Why a Vegan Great Dane?

In 1987, I brought home a beautiful female Harlequin Great Dane whom I named Dagmar. (In Danish, it means "joy of the Danes".) My Dalmation, Sasha, immediately took over the job of potty training and other canine maternal tasks. When I took Dagmar to the vet, who also happened to be a homeopathic vet, I asked the vet if it was possible for a dog to be vegetarian. I was a bit timid about even asking the question, not wanting to impose a nutritional regimen that might not be suited to a canine digestive system, or worse, might be detrimental to the health of the dog. I was surprised when she answered, "Not only will that make your dog healthier, it will extend her life expectancy." I found two "higher quality" brands of dog food at the pet store and, with some of my own dinner menu mixed in, raised my Great Dane as a vegetarian, and switched my Dalmation over to a vegetarian diet. My Dalmation lived to 16 years, and my Great Dane, who was supposed to live 7 to 9 years, lived beyond her 11th birthday. When Dagmar died, I expected to get another Great Dane, followed by a second one, when I was ready, but life got busy and complicated and I lived 14 dogless years before I got another one. On September 23rd, 2012, after I had searched the internet for over a year for exactly the right puppy, my husband and I went to the breeder to pick up a beautiful female Harlequin Great Dane. She was a couple days shy of being seven weeks old. I named her Valentina, which means "brave protector". (It was the name I had come up with 14 years previously, in anticipation of getting another Dane puppy after Dagmar died.) I'm sure every parent thinks they have the most beautiful baby in the Universe, just as every puppy owner thinks they have the most beautiful puppy, but I must insist, this dog is beautiful and very smart. She learned her name by the second day with us, and within the week, she had learned "come", "no", how to ring the peepee bell on the door, "kisses," "sit" and "no bite", (even though teething and tempted to bite everything in sight!). After two weeks with us, Valentina understood questions like,"Do you want to go outside/inside?" (She goes to the door.) "Do you want to go upstairs?" (She runs to the foot of the stairs.) and "Go eat your food." (She would go over to her food dish, look in it, and then look up at me as a signal that I needed to put more food in the bowl.) as well as the command "shake hands." After having read so much about the atrocities contained in commercial dog food, I vowed to make her food from fresh, organic, vegan ingredients, so she could have a good shot at exceeding the current life expectancy for Great Danes. I went to my nearby PetsMart, to get a bag of "transitional vegan kibbles," and found that they no longer carried any. We were happy to find that a local specialty pet store had vegan kibbles and I began transitioning Valentina toward the vegan kibbles, and transitioning myself towards making all her food. So much has changed with the internet. I have found a wealth of knowledge, and connected with people that I never would have found in a library. I have ordered books, researched blogs and websites, and amassed a compendium of vegan canine recipes, all via the internet. And, yet, I feel I have just scratched the surface of what I need to know.

So, Vegan Great Dane will be a record of what my husband and I experience and learn about providing a nourishing diet for Valentina with more-than-minimal nutrients plus everything else involved in raising a healthy Great Dane. (And, of course, I won't be able to resist including some pictures of her.) Much has changed about the approach to puppy training -- I have been surprised to learn that I did a lot of things right in training my other dogs in the past.

One more detail: Valentina will be a bi-national dog. We split our time between Austin, Texas and Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico. Like Kafka, the Dalmation that I had before Sasha, Valentina will be trained in two languages, so she will understand commands both in English and Spanish. There are requirements for taking a dog into Mexico and for taking a dog into the US, so, I'll also be sharing those experiences with you. I welcome your comments, support and any information you might offer. If you are offended by veganism/ vegetarianism, please take your criticism elsewhere. I raised two dogs as vegans, and they were extremely healthy their entire lives. I'd love to hear from you, your experiences, information, your stories, and your support. Thank you.

