Partial Raw Food Diets (Kibble + Raw)
It’s super awesome if you can supplement a dry kibble diet with some “raw” feedings – a partial raw food diet. I always say that a little bit of raw feeding is better than NO raw feeding because at least there’s something fresh in their diet. Some meat sources that are not raw are still better than nothing because it does offer animal protein, which is more valuable to your dog than plant protein often found in kibble. Even if you fed a spoonful of raw meat a day, that’s better than nothing. A little each day, or every other day, is great and not too much trouble to manage. I believe this is a wholesome and affordable way to feed. Dogs love variety because they think they are getting treats. And variety is very good for them; it’s NOT healthy to feed them the exact same meal for the entirety of their life. Just don’t be fooled into thinking vegetables are “healthy” for dogs, and don’t season ANYTHING; carnivores in the wild do not have access to a salad bar or seasonings – they eat a wide variety of simple, raw meat and other parts of their prey. All the veggies they need were ingested by eating the stomachs of the herbivores they devour.
Here are some ideas for quick “treats” and/or raw substitutes that are easy and should be mixed and matched, or fed every other day at least:
- VERY hard to find I am still searching BUT SO GOOD FOR DOGS
- Chicken necks (they are 50% bone, which is good for dogs)
- Raw eggs, shell and all. You’ll need to crush the shell enough for them not to notice it.
- Raw chicken feet (preferably not bleached)
- Raw chopped fresh fatty fish IE Sardines OR Mackerel OR Octopus, Squid
No Raw Food Diet (Just Kibble)
Dry kibble is not the healthiest and most wholesome way of feeding; think about it — this is just how us humans have decided to feed our pets for convenience and out of laziness, really. I won’t lie; it’s kind of hard to be motivated to feed anything else if I can plop a few scoops of dry food in a bowl and be done with it. But I choose to put a little extra effort into feeding a common-sense way.
Please also remember that the content of wet food is mostly water, so there’s not a high concentration of nutrients there, either.
I’m still doing research on the best dry kibble. It seems to change so often as formulas are changed from brand to brand. I use a Portuguese company: Happy One puppy and later Adult food OR Taste of the Wild as my go-to.
Protein
OK, large breed puppies have different requirements when it comes to the food they eat because they grow so rapidly.. Too much protein in food is NOT healthy for their growth and development, as it causes ligaments, bones, and muscles to grow faster than they are designed to grow. Puppies should be on the lowest percent protein you can find (typically around 20%) until they are around 18 months old, and then slowly transition them to higher protein. If you don’t do this, then your pup is at risk of developing all kinds of painful and damaging long term bone conditions.
I recommend offering a variation of brands, if you’re feeding kibble, to reduce the chances of problems. I believe that getting them on too much of a routine with a specific food/flavour is not healthy over time, so I’d suggest experimenting with and cycling through different flavours and brands after they are 4 months old.
Feeding Routines
Puppies about 8 weeks to 16 weeks should be fed 3-4 times per day, at around the same time.
Once your dog hits four months, it should be fed TWICE a day. My average sized adults get about 4 cups of dry kibbles per day, with one cup being in the morning when I know they may have limited access to potty breaks throughout the day if I must leave. (
Feed Less
Good quality, grain-free or raw food means that you can feed them less than you would if you were feeding cheap quality; this is because they are getting more wholesome and nutritious food and less filler.
Coconut Oil
My pups love coconut oil. As a treat, and for a healthy shine of their coats, I occasionally add a spoon full of melted coconut oil to their food.
Water
Finally: Don’t forget to offer your puppy a larger water bowl than their food bowl that is continually filled — ALL DAY LONG. Dogs and puppies should have continual access to water, every day, all day. Unfortunately, folks think that they can limit water during the day while they are at work to prevent accidents in the home, but little do they know, limiting water can cause kidney and bladder problems. If you can’t be home to let your dog out, then I suggest you figure out a way to get someone else to do it for you or your pup will face long term health affects as a result.
