# Well I am going Raw also!



## Rexandbaby (Aug 4, 2008)

I did a bunch of reading here and on other sites, and as soon as I can get to the butcher shop to stock up, I too am going raw. ( Well, Rex and Baby are)
I can't wait to see a difference.

Question, I give treats when training or even on walks when I want him to focus on me, so what do I do about that once we have gone to the dark side?


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## Apdfranklin (Jun 23, 2008)

I have talked to my wife and she agreed to reed raw and give it a chance as soon as our kibble is used up. Every day I take a scoup and trash it so we run out faster


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## Rexandbaby (Aug 4, 2008)

:biggrin::biggrin: If it hadn't cost so much I would do that too, but the butcher is about 40 minutes from our house, so, when I go I will buy in large quantities.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Rexandbaby said:


> Question, I give treats when training or even on walks when I want him to focus on me, so what do I do about that once we have gone to the dark side?


Congratulations on starting to feed raw. Both you and your dogs will love it. When I train I use commercial treats. I use Authority Little Liver Treats from Petsmart or BilJack Liver Treats (probably the same thing). They come in little nuggets and one nugget makes about 20 treats for me. The treats make up such a small part of the diet, I really don't worry about them. Everything that goes in my mouth is not perfectly healthy either.  In over 15 years of training I have found that size of treat has no effect on their effectiveness.

A word of caution about your walks. I hope you let your dog relax and enjoy most of his walks and is just a dog being a dog. I would worry about someone demanding constant attention from the dog on walks. 

I live out in the country and my dogs are off leash running all around during our walks but they will come to me when I call them and they will give me attention when I need it. I don't practice this often because its so much fun just watching them be dogs.  I know most people can't walk their dogs the way I do but i hope you aren't so strict that the dog doesn't get to enjoy the walk.


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## Rexandbaby (Aug 4, 2008)

Thanks for your reply RawFedDogs. I just wanted to have an idea what to do about our training sessions mostly. Rex is unreliable off lead as of now. There is poison ivy all around the woods around here, and squirrels that must be chased, not a good combo. 
On our long walks, he is allowed to roam and sniff on long line, but when he focuses too much on what is out there, that is when I call him close make him heel and ask for more focus on me. When he does it good, I just say okay, you can sniff now. It is mostly a ramble around, but every now and again, I want him to know that he has to listen.


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## LoveNewfies (Jun 18, 2008)

We us primarily dehydrated meat for training.


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## Rexandbaby (Aug 4, 2008)

Do you dry the meat yourself? I have a friend with the dehydrator.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Well that's one way to insure quality meats are being used!


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Rexandbaby said:


> There is poison ivy all around the woods around here, and squirrels that must be chased, not a good combo.


Oh baloney. :smile: I have tons of poision ivy around too. Doesn't bother the dogs in the least and they will chase squirrels every day. Squirrels usually run up the nearest tree so it's never a long chase. Sometimes they will chase rabbits or deer and those chases end up being a little longer. :smile:



> On our long walks, he is allowed to roam and sniff on long line, but when he focuses too much on what is out there, that is when I call him close make him heel and ask for more focus on me.


My dogs focus on all sorts of stuff. It's what dogs do. Sometimes I call them too me but once they get there, I immediately release them and let them explore some more. You have him on a long line, let him focus somewere besides you some. :smile:



> When he does it good, I just say okay, you can sniff now. It is mostly a ramble around, but every now and again, I want him to know that he has to listen.


Thats cool. The walk should be fun for him. I don't know what kind of area you are in, but maybe take him off the line some. I think you will be surprised at how he stays with you.

I remember years ago I had 2 Goldens who had never been off leash outside. One of my friends moved to the country and we took to dogs to visit them. I was very nervous when I let the dogs off leash but was very surprised when they didn't venture far from me. When they would get out of site, I would call them and they would come just a running.  

That day taught me I could trust them a lot more than I thought. We went for a walk in the woods and it was wonderful. After that, I was never nervous about them being off leash. I lived in a subdivision in those days and of course they could not be off leash there but now we too are in the country and my dogs get a leash put on them maybe 3 times a year or so. I take them a lot of places with me and they love it. I would guess that my 3 year old Thor hasn't been on a leash 3 hours total in his life. Sorry, I got carried away. Didn't mean to ramble. :smile:


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## Rexandbaby (Aug 4, 2008)

I see your points, but I think that I will wait for the high snow banks this winter to see how he does loose! Just call me a nervous nelly!

I am the one highly contagious to poison ivy, and have dogs just touch me with the oil on them, and I have to go to the Doctor's in about 24 hours. Not fun for me!!


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## rockymtsweetie82 (Jul 24, 2008)

Neither of my dogs are on leash unless we go for a car ride. Course, we have a fenced back yard too. Once we have the whole yard fenced in, they'll never see a leash until they go for a car ride. And only then because we usually stop at the local pet store and there is a leash law. Plus my in laws are tremendously scared of my dogs for no reason. (Iggits I tell ya).


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