Growing up my aunt used to make her own dog food. They used to have a large ranch with 10 to 12 cattle dogs. The dog food came in grain bags about fifty pounds each. I remember we used to mix it dry with some other ingredients then it would go in a big pot which water would be added and it would be cooked up. All the dogs had their own dog houses outside and we would take the food warm which was nice for the dogs when there was snow on the ground. I wish I knew what ingredients were I would think it probably would have stored well.

My poor old guy is on his last leg, going blind, can't hear and has a hard time going from laying down to standing up, kinda sounds like me. I feed him dry food mainly. I store it in a metal garbage can to keep out the crawlies. I generally keep about two to three months of food on hand.

I used to have a working dog. The vet I took him to asked me if I fed my dog table scraps. When I said yes he asked me why I did not eat them? I told him they were fatty or something I did not want to eat. He then asked they why do you give it to your dog if you will not eat it. Good thought and I have always limited the amount of fat we give him from our food.

I have always been leery of giving him anything along the line of poultry bones. However it makes sense if they go out an kill a bird there is no problem with them eating it whole. The bones are made brittle by cooking them so I no longer cook the chicken but cut it up and put it in raw. My current dog, a lab was very protective of our place and would kill anything which came in to the yard. He would also eat what he killed, possums, rabbits and small birds. So in his younger days I could see him living off the land. Does anyone have a dog which will do the same?