The Very Basics Of Raw Feeding Explained
NOTE: I’m NOT an expert on this topic because I’m still learning, but here are some basics that I’ve learned, and this is what I share with my puppy owners who ask for more info:
First, just be aware that there are a lot of diehard raw feeders, and they can get kind of crazy and aggressive about this subject. The two groups of feeders tend to be those who are OK with feeding partial raw with dry kibble (I am in this group), and those who are adamantly against feeding any hard kibble at all. Also, most vets, just like human doctors, don’t know anything about nutrition (holistic vets seem more knowledgeable). Because of this, most vets will claim that raw food diets are dangerous. This is simply not true if this diet is fed correctly. If fed incorrectly, yes, a raw diet can cause health problems.
This is where variety comes into play. Raw feeding is a science because it’s not just about feeding a dog raw meat & fish; it’s about getting the ratios and percentages correct of muscle, fat, bone, skin, hair, organs and so on. The balance should consist of 80 percent meat, 10 percent edible bone and 10 percent organ meats (that’s a rough gauge that can be broken up even more, but that’s the basic idea). If the balance gets too consistently heavy on one thing for a long period of time it can harm a dog’s body (for example, too much liver or kidney can really throw a dog’s vitamin levels and blood work off, causing physiological damage). Long term balanced is achieved by feeding a variety of protein sources. If the dog is fed a variety of food sources in rotation, then the chance of damage is low, but the diet should still loosely be based on the 80/10/10 rule.
So raw feeding should try to replicate, as much as possible, a biologically appropriate raw food diet (BARF). In the wild, canines (wolves, foxes, coyotes, wild dogs, etc.) don’t only eat muscle meat from their prey. If a wild canine kills a rabbit, it will literally consume the entire rabbit, which consists of roughly 80 percent muscle, 10 percent bone and 10 percent organs. If it gets into a nest of birds and eats the eggs, it eats the whole egg, including the shell. If it kills a bird, it eats the whole thing. I raise rabbits for the dogs, and they will eat the entire thing — bones, head, fur, and all!
Introducing a raw diet must be done slowly. A wild canine can consume and digest pretty much anything from its prey, but domesticated dogs have sensitive stomachs, partly from breeding/genetics having made them weaker, and partly because the dry kibble we feed them messes with the enzyme and pH levels of their digestive systems making them artificially unable to digest properly
This is all quite overwhelming, but once you educate yourself and find a source for the ingredients, it is easy to develop a system and routine. When you see the difference, it makes it seems crazy not to find a way to make it work. I do my best to offer the dogs as much of a raw diet as possible, but I certainly cheat sometimes. Some days I just simply can’t get it together and they happily eat kibble. Some days they get half and half. Some days they get all raw. Just depends. The good thing about this is that the variety is good for them. I notice a noticeably clear difference between their coats, attitudes, and general health when they are eating mostly raw.
Here are some great resources and things to read through to get familiar with raw feeding:
- Read first! GENERAL ADVICE
- 10 Mistakes Beginners Make When Transitioning to Raw
- Raw Feeding Calculators
Allergies
Poor diet is a leading cause of the allergies prevalent in domesticated dogs. We are led to believe that the kibble we feed/fed is a wholesome, healthy diet, when in reality it is largely what causes so many problems to begin with. I know people who have dogs that had severe allergies, inconsistent and abnormal stool, and behavioural problems; when they switched the dogs to raw based diets every single allergy disappeared, and the dogs behaved better and had correct stools. And now there’s all the talk about the research results that recently came out about canine heart disease being directly associated with grain-free kibble. There’s just no good replacement for a biologically appropriate raw diet.
I found this article interesting about a study that points to a correlation between low stomach acid and allergy problems in humans; I think it is particularly relevant to the raw feeding topic for canines because the same applies to them!
