By Sandra Brigola  

I would not recommend anyone jumping into natural feeding without reading some good books first and getting a feel for it.

"Give Your Dog a Bone" by Billinghurst, Pitcairns "Natural Health for Dogs & Cats" (1995) version are both good. I understand Pat McKay has a new version of "Reigning Cats & Dogs" but haven't read it yet. Juliette B. Levy's book on Natural Rearing is excellent also. I use a combination of all three.

There is a lot of controversy as to whether dogs should be fed grains (a la Billinghurst) but in North America we can get organic grains cheaply and I use grains in my diet.

 Basic diet that I use:

AM meal: cooked oatmeal or barley flakes (about 4-6 cups per dog) reduce quantity for puppies.
To this I add: dried fruit- raisins, cranberries, or fresh blueberries.

I add cottage cheese or yogurt, cooked eggs( these are varied i.e. one day cottage cheese , next day yogurt.

1/4 tsp. Vit. C (1200 mg.) calcium ascorbate pwd.or Ester C

1/2 tsp. bone meal (health food store variety)

1/8 tsp. super greens food (greenlife) I will be marketing this shortly it has algaes, barley greens, royal jelly & 30 other ingredients

Many different grains can be used here a variety is good..7 grains, cornmeal, cous cous etc.  

PM. meal: cooked brown rice (4-6 cups)
raw vegetables (2 cups) pulverized or processed
raw meat  2 cups of anything but pork
1/2 tsp. bone meal
400 I.U. Vit. E
1/4 tsp. Vit. C
Hi potency Vit. B capsule crushed
1 tbsp. ground flax seed (I grind my own) or use flax seed oil (1 tbp)
1/8 tbsp. super greens
1 tsp. colloidal minerals
fresh parsely or any greens
in winter I add 1tbsp. cod liver oil  

I use unbleached tripe, raw turkey giblets, necks or backs, beef, chicken wings, hamburger and organ meats, beef hearts or kidneys 2x per week.  They also get salmon (steamed) or tinned on occasion

I use grapefruit seed extract on the chicken & hamburger for e-coli & salmonella contamination..3-4 drops mixed with water & soaked.  

These are all approximates and every dog is different.

You can separate the meat and vegetable meal from the grains and feed it as a noon meal for puppies.

Puppies get 3-4 meals per day, .scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, oatmeal or barley flakes, raw goat's milk (if I can get it)plus the above supplements. They also get honey (natural) on occasion.

The whole idea of natural feeding is to feed a variety of foods over the week, just as we do for ourselves. With Danes as they are a very special breed I feel that they need the grains to fill their tummies as bones, vegetables and raw meat don't seem to fill them up. 

This is my opinion and others may differ.

Basically I make sure that they get all their supplements each day and feed whatever is on hand.

Pasta, salads, all kinds of fruits and vegetables, mine eat a variety of everything.  I don't make this a science and go by a cup of this and that, but watch their weight and if too thin give more. As long as your puppy is gaining or your adult dane is maintaining weight don't worry. .adjust food as necessary. 

I also give them a raw meaty bone at least 2x per week. They sure love their bones! Tara actually ignored her puppies this week for 2 hours while she had her bone fix.  

For more info go to my web site: http://www.prodogs.com/dmn/chn  

This is a what I am currently doing, if I can find a cheaper source of chicken wings (they are $3.00 lb here) I would drop some of the grains and add more chicken wings..5-6 wings are just a snack for mine and wouldn't fill them up.

 I hope this gives you some idea of how to go about feeding your danes naturally.

 Heres to healthier Danes;

Sandra

Canine Health Naturally & V0N Hapsburg Danes