Dogs love to eat and owner’s everywhere can see the joy on their pooch’s faces when they fill up the food bowl. One of the happiest we will ever see our dogs is when they leap and pant with anticipation for what they are about to devour. The easiest way to satisfy a dog’s nutritional needs is to buy canned or packaged food from the pet store. In fact, such items are so popular and mainstream that they can be found in the local supermarket alongside human food. But for those of you with the time, one possibility is to provide your dog with a real treat – a healthy and hearty home cooked meal.
You probably won’t be cooking for your dog on a regular basis, but if you do make sure to consult your veterinarian so that you are able to meet your dog’s nutritional needs. Dogs have unique requirements so it is best not to introduce too much variety into their diet without adequate guidance from a trained professional. But for a once-in-a-while occurrence, you can cook things like hamburger and chicken for your dog. If your pet has been a really good boy, you can even give him a steak! You should cook for your dog the way you cook for yourself (hopefully) – that is, in the healthiest way possible. Avoid excessive oil or salt and mix in nutritional elements such as vegetables or eggs. If you manage things properly, you can even prepare a dish that both you and your dog can enjoy together. Food is an expression of love and preparing a delicious meal for your dog will let it know how much it is appreciated.
Not into cooking? Then check out this alternate diet for your dog: the BARF diet.

The BARF diet or more descriptively the bones and raw food diet is an interesting way to bond with your dog. My great danes have been very willing participants in my experiment to find out exactly what works and what doesn’t. For those of you that are not familiar with this dog food diet it is simple. You simply feed your dog what it would eat in the wild. This means, lots of raw meat, some organ meat, bones, pureed veggies and fruit, eggs, yogurt (maybe not be available in the wild, but still good for them), fish, and really whatever else you can think of. A couple of things have become apparent since I have started feeding my danes in this fashion. First, they love it, give a dog a bone and you have a friend for life. It is amazing how long a dog will crunch on a bone. Great for cleaning their teeth and improving dog breath. Second, giving dogs actual nutrients instead of store bought processed dog food really does improve their coat and muscle tone. My dogs both lost some flab around the mid section but actually gained a little bit of muscle and weight. Last, it is difficult to feed animals like this all of the time. I usually mix in a little bit of regular dog food, the amount is determined by how much other stuff I am giving them. On busy days they may just get a couple of scoops of regular dog food. And yes they do seem a little disappointed. A couple of things to watch out for. First, make sure you are giving your dog good quality meat that has not had a chance to go bad. I may leave it in the refrigerator for a day or two but more than that is asking for trouble. Don’t make any transition too quickly, give their systems a chance to adapt to the dietary changes or you will most likely be cleaning up a surprise off of the floor. Last warning. If you give them bones they will crunch until the bones are gone, this is completely normal. Shortly thereafter, I’m talking 2-10 hours they will regurgitate the indigestible bone fragments. This is kind of disgusting and a bit alarming at first but completely normal. Many animals do this, it is a mechanism which allows them to get the most out of their meals. My great danes love the BARF diet and I have witnessed numerous health benefits from feeding them like this. I am happy to do whatever needs to be done to extend and improve the lives of my furry friends.