Woden moved to a Raw meat diet about 6 months ago. We moved our whole houshold herd to Raw, although the cats require a slightly different recipe than the dogs - its really just a different ratio of fat, and different additives.
  What finally got us to move to Raw was the hope - suggested through our research - that Wodens' physical ailments would lessen as a result of a better diet. While it does not seem to have cleared up his assorted yeast infections (ears, webbng of paws) or little crusty sores under his chin, it has lessened his symptoms. It has definitely fixed his longstanding digestive problems, and he has very firm, small feces.
   He has developed a strong interest in food and meals, after never having cared particularly. He eats about 3.5% of his bodyweight daily, in one sitting. Most of his diet is made up of coarse ground flesh, offal, and fat, from cow primarily. He eats a quarter of a bone-in chicken each day as part of his total serving. I had to teach him to eat the bone-in chicken, and in the beginning I had to chop it down a little so he could manage it. Now, Istill have to do a little processing of the chicken: it often is cheaper to get whole birds, so I have to whack 'em into quarters. And, Woden has trouble with the skin. So I have to score the skin a few times on each quarter for him.
   He has an active lifestyle, which is why he eats 3.5% rather than 2% of his boyweight. A lucky dog, he has spent very little of his life out of sensory range of Beth or myself. Currently, the dogs come to work with us monday through friday, where they get to play with around twenty other dogs at the Dog care business where we are employed. Around 11 a.m. each day, I take Woden off with me to do walks with individual dogs. He drives from home to home with me, where we take one or more dogs for walks. Woden gets to spend three or more hours this way with me.  So he burns a lot of energy weekdays.
   I am very happy with the early results of Wodens new diet. I will continue to note his physical state, in hopes that his health (particularly resistance to yeast skin infections) improves. However, even if we discover no further improvements or benefits, I will be happy with the results. We are spending about 30% more than the cost of  good quality supermarket kibble, just a little less in price than top quality pet shop kibble. If we had small dogs, it would have been a no-brainer. With small-people sized dogs, it was a tougher sell on my stingy nature.

   I am walking dogs now, working for a company called "The Urban Dog, located just outside Minneapolis Mn. Woden just started getting to go to the facility each week day while I work. Sometimes he gets to go with me as I drive around the metro area doing walks. It has worked out that he has gone along on walks with some of my favorite clients. They tend to be other large breed dogs, and so far he has gotten along well with all of them. Which has been a little surprising.
  I think that perhaps the dogs I work with were all sort of prepared for meeting him. I sleep with my dogs, drive around with them, basically do everything with them that I can manage. So, I suspect the dogs I work with have been smelling Woden on me for as long as they have known me. And Woden lives just like I do, so he smells pretty strongly of me, I guess. And my client dogs get along well with me - I work hard at making sure they have a good time.
  At the facility, we have another GSD client dog, who is very similar to Woden in temperament, behavior, and coloration. He is just a few degrees more black, looking like Woden did as a pup. This other dog has all of Wodens' bad social habits, plus a few of his own. The pair are fast friends most of the time, acting like little bullies, or a thug squad. A number of the other clients cannot seem to tell them apart, and have transferred their dislike.
  He has just finished his first four days. He grew better behaved and more willing to listen to direction the more he became accustomed to the routine. While he listened to me more then half the time on premises, and fully when off, he was almost uncontrollable using voice commands for anyone else. This wound up being very frustrating. I felt a little embarrassed by how wild he got. But, he gets really wound up by new experiences that do not let up. I have not been really surprised. His housemate, Ulf, has also been coming to work with us. He has done much better adjusting to the new routine.