hi we are new to this site and was hoping someone can advise us on feeding our ddb. he is two years old and weights 44 kilos we have seen lots more of this breed while walking and all are a lot bigger some even double the size!! we are begining to think we are under feeding him as he looks a lot smaller than the others we have seen, he eats 2 meals a day of dried food mixed with a tinned dog food,we would like to know what other people suggest to build him up? raw meat,eggs,goats milk,bone meal,fish oils?? these are a few things people have advised but we are not too sure which to go with and how much to feed.hope someone can help

many thanks simon and rachel

Dogs are all individuals with individual build, even within the same breed. The KC standard says for Size:

Ideal height at the shoulder: dogs 60-68 cms (23½ - 26¾ ins); bitches 58-66 cms (22¾ - 26 ins). Weight: dogs at least 50 kgs (110 lbs); bitches at least 45 kgs (99 lbs).

If you can feel your dog's ribs but not see them, nor have to grope through wodges of fat to feel them, and he has a waist when you look down on him, then he's about the right weight for him.

> he looks a lot smaller than the others

Jeangenie has given you good advice. There is quite a variation within this breed, even within the KC breed standard. Your dogue may well be OK for his frame. I don't think it matters as long as he's healthy.

For what it's worth our dogues are raw fed and eat 2 meals a day. The biggest who weighs around 60 kilos eats approx 1.5 kilos at his evening meal, and a bit less in the morning. The bitches who each weigh around 50 kilos have about 1 kilo in the evening and a bit less in the morning. It's not an exact science. Three of them I'd say are just the right weight for their frames, the fourth is an older neutered male who is inclined to gain weight if we don't watch it, so he is given less poor devil!

All our dogues eat a variety of raw meats during the week, tripe chunks, beef chunks, heart chunks, lamb, with turkey neck or chicken wings for bone content. They also eat eggs several times a week and tinned tuna, with a daily spoonful each of spinach liqidised with pear or carrot. They have a spoonful of oil (fish, sunflower and wheatgerm) each evening. If you do a search on here you will find lots of discussion about feeding, both raw and complete.

You could try adding any of the raw meats to his diet in place of the tinned food and see how that goes. And a spoonful of oil will be good for his skin and coat. But if he looks well covered as he is and he's in good health, I wouldn't worry that he's on the small side.

thanks for the advice, with our ddb you can actually see his ribs which is why i'm a bit concerned, the thing is he is a really active dog he runs about all the time all day long chasing the kids in and out of the house, now we were told not to excercise him too much as this breed doesn't need it? could this be why he looks thin and not stocky? i would like to send you some pitures if i can for your opinion if possible. is there a way i can do this on this site or can i e.mail you some.
many thanks simon

Is he regularly wormed?

This is the advice about sending pictures - I've never done it so don't know if it works!

How do I attach images and other files to posts?
If attachments are enabled in the forum and the specific board you want to post in, first submit your post without the attachment, after that you can click the post's Attach button to go to the upload page. Posting and uploading is separated this way because uploads can fail for various reasons, and you probably don't want to lose your post text when that happens.

As for excercise, too much isn't great while they are puppies as it can put strain on their growing joints. But by two years old it should be fine. We have a two year old who tears around like a maniac I think it just shows their joie de vivre! Still, if you can see his ribs it probably wouldn't do any harm to try to put a bit more weight on him. You could start by adding raw tripe to his meals plus a bit of oil each day. Does he eat what you give him OK? It's not unusual for DDBs to be fussy feeders but they usually enjoy raw meat and don't leave any.

Hope you get on OK if you give it a try.

This is the advice about sending pictures - I've never done it so don't know if it works!

It's only enabled on the Rainbow Bridge forum. :)

Oh, that's a shame, :-( thanks for telling me.

our dogue is a very big boy but is still a bit ribby as he hasnt fully matured in body yet.we feed arden grange dry and minced tripe with occasional cooked chicken or raw hearts.he has approx 200 grams of dry with 600 grams of tripe mince (1.5 packs) twice a day.we asked at shows what we could do to help him body up and almost everyone said give him tripe and within weeks he had bodied up a lot.hope this is of some help,roy.

he's not a fussy eater but sometimes we can put his food down and he will leave it for hours,like today for instance he had breakfast at 8.30 biscuits 1 meat block and 2 eggs, i put his next meal out at 15.30 and he as not touched it, ive got him a cooked chicken for his supper that i'm just going to crush up and put in his bowl see how he goes with that.

> him a cooked chicken for his supper that i'm just going to crush up and put in his bowl see how he goes with that.

NOOOOO! never ever feed a dog cooked bones! its really dangerous as they are far more likely to splinter and hurt him!

no bones?? iv'e been reading a couple of posts on this site and it says chicken carcasses and wings are ok to eat??? is this right

I believe bones are only safe when raw, it's cooking them that makes them splinter.....particularly chicken bones.

>it says chicken carcasses and wings are ok to eat??? is this right

Only if they're raw. Cooked bones, especially cooked poultry bones, are very dangerous.

glad you told me i will just take all the meat off for him then. phew that was a close one think i'm going to have to do some research on this raw food and bones feeding.

thanks loads for the advice

yes raw are fine, great for their teeth and tremendous fun for them, chicken wings are cheap and go down well. i'm so glad you didn't feed him the cooked ones, phew!

there are loads of raw feeders here so if you start a thread you should get some good tips. there is also a forum called britbarf that is good.

Barf feeding (bones and raw foods) is great if you have the set up- i started feeding my boy on it for a while and he loved it but it was costing a fortune mainly because i wasn't in a position to bulk buy.

> research on this raw food and bones feeding

Yes, that will be best if you look into it. Just do a search on here and you'll find there's been lots of discussion. Also this site's worth a look:

http://www.krisannriorawfeeding.com/pashasfooddiary.htm[url=][/url]

All the best.