Rutlands Australian Cobberdogs Facts & Breed Info.

Diet.
​Best Diet For Dogs

What should I feed my dog or puppy?

​Do Cobberdogs have a sensitive stomach?  Why your dog may be a picky eater. 
Did you know that vets say that 80% of dogs will have gum disease by the time they are three years old?
Rutlands Clementine was 16 yrs old when the photo below was taken.
Sensitivities to various foods are often caused by feeding mainly kibble.  More often than not, after changing for a while to a more species appropriate diet, the microbiome in the dog's gut is rebalanced, the digestive system is healed and things that the kibble fed dog was previously sensitive/allergic to, cease to be a problem. The time it takes to heal will vary according to the damage that's been done.
​Further down this page there is a list of whole foods that we feed here to the Rutlands Australian Cobberdogs.  It doesn't need to be all raw!  I call it the FRESH Food diet and it includes cooked meals too.
I have lived long enough to see feeding trends come and go.  When I was a girl, dogs only went to the vet to be vaccinated, de-sexed, or if they had an accident and kibble hadn't been invented at that time. 
These days, vets' waiting rooms are packed and dogs are suffering diabetes, pancreatitis, kidney and renal failure, and a host of auto-immune lifestyle diseases.  Allergies are on the rise in people and animals. Why are so many dogs sick? 
What happened to make dogs so sick? I can answer that.  GMO modified and ​over processed convenience foods for dogs happened.
Diseases like diabetes, liver and kidney failure, cancer, pancreatitis, allergies, sensitive stomachs are all now pandemic in all dogs as succeeding generations become weaker.  Similar to humans, dogs suffer the same illnesses since convenience 'foods' saturated with chemicals, carcinogenic food dyes and preservatives have replaced wholesome fresh foods.  Genetic engineering of food crops which are added to commercially manufactured human and pet food and toxic agricultural pesticides also combine to make up silent killers of dogs and destroyers of dogs' health.
Dogs know by instinct what nutritional elements they need.
Ever wondered why your dog has turned up his nose at food he previously loved?  He or she may be trying to tell you "I've had enough of the goodies in there, I need something different!"  Once the imbalance has been corrected, and providing it wasn't allowed to go on for too long, until the dog became ill, they usually get their liking back again for the kind of food they refused.  
Variety is the key to good health for our dogs.
When any living creature is primarily fed a diet which is not appropriate for its species, illness can and usually does result.  What would happen if we fed our parrot or budgie on steak and eggs?
In its natural state, a wild dog makes a kill of a herbage-eating prey. In other words an animal that grazes on grasses and herbs growing in the wild.
  • The first part eaten is the partly digested stomach contents, which are likely to be a selection of grasses, herbs, fruits and berries. 
  • Next on the menu are the organs like kidney, heart, liver and brain-all rich in nutrients.
  •   Finally, the least nutritious of all, the lean muscle meat is ripped off the bones which are then gnawed on to clean and strengthen teeth and jaws.  The smaller non weight bearing bones remaining are crunched up and consumed. 
  • ​Dogs are equipped with powerful hydrochloride digestive juices that nature designed to dissolve RAW bone so that it doesn't splinter inside the dog.  
When should I feed my dog?
It was my horses who first taught me that it's best not to stick to a rigid feeding time schedule.  I used to feed the horses at the same times every day without fail. Then one day I was late home for some reason.  The horses had gotten so worked up over their food being late that they'd been galloping up and down along the fence, slithering and sliding in the mud from earlier rain.  One beautiful filly had crashed into the gate, and I found her entangled and horribly mangled, hurting and distressed. 
Creatures of habit, or who are conditioned to expect things to always be the same, enslave their carers, and are vulnerable to stress if their schedule is interrupted.  I transferred the knowledge gained from this experience to my dogs.
How Much should I feed my dog?
Cobberdogs are not generally a gluttonous breed and will not eat more than what they need. Throw away your charts and measuring tools.  If he's hungry, give him more, if he leaves some, give him less. Their appetite varies from day to day just like our own does.  If he doesn't want his yogurt today, don't assume that he doesn't like yogurt, take it away and offer it to him again tomorrow or the day after. 