Companies That Sell Vegan Dog and Cat Food

Evolution Dog Food -A 100% Complete For All Life Stages Dry Dog Kibble. Human Grade Pure Vegan Ingredients. (Also sold on amazon.com)
F & O Alternative Pet Products Vegan dog and cat kibble and canned food1-877-376-9056
Harbingers ofa New Age Vegecat™, Vegekit™, Vegedog™, and digestive enzymes406-295-4944
Natural Balance Canned and Kibble Vegan dog food 1-800-829-4493
Natural Life Pet Products Canned and kibble dog food 1-800 367-2391
Nature's Recipe Canned and kibble dog food 1-800-237-3856
Newman's Own Organic vegan dog treats
Pet Guard Canned dog food and biscuits
V-Dog Vegandog foodv888-280-8364
Wow-Bow DistributorsCanned and kibble dog food and biscuits1-800-326-0230
Wysong CorporationDog and cat kibble 989-631-0009




Thursday, January 24, 2013

In Search of Dog Food Recipes

Today I made "Homemade Sweet-Potato Peanut-Butter Vegan Dog Delight" for Valentina. (PETA recipe --See Dog Food Links) I knew it was going to be good, because it smelled scrumptious. Valentina gobbled it up.
Later today, I was continuing my search for Homemade Dog Food Recipes, and I happened upon a Great Blog -- Vegan Heartland. (See Dog Food Links)  I found a post (June 7, 2012) entitled "Making Your Own Vegan Dog Food" This one is a real keeper.  Matthew has broken down all the possible foods into categories, as well as described the various nutrients in each food.  He even has a formula for determining how much to feed your dog, as well as correct proportions for protein, starches, fats, etc.  Even though the percentage of protein  for a full grown dog should be 50%, a Great Dane puppy's protein should be limited to 18-23%  (instead of the normal puppy protein level of about 35%) in order to slow down the rapid bone growth of Great Danes.  Matthew has done a great job on this Vegan Blog.  It's well worth  reading. Every time I find a vegan blog like Vegan Heartland, it reminds me that the world IS changing for the better.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

It Had to Happen Sooner or Later!

This evening I prepared two grain burger sandwiches with Tomato Olive Sprouted Bread (from Kenn and Sandra Quinn at the Organic Farmer's Market in Ajijic), homemade eggless mayonnaise, and greens. I set the plates with the sandwiches on the counter, turned my back, and before I knew it, Valentina had jumped up, paws on the edge of the counter, and snatched the top piece of bread on my sandwich.  I grabbed it out of her mouth, didn't give her the satisfaction of getting to eat what she had pilfered! She's tall enough to reach the kitchen counters, so we're going to have to watch what we put on the edge of the counters.  (She's sorry, gave us lots of repentant kisses.)

