No seriously, I really do. He is out-of-his-senses hyper, so we are taking steps. We have consulted with an animal health expert in Australia, and have followed his advice to take Abner off of dog food. Now he gets more of what we eat, which is whole grains, eggs, and vegetables. But his portions of these foods are either raw, or mostly raw. Plus, he now gets to chew on raw bones in the backyard. Sounds good, right? Well, since this change I have discovered, and am continually discovering the discount section of the meat department. I bought him some beef soup bones. I’ve bought him some turkey drumsticks (although I’ll need to investigate whether he can really have them or not. I’m holding on to them right now), and yesterday we bought him some chicken hearts and beef liver.
An aside- Tongue. I looked at it. I even contemplated it. Then I decided. There is no way I could ever touch, let alone cut up a tongue into portions. See, it LOOKS LIKE A TONGUE!! A really, really big tongue. With tongue texture and everything. How do people do it? There were also beef hearts. That one I’m reserving judgement on, I figure I’ll get used to livers and chicken hearts and see where it goes. Now, what really gets me is that I looked at the discount meat section and saw a ton of cow tongue and beef hearts. Two days later I went back and there were no tongues or beef hearts. This means that someone ACTUALLY BOUGHT THEM! And more than ONE someone! And I don’t think there are that many people trying to feed psycho dogs! I’m not trying to give offense. I’m sure that someone reading this can appreciate and even enjoy eating some of these meats. And that’s fine. I, myself, can’t relate.
Back to Abner’s liver and little chicken hearts. OK, seems gross, doesn’t it? But I actually had fun buying them, because I felt I was doing a good thing. I was helping to use more of the poor animal. You know? Causing less waste and all that. Well, my stupid mutt won’t eat it. Can you believe that? What dog doesn’t eat yucky animal bits? I’m sure there are yucky animal bits in DOG FOOD!!! I can’t buy him steak-on-a-bone EVERY DAY!!! Dumb dog.
September 6th, 2005 at 1:21 am
I’m with you on the tongue. I unknowingly ate heart once – it was fabulous, very tender. But I wouldn’t ever buy it for myself.
As far as the bones are concerned – our dog, Inuk, loves them knuckle and soup bones. Our butcher gives them to us at a great discount if we tell him they’re for the dog.
September 6th, 2005 at 2:03 am
How the hell are you not barfing your brains out while perusing the organ meats in the grocery store or cooking them???
September 6th, 2005 at 2:10 am
Hahaha! I have no idea! But I don’t cook them. And I don’t even handle them much. They go from the container, to the dog.
September 6th, 2005 at 3:41 am
Ok, I felt nauseous just reading that post. Of course, I’m still a bit nauseous anyway from what I think was food poisioning. Yesterday, I was having “dinner” with the in-laws and had to keep going to the bathroom to puke. I managed to eat a few bites, but most of my meal went home in a box. Although my husband’s grandparents were very understanding, I couldn’t help but feel guilty because they were treating us. I’ve heard that tongue is delicious but I could never bring myself to buy it or eat it on purpose. That’s funny about your dog – do you think this raw meat diet will help him to be less hyper?
September 6th, 2005 at 5:02 am
Hope he starts eating it and gets better. We have a Husky/Lab mix and he’s really hyper, but it’s just the breed. We dont have enough stuff for him to do. haha. I’ve never really heard of a dog that doesn’t eat everythign though.
September 6th, 2005 at 7:12 am
LOL. There is no way I would “waste” tongue OR heart (my fav dish) on my doggies. And I am a vet to be. LOL.
I really am serious. Perhaps it is a latin thing, but hot damn both of those are so tasty. My husband refused to eat the heart I bought so I had my dad cook it one visit so he would have to try it to be polite. Since then, he requests it often.
Kudos for you for trying. Other people just dump their dogs off at shelters. It makes me so very sad.
September 6th, 2005 at 8:31 am
Funny you should mention tongue…..my middle son has one simmering on our stove tonight!!
AND, he has a cow heart thawing in the fridge.
He pretty much is the only one in the family to eat that stuff, but he says it is tender and moist. He likes to run around and terrorize us with the tongue before he cooks it…….
One day Abner will magically settle down, and it will probably be because he’s finally old enough to settle down. My son has tried to feed our cat raw foods, because he believes it will be good for her asthma, but she won’t eat that stuff either.
September 6th, 2005 at 9:31 am
I don’t mean to suggest the obvious, but, if your dog is hyper, is he getting enough exercise? We have a 18-month old Samoyed with energy to spare, and we find that when we go a day or two without either a hike or a nice long trip to the dog park, he turns into a little monster who will not leave the cats alone. But when he gets home from a day at doggie day care he is so calm and well behaved — we’d send him every day if we could afford it. Of course playing with other dogs is his absolute favoritest thing, YMMV.
September 6th, 2005 at 1:44 pm
A response to Jenny-
Hahahahaha! About your son and the tongue. Reminds me of my mom. She used to take a fryer chicken and make it scream and try to climb out of the stockpot she was putting it into. It was SO GROSS!!! She of course thought it was hilarious.
Rebecca- the problem is that because he was attacked my an off leash dog when he was a year old, he can’t be taken out in public. He snarls and acts like he’s going to rip any other approaching dog apart. I don’t really think he would, but I don’t know what to do. I used to walk him 2 miles most days. I didn’t notice a difference in his behavior, but he’s older now. Sometimes, I’ll work him in the backyard with the hose, which he LOVES, and it doesn’t calm him either. I’m in a tough spot with this one.
September 7th, 2005 at 12:13 am
When I was growing up, my dad used to get tongue every now and again. It was so completely disgusting to open up the refrigerator and see a big tongue on a plate.
This week, there was an article in one of the local papers listing the best places to buy specialty meats. I tried to imagine myself cooking these things, much less eating them, and I just couldn’t do it.
September 7th, 2005 at 5:48 pm
In my country we have a kind of soup that you can choose what you want to put inside. The selection includes goat’s tounge, brain, eyes, heart, intestine, and….crotch. I never go further than meat.
September 8th, 2005 at 2:35 am
In high school, my science teacher made a bet with his students that if they all passed a test above a certain grade, he’d eat raw tongue. One of the highlights of my high school career, to be sure.
Also, raw diet pets are much more common than you think. People who go that route usually end up being completely devoted, and almost rabid if you suggest it might not be the best idea. That’s probably why your market was out.
September 8th, 2005 at 7:45 am
Hey there! I LOVE your blog! I just had to comment real quick on the raw diet. I used to feed my dog the BARF diet 🙂 Bones and Raw food….and its really an awesome way to feed! I do believe it is more popular in Australia (and I had a great book at one time!) I used raw chicken necks (gross, I know). But much more natural for them than processed corn and junk. A dogs stomach is able to handle all kinds of bacteria, I mean, in the wild they eat dead stuff! Sometimes people are horrified (my old vet, for instance)….I ended up stopping because he got into some tater tots and developed pancreatitis. I just never got back to feeding him that way. Good luck! 🙂