I've got about 250lbs of Great Pyrenees, which can be expensive to feed but more about saving money, I kind of want to give them healthier meals.

I just ordered an air drier, have those bags you suction air out of. My thinking is once every 2/weeks make roughly 20lbs of dried up food. I have some questions, though:

Got two GPs, they're about 125lbs eachand not quite fully grown. How much dried food do they eat? Should I weigh it before air drying and consider that the volume in weight? Right now they take about 6 cups dry food and a couple 12oz cans of wet daily.

Anyone have a good recipe? Was thinking: Meats, some eggs, some 'dog-friendly' veggies like cabbage, carrots, peas. They're not super active but a couple sweet potato and/or brown rice for some carbs. Then when rehydrating it before feeding, maybe a few tbsp of olive oil mixed w/ the water.



Obligatory doggo picture

gahdamn the pyranese is 250lbs? gahdamn. They look 150 max.

I have a buddy who does it, not by choice but because one of his dogs is allergic to almost everything. Its a giant, giant pain in his ass according to him.

Sorry - I have two. Only one and a dumb cat pictured.

Got to admit that that is one fine doggo. A great Pyrenees is high on my list for another doggo, they look like giant golden retrievers and are similarly friendly and I think trainable too?


As for making home made dog food, I wasn't sure if OP meant meaty dishes or jut home made doggo biscuits. For meat I would just mince up some cuts and let it settle in a decent amount of gelatine, seems like you would have dog food once it sets.

About to say lol.

Not nearly enough calcium. Also, why rice and potatoes? Dogs don't need that chit man, they're carnivores.

I've been making my GSD's raw diet for almost 6 years. I keep it pretty standard and follow a 5-10% organ/10-15% bone/80% meat ratio, and depending on activity level they should get around 2-3% of the BW in food a day.

For breakfast every day she gets a bone in chicken leg quarter

for dinners I make a "casserole" of 6 lbs ground turkey, 3.5 lbs of ground beef, 1 lb of spinach, big can of pumpkin, oats, flax seed, hemp hearts, 12 eggs, and a tub of greek yogurt and organ meat.

I mix all that up in a big bbq tray and put one handful of that in a quart size freezer baggy with 1 chicken leg, and thats what she gets for dinner. This typically makes 30-34 dinners.

I get all my organ meat and random treats from rawfeedingmiami.com

She's almost 9 and the vet said she looks like a puppy at her last checkup. The best part was I noticed an immediate improvement in her mood when we started, she was like just visibly happier for weeks afterward.

Yeah. Small dog though so its not too expensive. Steam it all in a rice pot so its super easy. Then just mash it all up afterwards. She loves it.

-Ground beef
-Sweet potato
-Carrot
-Peas
-White rice
-Cinnamon
-Parsley
-Sometimes Salmon and/or eggs mashed up in it.

If you have a local butcher shop and can get debris bags cheap (Stuff they normally throw out, organs, etc.) its worth doing that so they can eat that too.

Filler foods. Dogs technically only need meats/organs but that can be expensive AF. Especially for large dogs. They do blood work on my dog 1x per year and she's in perfect health at 11 years old eating what I listed. My dog also loves sweet potato and carrots. Just about as much as meat (srs) so its bonus flavor for her.


They can do the eggs/meat/fish raw but since I mix other stuff I just steam it all together and make a mixed mash. Technically I could eat it also in a pinch.

My dog is FAR happier eating this way also. I'll never feed a dog dry dog food again. As she'd pretty much only want to eat that stuff whens she was hungry. I can put her portions morning and evening and she always immediately eats now. Is supper excited for food. As in spinning circles at my feet and jumping up and down.

Don't dogs need more calcium than that? Surprised you aren't supplementing any calcium at all.

Thinking just replacing the dry and wet store food, although I might supplement with kibble just to 'be safe' and make sure they are getting everything (if my recipe is lacking somewhat).

As for Great Pyrenees, yeah man -- I love this breed, but it is not for everyone. You find a lot of these guys abandoned or in shelters. I was briefly part of a local group that would home GPs to help them find homes -- there are just a ton of them out there. My kids were, kind of surprisingly, cold to the one time we fostered a girl pyrenees, they just did not like her (which sucks, she'd been neglected and wasn't really her fault she was more standoffish -- luckily she eventually found an owner who adores her).

Personality: Loyal guardians, *very* protective of their family. They're bred as flock guardians, and part of the breeding was to have smart dogs capable of being out with a flock for days on their own, capable of fending for themselves. They bark a lot. They size up new people a lot, of my two one is very wary. They are very willful, which is part of their breeding, they are meant to think on their own... but this means, they tend to do whatever the fuk they want to do.

Most can not be trained to do anything. My daughter is very good with animals and was able to train them not to take treats until told, though. This is supposedly fairly rare, but she worked hard to train them.



They are extremely loving and care for their people, though. Very good family pets and excellent guard dogs. I've owned German Shepherds, great dogs too, but GPs are more goofy and playful for the most part but then suddenly "snap" to attention and it's almost like they become a new dog when they sense any threat. It can be intimidating if someone is not used to them.