The physiology of the dog is quite different to that of humans. Dogs are built for 'feast and famine' and the human concept of 'three balanced meals a day' does not apply.  Essential nutrients may be spread over the course of a week or so.
​The needs  of growing puppies increase during their rapid growth period then wanes once they are mature.  One size does not fit all. If he's getting too fat feed him less.  Too thin, feed him more.
A healthy dog is hungry at meal times.
List of Foods Fed to our dogs and puppies here.
I often hear the canine species' biologically appropriate diet referred to as a raw diet.  But I prefer to call it a fresh food diet because it doesn't have to be all raw!
This is a list of some of the foods that are fed to my Cobberdogs and puppies at Rutlands over the course of a week- VARIETY IS THE KEY to optimum nutrition, because if a critical nutritional element is missing in one kind of meal, it's likely to be provided by the changes in another meal.
  • Eggs-scrambled, boiled or raw (best to not feed eggshells to puppies under a year old)
  • Plain Greek Yogurt-not sweetened, not flavored (sugar inactivates the beneficial bacteria)
  • Cheese (especially loved as treats)
  • ​Whole Meal bread or toast or their left-over crusts
  • Sardines in oil​
  • Roasted boiled or steamed vegetables left over from the family's meals
  • Cooked liver (raw liver can cause a bout of diarrhea) In the wild, an occasional bout of naturally occurring diarrhea can be nature's way of inner cleansing, but in a domestic situation we don't need to utilize such an explosive and messy remedy!
  • ​Raw chicken (or turkey) backs, necks, thighs, drumsticks and wings
  • Greens and other vegetables pulped in a blender with beef or chicken stock and mixed through raw chicken mince or beef mince or lamb mince
  • Raw Meaty Bones from beef, veal or lamb brisket bones or necks-raw
  • Occasional drink of lactose-free full cream milk (or A2 Full Cream).  A raw egg can be whisked through
  • ​Once a week a few drops of apple cyder vinegar (with the mother in it ) and a spoonful of melted honey added to the drinking water (purifies the blood and keeps the gut micro healthy)
RAW MEATY BONES are excellent for dogs.  You may read differently on the internet, but I have been feeding them to my dogs for 65 years and Vets are always amazed at Rutland dogs' sparkling white strong teeth even into old age.  ​Rutland puppies start to enjoy chewing on big raw meaty bones when they're only a few weeks old.  
NO cooked bones - ever - Cooking bones changes their molecular structure in such a way that the dog's digestive system can no longer dissolve the bone.  It is then brittle and can splinter inside the dog, and cause horrendous injury even resulting in death.  You may get away with it a hundred times - but is it really worth the risk?
COOKED MASHED PUMPKIN, fresh or canned is excellent for diarrhea provided there is no bacterial or viral infection causing the problem.  It's good to try first before rushing off to the vet. 
COLD PRESSED FLAX SEED OIL is fabulous for skin and coat, and is a natural anti‐inflammatory.  It contains the essential Omega 3 Fatty Acids that most other oils do not have. 
One Tablespoon for a large adult dog, or a teaspoonful for a little dog or puppy, given two or three times a week provides essential Omegas and boosts the immune system.  
Did you know that a hard-boiled egg each other day is a natural anti-inflammatory for your dog? 
BOILING OR SCRAMBLING EGGS  FOR THE FAMILY? 
Just pop an extra one in for your dog.  Easy Peasy!

GOT SOME TOAST OR CRUSTS LEFT OVER FROM BREAKFAST?  OR KIDS HAVE LEFT THEIR VEGGIES?
Don't bin it.  Give it to your dog!  Easy! 
Watch what this highly renowned vet has to say
What I learned:  Pet food labeling legislation is slack!  "Natural" doesn't necessarily mean what we may think.   That 'plump chicken'  on the packet could be feathers and ground up claws and beaks - it's not illegal to represent it that way.   'Meatmeal' can be rendered down road kill, or even deceased animals sent from laboratories or vet clinics to commercial dry food companies that render it down into a powder which can then legally be called 'meatmeal'. Ghastly, but true.  
Pet food which has listed as ingredients, Corn, Wheat, or Grains.  Wheat and Corn and their by-products are known triggers for skin problems, (GMO) hot spots and allergic reactions in dogs.
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Reproducing this website in part or in whole is strictly forbidden.