This article was originally published in the online edition of the Boxer Daily.
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Not too long ago on a genetics list I belong to, a list member posted several links to articles
in various scientific publications about the latest research on the evolution
and domestication of dogs. Coincidentally, the poster is also a Boxer breeder
and sent the links to the SB-L and the Showboxer Forum, too.
The
consensus of the researchers featured in these articles is that on their way to
domestication, dogs evolved along with humans to be able to thrive on a
grain-rich diet. In the Health & Science section of the January 23rd
edition of the Washington Post,
science reporter David Brown summed it up like this:
"You know that dog biscuit shaped like a bone but made mostly of wheat?
Your dog’s willingness to eat that treat, instead of going for a bone in your
thigh, helps explain how its ancestors evolved from wolves into house pets."
A team of Swedish researchers compared the genomes of wolves and dogs
and found that a big difference is dogs’ ability to easily digest starch. On
their way from pack-hunting carnivore to fireside companion, dogs learned to
desire — or at least live on — wheat, rice, barley, corn and potatoes.
As it turns out, the same thing happened to humans as they came out of
the forest, invented agriculture and settled into diets rich in grains.
“I think it is a striking case of co-evolution,” said Erik Axelsson, a
geneticist at Uppsala
University
In the
ensuing discussion of this research on the Showboxer Forum, one list member
questioned the idea of raw meat as a suitable diet for modern dogs by asking, “Are
we turning our dogs into wolves?”
Maybe I’m
just eager to embrace this new hypothesis because my boxers basically live on
IAMS MiniChunks and with only a few minor detours, have thrived on that diet since
forever. But even if I’m not being totally objective, I think that list member
had a good point. My dogs’ coats are shiny, their eyes are bright, they’re
neither too thin nor too fat, and they seldom visit the vet – usually only for
routine health tests. Yes, I do make a pot of chicken soup for them once a
week, but not so much because I’ve bought into the current “All Canines Are
Carnivores” meme, as because I was brought up by a mother and grandmother who
considered chicken soup one of the five major food groups. Luckily, and with
only one exception, I’ve always been blessed with boxers that would eat a box
of rocks if you put it in front of them at dinnertime.
I do admit
that during the home-cooking craze, I started feeling guilty about feeding my
crew any commercial dog food, the equivalent
in the opinion of home-cooking advocates of letting them scavenge for
sustenance on a public landfill. I invited home-cooking gurus to publish their
favorite recipes in the old Boxer
Underground Online Newsmagazine (which ran from 1998 to 2006), and I
stocked up on oatmeal, hamburger and green and yellow veggies and stood at the
kitchen counter and the stove for hours, chopping and stirring. The dogs loved
it and it smelled good, too, even if the sticky gray mess that resulted looked like
something Macbeth’s witches had concocted in their bubbling cauldron. At the time, however, I was working a
more-than-40-hour week at a very demanding job, so it wasn’t long before my
canine family was back on IAMS.
I’ve never
been tempted to try raw-feeding or a grain-free commercial diet for two
reasons: 1) I live in Florida where it’s hot and humid all year long, and am
scared to death of salmonella and e-coli, for both my dogs and my own family; and
2) feeding four boxers on Canidae or Orijen just isn’t in my budget. (Neither
for that matter is feeding raw, even if I weren’t concerned about handling raw
chicken in this climate.)
It’s
probably obvious at this point that I believe dog food should be nutritious and
relatively economical, and feeding dogs should be as simple and convenient as
possible. Of course, if my dogs were in poor condition or were constantly at
the vet’s, I’d switch to another brand of dog food or a completely different
diet. (I’d also take a good long look at my breeding program.)
But so far,
that’s never been the case, and that makes me wonder if perhaps we're not doing
our dogs any favors by trying to feed them as though they were wolves.
Food for
thought?
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