I have about an acre, working on chickens and raised gardens, that kind of thing -- these dogs appreciate the space and enjoy patrolling the backyard and barking at everything. Not a breed for an apartment or small backyard, they're also pretty big on shedding (luckily my floors are spanish tile, easily cleaned) and disgusting droolers, which somehow you kind of get used to more than I would have ever thought.

The one I've pictured is one of the grossest dogs I've ever owned, burping, drooling, etc but we love him.

Calcium? What are you recommendation? I was thinking sardines w/ oil (no brine or salt), I guess full boned. I want to be careful with this though, too much or too little can both be very bad for an animal.

Btw, thanks one and all for responses, always try to hit up ppl being helpful in these kinds of threads. Appreciate it.

Ive had rotties for the past 10 years, and do a mixture of own food as well as doggo food. Pedigree has done a good job as far as dry dog food goes. Then wife usually cooks extra burgers/steaks/veggies every other night and he gets two portions of it a day. Also loves watermelon for some reason.

also chicken liver is a huge hit. He refuse to eat eggs, will literally eat everything but eggs if mixed.

I couldn't imagine doing 100% human food for him, it would be like feeding another me, probably an extra 150 a week to feed with real food.

Dont do any type of small bones like found in chicken breast or wings.

I think Ernie Mccracken started a business making fresh dog food. If this post doesn't bring him back, he's probably gone for good. You out there big Ern?

Right, never any cooked bird bones of any kind. Humans or dogs, can choke them easily.

Dr. Harveys Dehydrated Mix + fresh protein I switch up, and fish oil.

Vet isn't recommending any changes and she isn't deficient in anything per the blood work. I forgot we do give her some occasional yogurt, bananas and watermelon. But thats on a snack bases. Like once a week a small portion. If we're eating it when give her a taste as well.

We don't do bones because she's an inside dog and likes to hop on the couch and chew on them. And a slobbery bone on the couch getting chewed on with small fragments/crumbs falling is nasty.


I think people under-estimate how adaptive dogs can be. For example there is a branch of grey wolves in British Colombia that primarily eat seafood. Salmon, Clams, fish eggs, etc. Other wolves almost exclusively eat 'red meat' and the organs of mammals. Yet both groups are healthy & thriving.




I think as long as you feed your dog beef, salmon & eggs they most likely get enough nutrients. Organs and raw bones are even better but if you don't like dealing with them probably not necessary. If you can't afford to feed your dog only that or don't want to ball out on their food bill. Then some sweet potato, carrots and white rice doesn't hurt as fillers.

Idk anything man. I just watch Peter Caine on youtube. He claims that all vets and pet food corporations are in bed together and that kibble is terrible for your dogs. He does a raw diet based primarily on raw chicken quarters. He claims that raw bone is extremely important in their diet. He doesn't feed any vegetable or grains besides maybe sprinkling some oats (like literally a pinch or two) on top of the meat.

Well, dogs existed (and still do as wolves) eating raw animals and not a lot else. I'll check him out.

Raw chicken quarters 2x a week and diamond naturals dry food

No, I don't make special dog food specifically, but the dog regularly gets food like plain meats and eggs off the grill/stovetop. That supplements a high quality dry dog food brand that I've had great results from for a long time. I know some people say to feed them raw meats, but I choose not to go that route. Pretty sure my dog still eats better overall than 90% of dogs who are being fed bs like Ol' Roy.
You do realize that there are tons of different qualities of dog food kibbles nowadays, right? Numerous grain-free options available. This isn't the 1970's where people spent $10 on a jimbo bag of something along the lines of Ol' Roy and assumed it was high quality.

Thanks for the reminder to pick up dog food OP.

I’ve been giving my border collie Taste of the Wild since he was like 1 and he’s in great health. But he also occasionally gets scraps of steak or chicken

i feed mine a mixture of both foods. chicken breast, chicken livers, chicken glizzards, salmon, white rice, ect...

My daughter "cooks" the dogs dinner.

Mommy and daddy cook dinner, do she wants to cook dinner too. We put some wet food and some dry food in a bowl (we get the food from the vet) and she stirs it with a wooden spoon, because if you use a wooden spoon you are cooking.

If you want to send your dogs crazy OP, give them haggis. The smell alone sends them nuts, never mind eating it.

If I was going to make dog food from scratch, it would be something along the lines of haggis - lots of nutrient dense offal, oatmeal and other bits and pieces.

Don't give them any dry food.

This guy has good videos about what he feeds his dog. A natural carnivore diet and breaks down the costs as well.

When I had my rotty I did like 50% dog food 50% chicken. She only ate Canidae lamb recipe dog food. Chits expensive.

I found a place by me that processed and sold bulk chicken to restaurants and they also did bulk orders for dogs too, so wasn’t too terribly expensive.

Beautiful dog, OP.
^^I remember he once posted a thread about the dog food he made. Had to look it up. JUSA, you should check this out:


https://forum.obnoxiousbrutes.com/showt...hp?t=182417233

Typically just give her a steak and some veggies maybe some boiled rice



Is usually raw but if it’s a fatty cut like scotch fillet I might sear it off a bit