About Nature's Way Carolina Dogs

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Seymour, Tennessee, United States
Welcome to my site about my Naturally Reared Carolina Dogs! Carolina Dogs are a relatively new, rare breed recognized by the UKC, AKC-FSS & ARBA, and are quite possibly America's own indigenous wild dog. CDs make wonderful companions, athletes, hunters, and bedwarmers! Natural Rearing is the philosophy wherein we raise our dogs and puppies by following the 8 Laws of Health, employing Biologically Appropriate Raw Food and no toxic chemicals on, in or around our dogs. We have found this way of life fosters balance, health and longevity in our beloved companions. For our puppies, we welcome homes that have a very similar philosophy about dog rearing, or wish to learn. Check us out, follow us and share us in other places!!! YouTube@ Susan NaturesWayCarolina Dogs NaturesWayPets and FaceBook @ https://www.facebook.com/mycarolinadog on Twitter @https://twitter.com/NaturesWayCDs Thank you so much for visiting our site, feel free to leave us a comment or send us an email! susanlewelling@yahoo.com

Healthy Wild - Carolina Dogs as God Intended


This is an excerpt from an article I read which got me to thinking. (link to the article is at the end of the excerpt, all credit for this excerpt goes to it’s author Barbara E. Royal, DVM) My thoughts follow:)-
“Wild health. Health that is based on defining and fulfilling an animal’s evolutionary needs according to its species.
Animals in their natural surroundings are healthy — chronically healthy. While walking in a forest teeming with robust species, I never ask myself, where are all the aging ravens with their pill boxes? Or the diabetic robins tucking syringes in their nests? Where are the arthritic squirrels, the obese rabbits, and the deer taking puffs from their inhalers?
Yes, survival of the fittest and predation may take the weak and the diseased. But this doesn’t fully account for the vigor of the remaining animals. Nature effortlessly propagates health, but in our civilized world, maintaining health takes effort.” see full article here  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-e-royal-dvm/integrative-pet-health_b_845538.html 

