Give Your Dog a Bone: The Practical Commonsense Way to Feed Dogs for a Long Healthy Life

Truly the perfect book just as told, it's exactly what dogs ARE designed to eat for great health. My dog and relatives dogs have 'much' better health since recently starting this Barf diet. Some are old with cancer, arthritis, bowel problems, and in one healthy skinny younger dog a refusal to eat kibble. This book explains things so well, "very" easy to read, gives the 'whys' and 'how to-s', and much information you need. Dr. Billinghurst, veterinarian, is many years educated on dogs, his life's work...I saw his website with raw products and saw he gives online consultations for your dogs. "Raw" - "meaty bones" are critical to dogs health I learned and will not hurt them, they would us humans but not dogs who are built differently. COOKED BONES ARE DANGEROUS!! Some raw beef bones 'not' good for many dogs, they're too HARD, but Raw chicken/duck wings and some others are good, also for older/sick dogs. Finicky dogs hooked on any commercial foods may need mincing raw 'meaty' bones in blender/grinder, or other tricks. Exactly what to feed and how is in the book in detail. There is even a section on proper vegetarian feeding and why its better than commercial cooked foods. Author gives all types of diets/ingredients and the pros and cons of each one. Book is one of best investments I've made, and cheap.

This book has gotten me feeding my 9 month old Shih Tzu raw chicken "party wings"! She loves them and I am grateful to be maintaining her teeth and giving her natural calcium. As the author says on almost every page. NO COOKED BONES. I definitely got that too. It is nice to have the mystery cleared up. Definitely a very helpful reference.

I fed 550# of dogs for many years following the guidelines in this book. (Beagle, German Shepherd, Irish Wolfhound, Great Pyrenees, etc) Plus, thank to this book I own a Vita MIX blender. I never would have spent that much on a blender otherwise, but I am SO glad I did. What a machine! It's so fast and strong that it can mix vegetables so well that they actually heat up enough to COOK if you blend them long enough. Oh yes, the dogs! They were the picture of health, with teeth so clean they were almost blue-white (like "California Teeth," LOL.) I jay made a deal with the local abattoir to but 5 gal buckets of spleens, gullets, green tripe, etc. Plus, he got me 50# cases of chicken necks and backs (the perfect mix of meat and bone.)

I have purchased 3 of these books as gifts and have one for myself. I found it on a site I use regularly for outstanding herbal blends and custom formulas for dogs, cat's and horses, Robert McDowell herbals but through them it costs much more. I was thrilled to find this book on Amazon!

This book was written in 1993 so it does not have the most current information about a couple of issues like feeding certain legumes lkek peanuts and soy to dogs (which can interfere with hormones), certain types of oils--Nourishing Fats is the best book to learn the most about fats and oils, and it states that it is ok or even preferable to feed dogs garlic, which is now considered a poison for dogs. Beyond those few items, the basic message that dogs should live on raw meaty bones is excellent and I agree that it makes for very healthy dogs. It also does an excellent job of explaining why kibble dog food and cooked food generally makes for unhealthy dogs.

