I have fed my Great Danes raw food for over
eight years. This website features a collection of
what I have found interesting and worth sharing.
I know this is not for everyone, but I have seen a
significant increase in people switching to raw
over the last few years.
People that resist or do not believe in this diet
often base their decision on either wrong
information or personal (human) reasons.
I hope to inspire Great Dane and other large
breed owners to feed their dogs the food these
pets were designed for. Large breed dogs in
particular, benefit from a raw food diet.
I have spent hundreds of hours researching this
subject. Back in 2000 when I started, it was still
controversial to give dogs raw food instead of
commercial dog food. I could not find any
veterinarians supporting me “officially”. A few
went as far as saying “I’ve heard good things
about it”. Now I see many more in favor of
feeding raw.
In 2000 I came across the book “Give your dog a
bone” by Billinghurst. After reading this book I
was convinced this was the right thing to do --
give my dog the food it was designed to eat --
raw natural food.
The fact that a dog’s digestive system is design
for raw natural food was the wakeup call for
me. Like us humans, dogs require a wide range
of nutrient to stay healthy and sustain a strong
immune system. Commercial dog food do not
supply a dog with all of these important nutrients.
Raw natural food is what a dog’s digestive
system is looking for in order to supply a dogs
body with a complete range of nutrients.
Large breed dogs like Great Danes benefit
greatly on a raw diet. These dogs need a large
amount of nutrients to sustain a healthy life style
and prevent many diseases. Commercial dog
food lack the ingredients that contains these
nutrients in quality and quantity. This is turn
causes a large breed dog’s immune system to
weaken drastically and expose it to many
diseases that otherwise should be prevented with
a healthy strong immune system.
But, it is not guaranteed as I sadly experienced
with Camelot l. He developed a tumor in his
chest that started bleeding and ended his life.
Otherwise he was a very active at 8 1/2 years old
with no signs of joint problems or other common
problems Danes often experience. You can read
more about Camelot here
I get my Danes from rescue organizations. It is
disturbing to me to see how many Great Danes
end up in rescue. Rex my 12 year old was
rescued from The Mid Atlantic Great Dane
Rescue League. They have at anytime over 70
Great Danes in foster homes waiting for a family
to adopt them.
Please consider adopting a Dane from your local
Great Dane Rescue organization. Do not let their
size stop you from consider one. They are in fact
quite easy to handle and train despite their size.
You can live in a one bedroom apartment with a
Great Dane as long as you provide enough
exercise. I lived in my RV with two Great Danes
for three years in preparation for a five year road
trip across USA/ Canada and Alaska. So far no
problems what so ever.
One of my reasons for this website and my blog
is to show that almost anyone can live with a
Great Dane regardless of space. I have created a
blog were I post daily.
Living so close with my dogs for the last eight
years has thought me a lot about dogs. I work
from home and spend most of my time around
my dogs. I have learned a lot about how they
communicate. Mostly with their ears, eyes, head
and tail. I practice very little verbal
communications with them. I don’t train them to
do tricks. I try to mimic a pack life where I’m the
pack leader. My dogs are extremely well behaved
and friendly. They never chase other animals or
run off. I get compliments often how well behaved
my Danes are.
Too many people try to humanize their dogs
which in my mind often lead to confusion and
unbalanced dogs. Dogs do not require much to
be become balanced and happy. Exercise, food
and sleep is pretty much what they live for. If your
dog is unbalanced and difficult to handle in most
cases it is not getting enough exercise or it does
not have a leader.
Exercise is the number one thing every dog need
plenty of. If your dog is calm and balanced
between the times you take him out you’re giving
him enough exercise. If he is not, he needs more.
It is really as simple as that.
If I for some reason go past 6-7 hours my dogs
will start to get restless and they try to tell me
they want to go out by making very low whining
noises, almost as they are afraid of disturbing
me, but just enough to get my attention. If I keep
ignoring them, they will get increasingly louder.
But, I rarely get to this point since I know their
schedule very well.
A documentation about
3 Great Danes on a raw
food diet traveling across
Northern America
)
)
The Barf Diet.
The word BARF stands for Biologically
Appropriate Raw Food, or Bones and Raw
Food. The BARF Diet presented in this book
is a simple, practical and commonsense
alternative to the health destroying
processed pet foods.
This is the book got me started on the raw
diet. I highly recommend this one. (Thomas)
Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats
This book will help pet-lovers enable their
dogs and cats to enjoy an ideal quality of
life though a species appropriate diet of
raw, natural foods.
I highly recommend this book. It's written in
a easy to read style and is a great
introduction on what is needed to
successfully implement a raw food diet.
Give your dog a bone
If this book don’t make you think and get
your dog off commercial dog food no book
will.
People complain about how poorly it is
written, something I can’t stand behind
since I’m a terrible writer myself.
But, I highly recommend reading this book.
It’s a eye opener and will make you fee
pretty bad if you’ve feed your dogs “dog
food” for years.
Raw Fed Rescue Danes
My newest rescue is Camelot ll. I got
him from Colorado Great Dane
Rescue. Camelot was extremely timid
and scared of all foreign noises. He
has come a long way since then. He
is now a happy balanced dog
exceptionally kind and friendly
towards any human and animal. Read
more about Camelot ll here
All rights reserved Feed-Raw.com
Mid-Atlantic Great Dane rescue League, Inc
This is where I got Rex.
Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue Inc.
This is where I got Camelot ll
I can only recommend two Great Dane Rescue organizations since I have
no experience with others. I’m sure there are other fine organizations that
you can rescue Great Danes from. If you know of any, please let me know.
I highly recommend these two organizations. They do great work and are
very serious about finding the right home for each and every Dane the
foster
)
Please visit my blogs for update
information about feeding raw, Great
Danes and my travels.
Show the world that
you feed your dog
the foods it was
designed for.
I apologize!
I’m Norwegian and English is not my mother
language. Norwegian and English is quite
different and I’m still learning. Please try to
look past my sometimes poor sentence
structure and grammar.
Camelot ll and Rex
