Thank you for so much info.....I noticed though that your high energy dogs eats alot more than two cups per day while the low energy dogs eat as much as toots. Tootsie while a bulldog which is known for their low energy is actually quite energetic.....we have to walk her everyday and play with her for several hours otherwise she goes crazy...you can actually see the pent up energy in her when she sits still too long....she is also a jumper (just not on command)and while she runs around the yard she also jumps up on the chairs and tables. (she's allowed). People at the bullympics this weekend said they had never seen a bully run like her before. I do agree with you though...there probably is not much difference between a four star and six star for most dogs....bullies are known as medical nightmares though so we are trying to do the absolute best for her and since we can afford it we do. Toots is actually quite funny to watch as she takes her toys and throw them herself sometime to go after...she is also one of the few bullies from what I've heard who will play fetch.....her breeder actually said we should train her for agility competitions....but we're not show people. I'd be curious to see how much she eats when she slows down a bit.

Hi Stellabee! I am going to point out a couple of logical flaws in your post. Please don't take it personally. I have absolutely nothing against feeding raw. I just want to give you feedback on your reasoning as posted in your reply to this thread. Foxes (wild animals related to dogs, in the Family Canidae and Sub-Family Caninae, but in a different Genus and Species) do better on raw meat. Cooked meat gives them illness. Therefore, dogs (descended from wolves long ago, so in the same Genus and Species as wolves) should not eat cooked meat. That is: Fox + Cooked = Illness Dogs = Wolves Therefore Dogs + Cooked = Illness See the problem with the logic? There is nothing to connect Foxes with Dogs. This is not a logical argument. Next you say that modern meat is deficient in nutrients because of the way it is farmed. Lack of nutrients causes arthritis. Therefore feed your dog raw meat. So: Modern Meat = Lack of Nutrients Lack of Nutrients = Arthritis Therefore feed your dog Raw Modern Meat You don't specifically say to feed Modern Meat, but I don't see any directions on what else the Raw Meat is to be made of, so I must assume it is Modern Meat. Again, the logic does not follow. You tell us to feed the dogs the deficient meat, simply Raw. How does this help with arthritis? You do not say anything to explain why feeding Raw contributes to the nutritional value of the Modern Meat. You state that the Modern Meat never had the nutrients. Next, you tell us that carbs are not needed in a carnivore's diet. I wondered about this, given that many carnivores eat fruits and berries when available. So I went to Wikipedia: "A hypercarnivore is an animal which has a diet that is more than 70% meat, with the balance consisting of non-animal foods such as fungi, fruits or other plant material.[1][2] Some examples include the big cats, dolphins, wolves, eagles, snakes, marlin, most sharks. Virtually all members of the Canidae and Felidae are hypercarnivores in their natural state, including the domesticated dog and cat." There is also a subdivision of hyper carnivores that must eat only animal-based food. They are called "obligate carnivores." Cats are considered obligate carnivores, but dogs are not. As you point out, dogs are descended from Grey Wolves. Again from Wikipedia: "Wolves supplement their diet with fruit and vegetable matter: they willingly eat the berries of mountain ash, lily of the valley, bilberries, blueberries and cowberry. Other fruits include nightshade, apples and pears. They readily visit melon fields during the summer months." So carbs are a natural part of the wolf diet. This is research that disagrees with your contention that wolves do not eat carbs. Peas are carbs. If you don't want to give your dog carbs, why the peas? Another logical issue with your reasoning. That does not mean you should feed your dog something that it has developed an allergy to, though. I would never advocate for that. You simply need to figure out what the dog is allergic to. It may not be so much a reasoning problem as it is a writing problem. Take more time with writing to make sure you are saying what you intended to say. Using the logical breakdowns like I did above will help you ensure that you are getting your message across in your writing.

Oh, gosh, if I put things in capital letters I do it for emphasis. I would never be so boorish as to yell at someone on a forum. So if I have offended anyone I apologize. My mother was a squabbler and it was really embarrassing for me as a teenager because she would take anybody on and run her mouth till she figured she'd "won". But my best friend had a mother who always said, "If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all". I really respected that woman for her restraint and her good manners. So you won't find me being obnoxious on a forum, on purpose, anyway. I appreciate everyone's input. Even if you don't all have the same opinions, it still gives me lots to think about. And, knowing that some things sound more harsh when they are written than the writer may have meant, I try to take everything other people say at face value. I love these forums and feel like I have learned so much from them. Cearbhaill, I'm going to offer Pearl a raw chicken wing tip today and see what she does. Stbonner, I will watch out for gluten on the ingredients list from now on. And also "meat by-products" or "meat and bone meal". Thanks for that information. Those who use blood-soaked sawdust from the floor, what would they call that? Does that fall in the "meat by-products" category? Minnie, I think that's a good idea you have there. I think it would be good to e-mail all these pet food producers who have the above items on their lists of ingredients and tell them we know what that is and we will not be buying their products as long as those ingredients are on the list. If they are just asked "if" they include euthanized pets and roadkill in their food, they'll just find someone who works there that doesn't know about "anything" that they put in the food, who can then truthfully tell you "I know of no such ingredients in our brand". Here's the ingredients list on the Chicken Soup brand of cat food: chicken, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat preserved with mixed tocopherols, ocean fish meal, white rice, potatoes, oatmeal, millet, natural chicken flavor, salmon, turkey, duck, flaxseed, sodium bisulfate, egg product, methionine, potassium chloride, choline chloride, dried chicory root, taurine, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flakes, yucca schidigera extract, L-carnitine, Enterococcus facium, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation solubles, dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, zinc proteinate, vitamin E supplement, niacin, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin A supplement, biotin, potassium iodide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, manganese oxide, sodium selenite, vitamin D supplement, folic acid. I had never heard of Eagle Pack. I checked the price and it runs about $2 for a 13-oz can of cat food, if ordered from Amazon.com. I have sent an e-mail to a distributor 35 miles away to see what their price is. For that price, though, I'd think it would be cheaper to feed raw chicken if she will eat it. Would there be calcium in the cartilage that's in the wing? When I had cats as a child we always fed them milk and table scraps, and they supplemented it by hunting. Then people started saying cats couldn't digest milk and not to feed it. My dog, Sonny, has gotten so that he doesn't want to eat the dry Chicken Soup dog food. So to about a cup of dry food I've been adding about a half cup of leftovers from our most recent meal and some water that had sausage cooked in it (fat removed), or water with dry milk powder added, and he has been cleaning the bowl.

Trisha, you've certainly gotten an earful, haven't you. I think it's been pretty well identified that some would stay at your B & B and some would not and for what reasons either way. I would not, by the way, although it does look like a perfectly lovely place. And one of the several reasons I would not is that I just prefer simplicity - yours is elegant, lavish and beautiful - absolutely perfect for those that want that. My personal preference is something more on the idea of the Inn in the Newhart show! However, would you please just tell us if you're going to change your website with respect to saying that your dogs are kept out of all guest areas? That is, actually, false advertising and would pi$$ me off royally if I thought that and then arrived to your dogs as you've described.