With dogs, one of the hardest things to get right is finding and feeding the best dog foods. It takes time to learn about dog food nutrition and adapt it for your dog. There’s no single diet that will suit every dog, or every lifestyle.

Just like your own best diet, it’s good to start out with fresh raw food for dogs.

Dogs do well by eating raw animal protein like beef, chicken or whatever meat is easy to get where you live. Remember that dogs are scavengers as well as hunters, so food does not have to be as fresh as it does for you. They have stomach acid that deals with bacteria. Meat that’s a little too old for you to eat is usually fine for the dog. Dogs won’t complain about tough meat either. You can buy cheap cuts, sale price, or pet grade meat, so long as it has no preservatives.

In the wild, dogs eat whole animals, fur, feathers and all, so occasionally, odd things like chicken feet can be added to a basic meat meal. And give your dog a large raw bone every few days. As well as keeping their teeth clean, chewing on a bone and hiding it are fun things to do when you’re not around.

If you’re new to dogs, understand they get very possessive with a bone. Don’t try to take the bone away while they’re near it. Keep your face well clear of their face, and keep children away from a dog-with-bone. Dogs warn off other dogs by biting at their face. This is ok for dogs since they have tough skin and fur, but a human face can’t take that.

Be easy on yourself and the dog with changing over to fresh food. If your dog is addicted to processed food it could take some time to change their taste. Every second meal, mix some meat in with the other food. Maybe you live where it’s hard to get fresh food, or your budget can’t stretch too far just now, so be happy to add a little fresh meat when you can.

Preservatives and additives in dry food or canned food are not healthy for every meal, and the food may be lacking in vitamins, minerals and fiber. As well, labeling laws for pet foods are often less strict than for human processed food. For those times when you need to use a processed food, look for real meat (like chicken) listed as the main ingredient, and not an un-named byproduct. Dogs don’t have the enzymes to digest grain.

We’ve covered just the basics here, without getting into intricate topics, such as feeding vegetarian dog food or choosing a dog vitamin supplement. Your task this week is to locate some fresh food near you, then convince your dog to eat it. Love your dog!

“But Jake, raw meat sounds like messy yucky expensive hard work and unsafe!”

Right, let’s lead you through these woods little fella.

In most countries with this internet thing available, meat that’s served in butchers, meat markets or supermarkets has passed an inspection of sorts to make it safer for us. When you cook yourself a steak do you snap on the latex gloves? (sorry vegetarians)

Handling meat for your dog is no more risky than cutting beef for stir-fry. If you have a fear of bugs in the meat then wash your hands carefully afterwards, and consider the glove option. Butchers and chefs are more exposed than we are preparing two dog meals a day.

Your vet will have you worm the dog every 3 months for parasites they collect at the park or from other dogs, and that will deal with the rare chance of bugs from what they eat. Make sure the worm treatment is also for hydatid tapeworms and pretty much everything is covered.

Now about the cost. If your budget runs to fancy organic or grass-fed game then that’s great, but you’ll still see doggy dinner bowl eyes by serving the cheapest offcuts and bones from the mark-down section.

Get this folks - cheap cuts of real meat are most always less costly than ‘quality’ dry foods.

Shop around your neighborhood, ferret out the best deals, and buy in bulk if you can. Separate the bulk buy into daily portions and freeze the lot.

Thaw a few days worth while you’re at work, and serve when you get home. How hard is that? I can barely cook an egg and I can do it. I’m too lazy for boots with laces and I can do it.

Just remember to cut the meat into bite sizes that fit the dog. If you have a teeny weeny little dog you have to do more prep.

It’s hard for dogs to choke on a piece of meat btw. They’ll act weird if a chunk gets stuck, but they rarely die. It’s scary when they go all stiff and jump around, but eventually they’ll bring it back up and start again. Unlike us, dogs usually keep breathing through all this. Stay calm.

[An object other than raw meat is a problem when stuck. If you’re worried, or the dog is in real stress, or the object has been stuck for longer than a couple minutes - first call your vet and have them talk you through how to remove it - or google ‘Your Pet is Choking- do this first’ or ‘Dog Choking Treatment’.]

Raw food for dogs is the base. No cooking, no baking, no fuss. To that add small portions of mashed up vegetables, eggs, milk or leftovers. If you feed a supplement make sure it’s specially formulated for dogs, and just a little each day. Don’t use a human vitamin as we have different body processes. Vitamin C for example is something dogs don’t need since they manufacture it internally.

Leave fresh water available all day, and make sure your dog has access to soft green grass growing somewhere. They like to chew on it, sometimes to throw up, and sometimes just because...