What Human Food Is Safe for a Shepherd Dog?

Types

• There are two ways to feed human food to a dog: cooked or raw. A cooked diet is not much different from a raw diet, but is not quite as healthy, as cooking leeches nutrients from the food. Feeding raw human food is the best diet, as it provides optimum nutrients for the dog, and the dog's body converts more of the food into energy. You can see this in the size of the dog's feces--it is much more compact when feeding raw meat as opposed to starch and grain.

Features

• There are several features to feeding most dogs raw human food. Dogs can eat most bones as long as they are raw, including chicken bones. The process of chewing the bones helps to clean the dog's teeth. Because the dog's body uses most of the energy and nutrients provided by raw or cooked meat, the dog's skin and coat is shinier and healthier. Raw and cooked food diets also help to properly regulate the dog's digestive system, eliminating the need to frequently express a dog's anal glands for dogs that have anal gland problems).

Size

• A full-grown dog eats between 1.5 to 3 percent of its body weight in raw or cooked food daily. When starting a human food diet, start out with 2 percent of the dog's body weight. Watch to see if the dog gains or loses too much weight. If the dog gains weight, cut the food down a bit--if it loses weight, increase the daily portion. When the dog is at its optimum weight, you should be able to easily feel the dog's ribs, but barely see the ribs.

Significance

• Most dogs react well to human food. Because the dog's body uses more of the nutrients in what it is eating, veterinarian visits are significantly decreased: fewer dentals (if they are needed at all), fewer skin and fur problems, fewer allergic problems and reduced digestive system problems. In dogs with food allergies, it is much easier to control which ingredients to feed the dog when feeding human food.

Considerations

• Before switching over to a raw diet, be sure to research what should and should not be fed. If your dog has dental problems, the dog may not be able to eat bone. In this case, supplementation with another form of calcium is required. When cooking (as opposed to feeding raw), all bones must be removed from the human food. In this case, another form of calcium should be supplemented.

  Dogs with skin problems need additional fish oil and vitamin E, even on kibble. If your dog's skin problems do not completely clear up on the human food diet, simply supplement with fish oil and vitamin E. If you feed a balanced diet of muscle meat, bone and organ meat, most dogs do not need additional supplements.