Raw Food and Aggression! - Page 2

PLENTY of kibble-fed dogs kill livestock., squirrels, etc.  I doubt you would find that "more" raw fed dogs do so than kibble fed dogs.

My old dog was calmer when we switched to a raw diet for him, a lot less nervous all the time.   My younger girl has been raw fed from day one,  and it does not make her any more aggressive than other dogs.   She hasn't eaten my cats yet, and interacts with small dogs just fine.  She can be bitchy and territorial but not more predatory than kibble-fed dogs.  She isn't aggressive over her food either, just like her mother, and her diet didn't change that.

London,

Thank you for the website; it answers a lot of questions.

Often when a dog is first started on raw there is an increase in aggression due to resource guarding. It’s not the raw food that makes the dog aggressive it’s the high value a dog puts on the raw food. Would you be more likely to fight over a carrot or your favorite dessert? Once the dog gets used to the raw food the value of it is decreased and the aggression is also decreased.

Bok,

    That was kitty-kat in the pic with me.(pic was taken,many moons ago).

It's not that it increases aggression; it's that some dogs are more likely to protect raw food as an item of high value than nasty kibble. This can apply only to other animals or toward humans, too. It's that they value it more; not that it has any direct effect on their behavior.

There is no connection between feeding raw food and agression, if I understand the question correctly. Dogs prefer and love raw food over commercialy available food, of course, and they get little "food possesive" over it (while it lasts, at least). Then they are back to their old selves and life goes on - till the next feeding.

This is a myth I think came from the belief that feeding a dog raw food will make it revert to it's "wild side". This is indeed only a myth and contains no grain of truth. Unless of course you're feeding your dog live food. If conditioned to behave calmly around farm animals, they will remain calm, whether you feed them kibble or chicken/beef/turkey/etc. The only aggression stemmed from raw food could be possessive issues, just because they love it so much! I've been feeding my two raw for.. 3 quarters of a year? And they behave just fine. No possession issues. No thirst for blood. My female behaves fine around our cat, and my male, well.. He hated the thing before.

-Emily

I've never had a problem with aggression and fresh meat. I've been feeding RAW and homeade dog food for 17 years now. I had 3 GSD's Major, Misty and Zorro and a Pit Bull Spudzy ..  all of them I put to sleep at 16. (fed RAW red meat) Dugan is 14 years old now and  well better off @ 14 than all the other ever were. Dugan, Granduer and Sara only get chicken and turkeys RAW.. no red meat. I think this has something to do with it ... I dunno. They do eat chopped beef and deer, smoked and dehydrated as a homeade kibble in their bowls 24/7. They nibble on that before Supper. They also drink milk like it's going outta style.

Every dog I've ever owned though would kill squirrels. My birds, cats and ferrets will too.

I agree with this... "some dogs are more likely to protect raw food as an item of high value" ... it's true. I foster dogs every now and again and when it's time for RAW Supper they turn nasty ... my dogs just look and think, you ate all the food in the bowls and now this ... LOL 

But, after a few days when the dog knows what to expect ... it's all good. Next, that dog is on the squirrel bandwagon ..

I'm pretty certain if you feed your dog  oh lets say ducks, chicken,beef with feathers and hides still on them ,you could not trust them in the hen house. Now raw cleaned and not looking or smelling like it does in there life like state that will not encourage them to kill.After all they are dogs..and i only know of one person who would be so silly as to feed whole dead animals to their dogs.and it did not work out to well for him..I have owned a dog who would just kill my ducks for fun.Not so much as take a bite to eat from them .I guess she just liked to kill them..I gave her away..I had another dog that slept every night with the same cat for six years.well she ate that cat and quite a few more before I could figure out who was eating my cats..She went to live her life in a kennel run only after that.I say she went to doggie jail.Why on earth would a dog suddenly start to kill and eat cats??? i don't know.I started leaving food all over the place thinking she was just hungry.That was not the problem.Did I say I feed raw still .yep..I do ..As a matter of fact my dogs eat every thing left over.Just no hide fur or feathers..

My dogs get raw feed and  i never have a problem .I have goats and ponies and had ducks geese hens no probs at all.but a b neighbour of mine left dead lambs round his place his collies ate them and then his collies started killing his sheep.