"Bring his dinner."

[Thoenix]

The puppy classes around here all ask us to bring his dinner to the class. But I'm a bit reluctant to bring raw chicken to the class because, well, I feel like it'd be the equivalent of walking into a room of prison inmates who were all being fed froot loops and giving just one of them a steak. Not very fair and could cause fighting!

Any ideas for what I should do about this? I wanna have some kind of idea before I talk to a trainer, so I can sound informed and not get the lecture about how raw is bad for dogs.

[CarolB]

raw

Maybe you could make up a meat meal and take it in a storage bowl. Some kind of ground meat mixed with an egg.

[Thoenix]

Oh there's a thought. We're planning to get in some ground meat to get our stupid cat started on raw, so that's a definite possibility. My chicken place will grind anything they've got for 10 cents a pound more, so I could do that... They'll even grind a whole chicken.

It's a dilemma I hadn't thought of. We're planning to start puppy classes later this month.

[thisiscyndi]

Use dehydrated meat for treats or a high quality no grain training treat. Some people make their own, some smaller boutique type dog stores sell dehydrated treats.

[Thoenix]

We already use dehydrated chicken treats for all the animals because we have cats with severe grain allergies.

[Charlene]

all good ideas. also, you'll find this a lot with people who don't understand or endorse raw feeding. your trainer might have an opinion but don't let him/her discourage you! they should have no input as to what you feed your own dog.

i was in line recently at the grocery store where chicken legs were on sale for .77/lb. i had close to 40# of packages with 8 or 9 legs each. you can imagine how many i had! the lady behind me said "wow, you must really love chicken!" i told her it was for my dogs. she said "wow, you must reall love to cook!" i told her i feed it raw. she said "WHAAAT? are you trying to **gasp** KILL them??" i just .

[Thoenix]

My dane mentor (who feeds raw, but tends to feed more ground than I prefer) says "Just tell people to stuff it. They can and will tell you what to do and you just have to go 'Whatever.'"

[mistified247]

I would go with "CarolB"'s suggestion. Just take it in all ground up and nobody will be the wiser. Although, I agree with Charlene that it isn't their place to tell you what/how to feed. But, I do know the comments that come with raw feeding.

[Thoenix]

To be honest I was less worried about what they might say and more worried about how the other animals might react to seeing him actually enjoy his food while they eat less appealing fare.

[Charlene]

i wouldn't be too concerned about that. if the other dogs have never had raw, they don't really know what they're missing.

[crdane]

i wouldn't be too concerned about that. if the other dogs have never had raw, they don't really know what they're missing.

I don't know about that!! Aadan is VERY interested in our dog's raw food, and will not eat his kibble at our house when he is here. He wants what they have!!!!!

[Thoenix]

He's always been very interested in whatever I was cooking, so I'm not entirely convinced other puppies wouldn't be.

[BlueCollarBelle]

Your meat place will grind the whole chicken? Bone-in? I really need to get on the ball in finding a great meat store! We love the Fromm but I'm liking what I see with other members who have switched to raw. As far as the class goes, I agree with taking something ground in a Tupperware. Easy cleanup, no dragging bits onto the floor, and the other pups hopefully won't be paying attention when their food is in front of them. Maybe it'll be an opportunity to educate others!

[Thoenix]

Yeah, whole chickens, bone in, even with the heads and feet on. Or any parts of chickens I want--they'll even grind breast bones or necks and backs if I want, or feet. Or turkey drums. Or, well, anything they sell, for ten cents a pound more. They DO want you to order 48 hours ahead so they can grind all their 'whole chicken' orders for the day at the very end of the night before pickup so that they can then clean their grinder completely for non-bone-in orders the next day. Then it's put in an industrial fridge.