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Las Cabañuelas

Valentina has experienced her first rains.  Yesterday and today, January 1st and 2nd,  soft rains have bathed dusty foliage and moistened the earth at Lake Chapala.  In Mexico, “ las  cabañuelas” refers to the special rains that come in January.  Usually short-lived and gentler, they are different from the rains that come in summer in Jalisco.  In the prehispanic world, as well as in ancient Spain, parts of Africa, and a few other parts of the world, the weather that occurred during the days of January was believed to predict the weather for the whole year. (See, Wikipedia, “cabañuelas”).  In modern Mexico, for those who have no grandparents closely tied to the land and agriculture, the term has lost its significance and now means only the rains that come in January.  Today, we ran a few errands, ate lunch at Pranzo, a local café with outdoor seating, feeling lucky that we had dodged the rain and were able to sit outside at a table, accompanied by Valentina. We had on long-sleeve shirts, so we were only a little chilled.  Valentina, however, appeared to be trembling a bit from the cold.  (Great Danes do not do well in extreme temperatures.  The weather here was definitely not extreme, but when I went to WalMart and  bought  an inexpensive insulated vest for myself, I couldn’t  resist a 60 peso vest for Valentina.  That’s about five dollars.)   At Pranzo Café,  Valentina had a bowl of kibble and a dish of water, but we also shared our French fries with her. She is quite the proper puppy, never begs, but waits on her little rug, with a sweet pathetic look in her eyes, hoping we will share with her. As I write this from home, the evening rain continues its soothing, gentle pitter-patter on our roof and the tile of our terrace, and Valentina is safe and warm in her bed, asleep, floating on two giant, fake-fur-covered pillows and one smaller one that she likes to rest her head on. (She’s not spoiled at all!) 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Wow! So much has happened lately -- Valentina-wise! Tom and I (and all the people who see her weekly) are watching her grow so quickly.  Valentina is so full of energy (She's a fabulous soccer player!), yet so mellow and so very sweet, loving and affectionate.  She is constantly curious, very alert, and learning all the time.  Her receptive vocabulary is amazing. She is quite well-behaved in public, and if she gets a little too playfully "bitey," all we have to say is "Where's the water bottle?." (It's a spray bottle.) and she turns into an affectionate, all-kisses doggie. Lake Chapala is a wonderful place to socialize a dog.  Everyone takes their dogs almost everywhere. Most restaurants with outdoor seating permit dogs. When we arrived, Valentina was a bit timid about meeting new people, and she would bark at small children.  Now, she is eager to meet new people of all ages.  We take her to the organic farmer's market on Tuesdays and Fridays, and she has a multitude of admirers who greet her by name and always comment on how fast she is growing. We still get the question from newcomers, "Is she a Dalmation?" but as she grows much bigger than a Dalmation, I'm sure that question will come up less. Regardless, she is a great conversation starter and is a great way to meet new people.   Today, she is 20 weeks old, and on January 7th, she will celebrate her 5- month birthday! We haven't weighed her for a couple of weeks, but she was 44 pounds the last time we weighed her.  She has to weigh close to or over 50 pounds now! She is  big, and we have to keep reminding ourselves that she is still a baby. Her diet has been my constant subject of study and research. I've incorporated fresh, raw vegetables into her diet, as well as a cooked brown rice- barley - lentil mixture.  She loves green beans and asparagus. Every day she gets a couple of tablespoons of canned pumpkin which is full of fiber and helps move things along the intestinal tract.  We have a little more than one extra large bag (28 lbs.) of vegan dog food left, and I always mix Vegedog vitamin supplement, probiotics, enzymes, vitamin E complex, l-Taurine, l-carnitine, VegeYeast, flaxmeal, into the vegan kibble, with a tablespoon of Barlean's flaxseed oil.  Why this brand?  I had to find a brand that did not have vitamin C, and Barlean's has only flaxseed oil as its ingredient.  William Cusick, in his book, Canine Nutrition and Breed Specific Diets: The Best Diet for a Great Dane, explains that although a great deal of brands of dog food have vitamin C, (chiefly because it serves as a cheap preservative,) that Vitamin C should not be supplemented in dog diets.  He explains that dogs manufacture their own vitamin C (with a unique molecular structure), using the trace mineral Cobalt, in the liver, and supplementation of vitamin C can cause the liver to stop working as it should.  It can damage the kidneys by creating a pH imbalance because the dog cannot use the kind of vitamin C used and sheds it into the urine.  There's so much to learn! Cusick warns to never give dogs commercial treats, so quite a while ago I modified a recipe for Vegan kibble from the Vegepet recipe and she eats only homemade vegan treats. (The treats contain sweet potatoes, bananas, flaxseed meal, coconut or olive oil, cranberries, whole wheat flour, Vegedog vitamin supplement, rye flour, oat flour, Vegeyeast, garbanzo bean flour, and hulled hemp seed.) The homemade treats have become popular with the dogs of friends, too. They have no preservatives and contain all healthy ingredients. Our local grocery stores (in Mexico as well as in the US) usually carry an ample supply of sweet potatoes, so Valentina always has a supply of baked sweet potato slices. So far, according to all her vet exams as well as her physical state, Valentina is very healthy.  Her coat is shiny and soft.  She is full of energy.  She has all indicators for excellent health: eye color, membrane under lower lid, gums and mouth tissue, skin condition, coat condition, energy level and muscle tone. I've tested the pH of her urine, which most vets say should be between 5.5 and 7.0,  and it falls about in the middle at 6.3or 6.4. As we celebrated the  New Year with friends, eating a vegan feast of  Tofurky, Seitan Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry Relish, Roasted Basil Corn-on-the-Cob, Mushroom Gravy, Steamed Fresh Brussel Sprouts, and apple-cranberry stuffing, Valentina joined us with her bowl of two tablespoons of cooked pumpkin puree, brown rice- barley - lentil mixture, and a small slice of seitan roast cut into tiny pieces. We all had a great time!