# raw fed = aggressive?



## pauldobe (Nov 30, 2011)

so many people, even professional canine nutritionist type people think this and it irks me. I only give occasional raw meals, the majority is kibble but the difference in behavior is the opposite. the days when I'd feed raw the reactivity that happens on walk has lessened a lot. even around dogs that previously attacked/were aggressive towards her or get in her face. when the kibble returns the reactivity comes back. it's not all gone on raw but still. is it the idea of a wolf tearing into meat in the wild or something?

I researched all over, talked to long time raw feeders and on a not terribly related note asked some people I know that work at a local wolf sanctuary about the behavior of the wolves when they eat whatever it is they eat. can't find any scientific/believable evidence it causes behavior problems unless the meat has rabies or something.

whenever I mention something about raw to my non-raw friends they always respond to me that it ALWAYS makes dogs aggressive/dominant/generally unbalanced. :I if anything causes behavioral problems I'd say it was kibble, some of the most aggressive dogs I know are on brands like iams, old Roy, etc...which I think are some of the ones with questionable nutrition? idk. <:/


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## Maritan (Nov 11, 2011)

Ugh. Raw fed does not equate to aggression/ blood lust etc. etc. It's idiotic to think that.

Kibble has carb based binders in it (source of carb may vary, but it is needed to form the pellet) that our carnivores do NOT need. These carbs can potentially put them in an "altered" state for lack of a better work, not completely dissimilar to what we go through when we eat a ton of sugar or other "bad" carbs.


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

I never even thought of that before researching raw. It's seems so stupid. My dog is used for protection so she is trained to bite on command. I've only been on raw for 2 weeks, but there is ZERO rise in aggression. I gaurantee there wont be a rise in a year either. She was slightly dog aggressive and would try and chase cats and squirrels BEFORE raw.... How would these people explain that? It's all just fear of the unknown. 

Don't know if you read this : Myths About Raw: Will raw meat make my dog bloodthirsty?


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

That is absolutly false. Raw is as species appropriat as you can get. If anything, kibble should do that with all the added, unnecessary additives, chemicals and china based ingredients.


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## OnyxDog (Jun 15, 2011)

As a dog trainer, I have noticed that dogs who are raw fed tend to be less aggressive, and less reactive! Amp, the puppy that my husband adopted before we got married, has actually calmed down a lot since I switched him to raw in October. Rocky the beagle mix has been able to focus better, and Treasure is less reactive. Feeding a dog what it was meant to eat is the best way to go!


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## JayJayisme (Aug 2, 2009)

Recent discussion on this...

http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/raw-feeding/13677-dog-aggression-workbook-james-oheare.html


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

Kibble has carbs. Carbs are basically sugar. Ever hear of a sugar high?

A species appropriate raw diet will stabilize blood sugar long term and you won't end up with spikes/hyperactivity/"aggression".


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## Love my lab (Dec 9, 2010)

Not true...my dog has been raw fed over a year now and is the sweetest dog with no agression at all. That statement it is usually the people who live with in the kibble fed box and dont understand raw feeding at all.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

i think the reason this has started is becuase some dogs are more likely to try to protect or get excited when they are fed raw for the first few times they become excited and want to guard this tresure so they are quicker to react at the thought of someone or somthing taking there "prize" but the more raw they are fed the more they calm down about it. i witnessed this with Cesar the first raw meals he got he was very excited and would try chaseing the cats or kira the poodle away but it only took about a week of him being fed ONLY raw to calm down eat slower and not get so excited about it. i would feed them both raw side by side only 1 or 2 feet away and have a cat on my lap above his head while he ate useing my feet to hold the dish (otherwise he gets annoyed the foodd dish slides around all over and with his big head its hard for him to get the food out) 

which if you think about it like this lets say for the past 2 months youve ate nothing but dry (no milk) grain,fiber whatever healthy cereal morning noon and night no snacks no chips,no soda no fruit NOTHING just this bland flavorless ceral day in and day out for 2 months then all of a sudden out of the blue someone offers you a steak cooked to profection well you might get a little excited about it too maybe even try to gulp it down as fast as you could becuase its so good heck if it were me and someone tried taking that steak away from me before i was done i might even go so far as to stick em with my fork had i eaten nothing but oat bran cereal too!

so then people who see there dogs do this the first 3 times or even the first time they freak out they think "omg! my dog is so aggressive! what should i do!??" and so they pick up a book which will say "avoid the triggers"
so then they think "well my dog is only aggressive with this raw meat i should go back to kibble" when had they just wait about a week the dog would have calmed down and been fine.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

xchairity_casex said:


