Ever hear of the BARF diet? Bones and Raw Food. Here's a link. I had trouble keeping weight on my girls with it. A lot of people swear by it tho.PJ

Here is a link that might be useful: BARF Diet

I had a collie once that I cooked for. I'd cook a huge amount and pack it up in baggies and freeze it.

Is Michael the dog? Or the cook?

Anyway - flax seed oil cannot be heated or cooked or it will lose it's powers. Most dogs will chew up a flax oil pill. I give mine fish oil pills. It does nothing for his breath.

Mine have always done pretty well on regular dog food, with Purina products being the favorite, overall.

Since dogs eat based on smell, I think they would almost eat anything that had a good smelling "sauce" on it. That is the basis for the "Gravy Train" type dog foods.

Ours don't overeat, as we learned from a vet, early on, with our pets, that animals will seldom overeat, if food is readily available. The advice was to leave some food out for them all the time, and they would only eat to their comfort level, and would then stop. Since food would not be perceived as hard to get, there would be no tendency to overeat, when the food is presented.

Worked for us. Our dogs have never been overweight, even though we vary treats for them, which they get once a day, to keep variety and interest in their diet.

My sister-in-law used to cook for her dogs when they lived in Africa. They couldn't get dog food there, or couldn't get food that they liked. I don't know her recipe, but she fed her dalmation for a few years that way.

You might try adding some veggies, or try roasting the chicken instead of boiling it. I tried feeding my cats some boiled chicken and they didn't eat it. My co-worker used to make her cat's food from organic chicken, rice and baby food peas. Her cat had kidney disease. The vets were amazed at how well her cat did on this diet. She roasted the chicken she fed to them.

Sally

I know smell is important to the dogs but bagged pet foods makes this human queasy! It smells so icky-oily.

I worked with a vet many, many years ago who had all his animals eating a vegan diet. We have a friend that feeds his highly awarded German Shepherds raw (boneless) chicken, boiled eggs and avocado. Both seem pretty strange to me but it works for them.

Only our Bassett Hound overeats. He will empty the dish, even if it means making himself sick and starting all over. We assume it was because he was starved before we rescued him. Michael and Cutie Bug only gobble something 'special' that they don't want the other one to have - like a heartworm tablet!

Reading all the things that we aren't supposed to feed our dogs is unnerving and contradictory.
Many of those things are listed on the pet food ingredient list or recommended by 'naturalists'.
I just want simple, non-stinky, human quality food for my furbabies. Not as easy at it would seem.

Our vet recomends science diet so that is what I was feeding Heidi & Harley. They like it fine, but Heidi started eating Harleys poop....yuk. I looked at the science diet ingredients and the 1st ingredient is whole grain corn which dogs don't digest. This meant Harleys poop was still part undigested food!
I did a lot of reseach on dry foods and decided to feed them Nutro Ultra. The ingredients are all nutritional, no garbage or fillers. Now the puppies have less poop & Heidi does not eat poop anymore. Of course it is more$$$, but they eat a bit less because they're getting all they need in less volume. I get it at the feed store. He has ordered the puppy size food for me. Right now my puppies are still eating a little science diet as I'm gradually weaning them off it.
I'm trying to keep them from eating any people food, but with my grandkids here I know they are sneaking the dogs food. I knew it would happen eventually.

Thanks! I'll have Danny throw a couple of hens on the rotisserie tonight. Guess this has been on my mind because of my FIL's reaction when he kept Michael for us. It was bizarre to him that a dog didn't eat tablescraps. That explains why Jamilia, his Daschund (RIP), was such a roly-poly!

Our dogs get human food in very small amounts, such as slivers of apple or watermelon. Interestingly, the four legged animals don't care for tomato but the chickens love them!

Flax & borage oil gel capsules smell better than fish oil.

Some super premium brands to consider are Precise, Eagle Pack. Nature's Variety, Wellness, and California Natural, among others. They are definately expensive, but certainly cut back on vet bills. It's my understanding that Science Diet uses a preservative that is not to healthy for the critters. I don't know why vets recommend it, except I think it's made by Purina, and they definately push and push and push it on them - probably giving them perks.

Sally