A few years ago, I was your typical office-worker: stressed out, uneven energy, overweight, and inconsistent complexion. Now I'm just your typical 28-year old urban hunter-gatherer on a quest to be healthy, and having a few adventures along the way. See my full bio.
It's not just humans who are learning how to hunt again. Dogs are too. The New York Times has a great article on dog-owners teaching their domesticated and pampered hounds how to hunt again.
"We were at the Fun Field Trial here, a hunting training program held in the spring for dogs that have never hunted but whose breeds were created to do so. ...
The number of so-called instinct-performance tests to measure a dog’s hunting and herding skills has increased 39 percent over the past two years, totaling 1,549 in 2009, according to the American Kennel Club. Many are geared toward pets and owners who have never hunted."
However, pampered dogs seem to be having the same problems as overly-domesticated humans.
“That’s the problem with our domesticated dogs,” said Mr. Stern, a psychologist from Long Island. “They smell our pizza. They don’t smell the rabbits anymore,” he said, adding, “If we had put a steak in the woods, that might have worked.”
Most of the dogs loved it, even if their instincts had been dulled by modern living. Read the full article here, interesting throughout.
More and more pet owners are realizing that their dogs (and cats) aren't adapted to processed food. Here's a dog food company called "B.G.", which stands for "Before Grain". Their tagline: "...the way food was supposed to be, Before Grain got involved."
Do I need to draw all the parallels? Think this general approach might work with humans?
Comments
I've been getting a dog food
I've been getting a dog food called "taste of the wild" that is grain-free as well.
My animals have been raw fed
My animals have been raw fed for over 7 years, will never go back. They are muscular, great weights, super active, and just thrive on it. Actually, I have to credit my animals for waking me up to my OWN food related health issues.....when I saw their transformation I had to look at my own choices. Grainless dry foods are good, wet foods are better, and raw to me is the ultimate step back to what they were designed to eat. I am very big into animal behavior and love when people enrich their pets lives with either training or involvement in activites they were bred for. When a pet owner gets say a border collie and then complains about the destructive obsessive behaviors in the house.....but they do not take the dog out for long challenging runs or provide any outdoor mental stimulation.....I wonder what they expected. I love the movement of more available courses and clases and activities. I try and help friends find them for their dogs all the time.
My dog has been raw fed
My dog has been raw fed since we got her. She does very well with no hot spots or allergies.If you are in need of more information about raw feeding, then check out the raw feeding news group here. http://bit.ly/7dpw2h Here is a great post on getting started on raw feeding. http://bit.ly/82Hw1f
Our dog has been miserable
Our dog has been miserable lately, and I have been trying to change his food to see if that is causing it. I wonder if anybody has tried this Merrick "Before Grain" pet food. Is it any good?
It's great that B.G. doesn't
It's great that B.G. doesn't use grains in their food, but it's pretty hard for me to believe that processed pellets of food concocted from 50 ingredients are anything close to the natural diet of a dog.That's like a human "eating healthy" by choosing organic ice cream and chips instead of conventionally produced.Check out http://www.rawmeatybones.com for an introduction to real dog food.
Have you heard of Moscow's
Have you heard of Moscow's stray dogs riding trains?abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/moscows-stray-dogs-master-subways-10106879
Hi John, Great post!My son
Hi John, Great post!My son has a beagle that he took walking at the baseball park (small town) every day. One day a rabbit was in there and the beagle took off chasing it. Then he cornered it under the dugout bench. Thought for sure instinct would kick in (because I grew up with dogs that knew what to do with a rabbit). But all he did was bay and bay at it. The poor rabbit was probably deaf after that! I don't know if beagles were only bred to just corner and bay, or not, but I was surprised he didn't kill it. Being he is a very large beagle (exercise and diet were applied, he came from a large line), I think he surprised himself and didn't know what else to do. It was funny!
Great stuff, John. Though
Great stuff, John. Though my dog isn't a hunting breed, he definitely benefits from a grainless diet. We've had him on some great food that's entirely animal-based and he's thrived from it. And what's interesting is that because it's animal based and more densely-fortified than grains, he eats less and we actually save money.