Regular feeding of a variety of raw foods promotes an acidic stomach pH, which is a good thing because it helps keep dogs from getting sick when they do eat things that would probably kill us humans if we ate them (well, that, and a different kind of immune system. We have a much lower stomach acidity level than dogs). High pH stomach levels is why a wild canine can eat a half decayed carcass, that they buried a week ago for a later meal, and be just fine. And high stomach acidity is why a raw-fed dog can eat whole raw bones and completely digest and dissolve them. Bottom line: if we could get the pH levels of our dog’s stomach to remain acidic as nature intended, then they would be healthier and have fewer allergies, and the only way to do that is to feed fresh and raw. Side note: High stomach acidity might also help minimize certain parasites.
Crate Training & Potty Training
BUY LOTS OF PUPPY PADS!!!!! These are super helpful to have around for the first several months.
For Thos Of You Who Want To Crate
You’re going to need to start crate training your pup from day one. Invest in a crate that will be big enough to house the pup when it is an adult.
Again, everyone will have a different philosophy on crate training and potting, but here are some basics that I think will help you get started. If you can find professional help with all of this early-on, then I’d highly recommend taking it. I’m not a dog trainer!
Potty Training
Hoover, potty/house trained within one month of bringing her home, but I worked from home the first year of her life so that helped so much. (I think that’s partly because she hated the sight and smell of her own poop! I was OCD about cleaning up after her, so it was unusual for her to have time to notice the poop and pee.). Also that she was given ample opportunity to “go potty” (at least every hour, when I was home). (I use vinegar water for sanitising and removing the icky scent)
You may already know how to handle the potty training subject. If so, then ignore the following (except the following video. The bell trick is ingenious!).
WATCH THIS VIDEO, especially if you don’t yet have a doggy door!
If you have determination, then there’s no reason you can’t skip most of what I explain below and have your puppy potting like the one in the video. I wish I had thought of the bell trick!
Otherwise, this is what I’d recommend:
During the day, your puppy should be taken out at least every hour or so.
Pick Up Your Pup On A Weekend!
I’d recommend you pick up your pup over the weekend if you can so you have the time not to be stressed and rushed during the first day or two of the bonding phase (and also because you’ll need to be cleaning a lot!). On the very first day that you bring your puppy home I would recommend giving it a bath and allowing it to sleep with you on a puppy pad the first and second night only. This will give it time to imprint your scent and become familiar with you.
At Night
Every night for a month afterward you should house either crate/or bed the pup in your bedroom, or just outside the door (for your own sake). NO MATTER HOW BAD THE PUPPY CRIES, do not let it out and do not give in from now on; it is still weaning from its litter mates and mamma, and that is OK. But you do not want it to think that every time it whines, you will show up and rescue it.
Pups usually poop and pee after they eat and drink.
But you will still need to get up every four hours or sooner for a month to take the puppy outside for a potty opportunity. It will probably go potty in its crate (or bed) by accident, but the act of going outside is important.
You’re probably carrying it outside in your arms at this point. Start telling it to “go potty” on the way out and once you’re outside, so that it will associate those words with relieving itself. This will come in handy in the future. NOTE: you will be waking the puppy up to take it outside; that is OK. It may not go potty, but at least it has a chance to if it needs it.
Bring it back and place it in the crate/Bed. It may cry, hoping that when it does cry you will give it attention. DON’T. Only take it out at least every four hours, no matter what.
Basically — just a heads up — you are not going to sleep well for the first month! But that’s the sacrifice you make for a well-trained pup.
After a month, you should move the crate to another room but still follow ‘every four hour rule’ of taking out the puppy. After two months or so of this, you should be able to progress from taking the puppy out every four hours to every eight hours or so.
The key to potty training is allowing access to the outdoor potty spot as often as possible (not longer than every four hours for the first two months, whether it has to go or not). Dogs and puppies love to potty on wood bark and leaves, so try to establish a designated area with that kind of footing, while telling it to “go potty” And dip some paper into the pee or poo and leave it in the designated ‘potty’ spot outside, this is the spot where you take the puppy to “go potty” every 4-hours or right after they eat or drink.
After three months you can experiment with leaving the crate door open at night, and maybe add baby gates to contain the pup to your room and add a separate bed at the foot of your bed on the floor in your bedroom, so it can choose where it wants to sleep. But continue to take the pup out at least every eight hours at this point. The puppy will likely be sleeping through the night now, anyway, and getting used to your own sleeping routine.
