how much you add. Raw meaty bones are the best way to do this.

All of our dogs and puppies are reared on raw green tripe, raw whole (with bone) minced chicken, rabbit, meat & veg mix, raw minced beef and a plain mixer biscuit, we use Foldhill Puppy Meal or Laughing Dog. They all also have raw meaty bones and as a treat sardines in oil, which contain essential Omega oils. Raw chicken wings,whole raw chicken carcasses and whole raw fish.

I now also give each of my dogs a daily teaspoon of locally sourced organic honey, although not a normal item of diet for carnivores, honey is the greatest of natural energisers, a nerve tonic and a supreme heart tonic, indeed it is the only known heart stimulant which is not a drug. Predigested by it's makers, the bees, it is absorbed immediately into the bloodstream of the consumer. A diet of milk and honey alone can sustain life for months in humans and animals. It has been well and long time proved that honey is also highly medicinal and will inhibit growth of harmful bacteria in the entire digestive tract and destroy those of a toxic nature.
I also feed raw eggs from free range chickens, shells are ground down into a powder and sprinkled on their meal as we would add salt. Eggs are a rich source of mineral, salts, vitamins and protiens. Eggs should not be given to sick animals.

Seaweed is also given daily to promote natural health, it is without equal as a source of natural iodine, which is highly desirable for pregnant mothers.

Also garlic is given daily for its incredible anti-parasitic and anti-septic properties.

A word of advice about adult dogs: do not be too emphatic or dogmatic about such things as hours of feeding and sticking exactly to a diet, remember the dog is a scavenger
 
These are my beliefs but I always respect the fact that not everyone will agree with me and all breeders have their own methods of feeding their dogs and rearing puppies and I would never be so presumptious to say that their way is wrong and mine is right. However I am very pleased to see that the tide is changing and more and more people are realising the benefits of Natural Feeding

I discovered this recently and thought I would share Dog Food Analysis

Suppliers of Raw Dog Food who deiliver to your door, easy! Landywoods  Nurturing By Nature  Natural Instinct  darlingsrealdogfood.com/ Durham Animal Feeds