Welcome Eastwood Great Danes

**.sarah** · 12-13-2005, 01:24 AM

I'm so glad you decided to stick around!

Your girl is absolutely beautiful. I usually am not too fond of the blue Danes because I always see the ones who are built very broad -- almost shapeless. She is a wonderful looking girl, makes me fall in love with the breed all over again!

I was checking out your website yesterday and noticed the new pictures of fawn Danes (or at least I didn't see them a few weeks ago). Are you still breeding fawns or is blue your main focus now?

**Eastwood Great Danes** · 12-13-2005, 11:22 AM

I am focusing on Blacks and Blues now. The pictures of the fawns have been up on my site for a long time.

**IRescue452** · 12-13-2005, 12:08 PM

Beautiful dogs. I like that I see some natural eared dogs on the website. You obviously aren't too afraid to keep a few natural dogs dispite cropping being preferred in the show dog world. Do you show any natural danes? I have to say that the page on feeding turned me further off BARF diets. I'll cook my dog's meat thank you. What would be your take on feeding cooked meat as compared to raw?

**ramanth** · 12-13-2005, 02:56 PM

Welcome Kim from another Kim.

Great Danes are so adorable. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of your crew.

**Lobodeb** · 12-13-2005, 03:14 PM

Welcome to PT!

My Dane experience is very limited, but as long as its a dog, I'm in love.

Here is a pic of my co-workers Dane, Gannon

**Eastwood Great Danes** · 12-13-2005, 05:57 PM

Thanks for sharing the picture of Gannon. That is really cute!

My take on feeding cooked meat over raw food is that you cook many of the nutrients out. The nutrients are cooked completely out of the meat when it goes into kibble. Cooked and cooked, then the moisture squeezed out and turned into powder so that it will go through the extruder machines that make the little crunchy balls. But that is a whole nuther subject...
Anyway, dogs are meant to eat raw meaty bones from a variety of animals. You can not feed a dog cooked bones because they change density and can splinter. Raw bones do not. Feeding a cooked meat diet would be very lacking in essential vitamins and minerals. Where would the calcium, phosphorus, manganese and other stuff come from? Those things are in the bone and in the best form available.
What exactly on my site turned you off raw food? Was it the picture of Stoli eating the piglet? Many people are offended by that photo. That is not a normal part of our dogs diet. It was a bonus we got from the butcher and the dogs loved it! lol
The diet I feed my dogs is not BARF. We prefer to just call it raw feeding. We don't do veggies and fruits and all that stuff that is in the so called barf diet as written by Ian Billinghurst. He is a whack job if you ask me!

Anyway, the raw diet is easy to feed. The poop turns to powder and blows away in a few days

Fleas and ticks are no longer interested in our dogs so I don't have to put chemicals on them every month. We just love it and I could never go back to kibble.
We have been discussing this 'bird flu' that has been on the news a lot lately and I am not sure how I will feed if I have to take chicken out of the diet. I use that at least 3 times a week because it is easy to get and its cheap! But going back to kibble still wouldn't be an option for me if I could no longer feed 'bird'. And I am pretty sure all the killed sick chickens would end up in pet food anyway.

**.sarah** · 12-13-2005, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by Eastwood Great Danes

Fleas and ticks are no longer interested in our dogs so I don't have to put chemicals on them every month. We just love it and I could never go back to kibble.

Wow, I've never heard that! Is there something in kibble that attracts fleas?

I've been wanting to switch to raw, although I have a few worries. I read on a few different websites that if there are problems that arise from it it is usually something underlying that was there before you started feeding raw. Mandy is nearly 8 years old, and although she's very healthy (except for 4 extra lbs) I'm extremely worried about switching her in case there is an underlying problem. I know it's probably rare, but she is just getting old and I don't want to risk anything.

Also, Nova and Mandy have allergies. When we took them off of kibble with red meat & birds they got better. They are now on fish. I don't know if it's actually the meat or if it was the food we were feeding before. They still get ear infections every now and then, though, and so I'm starting to wonder if they're allergic to a grain in their food (although they're on a premium food so it doesn't have much grain. Luka's has no grain and I've thought about trying them on that to see if it is in fact a grain allergy). Annnyways, have you ever heard of anyone feeding only fish? Do you ever feed fish?

