From the day I brought home my very first Dogue de Bordeaux pup in the early summer of 2004, this magnificent breed has captured my heart and soul in a way only other Dogue owners can fully comprehend.
How else could a compulsive neat freak have stuck with a slobbery, messy eating, water slopping, hair shedding, crumb spreading, constantly underfoot behemoth for so many years. And will continue to do so until no longer physically or mentally able to adequately provide the care and comfort these creatures need (hopefully not for many, many years to come, if ever).
Welcome to my stories and musings of life with Dogues...
Here are a few of my "must-haves" when living with Dogues de Bordeaux:
Dogue de Bordeaux are often sensitive beasts, emotionally and physically, and my boys have all tended to be allergy-prone, especially to ingredients in most readily available retail dog foods (chicken, lamb, salmon, wheat, etc.), giving them rashes and hot spots. Somehow the girls seem to be less food sensitive, but anything with potatoes or sweet potatoes tend to produce yeasty ears in both sexes. Just trying to find dog food that doesn't have chicken, grains, potatoes or sweet potatoes has taken years of research. After much trial and error (mostly error), I finally found the one food that worked best for my boys - Zignature's Limited Ingredient Formula Pork. I'd tried the Kangaroo version, but found it too lean as I wanted to put some meat on Targon's bones as he tended towards the lean side. I found the Pork version to be pretty much perfect for him (and cheaper!), and since it's good for all growth stages I'm currently feeding it to Raelor. However, I do NOT recommend this for the girls, especially if there are plans to breed them, as it has peas, which produces estrogen - not a good thing for breeding bitches. Rasza is starting to have split heats, so I'm currently searching for a different food for her.
I'm also experimenting with making home-made dog food , and found this awesome, easy recipe on AllRecipes:
I substitute ground beef for the turkey, and am currently adding it to the Zignature kibble with some raw ground beef to fill it all out, but am gradually decreasing the kibble proportion, and unless I find a suitable kibble for the both of them (since they're keen on eating each others' food), I'll most likely be moving over to 100% homemade as Raelor gets older. I'll post updates as I continue this latest experiment...
