Feeding the Beast

We now have THREE Great Danes!  Yes, the amount of food consumed on a daily basis is phenomenal.
I am starting this blog as many people don't realize what they are getting themselves (and family) into when they add a pet (in this case dog) to the family.  We have had a dog (or dogs) in our lives since childhood.  As parents, we wanted our children to have pets growing up.

Puppies 1st week home

This is the first time we are raising Great Danes.  We've always wanted danes and finally took the plunge after several months of pondering and research.  Access to name brand dog food and the variety of brands is not available where we live (in Southeast Asia).  So, we have been making our own mix of food.

We started with a male and female, which we purchased from the only reputable breeder in Thailand.  This allowed our puppies to have Bangkok Kennel Club papers for each.  By the time they arrived to our house, the puppies, Valentine (male) and Uri (female) were already 3 months old.  Their feeding habits and what worked for us:

3 to 6 months - each were fed 4 x per day at 1.5 to 2 cups each
   - a mix of jasmine rice, kibble dry dog food, yogurt, and leafy greens (sometimes boiled eggs)

7 to 10 months - each were fed 3  x per day at 1.5 to 2 cups each

   - a mix of jasmine rice, beef, kibble dry dog food, yogurt, and leafy greens

11 months onward - each currently fed 2 x per day at a ratio of 3-4 cups in morning and 7 cups dinner

   - a mix of jasmine rice, beef, kibble dry dog food, and leafy greens

Uri 3 months old

Valentine 3 months old

They are now one and half years old.  We also have a 2.5 month old mantle boy.  All of them have shiny coats.  We can probably bathe them more often but we live on a farm and its hard to keep them out of the ponds.

  

Next time

New bed experiment....trying to reduce/vanish the tissue scaring on the leg joints from laying on cement.