The taste for blood...?

Dragonfly

I was visiting a friend today, he has 2 dogs of his own and also does some training with dogs. He asked me what I fed Kiyoshi and I told him that I fed him a raw diet that consists of a variety of different foods. He then said the most outrageous thing I've ever heard "He's got the taste for blood now, you've got to be careful, that can make them really aggressive, your going to have a real problem when he gets older" I stood there dumbfounded for a couple seconds, like WTF. Now this guy is a good friend of mine despite our obviously different views so I didn't get into a big argument over it. Of course he also told me that I should put a muzzle on Kiyoshi to teach him how to play without biting and using his mouth. I'm not too sure what to think of that...

I've never heard anyone say that raw makes them aggressive before, and I don't believe it for a second. Dogs are carnivores by nature. Kiyoshi has no food aggression and if anything he prefers to share his food (if another dog walks up to his bowl he backs off and lets them take a bite, then eats with them). And it's not like he goes nuts over raw meat, he enjoys it, but he's not crazed.

Has anyone ever heard of this before? Ever heard of a dog becoming bloodthirsty from a diet of raw? Is there any truth behind it?

Calia

That's a common myth that has spread to prevent people from feeding dogs raw meat. When people tell me that that will happen to my dogs I simply respond "We should probably keep an eye on those people who like their steaks and burgers rare, you never know when their blood lust will take over."

shibamistress

Calia's right...it's just a myth. My dogs have been raw fed forever, and when on occasion they've caught a live thing (rabbits or birds mostly), they don't really know what to do with it, and it's clear the first time they have no idea if the thing they caught is edible or not. (they figure it out, of course, but the first time there is often a look of, huh, this fun toy is not so fun anymore, but hey, wait, maybe I can eat it?)

Sounds like this person is not very well informed about dogs.

rafatturi

Akuma doesn't currently eat raw but still wants to eat all the raccoons in the area sooo I don't know what his problem is. :P imagine if I did put him on a raw diet. Blood and death everywhere.

Losech

Sasha eats raw meat all the time. She has zero prey-drive. ZERO. She won't chase any critter no matter what, has no desire to kill, has never bitten, and is probably one of the most chill and trustworthy dogs I have ever known.

venus

Eris has no prey drive at all and she is a raw weaned dog, never eaten anything else. She could potentially kill something by accident just trying to make friends because she is so clumsy and she wants to be friends with everything lol.

WrylyBrindle

agree with all above, and while it IS a handy thing to desensitize a dog to a muzzle, should you ever be faced with needing one (and Good Dogs sometimes wear a muzzle at the vet, or if injured requiring first aid, so never say never..), dont muzzle the dog to play with him...Dogs learn to play nicely with their mouths by- biting and learning that being too rough stops play. I play with my dogs' mouths all the time- Sage is almost 8 years old and he and I still play toy-less tug for a moment sometimes where he'll open his mouth and i hook a finger on his tooth and he'll just pull against it. I then invite him to go find a toy and real tug ensues.

Dragonfly

"We should probably keep an eye on those people who like their steaks and burgers rare, you never know when their blood lust will take over."

I love it lol

I didn't think there was any truth behind it. But he seemeed convinced that

@WrylyBrindle - I think he was talking more about putting the muzzle on him so that he doesn't try to bite other dogs when playing. He is very mouthy in his play with other dogs. He doesn't mouth me as much anymore, I've sort of gotten my point across that biting me isn't nice. Now he just flea bites me, I call them love nibbles, but I let him get away with those cause he's gentle and he gives lots of kisses too.

cdenney

The other dogs will correct him when he does too much. He will learn for them or if you use a command like gentle when he mouths you, start using that command during play.

Don't listen to your friend.

CrimsonO2

Nihon ken, in general, are mouthier and vocal during their play than other breeds. Most other dog owners don't understand that which is why NK meetups are such a relief to attend because the other owners know exactly what is and what isn't play.

This is play (and yes, that includes the overstimulated humping of my leg):


Jesse

PoetikDragon

More vocal is relative... My dogs are perfectly silent during most play, to the point that its creepy. They will occasionally get loud, and its a lot of grunts and snorts and gutteral noises that sound like a fight, but is actually play - like the clip above. But I still wouldn't call them more vocal; my friends' dogs bark and yap constantly when they play. Nonstop. Its obnoxious.

BradA1878

I think this myth comes from the hunting world. When a dog hunts a specific animal, and kills it (or is rewarded by the hunter killing it) they will become more interested in that game - which can be read as "more aggressive".

It's common for hunters to allow the dogs to eat the leftover portions of the game they take down, and I can see that leading to this "they get the taste for the game" thought process.

When my three WSL took down a deer, it made them VERY interested in any deer they saw from that point forward. They became more "aggressive" toward deer.

Saya

I never had this issue except with one person on FB she was offended by pictures of beef liver, lamb ribs, bone in drumsticks and stuff. lol

This what she wrote when I asked why was she so rude with me on raw feeding pics..

Wild Dogs that live on raw can eat herbs in the wild for to help there digestive tracts. A lot of salmonella poison in real meat. Dometicated dogs are not wild and can't get loose too get the herbs they need

Salmonella poison? Salmonella is a bacteria..

Sadly there is a lot of raw myths like this..

Raw is high value so is caned dog food or cooked meat.. Some dogs will even resource guard kibble depends on the dog.

Higher valued food tends to cause resource guarding because it's so yummy the dog feels it might get taken or whatever.

Saya was highly prey driven before she was fed raw. When she was 9 weeks she chased two adult wild rabbits! She didn't catch them and returned when they went into the woods.

She did catch a juvenile rabbit at year old or almost year old of age.. She was changed to raw completely at age of 8months, but I don't think being fed raw is what made her want to kill rabbits. She saw it ran for it and caught it she shook it and killed it fast.

I used to own cats and saya loved them they were dog savvy and never ran from her.

brada1878 makes good point about where it might have come from.

StefJackUk

It is a common misconception since changing keiko to raw. It's one of the many I have come across and had to listen to when some people who don't "believe" in a raw diet feel the need to lecture me on it!

Keiko hasn't changed since switching her to raw. Her prey drive is the same as it has always been i.e likes to chase things but doesn't really know what to do with them when she gets close to catching it and she is no more mouthy than she was before so definitely myth in my eyes.

MapleTwinkie

That's just silly and irrational. If all humans were wiped off the face of the Earth tomorrow, ALL dogs would be killing and eating meat. I highly doubt they'd be trying to break into a Petsmart to get at kibble. Saigo was put on raw at 9 months and his prey drive has remained the same.

ttddinh

It's a MYTH. My parents are absolutely weirded out by it too when I feed Bea raw, but they notice that her poop is smaller (less) and that she doesn't smell so they buy into it now.