After four to five months, you will be able to evaluate things and know if you will be able to let the pup sleep through the night without incident. You should be able to leave the crate door open and a dog bed at the foot of your bed on the floor.
The cold, hard truth is that it will still have an occasional accident both in and out of the crate, so don’t take it personally. They tend to learn fast that they’d rather go outside, though.
Keeping Things Clean
I’m convinced that being OCD with cleaning during this training phase made a world of difference in the speed of training for us and our dogs. As soon as the puppy poops or pees, or as soon as you notice it, it should be cleaned up and taken away and he area sanitised with vinegar! These are accidents at first. In nature, the mother cleans the den.
Once the pups start moving around, they naturally go outside the den to potty. They don’t want to poop and pee where they eat and sleep.
The sight or smell of poop or pee in the house should be super minimal and unusual to the puppy. If it becomes a “normal” thing for it to see and smell its own excrement, then it will figure that it is a normal and OK thing to pee and poop everywhere. But if YOU make it abnormal for it to be around poop and pee and provide ample opportunity to pee and poop outside then it will start avoiding the nastiness of the situation. They develop an aversion to it.
Because dogs generally HATE to eat and sleep where they poop and pee, think about feeding and watering in or near the crate.
Leaving The House
For you Crating folks: I would recommend that every time you leave the house for a year after taking the puppy home, you leave the puppy crated. But do not leave it crated for more than four hours at a time. The idea is that the puppy establishes the crate as a pleasant place to be — its home, its den. So even when you are home, it would be beneficial to leave the crate open and have it be inviting to sleep and eat in (do not offer any other sleeping area other than the crate). Crating prevents destructive behaviour when you leave. After a year of crating, you may start to slowly experiment with leaving the pup alone with the crate door open. NOTE: During this time I lost a couple pairs of shoes. But thankfully nothing else. Just don’t leave anything out that you don’t want chewed, and be sure to puppy-proof your house.
The Magic Of A Dog Door
If you can do this and make sure that on the other side of that door is a fenced-in dog lot, then your potty training days will be guaranteed shorter. They are smart and will figure it out on their own if they have access to the outdoors on their own terms. Large breed dogs HATE peeing and pooping indoors. If they have quick and easy access to the outdoors, then you will have an easier time teaching them not to poop and pee indoors.
Professional Training
We strongly advise that your dog complete basic puppy obedience classes. Just be sure your trainer is legitimate and let DO us know about the details.
Some common issues with ridgebacks that you should continually address, both in and out of class:
- Leash work — they love to pull if not trained otherwise, and this can be exhausting as an owner.
- Stranger danger — they need to interact with strangers, males in particular, and be handled by lots of other strangers other than “their” people because they bond so strongly with one or two people only.
- Food aggression — they can become food possessive if they have competition around their food bowls (other dogs, cats, kids, etc.), they can develop food aggressions.
Nosework!
Once you have a handle on basic obedience classes, we recommend a really fun and easy way of furthering your pup’s education through Nosework! You can actually progress into earning titles in this sport if you’re dedicated enough.
In K9 Nose Work, dogs learn how to search for a specific odor or odors and find the source. Dogs start by searching for their favourite food or toy reward hidden in a variety of environments, increasing the challenges and adding new search skills as the dog progresses. Most people will choose to have their dogs learn to find the target odors used in K9 Nose Work: birch, anise, and clove; those looking to keep it fun searching for food or toy can still have fun and progress in the activity. Once target odors are introduced to the dog, he will search for the odour only and find its source, then get rewarded by his handler with his favourite food or toy reward.
This is a new and easily accessible way to get your dog involved in competition. Rhodesians are GREAT candidates for this sport, and nothing is required to get involved other than finding a knowledgeable trainer and the time and (little) money for classes.
So, this is some basic information for the first 2-4 months of your puppies life with you and to help you transition into being a good puppy-parent and to start out training a healthy ridgeback. This does not cover training such as lead, recall etc.