Canned or Dry Dog Food? What to feed your dogs

I get asked a lot on what kind of food I give to my dogs. My answer varies depending on which dog I have on mind at that particular time. You see, not all my dogs eat the same kind of food due to various reasons, including allergy and difficulty in digesting. I had to observe my dogs everytime I introduce new food or doggie snack. I remember starting them out with cooked food - mix of rice, water, and minced meat. It was a good combination but there was little nutrition and the preparation is taking so much of my time. So, I switched to the canned dog food which the dogs love but it was getting pretty expensive and I found out about the dangers of feeding too much processed canned food. I have to emphasize here that not all canned dog food are bad, you just have to find the one that gives nutritional value to your dog. After the short stint with canned dog food, I switched to Dry Food. There are those that are being sold in supermarkets and those sold exclusively in specialty store. It turns out this is the best match for my dogs, albeit two of my dogs are on different diet plan.

I am rather partial to the dry food sold in pet shops because they have a more balanced mix of ingredients. This means that every batch has uniform content, which ensures that the nutritional value is not lost. Unlike in the commercial version, where there is a big possibility that the mix of ingredients can be erratic since makers only make use of the available raw materials at a particular time. In that aspect, the nutritional intake can fluctuate. Those sold in pet shops and specialty shops can be a little more expensive but it can be worth it.

My dogs are on dry food diet, but they also get home-cooked meals once a week. It's a treat that they look forward to each week.

Training Toby, the hyperactive mixed breed

Our dog Toby can be classified as a mixed breed as his mother is a golden retriever and the father is of an unknown heritage. Knowing that he is part retriever is a big help since we can determine the characteristics that may become apparent as he grows up. True enough, he has acquired the playfulness and the seemingly tireless nature of a retriever, to the detriment of his regular handler. Since he is always in overdrive, training was a little slow because he gets easily distracted by just about anything. The only thing that calms him down is when he gets thirsty. It took a while for him to learn the command "sit" because he just won't stay put. His handler found a way to make him obey by using dog biscuits. This is perhaps unconventional but it did work for Toby. When the handler raises the biscuit, he sits and behaves. Of course, it was only done in the first few attempts because we didn't want Toby to think that he will get food everytime he sits.

Many people might not approve of the method because the dog would think that he will be rewarded for a simple command as "sit". The thing to consider here is that each dog has certain traits that conventional methods may have to be tweaked a bit to cater to the needs of a particular dog. In short, it's a case to case basis. One method may work for some dogs but it might not work for others. It gets a little tricky with mixed breeds, but it certainly is not impossible to train them.

We all know how helpful these dog training methods are, but if you feel that you can handle the training by experimenting on various methods, by all means, do so. It's a great way to bond with your dogs.

Even a broken camera can capture Dog love

It's nearly end of the road for my trusted Canon Ixus. It still works fine in macro settings but for normal point and shoot moments, it no longer works as intended. Horizontal lines appear in the photo and I've tried all possible manual settings combination to address the issue, to no avail. The cost of the repair might be on the high side so getting a new one is the most viable option at this point. What's interesting though is that a half-broken camera was still able to capture this:

The camera is set in sepia with no flash. They do get along pretty well in this picture. Feeding time can be a totally different scenario. The mongrel on the left is Cha-cha and the mixed breed on the right is Fudgee. They live in the Happy Mongrels shelter (aka, our home).

Raw Food Diet for Mixed Breeds

I am in the middle of doing research on dog food. One thing that caught my eye is feeding dogs with raw meat. This is nothing new because many dog owners have been doing this practice for the longest time. Being a trained chef and all, I'd rather cook food for my dogs; however, I'm all for giving my dogs the daily nutritional requirement. Based on my research so far, raw food is far better than commercial dog food because the latter has so many suspicious ingredients that can be harmful to dogs. What's more, since raw food already contains vitamins and minerals, there is little need for supplements. In the long run, this will not only be very beneficial to the dog, it will also be cheaper across the board.

If you are keen on subjecting your mixed breed on raw food diet, you might want to try the GoingRawr Dog Compendium. It has everything you need to know about raw food diet for dogs -whether purebred or mixed breed. I will be trying this raw food diet next week on my dog Almond. He is a bit sickly and the vet suggested a different diet which was in line with the raw food diet. I was a little concerned at first but I think this can be beneficial to my dog given that he will be consuming food that has no preservatives. The way I see it, he's not too keen on the brand we are using right now. Perhaps it would be a good move to switch him to raw food diet as early as now. Of course, I will have more updates on how he is getting on with the new diet. I bet he'll be one happy mongrel next week.

A Cat in Happy Mongrels Kingdom

We don't know who owns this cat and we have no idea why it keeps paying us a visit knowing full well that the house of Happy Mongrels is a dog country. I, for one, am not a cat person and if I were a cat I would wise up and avoid my house because it is far too dangerous for a cat to be roaming around a place known to have dogs. While our dogs are nice, we can't assure that a cat will come out unscathe. We have one dog that becomes highly excitable at the sight of a cat so we are glad that he didn't see this cat.

Since we are generally animal lovers, we prepared food for this cat, who seemed to love it so much. I guess we'll have a regular visitor from now on...

Mixed Breed Dog Temperament

Dog temperament is one of the primary characteristics to consider when looking for a pet. Sometimes, would-be owners tend to overlook this important aspect because they fall in love with the appearance of the dog right there and then. It should not be much of a problem for purebreds because their apparent characteristics are already known. With mixed breed dogs, it can be a little tricky. This is because at first look, it might be quite difficult to determine the heritage of the mixed breed dog. While some mixed breeds possess the prominent features of one parent, it's hard to tell if it would also show the characteristic of that parent.

There's a little bit of guesswork and a whole lot of spending time with the dog. The getting to know stage is rather tricky but there will be signs if the mixed breed dog has the tendency to become aggressive, moody, or overly shy. Clearly, if you have kids, temperament of the dog should be considered and be treated with utmost importance.

Mild-mannered dogs such as Collies, Labradors, and Golden Retrievers, among others, are favorite pets. It would appear that their offspring would possess the same temperament, however, not knowing the other half of the mix can lead to wrong conclusions. That's why dog training becomes important in situations like this. It would put an end to behavioral problems that some overly aggressive mixed breed dogs exhibit.

We have a handful of mongrels in our stead and back when they were just puppies, some showed extreme mood changes and they were difficult to handle. Dog obedience training was a real pain for us back then but with a little help, we were able to train them to obey. The overly aggressive dog we have (Borgy) has become such a sweetheart and the kids don't fear him anymore. Of course, it's an on-going process with the other dogs we take care.

Underdog mixed breeds are made of awesome!

Thought I'd share this video just because I like Underdog and mongrels are usually the underdogs when it comes to the order of the dog universe. Let's face it, mixed breeds and mongrels are not on top of the list of pets to own. But that doesn't worry me one bit because I know that there are people who think that mixed breeds are great pets. And as I keep saying: Mixed breeds are made of Awesome!

I wasn't born yet when Underdog made its first appearance in 1964, but since I love cartoons, it was easy to find Underdog amidst the over abundance of cartoon shows through the years. For some reason, it reminds me so much of Danger Mouse, even though the latter came almost 2 decades later.

Enjoy the cartoon!