My Dogs Eat Better Than I Do
Two previous Rotties, both called Roxy - neither would touch raw food, but one treated even cooked food like a suspect and the other would eat anything - and what that taught me about eating because it's there.
Rosie and Dexter are fed raw food with vegetables.
I didn’t realise that was even a thing.
I’d always assumed a dog’s diet started and ended with meat. Vegetables felt like something you’d have to trick a dog into eating, not something they’d actively enjoy.
But they happily eat broccoli, carrots and red cabbage.
Rosie particularly likes apples.
So there are days when I look at their diet and think they’ve got this whole nutrition thing rather more organised than I do. Or at least their mum does.
Two dogs, both called Roxy
We’ve had two Rottweilers before Rosie and Dexter. Both of them called Roxy.
Neither of them would touch raw food.
The first Roxy was almost exclusively wet tinned food, rarely kibble, but chicken she loved.
What was funny was the way she took food from humans. People giving her a treat, even her favourite chicken, she’d take it, drop it, and give it a hard, suspicious stare, like she thought you’d tried to poison her, before she’d decide to eat it.
I once tried her on chicken livers. Raw, she wouldn’t go near them. Cooked, she’d devour them - they do smell good when cooking, despite looking disgusting. But what never failed to amaze me was Roxy’s ability to eat a Sunday lunch, meat, potatoes, gravy, veggies, and peas… but when she was finished there were only peas left in the bowl, clean of gravy. How she had the dexterity to separate them from the rest was a mystery.
The second Roxy — Roxy too, similarly, wouldn’t touch anything raw. But once it was cooked, there was no inspection process at all.
She’d eat anything.
Anything. Any amount. No suspicion, no stopping to check.
That wasn’t really something to be proud of.
She was heavier than was healthy for her.
An uncomfortable parallel
Looking back, that’s not a comfortable thing to sit with.
A dog that eats everything put in front of her isn’t showing enthusiasm for food. She’s just not equipped to stop.
That’s not a character flaw. It’s not a lack of discipline. It’s just what happens when “it’s there” is the only rule in operation.
I know that feeling.
Rosie and Dexter get raw food with vegetables, in the amounts they actually need, and that’s it.
Their main contribution to my weight-loss programme is somewhat less sophisticated.
They eat our Sunday leftovers. Within reason - no gravy on it.
They are particularly enthusiastic about potatoes.
So if I leave two roast potatoes behind, I haven’t really lost anything.
I’ve simply transferred ownership.
My loss. Their win.