Raised on Raw

We have been feeding a raw food diet to our older dog for five years.  Sóley started on raw food when we brought her home at 11 weeks and Tindra was weaned to raw food, as were her litter-mates.  

In our experience, the raw diet is key to optimal health for canines.   Eating the right food from the start enhances life-long health with each generation. Raw-fed puppies are calm and content because they get exercise and mental stimulation from chewing raw bones, as well as the ideal balance of calcium and other minerals.  Their immune systems and digestive tracts function well because they are not being challenged with hard-to-digest grains, heat-damaged proteins or rancid, overprocessed oils. The exercise of chewing helps develop body strength, especially in the fore-quarter. 

Chewing raw meaty bones keeps teeth clean which is important in maintaining overall health.   Raw feeding has great benefits for owners too.  Raw fed dogs don't smell "doggy" and don't have "dog breath".   Raw food is much more digestible for dogs than kibble, and this is reflected in a smaller volume of stool, which is firm and nearly odorless compared to kibble-fed poop.  

We are willing to assist new owners with feeding their puppies an optimal diet of natural, raw food if they so wish.  Whether puppies are fed a raw diet, home-cooked food or a premium quality kibble, they should  be kept lean as they grow. Growing puppies should not  exercise beyond normal free play, in order to prevent excess strain and wear on joints. 

Minimal Vaccines

Traditionally, puppies have been given a series of 3 to 5 vaccines, often as frequently as 2 weeks apart, and this makes people think that immunity increases with each shot. This is wrong - it only takes one vaccination to produce immunity, but that shot has to be given at the right time. Early shots, especially before 9 weeks, are unlikely to produce immunity and could contribute to autoimmune diseases down the road.  At 12 weeks the high-titer vaccines are about 85% effective.  Before 12 weeks,  maternal antibodies  often prevent puppies from developing immunity to parvo.  Distemper vaccines are more likely to be effective at earlier ages while maternal antibodies against parvo are more long-lasting.  Our own experience, based on titer testing done 3 weeks after Tindra's vaccination, is that the distemper-parvo vaccine given at 11 weeks successfully produced immunity to distemper but not to parvovirus, so a single parvovirus booster was given at 14 weeks.   

Parvovirus is a serious risk in many areas, and in recent outbreaks it seems to be occurring in older puppies and young dogs that have been vaccinated.  I believe this is due to the fact that new puppy owners are aware of the need to protect their young pups until shots have been completed, but that the final shots are being given too early to be effective.   A typical series of shots as recommended by a conventional vet could be 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks of age.  Because the puppy has received a "complete" series of shots, the owners assume he is protected, but there is about a 15% chance that none of those shots were effective in producing immunity.    

Our current advice is that it is safest to assume a puppy is not protected from parvovirus until ten days after a booster shot given between 14 to 16 weeks.  Until that time, puppies should be socialized in low-risk areas for infection such as bookstores, hardware stores, banks, and with dogs who are known to be healthy. This can include puppy classes where the floor is disinfected before each class.  Avoid dog-parks, dog shows, exposure to dogs of unknown health status, and carry the puppy in and out of the veterinary clinic.  

Other Natural Rearing Principles

Our first litter was weaned by their mother between 8 and 9 weeks of age according to her natural maternal instincts.   The pups were together as a group up to 7 weeks.  After 7 weeks, the pups spent  time in smaller groups and also experienced being away from their dam and litter-mates.  We introduced them to clicker training and used positive training to reduce their natural tendency to jump on people and chew  the wrong objects, including people's hands and pant legs.  Between seven and nine weeks the pups began to learn bite inhibition and learned how to interact appropriately with a variety of other dogs.  Our first pups left just before 9 weeks and settled in well to their new homes.

There are many important lessons that only a mother dog can teach.   This is especially important for future breeding females who will pass these social skills on to the next generation of offspring, but of course every pup should have the best start for their role as family companion.  The effort of puppy-raising, feeding and cleaning chores  increases greatly between 7 and 9 weeks but this was also a time of great learning for the pups and we can't imagine depriving them of this experience. Therefore  pups from any future litters will be leaving for their new homes around 10  weeks of age and never earlier than 9 weeks.