We are back to clicking for treats again.  Since I didn’t find the time to finish the book and we haven’t gotten to the ‘stays’, I decided to try to teach Delilah the ‘high-five’ command.

To start with I am trying to get Delilah to look at my hand, if she does then I click and treat.  I will eventually work her up to ‘high-fiveing’ my hand with her paw.

We started out on the edge of the kitchen which is normally where I want her to stay when I am working in there.  I had the container of green beans on the counter, a handful of green beans and the clicker in my left hand and I had my right hand palm open at about chest level.  Remember my goal here is to get her to look at my right hand.

Sampson meanwhile was lying on the floor waiting for his turn.

When you are trying to ‘shape’ a new behavior, initially you will click and treat for the slightest acknowledgement (meaning if she even shifts her eyes to my right hand I will click and treat.)  Delilah was so focused on my left hand with the food, that she was having trouble even glancing at my right hand.

I decided a change in tactic was necessary, I moved my right hand down to waist level and wiggled my fingers to try to direct her attention.  She remained focused on my left hand.

At this point Sampson decided to take over the training, he sat up and high-fived my hand with his left paw; as if to say, “This is what she wants you to do, watch and learn girl.”

“Good Boy!” Click and treat.

Then the lightbulb came on in Delilah’s brain and she went immediately to raising her paw and tapping my hand.

There is no better teacher than an old dog. 🙂

First and foremost I want to thank you all for your comments and concerns about Sampson, I believe he is on the mend. 🙂

I had a comment from Diane asking if I could explain a little about our trials and tribulations with the raw diet.

Quite truthfully, we have had very few problems switching to raw; the dogs have both lost weight (Sampson around 25 pounds and Delilah around 30 pounds) their coats are beautiful, they are happy and have lots of energy.  The majority of issues have usually been from me not following instructions. 🙁

For those of you unfamiliar with the raw diet, the diet consists of feeding your dog raw meat instead of kibble.

The theory behind the raw diet, is to try to feed the dog a diet similar to what they would eat in the wild.  Yes in the wild the dog would kill his/her prey and eat it.

Initially I was hesitant to feed my dogs raw meat, but when it was recommended for Delilah’s health I had to put my misgivings aside.

Luckily for us, my friend Jo-Anne feeds her dogs raw, so she recommended Miller Farms a distributor of Oma’s Pride.

Sandy, the raw food expert at Miller Farm’s is extremely knowledgeable about the diet.  She has 13 Newfies and feeds them all raw.  It was because of her knowledge and guidance, that we transitioned so smoothly.

We started the raw diet in the beginning of April 2010 right after Delilah saw Dr. Landau.   Since money was an issue, we started off using one meal of raw and one meal of a grain free kibble.  There are three main mixes of raw, chicken, beef and turkey.  Each meat is ground (including bone) and mixed with a different type of vegetable.  There are also other types of meats that are not mixed with vegetables.  You can get rabbit, duck, buffalo, yak, ostrich, lamb, salmon; you get the picture.

The first day we brought it home, my sister-in-law was here and she said, “You’re going to have to ease them into it, or they will get sick.”

Sandy said, just give it to them.

I was anxious about Sampson, because he is a picky eater.

He loved it.  He now waits for the food, unlike before when he could take it or leave it.

With Sandy’s guidance we began by feeding the dogs the amount of food based upon the weight we WANTED  them to weigh.  Sampson gets 12.8 ounces and Delilah gets 10.6.   We also crumble up some dried tripe (yes it is lamb stomach and it stinks like cow patties) which Sandy says helps with the digestion.

The meat comes in 1, 5 and 10 pound increments; because we are feeding two big dogs, I started out going once per month.  I would buy 40 to 45 pounds of meat in 10 pound packages (with a 5 pounder thrown in now and again.)

The biggest issue I have had with the ground meat is remembering to pull the block out so it gets soft enough to cut.  I usually cut the block into 5 chunks and re-package into smaller packets, the reason I do this is because the meat should not be in a defrosted state in the refrigerator for more than three days.  If I let it defrost too long, it gets really soft and I don’t like the feel of it.

Sandy says to serve at room temperature but mine is usually on the cold side.  As soon as I get home from work I measure the food into their dishes and place the dishes in a cabinet to try to bring the temperature up.

If I forget when I get home, that’s when I have a problem.

Some time in the last six months we switched to full raw.  I thought I would just buy more meat, but Sandy said, they get turkey necks in the morning and ground meat at night.

The turkey necks come in 30 pound boxes.  I usually drop the box on the driveway a couple of times to try to loosen the necks.  Then I take them inside and put them in the bathtub with cold water to defrost enough to re-package.  I try to put two to three days worth of meals in one large plastic bag.

The defrosting is the biggest pain in the bum, in the summer they defrost fairly quickly, but in the winter it is not unusual to have them sit for 36 hours (I keep the house cold!)  It is really hard on your hands pulling the necks apart when they are partially frozen.  Also, the bathroom door needs to stay closed or Delilah will stuff herself.

Sandy said each dog should have two necks, she said she just hands the necks to her dogs; I tried using towels, but the dogs didn’t stay on them and it was messy.  The other problem with the turkey necks was sometimes they were normal size and sometimes they were HUGE.  One time they were so big, the dogs couldn’t chew them; hubby had to cut them up.

Because we added the turkey necks I didn’t have enough room for four weeks worth of food in my freezer, I switched to every three weeks, the turkey necks come in 5 and 30 pound boxes sometimes when the necks were really large, I didn’t have enough to last three weeks.

A few months back we switched to chicken necks.  The chicken necks come in 40 pound boxes so they last longer, plus they are much smaller so they are not as messy.  I put them right in the food bowls along with a some chopped green beans (for filler.)  When we first started on the chicken necks Sandy said you will feed 7 or 8 chicken necks in place of one turkey neck.  I heard, feed 7 or 8 necks. 🙁

Sampson’s teeth have gotten really clean from crunching the bones; Delilah’s not so much since she isn’t very good at chewing her food. 🙁  Which is another good reason to switch to the smaller necks.

As I stated earlier, the biggest issues for us has been logistics (the turkey necks were too big and didn’t last as long as I needed them to.)

I forget to take the food out in enough time to defrost.  When that happens, I measure the food out and let it sit on a Teflon pan, which speeds up the defrosting process.  With the necks, I put them in bowl of cool water and let them sit for a few minutes.

Or Sandy tells me to do something and I don’t remember; such as put a little bit of safflower, olive or salmon oil on their ground food at night.

Give them a raw egg once or twice a week.

But really the raw food diet has been an extremely positive experience for us.  If you are interested in feeding your dog raw, there is good news.  Oma’s pride has retailers in all of the 48 continental United States.

The other bit of good news is Sandy is available via e-mail (shreuter@aol.com)  to answer all of your questions and help you get your pet on the raw food diet.