Allowing your dog to find it's own food!

Hi all,

I just wanted to find out people's thoughts on allowing your dog to find it's own food.

I was watching a programme with my partner the other night and some guy that owns a terrier type dog ( i think) was in the vets with his dog that had a severe case of worms and required emergency treatment. Anyway when they vet asked him what he feeds his dog he replied somewhere along the lines that he does not feed his dog he lets it find his own food. 'He eats whatever he kills or finds' was part of his response.

I know dogs are born scavengers but just wanted to know what you all think on the process to allowing your dog to find it's own food.

Cruel, natural or bit of both!

I would say that a) the owner's response might be a bit tongue in cheek and b) my dogs eat wild rabbits, hence why I worm them more often than if they did not.

Do working terriers live like that??

Bit of a "cop-out" if you ask me. If you take on a dog you take on the responsibility of general care which includes feeding so while i appreciate the barf ideal(our boy does get some raw but is 3/4 complete) - expecting the dog to scavange what it can get, without supplementing & checking on its food intake, amounts, in my view, neglect.

I dont think it cruel but there is no way I would let my dogs find thier own food. I try really hard to train my dogs not to eat anything whan they are out. I dont know about in the UK but here there are still some people that will put down poisoned meet for foxes, and there may just be those sickos out there that dont like dogs/cats and want to do them harm.

Each to their own but that would definitely be a step too far for me. I like to ensure that my dog has two meals a day and that they are as healthy as possible and hopefully he enjoys them!

Dogs are domesticated animals at the end of the day.

Surely the poor dog's condition shows that it is neglect bordering on cruel?

I think you shouldn`t believe everything you hear on the tele.

I am not a nieve person this is a documentary type show and he guy does appear a bit on the weird side and did appear to be genuine in his response to the vet. This was coming from a guy that works in a aligator infested swamp, walks around with no shoes on and carries a pump action shot gun in his boat. Only thought it was an interesting topic to bring up.

Fair comment, i know a number of people that allow their dogs to eat wild rabbits and also worm them more due to this. Dogs are all healthy and happy too