MY HIMALAYA MASTIFF LIVED NEARLY 20YRS Format: Paperback I HIGHLY RECOMMEND DR IAN BILLINGHURST METHOD OF FEEDING RAW MEATY BONES HIS BOOKS: RAW MEATY BONES; GIVE YOUR DOG A BONE; AND GROW YOUR PUPS WITH BONES ARE EXCELLENT I RAISED MY HIMALAYA MASTIFF THIS WAY IT WAS INEXPENSIVE AND HE LIVED HEALTHILY FOR NEARLY TWENTY YEARS (A LARGE BREED FED COMMERCIAL FEEDS BARELY SURVIVE 6 YEARS BEFORE DYING FROM THE TOXICITY OF NAME BRAND DOG FOODS) HE HAD FREE RANGE CHICKEN LEGS AS THE MAIN STAPLE KEPT FROZEN THEN RINSED AND PAPER TOWEL DRIED AND SERVED SUPPLEMENTED A KELP BASED POWDER MADE BY THE ORIGINAL SOLID GOLD DOG FOOD COMPANY GOOD COLD-PRESSED UNFILTERED OILS, GHEE, AND VARIOUS LEFT OVERS FROM OUR MAINLY VEGETARIAN TABLE BOTH RAW AND COOKED AS WELL AS FRESH HOMEMADE JUICES AND THE PULP FROM JUICING ... EVEN MY CATS AND BIRDS SHARED ALL THIS HAPPILY WE NEVER VACCINATED WHICH I FIRMLY BELIEVE ALSO PROTECTED HIS HEALTH IF NECESSARY WE WOULD BE USING HOMEOPATHICS - WHICH WERE NEVER NECESSARY AS HE WAS COMPLETELY HEALTHY HE EVEN HAD GOOD PURE CHOCOLATE FROM TIME TO TIME WITHOUT ANY ADVERSE EFFECTS HIS EVERY DAY WAS STRONG AND HEALTHY ... EXCEPTING WHEN ONE VET CAME TO OUR HOME AND TRIED TO KILL HIM WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION OVERDOSING HIM ON A BIG SHOT OF MORPHINE - WHICH HE ALSO SURVIVED - MUCH TO THE VETS SURPRISE AS HE SAID,QUOTE: I HAVE GIVEN HIM ENOUGH TO KILL AN ELEPHANT :END QUOTE I DID HAVE TO HELP KEEP HIM BREATHING FOR A FEW HOURS AND I SHOULD STILL SUE THAT HORRIBLE OLD MAN VET I THINK HE DID SHORTEN HIS LONG LIFE WITH THIS DESPICABLE ACTION THE GRASS OUTSIDE WHERE HE LEFT HIS BODILY GIFTS WAS VERDANT AND VIOLETS WOULD GROW NO PLANT WAS EVER HARMED BY HIS URINE AND POO YET RATHER ENRICHED BY IT AS NATURE INTENDED (VERY DIFFERENT FOR FOLKS FEEDING COMMERCIAL FEEDS WHERE DOGS EVACUATIONS KILL THE GRASS - THAT IS TEACHING US SOMETHING) YES THIS IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT TO FEED RAW BONES - AND NEVER FEED COOKED BIRD BONES OF ANY KIND NOT CHICKEN, TURKEY, DUCK, QUAIL, NO COOKED BIRD BONES OF ANY KIND AS THEY WILL SPLINTER INSIDE HARMING THE BODY - ONLY FEED RAW BONES TO YOUR COMPANIONS BEST WISHES FOR YOU AND YOURS ~ HEALTHY LONG LIVES TO YOU ALL

Great book. Cleared a great many misconceptions about dog food. A must for any dog lover who wants only the best for his four legged pooch.

These books are sure to get a good read

The title of the book says it all. A great help to banish industrial feeding to our dogs. My four large breeds think that it's Christmas. Results shiny coats, calmer happier beings. No waste in the house nor in the bowls, it goes without saying!

Absolutely loved this book. Logical explanations and so much knowledge has been gained by reading this book. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to start BARF/RAW diet for their dogs.

Very very thorough and informative, researched by a long time vet. My only caution would be, a few foods are mentioned which have been recently purported to be toxic to dogs - chocolate onions and raisins. I have to say all my previous dogs were fed cooked onions in scraps and possibly ended up eating the odd bit of dried fruit, with no issues, but I do try to avoid them nowadays, along with grapes. Other than that I think this common sense approach to dog diet is a great reminder that dogs managed for tens of thousands of years without us! This book, along with another website, have been a God send - as my dog was constantly begging for food and getting fat due to not getting the right nutrition and not being satisfied with commercial food. I knew it wasn't right but didn't know what else to feed her. I know now and she has so far not had a recurrence of an anal gland problem which cost us a lot of money at the vet. Well worth buying this book!