The American Beagler Forum

me and my granddad used to be hardcore coonhunters, till i saw the light and swiched over to beagles. but anyway my granddad would always give his hounds that he bench showed or a hound that had a whelp of pups a big spoon full of bacon grease in with there dog food. it would really make there coat shinny and make them fat as butterballs but not to fat were it would interer with hunting i really dont know how to explain, anyway he claimed made the ole bitch dogs give more milk. now iv tried high fat and high protein dog foods, but it just doesnt do the same thing that the grease will i mean it is amazeing how quick it works and how much better a dog will look after he has been on it for a week or so. DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHY???? i would just like to know if the old timer was on to something.

I don't why but it sure dose work---- just look at me ---bacon -sauage -eggs -gravy--biscuits --not too slick--- but fat ----------

Your granddad was smart, and the reason you are looking for is quite simple: dogs are carnivores and therefore designed to function their best when eating animal flesh, bones, and fats. The bacon grease was simply a pure fat source, which is preferable to any carb source.

Most people believe that dogs are "supposed" to eat kibbled feeds, but this is simply not so. Kibbled feeds were designed for human convenience, not canine nutrition. There is no "kibbled" form of dog food that will ever be a substitute for they flesh, bones, and fats dogs were designed by Nature to eat.

A lot of people don't realize dogs have no need for carbohydrates. Their digestive system is designed to process fats and oils for energy, not carbohydrates. Dogs can't even process carbs without cooking. The carbs you feed them would come out looking the same as they went in, without cooking. In fact, the entire "kibbling" process that is used to make store-bought kibbled dogfood extrudes and heats the kibble to unbearable high temperatures ... just so a dog can actually use the carbohydrates (corns, wheats, rice, etc.) ... but in so doing it destroys whatever meat content was also in there, ruining the natural enzymes, and taking most of the food value out of the product in this very "kibbling" process that makes it. This is why dogs fed a proper raw diet will always look (and be) healthier than dogs fed kibble. Feeding dogs kibble is like raising kids on McDonald's french fries: overprocessed junk food compared to a proper diet.

In the Alaskan Ididarod races, for example, almost all these competitors feed their huskies are huge amounts of raw fats and meats (mostly fats) with NO kibble and NO carbs. None. Your grandpaw was simply giving the dogs a fat source, not a carb source, and dogs simply do better and look better fed meats and fats, not carbs

My great uncles always stird an egg and a hand full of cracklin's in the feed bucket. Their coon and fox hounds were the slickest I've seen.

In the winter months my great uncle would boil a pot of potato peelings. When he had them cooked down he would add dog kibble, some bacon grease and feed the hounds warm feed. Times were hard back then and I suppose it was as much for stretching the feed bill as anything else but his dogs were always in good shinny flesh.