help again please
I read here http://www.african-boerboel.co.za/choosingfood.htm

>On a fasting day give a nice big beef bone.

>Boerboels over one year of age should fast, or rest their digestive systems,
>one day per week. Boerboels under one year of age may fast half a day once per week.
>Carnivores are not grazing animals who should eat continually throughout the day.
>Digestion requires a lot of the carnivore's body energy, and an adequate break
>between meals is necessary to use that energy for healing and other body functions.

do you guys advise this as well?
and does it apply to all dogs, should my GSD also fast half a day weekly for now?
or does this only apply to dogs on raw diets?
I'm considering going half raw and half Hills if that makes any difference, still much more
to read before deciding.

IMHO I do not believe that fasting is of any benefit in the domestic pet.  You have to bear in mind that in the wild canids would naturally gorge and fast because of the availability or not of the prey etc.  This does not happen in the domestic environment and therefore I believe fasting to be a waste of time for most dogs particularly those on a commercial diet as this food is mainly cereal anyway!

It's probably down to personal choice.  I don't 'fast' my dogs, but our obedience instructors have one day in the week where they just don't feed their dogs at all.  They don't look any the worse for it, but neither are they any better than dogs that don't 'fast' - well, in my opinion anyway!
  Hilda

Would you go one day a week without  food if you wont why make your dog??? it's that simple.

I cant go an hour without food, let alone a whole day :D :D

I do remember that when we used to show Afghans some owners starved their dogs the day before the show to make them more alert :(

Some people DO choose to fast one day a week but it is their choice; the dogs don't have one. 

exactly, and its our responsibility to make the best choices we can for our dogs.
if I was convinced that dogs that get to rest their digestive systems weekly
were in better health/shape, maybe lived longer or something tried and tested
to be to their benefit without tradeoffs in other areas, I wouldn't hesitate.

from the first 2 posts it seems not much can be gained by fasting them,
since Hilda has actually seen both I'll trust that.

>Would you go one day a week without  food if you
>wont why make your dog??? it's that simple.

Its actually not that simple corso girl.
I would and have, it lasts for a month, starts
at around 3am and ends at around 7pm-9pm, thats in our country, for
people living elsewhere this could be much longer, most religions
encourage fasting in some way or another, and it does no harm to us, if anything
it improves one's health, provided you're in good health to begin with.

now I didn't ask about this because of my religious beliefs,
but rather based on what that site said about the dogs needs.
and what they said made sense to me, also surely carnivores also don't make a kill
3 times a day, every day, but at the same time I also see tohme's points as well.

This was a very popular idea years ago, we never did it ourselves but those who did swore by it. To be fair I think it is up to you, if you can presuade your dog he really is not getting any dinner to day, would not want to try it with mine they would go and help themselves.

I'd have to go out for the day if I didn't feed mine or they'd pester the life out of me!

I fast mine (and so do a lot of my doggy friends) once a week and have done for some time.  The dogs go to the toilet the same after a fast day as any other day. I do try and keep  to the same day as much as possible.  The young dogs have a half day fast. I had a work colleague once that used to fast one day a week (just drinking water). She always  looked radiant and slim - she ended up modelling!

Both my dogs fast on their own about every 1-2 weeks,even tho their food is there for them to eat at anytime,they just wont eat it.The next day they are back to normal,i would never force a dog to fast,some folk give chicken&vegie broth for a day a week,that would be as far as i would go.I dont think wild dogs fast  by choice but because they have no choice when food is scarce?

Christine