> i think the reason this has started is becuase some dogs are more likely to try to protect or get excited when they are fed raw for the first few times they become excited and want to guard this tresure so they are quicker to react at the thought of someone or somthing taking there "prize" but the more raw they are fed the more they calm down about it. i witnessed this with Cesar the first raw meals he got he was very excited and would try chaseing the cats or kira the poodle away but it only took about a week of him being fed ONLY raw to calm down eat slower and not get so excited about it. i would feed them both raw side by side only 1 or 2 feet away and have a cat on my lap above his head while he ate useing my feet to hold the dish (otherwise he gets annoyed the foodd dish slides around all over and with his big head its hard for him to get the food out)
> 
> which if you think about it like this lets say for the past 2 months youve ate nothing but dry (no milk) grain,fiber whatever healthy cereal morning noon and night no snacks no chips,no soda no fruit NOTHING just this bland flavorless ceral day in and day out for 2 months then all of a sudden out of the blue someone offers you a steak cooked to profection well you might get a little excited about it too maybe even try to gulp it down as fast as you could becuase its so good heck if it were me and someone tried taking that steak away from me before i was done i might even go so far as to stick em with my fork had i eaten nothing but oat bran cereal too!
> 
> ...


I have always heard its the "taste of blood" will cause them to be killers. Its ridiculous.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

> I have always heard its the "taste of blood" will cause them to be killers. Its ridiculous.


yeh thats the DUMBEST thing vie ever heard unless your dog is a vampire blood has nothing to do with it! dogs who get cooked meat will react the same way after being fed kibble for years no blood in that!


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## Thunder409 (Jan 10, 2012)

I don't know where people get that idea. I have had so many people tell me that one day she will attack me just because she eats raw meat. :doh:

My dog is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever known in my life, and I have been around a lot of dogs. I have never even heard her growl. You can take anything out of her mouth, even her favorite meals, and she will just lick you to death. 


A dog becoming more aggressive when they eat raw meat is just BS.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i know i sleep with one eye open.


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## Maritan (Nov 11, 2011)

Yes, you never know when you're going to get licked to death. Scary.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

My dogs would eat me if I died and they didn't get fed for awhile. Otherwise, I'm probably safe. 

You have to wonder where this stuff gets started, and why everyone believes it.


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## creek817 (Feb 18, 2012)

I am new to all this, and my dog has only been on raw for under 2 months, but he is the farthest thing from aggressive you could possibly imagine. He's been on mainly chicken (which at the moment he won't eat, but that's a whole other issue!), yet he is literally friends with out chickens! They sit together oustide our back door, and she tried to steal his food while he's eating it - and he lets her!! My partner's JRT, who unfortunately is not on raw (I can't convince my partner!), steals my dog's food right out from under his nose if I'm not watching closely, and Dobby couldn't care less. 















Not the greatest pictures, but you get the idea!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

creek817 said:


> I am new to all this, and my dog has only been on raw for under 2 months, but he is the farthest thing from aggressive you could possibly imagine. He's been on mainly chicken (which at the moment he won't eat, but that's a whole other issue!), yet he is literally friends with out chickens! They sit together oustide our back door, and she tried to steal his food while he's eating it - and he lets her!! My partner's JRT, who unfortunately is not on raw (I can't convince my partner!), steals my dog's food right out from under his nose if I'm not watching closely, and Dobby couldn't care less.
> 
> View attachment 6478
> View attachment 6479
> ...


Now that is cool. If a dog won't kill a chicken, and in fact will let the chicken steal his food, it's a pretty safe bet he's not going to turn on you one day


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## Roo (Oct 17, 2010)

Anyone see the movie Colombiana? It certainly didn't help the raw feeding image. I agree with others on here, my dogs are no more aggressive on raw than they were on kibble.


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

Oh no, I got laid on and nearly kissed to death by the 60lb GSD mix this morning.... however will I live to see the next day?!?! To say nothing of the violently snuggling husky ball on the other side of me... LOL.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

I like to call it the "kibble bursts". I believe it was a term someone on here used not too long ago. With the sugars in kibble you are unavoidably going to get the kibble bursts and that is where people see the dog do all of these things that seem to disappear or fade a bit on raw. I know that raising Dude on kibble vs raising Buck on raw have been like night and day. Dude needed to get out and exercise every single day whereas Buck can pretty much hibernate on the couch for two days if we can't get to the dog park (walks and runs aren't enough for him). There is a steady energy vs an energy that has its spikes.

As far as aggression... yes, it does make a lot of dogs (food) aggressive... until they realize that this new food is an every day thing and they don't need to freak out over it. Raw meat is a much higher value item than kibble so it IS going to be defended like kibble was not. Dude became really food aggressive for about a week when we switched him. I can't really blame him. The poor guy ate Pedigree for 7 years! Once he realized that this new food was going to happen every day he stopped guarding it. He still guards it from Buck but we can reach in and take it if we need to without so much as getting a lip twitch from him. 

When people "inform" me that my dogs are going to be aggressive I just explain that a dog who has been eating little brown pellets every day for years is going to guard real meat like he didn't guard kibble but by working with them you can typically get them over it pretty quickly and that there should be no effect in any other part of their life. If they want to be ignorant and just keep insisting that it will make them 'bloodthirsty' I just say, "Well, they have been eating raw for nearly a year now and I am still alive".


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