We prepare the food that our dogs eat; we do not buy any commercial dog food.
Food recipe:
Bring 30 cups of water to boil while measuring and washing the grains
2 cups of each barley, brown rice, quinoa or amaranth, red lentils, and millet
1 cup canola oil and
4 tablespoons of salt.
Add all grains, bring back to gentle boil, stir periodically to avoid scorching the swelling grain, finish cooking for about 45 to 60 minutes..
Note: amaranth is a very fine seed, to rinse put it in a cloth and then wash under the tap or you'll lose all seeds down the drain.
Cool, fill freezer containers to hold about 26 oz of food. 750 ml yogurt pots do very well. Cool down more if needed. Your cold porch in winter is perfect or a cold water bath in your kitchen sink in summer. Place pots on large cookie sheet to keep them level while they freeze.
Supplements that go into each bowl at each meal are:
1. one quarter teaspoon M S M powder,
2. one 500/400 mg gel capsule Glucosamine Chondroitin,
3. one quarter teaspoon brewer's yeast,
4. one garlic gel capsule,
5. one half eyedropper of Bach Flower Rescue Remedy solution,
6. one half teaspoon Nzyme sprouted granules,
7. one quarter cup cooked protein chosen from any of these: canned tuna, eggs, hamburger, beef liver, or any animal protein that you can think of which is raw. The cooked meat is drained of all liquid which is cooled skimmed of fat and the remaining broth is given to the animals. Place meat in freezer containers and freeze. Don't give bones to the dogs; bones can splinter and cause problems.
From one full frozen pot of about 26 oz (thaw then warm a little in microwave) each dog will have 13 oz of food per meal. To this we add a generous handful of frozen vegetables each (and even toss a handful on the floor to amuse them). It is often a mix of peas, carrot, bean or just green peas. Whatever is on special at the store. We do not feed exotic vegetables or leafy ones. Don't forget to include the supplements at each meal, as well as perhaps little extra water to make the meal a soft stew style. There needs to be a pail of clean water available for the dogs at all times.
This recipe will give you 12 to 14 containers. For Pippa and Honey, 55 lbs dogs, it is a six to seven day supply. I try to make two batches which takes up two hours of cooking, ladling into containers, storing and then cleaning up: part of morning chores and fits in well with some house cleaning work.
Our Airedale Terriers love to eat. They are not picky eaters. Twice every day they sit looking up at the food bowl and the devoted human slaves who put everything into stainless steel bowls and set it politely on the floor for them. Their only input is to also sit politely staring up at us with huge expectant brown eyes, and wait till the "OK" is given, and then the two or three minute gobbling followed by devoted licking of the entire inside and outside of the bowl just in case something escaped the big pink tongues.
Reasons for the supplements: Our dogs are genetically predisposed to hip dysplasia and have indeed had serious episodes of severe lameness and pain from a very young age, (expensive X-rays to diagnose). They reacted very badly to drug treatment.
# 1 and # 2, on above list take care of this problem completely unless they have been very energetic as Airedales tend to be. They can take extra M S M (the joint healing compound) more often if needed. It is non-toxic. It is also often used for human nutrition joint support..
# 3 control fleas with brewer's yeast; it works well unless there are cats in the family. Outdoor cats pick up fleas and eggs and start the cycle then pass them to dogs. Certainly no household wants to grapple with fleas.
# 4 garlic is an anti-parasitic and immune is boosting product. (our dogs have no worms any more and are not on medication for this),
# 5 Rescue Remedy from Bach is a general relaxing and soothing, stress relieving compound which works very well in sickness and in health. Look up information on the Net.
# 6 Nzyme granules: a nutrition support made from soy products. It can be obtained under that name on line. There are many benefits.
Sources for the supplements:
#1, # 2, # 3, # 4, Drugstore-human supplement section;
# 5 Bach from Natural Health Food or Grocery store Naturals Section. Buy a small bottle of the concentrated liquid and make up your own mixture from it. There will be information on how to do this in the same section.
# 6 Nzyme from company on the Net.
Now, in case all this sounds very strange, we have worked and are still working with our veterinarians. They have known our dogs from infancy, pulled them through various horror events and really care for them. They have completely supported our work to keep the dogs well and happy with the homemade feeding alternative. The dogs did get their vaccinations at the proper times when young. Now they need no more boosters. This depends on the area you are living. Rabies is a problems in certain places as is Lyme disease, so make sure you check for your area.
The dogs relish the food that we make for them. It took us a little research and observation of the animals to come to the present recipe. Please check the list of sources that we found helpful. It is not a complicated system. Don't let this long information discourage you. It is really very simple and becomes just normal routine. The reward of having healthy, happy dogs who do not need medication is very satisfying and so easy on the purse.

I have an Airedale Terrier. I have also lived with dogs of all kinds for years. On our working family farm dogs were part of the creatures that helped to make things go. For instance the border collies for sheep work, the Jack Russel terriers to control rodents, and Akbash and Komondor to guard the sheep against coyote attacks. After retiring from active farming two Airedales joined the family as companion dogs. Well fed and cared for dogs make good working animals and good pets.
The Airedales are lovely, lively, highly intelligent animals. They require an adult home, are somewhat nervous of children. Ours have been trained to accept grandchildren with patience if not huge devotion. Their feeding was the greatest challenge. Genetics, that is line breeding and inbreeding, play a role in their difficulties.
The books we found most useful for homemade dog food and much other good information were:
1.Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to NATURAL HEALTH FOR DOGS AND CATS 2005 RICHARD H. PITCAIRN, DVM, PHD, and Susan Hubble Pitcairn
2.The Nature Of Animal Healing. 1999 Martin Goldstein, D.V.M. The Definitive Holistic Medicine Guide To Caring For Your Dog And Cat