German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[trackindog]

For years I have been contemplating switching my dogs over to a raw diet. We have three westies and 2 GWPs and this time I am pretty sure the westies will be switched over at the end of this dog food bag.

When I mentioned doing this my husband was agreeable...for the westies. He is concerned about feeding raw and then expecting the hunting dogs to retrieve game and not eat it! He thinks it could become an issue we don't want to encounter.

I know a couple years back this was discussed but I am wondering if any of you still feed raw to your hunting dogs and if so how has it gone? Also, do you feed any different during hunting season to keep up the energy level?

Thanks!

Ann

[Jon]

I don't think it will make one bit of difference. A dogs behavior is situation dependent. If you FF a dog or train it to retrieve when commanded then it knows what the command means. If the dog is trained to bring everything that is feathered/furred and/or fresh killed, that it will recognize the situation and what is expected of it if you have done the training.

All dogs react to a learned pattern of behavior in identifiable surroundings.
When you put the gun in your hand, they don't go lay down in the corner!!!
When the gun goes off and game falls and the command is given to fetch, assuming the training has been done, you shouldn't have an issue.

As a later step in FF, I train dogs to hold a hot dog and then release on command-and then to actually fetch the hot dog without eating it. Once the basics of FF are done, this is not difficult but cements the concept of what the dog pick up belongs to me.

[cmmilach]

Hi,

I feed all three of my wires raw - never once have they offered to eat the birds they retrieve. Since I never feed them anything that remotely looks like a bird (except for chicken wings) it never occurs to them.

Cathy

[CA Huntin' Mom]

Hello.....
I feed my GWP the Raw Diet. It has worked very nice - maintain weight, shiney coat and good stool (less of it also. )
There are a lot of varieties: buffalo - venison - beef / tripe - chicken and monthly specials. We stick with beef food and treats...which are also raw/dehydrated or freshly made. They do get chicken and/or pheasant feet once a day (good for joints) and they have never tried to eat them while retrieving the the birds.
Go to excelk9diet.com - Renee has been working with us for almost 2 yrs....she is very knowledgable and helpful.
If ya look thru her clients pictures....you will see my GWP Hank bringing his package of food to me.
We have had no problem with hunting and / or eating birds. The only problem came while on the road to competitions.....had to keep food in
an ice chest. But we worked it out and just went to Evo kibble while on the road.
Good Luck

[paddlingchick]

Hi,

I also feed my dogs a raw diet. They eat all sorts of meat - chicken, beef, bison, lamb, turkey, rabbit. We are just starting to train my gwp on birds but I am not at all worried. They know the difference between work and dinner time. I know quite a few other pointer owners that feed raw, and they have never had a problem with birds. One interesting thing is that my lab will not eat wild bird meat. I've had some pheasants given to me, and he refused them. Normally he will eat any sort of meat, but not wild birds. I think that this has been bred into him at some point.

I do feed my GWP kibble in the mornings so that if we are travelling we don't have to haul raw meat around with us. I'll only feed a ultra high end grain free kibble though.

Terry