Feeding the dog(s)… Part 5
Do you give your dogs fruit and veg?
Canines are meat eaters…but…they do graze and if they’re wild canines then they eat the stomach contents of the grazers that are their prey. My ethos is actually very simple…if they eat it then they 1) like it and 2) they know it good for them….
Because i feed natural, my dogs from tiny pups onwards, get fruit, vegetables and herbs…and any rescue dogs that come in very quickly pick up the habit. I am lucky as i have a large garden and we grow stuff, but the one area that always attracts them is the herb garden. One of the things that has always fascinated me is the ‘selective’ choice on any given day for a ‘graze’. I have many examples of this…
Fennel… Amilou was having ‘girlie period problems’ and I noticed that she would munch the fennel before her blind seasons. Fennel in Egyptian times was a natural contraceptive and ‘eased’ women problems.
Falkor (now passed away) had pancreatic cancer and would munch away on the new shoots of lemon balm…it helps with liver bile production.
Ami is a watercress freak, she can actually smell it in the fridge if i buy it, but on one of our walks it grows, starting spring all through to late autumn. In winter she will actually break the ice and dig up the shoots…getting her out of a watercress patch is fun lol…it a good natural antioxidant and high in folic acid.
They all love the wild garlic shoots that appear in spring and a dog that smells of garlic is less likely to attract ticks and fleas and my males have always liked flowering clover…hey girls…forget viagra give your man some purple clover flowers lol!
There are all sorts of ‘myths’ about dogs eating grass, for example it makes dogs sick. Well, you know what? They do because it does, grass is a healer! If they are feeling ‘off’ then the cellulose and fibre and sugars etc, is like us taking liver salts. If they’re not sick and just munching then they like the sugars…it’s fine…let them do it!
My lot adore fruit and seeds, they will graze the blackberries, sloes, seeds in cow parsley, cherries that are low to ground, windfall apples and plums etc. And because I encourage it and don’t do ‘leave it’ late summer and autumn are a feasting ground for them!
In the winter we buy the cheap bruised stuff from the markets and cheap fruit/veggie juice from aldi etc to add to their cooked dinner days. Got a dog with a bit of a water infection? Then if the dog is used to fruit juices and you can catch it quick, cranberry juice will work a treat…cheaper than a consult at vets and better than antibiotics!
I am a clicker trainer, one of the rules of clicker training is the high quality of the treat. I had a dog that would do anything for a raw brussel sprout. Cubert when a he was a little pup would work fast for peas, I’ve got all his basic behaviours including the recall at 10 weeks using frozen peas!
My message is don’t stop them choosing to graze, give them raw veg and fruit in their diet and use what they like as a low calories reward when you’re training. Let them self heal if they’re starting to feel ill before you even know it, they will kick in with what they know they need.
Hollysocks at 16 years!
This pic is of our Hollysocks on her 16th birthday who went over the bridge at 16 and 5 months, she was real special and there is lots on the internet about her as she made the doggie news when she got to 16 bless her…she even got a telegram from the Queen’s corgis haha!
But we got her at aged 3, seriously abused seriously at deaths door and seriously didn’t think even I could save her as her mental problems were so bad. She saw the vet the week we got her and as I said she was 3. When we had to help her go over the bridge at 16 that was the only record the vets had. How many times has your dog been to the vet for stuff like upset tum or itchy skin, ear problems, eye problems, anal glands etc? How much has it cost you?
I feed natural, that means no chemical wormers, no chemical flea treatment, no steroids, no antibiotics, natural arthritis meds when old, grazing at will, Hollysocks is my example, she lived way beyond the normal for clumbers 
http://www.kizkiznobite.co.uk/
