# I'm doing it....



## meggels (May 30, 2010)

Starting Murph on PMR diet tonight. 

Gonna go to the store now and buy a small pack of chicken wings. Gonna beat the poo outta them with the poultry hammer I bought LOL. 

Will update after he is fed!

And in a few weeks, once the kibble is gone, considering switching my 35lb coonhound mix as well. 

LET'S DO THIS! 



<----dork


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Have fun! Let us know how Murph does with it!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Woot!!! This is awesome! Let us know how it goes, remember to be patient!


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## spookychick13 (Jan 26, 2010)

Woohoo!
Way to go!


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## m&mluvpugs (Feb 7, 2010)

meggels said:


> Gonna beat the poo outta them with the poultry hammer I bought LOL.


excuse my ignorance, but what is the benefit of pounding the poultry with a hammer??

tia


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## nikkiluvsu15 (Jun 9, 2010)

Awesome! :biggrin: Harleigh's been on full raw for about 2 weeks and is doing great... Hope its the same for you :smile:


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

How exciting! Hope everything goes well, my dogs all went nuts for their first raw meal a few weeks ago.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

m&mluvpugs said:


> excuse my ignorance, but what is the benefit of pounding the poultry with a hammer??
> 
> tia


To make nervous owners like me feel a little less nervous lol. 


He's "eating" a chicken wing right now. At least, he's attempting to figure out how to eat it haha.He seems to be making progress as the minutes go on. And I'm sitting here nervously incase I need to perform doggie CPR.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Whacking a bone in piece of chicken with a kitchen mallet will help break up the bone for the dog who may need some help in the beginning. Whacking should be tapered as much as possible as time goes on.

Meg, its great that he is eating it first time, my girls took three whole days to figure it out LOL


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## dobesgalore (Oct 21, 2009)

Using a hammer is how I got my girl Copper to learn to chew the bone. I only had to whack two drumbsticks, and she had figured it out. I was proud of myself and her!:biggrin:


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

meggels said:


> To make nervous owners like me feel a little less nervous lol.
> 
> 
> He's "eating" a chicken wing right now. At least, he's attempting to figure out how to eat it haha.He seems to be making progress as the minutes go on. And I'm sitting here nervously incase I need to perform doggie CPR.


it takes a bit for them...there's a learning curve for you and the dog....

he needs to learn how to eat raw and you need to learn that he actually already knows how....'cause it's innate...once you figure that out....you'll be able to relax so he can figure things out.

congratulations.....you've opened the door to a wonderful life for you and your dog.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

Ugh. He threw up WHILE eating it. I gave him one chicken wing and he nibbled on it, and crunched it a bit, and had almost the ENTIRE thing down his throat.


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## m&mluvpugs (Feb 7, 2010)

how do i teach the dogs to use their paws to hold down the meat so they can eat more efficiently?
right now they are chewing with drumstick hanging out of their mouths, and haven't figured out to use the ground to their advantage. 

and then more often than not, end up swallowing most of it. (makes me nervous) 
if they swallow too much, they regurge a bit, but still haven't figured out how to rip the meat from the bone. 

should i try giving them something other than drumsticks?


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

meggels said:


> Ugh. He threw up WHILE eating it. I gave him one chicken wing and he nibbled on it, and crunched it a bit, and had almost the ENTIRE thing down his throat.


Did he re-eat it? I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially if you whacked the crap out of it. Our Dane puppy Akasha has swallowed so many whole RMBs without chewing them fully. A lot of dogs do this. Just means that you should give him something bigger to eat next time. Try not to panic :wink:



m&mluvpugs said:


> how do i teach the dogs to use their paws to hold down the meat so they can eat more efficiently?
> right now they are chewing with drumstick hanging out of their mouths, and haven't figured out to use the ground to their advantage.
> 
> and then more often than not, end up swallowing most of it. (makes me nervous)
> ...


