| These are my first few pictures with the digital camera I got tired of waiting for the regular prints to be developed. These next few shots were taken on Steven's birthday. |
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| In October we started the BARF diet full time. Duke's appetite was
constant, I mean he was always hungry. Back in Africa we did not
feed the animals processed food but RAW meat or the "Butcher Special,
which smelt horrible!!
With Dukes height now near his maximum I wanted him to start filling out. |
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.The best guide to BARF diets is "Give your
Dog a Bone" by Doctor Ian Billinghurst. For those of you no familiar with BARF, visit this site: |
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| You get some strange reactions from people when you tell them what you
are doing. The most common reaction I get is "You should never
feed bones to your dog!"
So I ask "Why?" The reply is something like "Well .....um .... um ... it will shred the inside of their stomachs or something" So I reply "Really? Well how do you figure wolves, coyotes, jackals, wild dogs survive ... are they really that different?" At this point I will explain the BARF diet and the advantages of RAW meat and veggies. I have learned a few things too much gibblets and liver gives Duke terrible gas, he is in no discomfort but let me tell you he can let some smelly ones go in the early hours of the morning. Now I keep liver to once a week. The staple of his diet is chicken legs and thighs. I do look for them on sale and will buy in bulk when they do come on sale. He will eat anything chicken be it wings little drum sticks or in many cases he will eat 1/2 a chicken at one feeding. My feeding has followed some rules and others I have made up as I go along based on availability. He likes pork neck bones and will crunch them right up, my local Dominicks knows me well as the guy who buys all of the dog bones that they put out. |
 The first snow of Fall 2000 |
| I started my old Pom Gizmo on a semi barf diet too. His teeth are
failing so it made no sense to give him bones to chew. So I feed him a bit
of kibble and the rest is low fat ground beef and then a couple times a
week he has Tuna in water. Let me tell you for a dog that has had
processed food all of his 16 year life he loves it and no sooner have I
walked in the door in the evening and both dogs are wanting their dinner.
I fill up Dukes bowl with a few scoops of ground beef and when Gizmo has Tuna so does Duke. Along with vitamins (that is my wife's department) and lots of gound up veggies the both love the feast. |
 The first snow of Fall 2000 |
| So what are the results of the diet change .... for one thing their
doggy breath is less doggy, their coats are as better then ever.
Duke had an allergy that made the skin on his stomach irritated sometimes
... this has gone and not returned. He is getting bigger ... not
fatter just filling out that skinny frame. They both have more
energy and drive me nuts with all the playing that they want to do.
My bus drops me off on the back of my property and when I peer through the bushes I can see the back of the house. If Duke is out I will whistle and he will run like the wind to me, after 600 feet of speed building up it is quite a sight to him come at me. It usually takes about 45 feet for him to brake as he passes me and then circle gets smaller and smaller until we finally greet each other. |
 November 2000, making the BARF dinner |
