Raw Diet Week 1, or Where to Put the Chicken Wing?

Hi Everybody,

Koobie's Mom here.

As you may know, last Saturday I began feeding Koobuss a raw diet. I did it because I was not happy with the way she was eating. She was getting too many treats, and eating way too much. She had become lazy, was not playing, and was having difficulty jumping. I felt that it was time to act. A change was needed. When my cousin Ruthie, Layla’s mom, called and told me that she was going to put Layla (a two-year old female cocker spaniel) on a raw diet because Layla was getting too many treats and was eating way too much, etc. Ruthie asked me if I would go along with her and put Koobie on the diet, too. I had already done some research on the raw diet and considered putting Koobie on it before. So when Ruthie called and asked me about it, I was ready. We started the dogs on the diet on Saturday, February 7. It’s been an interesting week, especially the last couple of days.

For the first few days I gave Koobuss eight ounces of Nature’s Variety raw chicken medallions. She readily ate these, but I wanted to give her other things as well, so after almost a week, I branched her out to raw chicken wings. This is where it gets interesting.

Oh, and before I forget, after one week on raw, I have noticed that Koobie is regaining her dog shape and she has more energy. She is also very happy, but she always was, so her beautiful “personality” has not changed at all.

Now for an account of what living with Koobuss has been like the last two days.
Chicken Wing, Part 1

Koobuss is a real nut.

After several days of feeding her Nature's Variety chicken medallions, tonight I gave Koobie a raw 3-ounce chicken wing and an ounce of frozen green beans for supper. She licked it, stared at it for a long time, and then looked at me in disbelief. Standing by her dish, she started to cry. I finally realized that the chicken wing was too big for her so I broke it in half and gave her a piece. She wagged her tail, and carried it over to her bed. There she comfortably devoured it, crunching the bones like cookies. Next I gave her the piece with the knuckle, but she ran away with it! She went into the living room and dining room, checking out all the corners, looking for a place to hide it. She doesn't know yet that there is a lot more where that came from. Then she stood by the front door, wanting to go outside, so I put her out. I looked through the two rooms searching for the chicken part, with no luck. When I opened the front door to check on her, she was sitting by the mulch. I brought her in, she ran to the back door, I put her out on the deck. My father brought her in. Koobie checked her dish, sniffed the frozen green beans, and then went to the front door again. I let her out once more, searched the house a second time for the chicken wing, to no avail, and then checked on her outside again. There she was, standing in front of the mulch, and chomping away. Mystery solved.

I hope that she's not going to do this every night.


Chicken Wing, Part 2

It’s after 11 PM on a Saturday night and Koobuss is walking around the deck in the snow with a raw chicken wing in her mouth trying to find the perfect place to hide it. After circling the deck numerous times and checking out all its corners over and over, she finally found the ideal spot to deposit her treasure. At 26 degrees, at least it’s cold enough to keep the wing edible until tomorrow. Wherever she put it though, it’s in a better place than it was before.

I gave her the wing this afternoon for “lunch”. She immediately took it to the front door, so I let her outside, figuring that was better than having her hide it in the living room. The first place she headed to was the mulch. She loves mulch. It’s black and soft and adheres to your white fur so that everyone knows where you were. What could be better? A raw chicken wing covered in black mulch. Sounds like an exquisite menu item at a fancy expensive restaurant. Certainly works for Koobuss.

The day wore on and Koobie did her usual dog things, knowing all the while that her precious piece of bone and meat was waiting for her in the cold wet mulch. She had a small supper (4 ounces of raw ground turkey breast) so by 10 PM she was hungry. The 10 PM apple treat that she shares with her mom and grandpa was not enough to satisfy her. Lying on the blue recliner, a light went on in her cute furry little head and she remembered the hidden chicken wing. She jumped off the chair, ran through the house to the front door and began to bark. I followed her and then put her outside. She went straight to the mulch behind the shrubbery and retrieved the foul looking piece of fowl. By now her cord was tangled around the bushes and she was trapped. She just stood there with the chicken wing in her mouth. Feeling sorry for her and not wanting her to get cold, I went to her rescue. So, there I was in my pajamas and bedroom slippers, walking around mulch and thorny shrubbery in the snow and dark after 11 PM on a mid February Saturday night in 26 degree temperatures to free my dog. After I finally untangled her, she ran up the steps, in the front door, through the house, to the back door, and out to the deck. And this is where we began our story.


Fast forward:

It's 12:30 AM, and as I am finishing this post, Koobie, who had been upstairs in bed, came down the steps and straight to the back door. I let her out, thinking that it may be an emergency, and in some ways, it was. She went straight to where she hid the chicken wing, retrieved it, walked around the deck a few more times and then came to the door. I let her in, she walked right past me with the chicken wing in her mouth and took it upstairs to bed with her. Before I could finish typing this she came back downstairs and jumped on the living room couch to go to sleep on her red blankie. Now I wonder what I'm going to find when I go up the steps.

It's been interesting.