Give them something a bit bigger to eat, so they can learn to hold it down. Our dogs eat with their food dangling from their mouths all the time, but I figure if they were having too hard of a time eating they would learn to eat another way. It just might be that this is the way that your dogs eat. I have found that ripping the meat off the bone is only really done by our two dogs that were raised on raw, like its something that is innate with puppies but is lost in adulthood. Our other two dogs that were switched as adults will sometimes rip the meat from the bone, but it did take a long time for them to figure that out.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

m&mluvpugs said:


> how do i teach the dogs to use their paws to hold down the meat so they can eat more efficiently?


You don't. They will either figure it out or not. None of my dogs have ever held anything down with their feet. It always dangles out the side of their mouth. 



> and then more often than not, end up swallowing most of it. (makes me nervous)


They will get better in time. If not, feed something larger like leg quarters.



> if they swallow too much, they regurge a bit, but still haven't figured out how to rip the meat from the bone.


Regurging is exactly how it's supposed to work. That will happen less and less frequently. None of my dogs has ever ripped meat from the bone. I think that is a human thing. The dogs just crunch and swallow.



> should i try giving them something other than drumsticks?


Thats up to you. I don't see you have a big problem right now.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

my pug broke his own record for horking up his food..he's a gulper, although recently, he's not horking as much as he used to...but man..in the beginning, this boo boo boy would try to swallow whole drumsticks....all eighteen pounds of him became one with the food..

he would hork and then happily re eat...hork again...

he was a mess, required a bath after each meal because he'd get it all over himself...

he couldn't figure out what to do with his feet so food would be stuck inbetween his toes....

four months later, he manages to eat without horking at least one meal a day and sometimes both....and when he does hork....it's usually only once...

so let your dog learn....promise...they all do...it's a challenge for them....a good challenge.....and then you can be quite proud when they do a good job and figure it out.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

My bull terriers still don't use their paws to help with eating, they grab their drumstick with their teeth and chew, move it from side to side with it almost falling completely out of their mouth and then they chew some more then swallow.

They don't use their paws for help with eating beef ribs either, they do use the floor as leverage though.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

my pug uses his feet, his body, whatever part he needs to hold down his food..

my corgi mix just lays down and methodically has at it....

she's a lady. he's a little piglet.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

RawFedDogs said:


> None of my dogs has ever ripped meat from the bone. I think that is a human thing. The dogs just crunch and swallow.


Its definitely not a "human" thing. It's an innate instinct for eating. All of our dogs eat like this every time they get a big RMB or beef rib.


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## m&mluvpugs (Feb 7, 2010)

THANK YOU to everyone for your support and suggestions.
i will try giving them something larger and see how it goes


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## bdb5853 (May 21, 2010)

Personally I like to see dogs started on bone-in chicken breasts rather than necks or wings. The meat to bone ratio is better and it is MUCH less of a choking hazard as they learn to eat raw. Wings and necks are a choking hazard in my opinion for all but the smallest of dogs.

Smooshed face breeds (or brachycephalic breeds for those who care about the real names of things) .... they need extra vigilance. Their mouths are wide and their throats are small in relation to their mouths. So they can pack a lot in that big mouth and then have trouble getting it down the hatch. Hence the regurg that often occurs.

Another reason to go easy and feed BIGGER and more complicated. Don't feed wings unless they are ATTACHED to the breast for example. 

You can even go cornish hen halves if you'd rather. Just remember larger and more complicated. 

Save the wings for a BBQ for the humans.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I personally think it really depends on the dog, my bull terriers regualarly eat wings and drumsticks and they are pretty good sized medium dogs, they have more issues with turkey necks than anything.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> I personally think it really depends on the dog, my bull terriers regualarly eat wings and drumsticks and they are pretty good sized medium dogs, they have more issues with turkey necks than anything.


agreed...

i keep turkey necks around for the days their stools are looser than i would like.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

bdb5853 said:


> Personally I like to see dogs started on bone-in chicken breasts rather than necks or wings. The meat to bone ratio is better and it is MUCH less of a choking hazard as they learn to eat raw. Wings and necks are a choking hazard in my opinion for all but the smallest of dogs.
> 
> Smooshed face breeds (or brachycephalic breeds for those who care about the real names of things) .... they need extra vigilance. Their mouths are wide and their throats are small in relation to their mouths. So they can pack a lot in that big mouth and then have trouble getting it down the hatch. Hence the regurg that often occurs.
> 
> ...


