Feeding--Water._
With but one dog in the household or on the premises, the question
of food is not a serious one. The scraps from the table of a family
of four should be sufficient to supply the entire ration of the dog,
although occasionally it is advisable to give him a change in the
way of scraps of raw beef, large, soft bones to gnaw upon, and by
variety it might also be well, say once a week, to procure the meat or
trimmings at your butcher’s out of which a broth may be made. This is
always a wholesome diet, especially if it is poured over stale bread,
dog biscuits or any of the bread stuffs that cannot be used on the
table.
First of all let me disabuse the reader of the old theory that meat is
injurious for the dog. Taking the race as a whole, meat should form
the principal diet. The dog is a naturally carnivorous animal and even
though he has been under domestication for thousands of years his
organs of mastication and digestion have undergone only a very slight,
if indeed, any change. With this in mind, the dog owner is enabled to
feed intelligently. Naturally, change of environment from his wild
state has made conditions different; he does not obtain the amount of
exercise that his wild ancestors did, ranging and roaming about the
country in search of their daily sustenance, consequently he cannot
be fed entirely the same, but nevertheless the idea which through
some unknown way became prevalent years ago that meat is injurious to
dogs and likely to cause disease is entirely erroneous. The principal
point to keep before one is the quantity of food and the frequency
of feeding. A dog which obtains considerable exercise in the way of
hunting, must have more meat than one that is exercised only an hour
or two each day. This is but natural; the man whose profession keeps
him indoors does not require the same substantial food of the one
who labors in the fields all day, and so it is with the dog. Ordinary
intelligence should teach proper discretion in this respect.
Table scraps usually consist of all the necessary concomitants to a
good ration. Bits of meat, bread crusts, gravies, vegetables, etc.,
all go to make up the waste from the table in any ordinary family.
Bones, if they are large ones, may be fed, but bones from fish, poultry
or small game should be eliminated if for no other reason but the
possibility of their causing trouble in the intestinal canal. If one
does not believe what trouble this may produce let him take the leg
bone of a chicken or lamb, place them on a stone and strike them a
sharp blow with a hammer. He will see at once that they are crushed
into a hundred tiny splinters. One can readily imagine what havoc this
may do if they should lodge in the stomach or intestines of a dog.
Perhaps one might feed these bones to a dog throughout his entire life
without ill results, but on the other hand, trouble might ensue, hence
to be on the safe side, it is better to take no chances.
Vegetables make a good bulk food, but they should be fed very
sparingly, and then only in connection with the other food. There is
little nutriment in vegetables for a dog; potatoes are of no value
and are more harmful than beneficial and the idea that dogs must be
fed garlic, tomatoes, onions and the like has been exploded long ago.
A very little of these in the regular food is passable, but do not
attempt to make a vegetarian of your dog. Corn meal, in its place, is
well enough fed occasionally, but as a regular food it is harmful,
especially in summer, as it causes skin irritations, because it is too
heating. Oat meal is some better, and rice, perhaps, the best of all,
but any of these foods should be fed only occasionally. Some breeds,
such as Yorkshire terriers, Maltese and the like do very well with
little meat and some say they should not have it at all, but even this
is questionable.
In large kennels it is well to cook one’s own food or make a bread
composed of unbolted wheat, a little rice, meat and a few well cooked
vegetables, the whole to be thoroughly cooked and then baked into a
bread in a slow oven which will cook it through and through so that
it will keep for a long time, but the owner of one dog may as well
dismiss this as unnecessary. To summarize: feed what the family table
offers, procure meat from your butcher occasionally, for the broth
and bones previously referred to, and do not overlook the raw meat,
which should be shredded or chopped finely and fed three or four times
a week in small quantities, for young dogs, but in larger portions
for grown ones. It is also well to obtain large bones with the meat
still clinging to them. Dogs love to tear the meat from the bones
and they also obtain considerable satisfaction in gnawing the bones.
Even puppies three months old and under may be fed raw meat in small
quantities to good advantage, and from personal experience I have
found that puppies thus fed will thrive better than those who obtain
little or none of this kind of diet.
For very young puppies the natural diet is milk, hence when you obtain
your new dog, assuming that he is three months old or under, see that
he obtains an abundance of this, but do not compel him to live on a
milk and bread diet entirely. Feed him a dish of this in the morning;
and it might be well to give him another small feed of this about ten
o’clock, then again at two and so on, until he is fed about five times
during the day, but some of the meals should consist of broth and
cooked meat, with an occasional feed of raw flesh. Puppies, as they
grow older, should be fed less often, and at four months, three meals
a day are sufficient. At this stage, the first meal in the morning
may consist of milk and stale bread, but the following ones may be of
table scraps or the broth made from the meat obtained from the butcher,
poured over stale bread of biscuits, giving with the liquid also a
sufficient quantity of the meat. At a year old the dog may be fed as
any older dog is fed.
The question of frequency of feeding matured dogs has been much
discussed. Many kennels feed but once daily and that meal is given in
the evening. This should consist of as much in quantity as the dog will
eat. The more humane method for grown dogs, however, is to feed a light
meal in the morning and the heavy one in the evening. Most dogs thrive
well on this, provided they obtain a sufficient amount of meat to keep
their natural desire for flesh food satisfied. The dog owner will soon
learn how to use discretion in feeding and obtain best results, but
those who wish to go further into this food question are cited to my
previous book, “Practical Dog Keeping For the Amateur.”
As to water, it must be borne in mind that the dog requires water at
all times of the day or night and a vessel containing pure, fresh water
should always be accessible.