I didn’t use to believe this stuff about raw feeding, vaccines, etc I thought that was for the hippies & ‘tree huggers’ but as I researched more & more, I began to look at pets all around me with a new perspective & to see what is really going on!
As the generations go on, & our pets are fed non-species-appropriate diets & inundated with chemicals for their whole lives, they get further & further from healthy wild, more & worse misdiagnosed ailments start showing up….
Dogs with diabetes, allergies, bad hips, Cats with liver disease. How did cats & dogs ever survive for thousands of years without pharmacuticals & vaccines, ‘complete nutrition’ dog food & people to ‘control’ the population?
I am not meaning that one should toss the dog in the yard & throw it some hamburger meat every day, never take it to a vet, or teach it any obedience, or give it any love. Nor am I saying all dogs should run wild, unneutered, and uncared for. SINCE WE HAVE MADE “PETS” OF THEM, WE DO BEAR THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR CARE. Given the increase in pet diseases & ailments, all pet owners should be concerned with why this is happening and what we can do to reverse this trend.
One of the wonderful things about the CD/AD is, as yet they have no inherited physical problems, such as bad hips or cancers or deafness, etc… healthy wild. And one of the concerns should be keeping them that way. Even my pedigreed Carolina Dogs, Cooter and Daisy are only about 4-8 generations removed from their wild ancestors. This is relatively “new” in the dog-breed world. Some AKC breeds, being hundreds or more years (and untold generations) removed from a “wild” dog.
In the wild, dogs would have been subject to ‘survival of the fittest’ and so if one has eaten, for years, say from one trash pile that had whatever dog-poisonous/unhealthy food & it got sick, it would probably die. But Now as a domesticated tame dog, if they get sick, their family (or if caught as a feral, the animal control/shelter that picks them up) treats their symptoms & they may seem to get better, but this may eventually manifest as a physical condition, such as allergies or diabetes or even temperament issues. No one realizes that it is actually from the way that dog has eaten for years.
Look at Labradors, they should be healthy dogs but have all kinds of problems, hips, eyes, allergies… if the 1st few generations of Labs that were bred for work had those problems the breed would never have been carried on this long, but the issues had to come from somewhere… Where?
This is a similar situation to a person who might,for years, eat most of their meals at McDonalds & seem healthy, even fit, then they get high blood pressure. If they quit eating McDonalds & eat healthy, they may lower their BP, but they may continue eating some McDonalds & take BP medicine & say ‘I dont know why my BP is so high, it is probably inherited’ If they had eaten Mcdonalds only occasionally or never, they probably would never have had a problem!
I realize this is not the only reason for all medical problems in dogs, but like fast food, after decades, people are realizing the food is unhealthy for the most part! I just want to say, have an open mind about it.
So, what can we do to ensure pedigreed Carolina Dogs remain one of the healthiest, all around best breeds in the world?
It would be ludicrous to assume we could take a population of healthy pedigreed CDs just a few generations from the ‘founder dogs’ of the breed, feeding them a totally different diet than what they evolved and thrived on, subject them to multiple yearly vaccinations & monthly chemical treatments, keep them totally cooped up in our house and expect them and their future generations to remain as healthy & with the same ‘wild’ traits as the original dogs from the wild. Their environment & living situation totally changed, how can we expect them to remain the same?
What can we do to keep them from going the unhealthful way of other pedigreed breeds? Breeds in which their breeders and families have to worry about inherited medical problems & ask for several medical test certifications on the parents before taking them home…
I believe, first of all, we need to keep an open mind about what our Carolina Dog really is. Yes, it is a ‘dog’, not a wolf or a coyote. But it is a carnivore, its diet in the wild consisting of scavenged kills, small animals, grubs and other insects, snakes, and maybe some scavenged scraps from human refuse. When that wild dog creeps up to the refuse pile, what will it go for first, the broccoli & moldy corn, or the meat & bone scraps? Of course, the meat & bones! I acknowledge that if hungry enough, a dog will eat any kind of scraps and because of addictive sugars, etc may even seem to prefer bread & scraps. But that is probably not the wild dog’s complete diet. You have to look at the overall picture. It would also eat grubs it dug up, mice, maybe a rabbit , some wild deer/pig/ or poached calf/lamb/foal from a larger predator’s abandoned kill. Whatever it could find to eat; but I do not think it would be in the field or garden filching corn or green beans. Yes it would occasionally have some ‘greens’ in its diet from the stomach/intestines of whatever prey animals it caught or chanced upon or from a trash heap. Overall, a wild dog, even a pariah, would probably have a diet consisting mainly of meat, bone, organ & a small amount of vegetable/plant matter. Living as a pariah dog(fringes of human society whatever era) I would assume that it would check the dumps & usual places it could find an easy meal, but it would also do some pack hunting & kill scavenging.
Now what can we do about our dogs diet to help them be ‘healthy wild’?
[ I would say here I do believe in 'to each his own' in these matters. I would rather have a policy of Personal Responsibility, rather than government Laws & Mandates, dictating what we do in our personal lives. Also I am in NO way saying that if you do not feed Raw/BARF to your dog, that you do not love it. I am mainly speaking to the enthusiasts & conservationists,and breeders, but also the regular dog owner if this makes common sense to you too. I would say we all certainly need to provide our pets with the healthiest food & lifestyle that we can afford and our situation allows if we have committed to caring for an animal. If the best you can do is quality kibble &/or table scraps, then that's what you should do. If you are thrifty (like me) and can search out deals & freebies on Raw Meat & Bones or can afford to buy high quality organic RMBs for you dogs, then do so .
In my opinion, we need to provide our dogs with as close to their overall natural diet as possible to maintain wild health that is based on fulfilling an animal’s evolutionary needs according to its species and in our case, ensuring the breed’s continued health & vigor. We each need to formulate a personal diet plan for our dogs that ensures overall varied appropriate sources of healthy meats, bones, organs, and a small amount of greens/vegetables. If you live somewhere your dog can hunt prey, allow him to do so and supplement his meals as needed. If letting your dogs hunt is not an option, then when possible we should provide whole prey-type animals for meals. This could include squirrels, rabbits, chickens, etc. Also as much as possible we should feed in large hunks such as a half or quarter of a chicken instead of tiny pieces, a whole beef roast or ribs instead of ground beef. Of course we should do our research and consult a professional about providing the correct balance of meat, bone, organ, & veggies.
