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Just a note: Heart and chicken gizzards count as meat, not organ, as they are muscle. Most commonly fed organs are kidneys and liver--liver being the most important to make sure they get several times a week.

Yup--I had to feed my Sam his food frozen (including bone-in stuff) for about a year b/c he bolted it down (and then horked it up). Eventually he relaxed and now I thaw it.

Another option is feeding in a crate (plastic vari-kennel type) w/ no bedding. Easy to clean (I just spray w/ vinegar and water once a week and wipe down) and keeps the dogs separate to avoid food guarding issues.

Just to clarify, I said giblets, not gizzards, which includes the chicken liver and kidney.

As for feeding outside, well I'm just fortunate that I live in Florida and don't have to worry about weather. I'd rather not have to clean a crate. if it is raining, I can also lay down a towel in the house and they will stay on it, but I don't want to clean the towel either if I don't have to. My girls will not eat from a bowl, they pull it out and lay it on the ground so they can rip and tear.

Also ETeSelle mentioned that the Raw Feeding yahoo group can be a little intense. If you want a friendly group, I use the Raw Meaty Bones Yahoo Group. http://pets.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawMeatyBones/

They were especially wonderful in getting started and answering any questions when encountering problems.

The most important thing is to get your house wolves started on a species appropriate diet. Choosing one group over the other or one vet over the other (David Mech vs Tom Lonsdale) is essentially the same as choosing Dr. McDougall or Dr. Fuhrman. It's about 98% the same recommendations.

Good luck!

I know--you also said heart, however. And gizzards are almost always part of "giblets."

Yeah, if it works for you that's great. I do prefer to keep my dogs separate when eating, however (to avoid food guarding and also to make sure that they are eating what they are SUPPOSED to be eating, LOL), and was just offering another option for folks.

I may be wrong, but don't they recommend feeding plant foods as well as meat? Also larger (weight bearing) bones?

No!! They don't recommend weight bearing bones!! Totally agree, they break teeth.
And they do not recommend plant foods. Plants won't hurt them, but they are not necessary. And the only supplement recommended is fish oil if you're dog won't eat an oily fish. I'm lucky, mine love whole fish.

Basically think of it s what would they eat in the wild. Nobody's cutting up plants or giving them supplements in nature.

Hehe...just thought of something...

They eat animal based whole foods.

My previous dog would always eat seaweed washed up on the shore, but only at a certain time of year. We figured there was something in it like a supplement she wanted, but maybe it was just the taste. She would also pull tomatoes off the vines. The border collie I have now loves quack grass and rose hips - she helps herself - but shows no interest in seaweed.

Yeah, dogs will eat random stuff--not necessarily b/c it's good for them but just b/c it's there, LOL. Kinda like kids. Wolves and other wild canids have been known to consume berries, etc., but ONLY when they have been unsuccessful at hunting and are very hungry. Wolves normally kill only once every 2-3 days at most, and consume a HUGE amount when they do kill (up to 20% of their body weight!!), so they are OK w/ fasting. When there is no game, however, they can eat other things and they aren't picky like cats. This is, of course, how they probably threw their lot in w/ human beings--our trash dumps were attractive and easy pickins!

Thought I'd update here about my puppy, since so many were interested.

I started my puppy on raw a couple of days ago. She's been on a grain free kibble since she was rescued at about 3.5 months old. I had planned on waiting until she was about 2 years old, but decided to do it now. She was spayed in mid January and gained about 10 lbs since then. Although not fat, she had a pretty good layer covering her ribs, I am unable to see them anymore, but she has a very good "tuck" to her tummy so I was unconcerned about it. But weight is an issue for labs and then health problems follow.

Anyway, I was really surprised at how much difficulty she had. When I put Sierra on raw, she was just over 8 years old and she took right to it. While I did cut the bones initially, she chewed minimally then swallowed. No "games". Not Alpine however. It took her almost 30 mins to eat 3 wings. I really had to play with her to get it. She's mildly guardy over bones/food, so I used that to my advantage a bit.

This morning was the 3rd day and shes doing great. Still takes her a bit, but she really chews them good. I had noticed in recent weeks while eating kibble, she wasnt chewing it anymore like she had. It was all gulping, and that is when kibble can become dangerous for big dogs.

Anyways, thought I'd update this for anyone who was thinking of changing to raw for their dogs and they werent taking to it very well. Raw chicken is tasteless and takes a lot of phyical work for them to eat it. But I believe in the long run they are much healthier. I'll update in a month or so, in case anyone is still interested.

Glad it's going well! Yeah, they have to DEVELOP jaw strength, and how easy that is for them will vary from dog to dog. If they are weaned directly to raw (as my kitten Jonah was) they never lack that jaw strength.

Congrats!

Good that it's working out. Much like people... some animals take quickly to it... others not so much. The "best" way to feed dogs can be as contentious as the "best" way to feed humans. Numerous books and web sites detailing what is best. Same for how best to teach/train them and other behavioral modalities apply... Fascinating stuff...

The Lindsay Nixon (AKA, The Happy Herbivore) has a couple of blog posts on her vegan dogs:

http://happyherbivore.com/2010/09/vegan-dogs/
http://happyherbivore.com/2012/02/vegan-dogs-vegedog/

Yeah, she makes me NUTS on that score. Yes, her dogs will survive on that diet and certainly fresh vegan food is better than vegan kibble (what she compares it to) but dogs were not meant to eat this way and she is harming them long term. Her comments re: fibre just make me go -- carnivores have NO NEED for fibre, and dogs are not supposed to have soft, "easy" poops. Proper raw fed poops are very firm, almost w/out smell, and infrequent (my dogs poop once a day)--BONE firms the stool, not fibre.

Very sad, IMO, that she is foisting onto her dogs the diet that is good for HER but not for them. She should have rabbits instead.

I concur on feeding dogs a raw meat diet. I had a Westie who died prematurely of cancer and my research showed it was probably because of the grain based diet we fed him. Our new Westie, Lumi, won't have that problem - she is being fed all meat! An added benefit, she will never get tartar on her teeth. Check out the Raw Food forum on Facebook.