**IRescue452** · 12-13-2005, 07:18 PM

I think its the messiness and blood that gets to me. Having to feed the dogs outside so they don't make a mess. I'm sure with enough variety that a diet with cooked meat could still have plenty of nutrients. Steaming the meat keeps the nutrients in too. Plain yogurt provides enzymes and phosphorus. Egg yolks and kelp, rice and cranberries, provide manganese. I'm going to be getting Autumn into more of a working dog's meal. She loves carrots, too. I don't think its crazy to add those into the meals if the dogs like the stuff. Carrots provide plenty in nutrients. They help keep the teeth clean too. I wouldn't worry much about this bird flu. The regular flu kills 36,000 people a year in America alone and since 2001 the bird flu has only killed 56 altogether. Not much of a threat if you ask me.
-Sarah-Only fish, what the working dogs of the northern coast were fed on most of the year before kibble came along-fish pieces.

**AllAmericanPUP** · 12-13-2005, 08:47 PM

I dont see any health testing on your website..or maybe i missed it
Do you health test your dogs for hips, elbows, patellas, thyroid, etc. ?

**Uabassoon** · 12-14-2005, 12:15 AM

Hi and welcome to PT! I'm mostly owned by two cats, Corkscrew and Tibby you can see them in my signature. I'm also a stepmom to my girlfriends JRT mix Payson.

**Eastwood Great Danes** · 12-14-2005, 06:16 AM

"Wow, I've never heard that! Is there something in kibble that attracts fleas?"

There are many things in kibble that are nothing more then fillers and of no nutritional use. Grains being the main thing. All of the nutrients in kibble are in synthetic form. That is why there is a list of vitamins and minerals listed in the ingredients. Those are not added for any other reason then if they weren't put there in synthetic form, they would simply not exist. so just imagine if all you ever ate was potato chips and got all the rest of your essentials in a bottle of vitamins. Sure you could live this way and your hair might even be shiny but would you truly be as healthy as you would be if you were getting all of your nutrients from fresh whole foods?
Total cereal is a 'complete' meal. How healthy do you think you would be/feel if you ate that and that alone 3 times a day for the next 10 to 12 years?
So add to that all the chemicals that are put in and on our dogs in the name of prevention. Essentially treating them for things they do not have. Add to that Multiple vaccinations that assault the immune system and are given annually in most cases when it has been proven that the core vaccines last for 7 years. Ask yourself..... Why are you not getting your baby shots every year for the rest of your life? A persons system and a dogs system were designed much better then anyone gives them credit for otherwise extinction would have occurred long ago.
The bottom line is that the better the food you put in your dog, the healthier he will be. The least amount of chemicals that are put on or in a dog, the healthier he will be. Critters like Fleas and ticks are not interested in dogs that are truly healthy.
We have a VERY limited vaccine protocol for our dogs. One parvo shot at 12 weeks and one distemper at 14 weeks and nothing else the rest of their lives aside from rabies because it is the law. We use the best sources of food, all raw and filled with nutrients in natural form. We use an all natural heart worm prevention so we are not putting drugs or chemicals in or on our dogs. The results have been amazing!

**pitc9** · 12-14-2005, 08:25 AM

Welcome! Nice looking dogs!
I am owned by two German Shepherd rescues Sierra & Buddy.
I have to say... In My Opinion the picture of your dog eating the pig was disturbing.
I feed kibble. (Obviously...

)

**CagneyDog** · 12-14-2005, 04:05 PM

This isn’t meant to start anything but is there an particular reason why you don’t health test your danes?

**dab_20** · 12-14-2005, 04:19 PM

Welcome!!

Sorry... I can't see the pics of your great danes, but the one in your siggy is gorgous!!

I am owned by a 1 year old toy poodle mix named Molli and a 4 month old cocker spaniel named Sammy. You can see their pics in my siggy.