The second thing we should consider is drugs, chemicals & vaccinations. Our pets would not have any of these in the wild and certainly disease & injury would claim some, but the ones whom it didn’t, would thrive. Unbeknownst to us average folks, veterinary protocols are changing, regarding needed frequency of vaccinations. I know from experience that local vets are not telling this to the public, for whatever reason.
For example, a 3 year rabies vaccination has been approved by ALL States, but may not be approved by your individual County law yet. Before you decide how to vaccinate you should research the current protocols, benefits and potential side effects for each vaccine. Weigh the risks of vaccines to the health of possible future generations of puppies.
I believe that some specific vaccines & over vaccination can cause damages to cells that we may not see immediately. This may take the form of a cancer or allergy or joint problem in the immediate dog or it may show up in the progeny.
” It is now well-known that dietary changes can prompt epigenetic DNA changes that can be passed on to future generations. For instance, pregnant rats fed a fatty diet had daughters and granddaughters with a greater risk of breast cancer.” http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/08/do-you-have-any-idea-of-the-chemicals-used-in-fast-food-chicken.aspx
If this can happen with food, it could happen with chemicals. If you are a breeder of any breed of dog and you see an emergence of some illness in your pups, you should investigate the possibility that vaccination or food is a possible culprit.
From personal experience, research and anecdotal accounts, I believe Carolina Dogs are extremely sensitive to medications, drugs & chemicals, including vaccinations, dips, and ‘routine’ medications. One example of this is that early on in CD history, a top breeder advised against dipping, due to possibility of anaphylactic shock.
This could be because after surviving in the wild, for hundreds or thousands of years, their healthy bodies & immune systems could handle & fight off normal parasite loads, and most infectious diseases, but the insult from the overload of abnormally introduced ‘vaccines’ given by us humans, confuses the already healthy immune system and it begins attacking other systems, resulting in all sorts of misdiagnosed signs & symptoms! This, I believe, is especially true after generation upon generation of over-vaccination, exposure to internal & external drugs and ‘safe’ chemicals & unhealthy, unnatural food.
I believe the best course of action is refraining from any vaccinations at all, or at least waiting until 6 months of age or later to vaccinate as stated below, with Core vaccines only, as minimally as possible. I would not ever advise early vaccination of a puppy, while they still have the mother’s immunity. If you decide you MUST vaccinate, I would recommend you use Canine Distemper (MLV) given, at the earliest, between 10-12 weeks, Canine Parvovirus (MLV) given at 12-14 weeks, or 2-4 weeks later, 1 single dose each, and 1 year Rabies (killed) at 20 weeks or older,( but, preferably at 6 month of age)(according to your state’s law). Thereafter use of the 3-year Rabies product when allowable by law. Then you can titer test at 1 year. Of course, I recommend use of a local Holistic Veterinarian, they can advise you of any additional vaccines indicated as ‘core’ for your area. The reason I recommend 1 dose of the core vaccines is that the mother’s immunity will have worn off by this time and will not interfere with the vaccination, which is the reason for the course of 3 or more sets of combination vaccines, when they are begun as early as 4 weeks of age.more on this here: 
When it comes to fleas, ticks, and heart-worm prevention, research your region’s risk level and use natural preventives as needed. Recently it has been noted and mentioned to me by my veterinarian that heart-worms are becoming immune to the most commonly used chemical preventives. With a little research you can get a natural preventative for the same or less cost. Same with flea & tick deterrents. Why subject your pets to pesticides needlessly? Some pesticides have been known to cause birth defects and other health problems.
The last issue is environment and exercise. “CDs need to live and breed on a large farm or tract of land that is fenced and cross fenced but is in as natural a setting as possible so the CDs are allowed to live in an authentic setting full of trees, squirrels, hills and meadows.”- Michael Peterson, Carolina Dog Association. While that is the ideal situation, not many people can provide acres upon acres for their dogs to roam. Many CDs live inside the home at least part-time, and some even live in apartments. When possible they should regularly be taken to a large area where they are able to run, sniff and generally act like a dog, on hikes, to a large dog-park, or at least given long daily walks. The more removed they are from a natural environment, the more likely they will begin to lose their ‘wild’ traits they are known for.
It has been noticed that the wild packs of CDs are disappearing from the wild in the areas they once thrived. Dr. Brisbin has preserved this awesome indigenous breed for future generations by establishing them officially with the United Kennel Club and the American Rare Breed Association. It is up to Breeder’s & Enthuasists now to keep them thriving.






This article was written by me, Susan Lewelling, except where noted, and is purely my opinion, I am not a veterinarian, just a Carolina Dog lover and dog health advocate! If you have ideas of how to help preserve the health & vigor of the Carolina Dog( and every other breed of dog), please join the discussion!

1 comment:

  1. I just want to say for those out there that read this article .. you are so right and so informative . I have one of your pups and as you know i feed as if they are in the wild and i will not vaccinate my boy is now 17 mos. and the difference in raising a dog in the way God intended is truly amazing i wish i knew all i do now.The difference is a healthier dog and i know you posted Takodas story he is a very healthy dingo.. he is everything i wanted in a dingo now i have a new guinea singer and because of your teachings he is being raised with Takoda fed and non vaccinated the same way.. its so cool to see these dogs living with you as natural as can be and how intelligent they are they are exceptional very keen senses and their bodies not rotting slowly over years of kibble it is truly different even their behaviors .. Thank you for what you have and continue to teach us..

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