i guess we would have to agree to disagree....i feed my pug wings...

kibble is a choking hazard too...and i'm hell on wheels with popcorn...so..

supervised, as he learned, he horked more often than not....because he is greedy and really does not have the dentition or width of throat, as you say...

but he learned how to crunch....he learned....

i gave that dog a half of a cornish hen...thinking bigger is better and that boy ate two days worth of food before i could cross the five feet between us.

four months later, he no longer horks...no matter what he's fed.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

i'm a raw failure :frown:


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

meggels said:


> i'm a raw failure :frown:


What's the matter?:frown:


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Can't help unless you tell us whats going on!


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

i gave up after that one try. 

i'm sure i'll try again at some point.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

What did you do to try?


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

meggels said:


> Ugh. He threw up WHILE eating it. I gave him one chicken wing and he nibbled on it, and crunched it a bit, and had almost the ENTIRE thing down his throat.



that is exactly what made me stop the first time, although mine horked five or six times all over the kitchen, the floor, the cabinets...i thought i had killed him.

i gave up and put both dogs back on home cooked.

is his throwing up while eating it why you stopped? because that's not throwing up...that's regurgitating and newly transitioned dogs do that...it's how they learn.

bubba doesn't do that anymore....since i started him again; and, believe me it took another month to try.....

i had to understand how a dog learns and eats a different way....

because as much as i want my stuffy with a heartbeat to be a human mini me...he's not...

i think you're almost there....and a little handholding the first few weeks couldn't hurt...

maybe try chicken backs, minus skin and organs and extra fat....and stand back pretending not to care.....see what he does....if he horks, he'll clean it up....


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## bdb5853 (May 21, 2010)

meggels said:


> Ugh. He threw up WHILE eating it. I gave him one chicken wing and he nibbled on it, and crunched it a bit, and had almost the ENTIRE thing down his throat.


Try again with bone-in chicken breasts. The bones are much easier to eat and much less of a choking hazard. Don't give up! :wink:


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

We need to post up our utube videos of our dogs eating chicken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

whiteleo said:


> We need to post up our youtube videos of our dogs eating chicken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here's ours :wink:

YouTube - jonatwood's Channel


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

^^^^I love it!!! :biggrin: For some odd reason it makes me want to switch so badly! I can't wait until we get to Portland and I will have all kinds of meat at my finger tips!

I love all the chewing sounds...it made me laugh!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

It will be so good for you to switch, its seriously one of the best things you can do for your dogs :wink:

It'll be easy to find all kinds of meat in Portland!


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> It will be so good for you to switch, its seriously one of the best things you can do for your dogs :wink:
> 
> It'll be easy to find all kinds of meat in Portland!


Oh, I know...I can't wait. :tongue:
Luckily the dogs are doing really well with Orijen/Acana and canned foods like Merrick, which is what I am rotating now.

I could switch while in Pendleton, but would only be able to find the bags of chicken quarters at a decent price, which would be fine to begin with. But after that any other kind of meat is beyond expensive....it sucks. I am hoping once in Porltand to join a co-op and find some local butchers, etc.

Sorry to the OP...I'll quite rambling now...LOL. :redface::smile:


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

You'd be joining our co-op:biggrin:


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> You'd be joining our co-op:biggrin:



NIIIIICE.....:biggrin:


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

saraj2878 said:


> Oh, I know...I can't wait. :tongue:
> Luckily the dogs are doing really well with Orijen/Acana and canned foods like Merrick, which is what I am rotating now.
> 
> I could switch while in Pendleton, but would only be able to find the bags of chicken quarters at a decent price, which would be fine to begin with. But after that any other kind of meat is beyond expensive....it sucks. I am hoping once in Porltand to join a co-op and find some local butchers, etc.
> ...


No worries. Ramble on, dear :smile:


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

meggels said:


> i gave up after that one try.


Why?? What happened?


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