Below I am showing one of the most festive occasions that I regularly create for my pack of four dogs:
Every now and then I get the chance to take home the head of a roe deer or a red deer from a game keeper and as I leave it in the dogs’ garden a two-day process starts. First of all the pack hierarchy starts to be displayed with my little GWP bitch, Tippex, taking ownership of “the kill” even if she is not particularly hungry at that point in time. It just shows that she is the boss.
This time I got the head of a young stag and Tippex guards it.
She made a bit of an effort helping herself to the easy bits. After some time, she got tired and left an opportunity for the other three dogs to have a go.
Gollum, the male GWP has more power and took delight in dealing with the head. I think it was his efforts that finally cracked it and he was rewarded with the delicious brainy parts.
Obviously it’s a massive effort, but we can always rely on the glutinous Labrador to make an impact on the head and thanks to her enormous tenacity many of the more difficult parts were consumed.
As everyone has a go, it gets passed down through the ranks and even my Hungarian Vizsla at the bottom of the pecking order had a go.
It is amazing how much they get off. The picture below was taken only 24 hours after I put the head out for them and shows Tippex back working on what’s left: bone, horns and skin. They ate everything soft, but even the bones had been chewed extensively. Instead of gulping a minced mass down, they have to hold on to the awkward shape with a paw while using their teeth chewing off little bits at a time.
The bottom jaw has been separated and there is just skin, skull and horns left. I thought this would be the end, but after 48 hours the result was this: Two horns with the bases chewed off. Everything else has gone. I have to say I did pick some hairy poo up in the garden later on.
I think it is a fantastic BARF diet to give our dogs. Surely it satisfies their deepest instincts and it occupies them in a very natural way. With more than one dog, a deer head provides all sorts of interesting dynamics in the pack as well.
I do give my dogs whole deer carcasses despite many people telling me that the bones are dangerous. Everyone has to make their own judgement about the “dangers”, but my view is that dogs did this before we domesticated them and I have not had any problems. My dogs have permanent access to eating grass, which some say protect their guts from sharp bones. They also enjoy digging the bones down and retrieving them later. It’s hilarious to see them relaxing after having dug a bone in, only to get back up and dig it up again in order to sneak off somewhere else and dig it in. It seems to be important to them NOT to let anybody else know where their bone is and they get clearly annoyed if you surprise them while they are secretly burying it....
All good fun for dogs that have time in the summer. Even with the best dog bed in the world, you don’t want them to sleep all day; they should also get on with active doggy stuff like this.
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