Charlie loves Halifax and he wants it to be dog friendly!

Food is something I continually struggled with when it came to Charlie. He was over-weight and low-energy so I had to be careful. 2 or 3 years knocked off my life because of my weight isn't that big a deal, but 2 or 3 years knocked off Charlie's life was a significant time. I wanted him to live and be comfortable for as long a time as possible. He ultimately only lived to 12 years old, which for such a big dog wasn't too bad - but it was very sad when he left me.

What you feed you companion is SO important. And you need to do research. If you've never read anything about what is put in dog food you are in for a shock. If you can't give them home-cooked food you should feed them super-premium dog food - which has "human grade" ingredients in it. Appropriate and healthy dog food is the most important and most basic decision we make for our companions. It determines how long they live and what kind of health they will enjoy during their lifetime. A bad animal-grade dog food is almost a guarantee of bad health for the dog and you will pay in vet bills what you saved in dog food.

There is a local dog food guru that a lot of people swear to - his name is Rodney Habib and he has a food store over on Montebello Drive in Dartmouth - it's called Planet Paws and it has a lot of good highquality foods there - their website is at http://www.planetpaws.ca/ - he also has a facebook page that is followed worldwide by people that you can check out too - it has almost half a million followers

I won't go into too much detail but some web sites that I have found really helpful are:

I also have been collecting information through Yahoo Groups and web sites about dog food and it is now about almost 100 pages worth of stuff. If you want me to send you a .pdf file of my research, email me at the address below.

I fed Charlie a combination of home cooked food, fit for human consumption kibble, and processed raw food that I got from a local distributor - you can now purchase these types of products from several local distributors that you can find on my pet food page at http://www.charlieloveshalifax.ca/2015/11/pet-food-stores-in-hrm.html . He looked good and lost weight! He had an allergy to wheat and milk so I have to be really careful what I feed him because he could get really sick if he got even a small amount of wheat - and almost all the normal dog kibble has wheat in it! And you'd be suprised but a LOT of dogs have allergies to the ingredients that are used as fillers in cheap dog foods - corn and wheat. One of the ways he manifested this allergy is that he became much more reactive - meaning he would become aggressive - so if we were out and he was barking at everything I started to think about what he could have been eating (or what he could have gotten into!!!) that had wheat in it and that's usually the answer as to why he was not his normal placid self - so if your dog has behaviour problems look at what you feed him in addition to how you are training (or not training) him!

You should also check out my page on kong filling recipes too for more fun ways to feed your dog!

Wheat-Free Scotty Biscuits

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup rye flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk

Combine oatmeal, 3/4 cup of the rye flour, sugar and butter together. Slowly add the milk till a firm but slightly sticky dough forms. Scrape out dough onto a wooden board or counter. Knead in the rest of the rye flour till the dough stiffens a little. Wrap in saran wrap and chill for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough till 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes ( I like to use scotty dog cutters). Place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn off oven and let biscuits rest till cool in oven with the door closed. Store in air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.

I used to make these cookies for Charlie before I found out about his allergies - they make really good treats!

Economy Cookies

3 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup water
½ cup skim milk powder
1 egg
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup margarine

1. In a large bowl, combine whole wheat flour and margarine. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, combine skim milk powder, garlic powder, egg, corn syrup, and water.
3. Add liquid mixture to flour mixture in small quantities until all is mixed and dough like.
4. Roll out to fit size of Pam covered cookie sheet. Use pizza cutter to cut up into treat size pieces.
5. Cook at 325 degrees F for 50 minutes. Turn heat off and leave cookies in oven for 1 more hour to make cookies nice and crunchy.
6. Give to dogs whenever they need some extra love

Here's a bunch more links if you want them:

http://www.recipesource.com/misc/pet-food/dog/ 
http://www.dragonbear.com/rec-sind.html
http://www.pets.ca/recipes/recipe3.htm - Stanley Coren's Recipe for home cooked food!
http://vetmedicine.about.com/msubnutri-recipe.htm?once=true&