BigGameHoundsmen.com

Very good video JTG. Sums up exactly what I've been preaching for years. Dry food is not a good food for our dogs. People feed it because its convenient. Dogs are meat eaters.
Thanks for posting.

Dean,

Yes, you have and thank you for sharing with us. It’s important that houndsman, share useful information. If there is disagreement, the readers can decide, no need to argue. After all, like our hounds, good houndsman are becoming an endangered species and it’s important that we help each other. Sometimes, we get stuck from old ways of the past, just because someone said this or that. After all, results win the day.
I wish, that I lived closer, as my hounds, would love some of that horsemeat and I would be thrilled to give it to them.
Thanks again for the good advice.

FullCryHounds wrote:Very good video JTG. Sums up exactly what I've been preaching for years. Dry food is not a good food for our dogs. People feed it because its convenient. Dogs are meat eaters.
Thanks for posting.

This is all a great read, guys. Thank you for sharing all of your years of experience. I recently started adding elk meat to my hound's diets (I have a friend who processes wild game, so I get a lot of scraps). My question is, how often are you feeding your animals? Once a day, or twice a day? I've done both ways and the only difference I have seen is that the dogs seem more excited for food when fed once a day.

I'm all over the place when it comes to feeding my dogs. My preference is not to feed on any set schedule. Why? Simple. I think "pressure", when used correctly, is a valuable tool in developing and maintaining any working dog.

My situation is different from most on here in that I presently have one dog. Nevertheless, it's a working dog, just not a hound. At the end of the day, my dogs condition and the activities they are doing often dictate what, when, how often, etc. I feed.

Nvtrapper wrote:This is all a great read, guys. Thank you for sharing all of your years of experience. I recently started adding elk meat to my hound's diets (I have a friend who processes wild game, so I get a lot of scraps). My question is, how often are you feeding your animals? Once a day, or twice a day? I've done both ways and the only difference I have seen is that the dogs seem more excited for food when fed once a day.

I feed twice a day. Personal preference. I know one guy that feeds once every other day. I spend a lot of time with my dogs every day so it's no problem for me to feed twice a day.
Again, I think this is another case of what's more convenient for the owner and not necessarily what's best for the dog.

It causes anxiety when dogs are fed, at random times and prefer consistency. Adults dogs should be fed, twice a day and at least 8.5 hours apart, especially when it’s cold. The heavier meal, should be fed at night or during the day, if you hunt at night. Proper food combinations enhance performance and increase energy and overall health. No food of any kind in between meals, except for treats when training puppies and I do not use treats for that. Fasting adult dogs once a month, will give them a chance, to burn off toxins in their digestive system. Fasting should be done on an easy day, in a small kennel or limit their exercise. Hard boiled eggs are a great way to break a fast or something light. The second meal of the day, can go back to normal feeding practices.
Pups meals should be spaced 4.5 hours apart and do not require fasting, until after a year old. (Pups, at least three meals a day.)
Clean water and feed bowls, are a must, for good feeding practices. Electrolytes added to the water will enhance, performance, especially in the summer.
I have two or more set's of food and water bowls, one set in a 5 gallon bucket under water,with bleach and rotated. The outside of the bowls can be loaded with germs, so they need to be clean.

Thanks for all the input. I was feeding once a day until about 3 months ago when I switched to twice a day. I feed around 5-6am and then again around 4-5pm, depending on what’s going on. I haven’t tried fasting the dogs, but sounds like maybe I should try that.

I just purchased all new food and water bowls because the old ones were grimy. I plan to clean them very well and do a rotation.

There’s a lot more to a feeding system than simply putting food in a bowl.


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Awesome job, taking care of your hounds.

Nvtrapper wrote:Thanks for all the input. I was feeding once a day until about 3 months ago when I switched to twice a day. I feed around 5-6am and then again around 4-5pm, depending on what’s going on. I haven’t tried fasting the dogs, but sounds like maybe I should try that.

I just purchased all new food and water bowls because the old ones were grimy. I plan to clean them very well and do a rotation.

There’s a lot more to a feeding system than simply putting food in a bowl.


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JTG wrote:It causes anxiety when dogs are fed, at random times and prefer consistency.

Perhaps. Conversely over dependency can lay the foundation for anxiety and invite in a set of unwanted behaviors as well - particularly where there are situations that the routine has to be broken. I've found that the method I cited sets a foundation for them to be more resourceful and adaptable. You would have to see what I mean to be able to judge whether or not there's any merit to what I claim.

I don't push thresholds on my dogs on a radical whim or out of sheer laziness. I do these same things with myself. Why? No one can ever be certain when they might become naked and afraid . Honestly, it makes good sense to condition myself in such a way. Stuff most people complain about or have an aversion to, I'd never give a second thought.

I like what I get from it. It's a different approach and I get that. I suppose it might seem odd to some… maybe even most. Course, I also went through a phase where I found great satisfaction in planning, weighing, and utilizing countless other controls with a specific aim at fine tuning something that at the end of the day seemed to make more of a difference in less robust specimens.

One of the most overlooked things when feeding and nutrition are being discussed is gut flora, a lot of times it's one of the underlying problems for a number of different ailments, a healthy and happy gut is a healthy and happy dog, I give mine a pro-biotic at least once a month, I get them at a local pharmacy for cheap and dump the capsule over their feed, and this may be a bit off topic but I gave one of my gyps 3ccs of a liquid additive by the name of "cattle active" that my father in law had next to the chute in the barn, it's some expensive stuff, at the time, 2013' it was 700$ a gallon and was labeled as an "anti biotics best friend " and was also a major aid in nutrient absorption and all other kinds of benefits for cattle, so I wasn't able to get enough to give all my dogs and ever since I've given her that no matter what I feed her, her stool is always excellent shape and minimal and she heals up quick and is an easy keeper and milked like a jersey last time I raised a litter off her, she was the only one I give it to and the only one I've noticed the stool consistency with no matter what I've fed. Could the stuff worked that good for her? Maybe so, I certainly won't say it hurt anything.