Our dog is getting older and with that, comes a new level of fussy.

We have a lurcher – they are hunters and scavengers. He used to grab dead birds from under the trees and try and eat them when I walked him round the local river. I mention that to make the point that he would eat anything. Now however, things are very different.

He doesn’t like ‘dog food’. The shop-bought stuff in cans, that is. Over the years, it’s become obvious he can’t stand the jelly stuff and positively hates the gravy stuff. We are left with the ‘loaf’ variety. He does get the dried kibble/biscuit with sardines for breakfast as that he hasn’t turned down yet. His favourite though?

Anything we’re having (oh, and toast).

I’ve cooked for him in the past. He’s had his own sausages, mince, chicken etc, and we can sometimes get him raw bones from the butcher (they go fast though as they are a town favourite). Long story short, I decided to try doing a dog recipe, something special, just for him. I found a couple online and the process went like this:

I cooked the turkey mince and the rice. Then I chopped some carrots, bit of parsley and spinach so they were very small but were to stay raw. I also cooked some frozen veg (broccoli and cauliflower). When it was all nicely mixed, I scooped out 1 cup and put in his dish.

At first he wasn’t sure and he walked away – he is always suspicious of new food in case I’ve put medication in it.

Then, when he did come back, he ate the lot. Success! Or so I thought. You see, it turns out, he won’t eat it if it’s straight out the fridge. It needs to be warmed. And he isn’t keen on having it 2 days in a row – he needs variety.

Last night I tried him with some sweet potato and the broccoli/cauliflower mix, stirred into his canned food. If he could have flipped me the bird, he would have. Tonight, I mixed in some cooked chicken livers and suddenly it’s the best thing ever.

I feel like it’s a battle. An expensive one too. I can’t keep throwing out whole tins of dog food (he’ll leave it a day or more without eating just to get the point across). Tomorrow he’ll be happy as I’ve cooked a chicken and the skin will be his.

Now, you might be asking, ‘why bother’? Well, after all this time looking up what we should be eating and trying to get our health on track, I decided to do the same for Scooby. Turns out a lot of dogs are reacting badly to commercial food – skin complaints, itching, stomach issues etc. When I was growing up we had a dog that had a real skin problem. After £1000 of tests, the vet told my parents to feed him pork mince and mashed potatoes. That was it and so they did. His skin improved but sadly he wandered out the garden one night and after extensive searching, radio ads etc, we never got him back.

Scooby will turn 8 two days before Christmas. He’s quite a nervous little guy so I think anything I can do to help him be healthy for as long as possible is in both our interests. Do you remember the saying, ‘there’s no fitter dog than a butcher’s dog’? Maybe we should go back to feeding our dogs ‘real food’ and cut out the commercial stuff altogether?

If you look at the dog food shelf, you’ll notice the pricey stuff they put at the top all have something in common: they are called ‘meals’ and make promises of all things ‘home-cooked’ and the like. I say do it yourself and stop paying over the odds – you’re in the kitchen anyway! Buy the meat when it’s marked down and keep a drawer in the freezer for the pooch. Cook their meals in bulk just like you do your own. If you can’t do it everyday (and I’m not saying I can), a couple of days a week would make a big difference. Worth a shot, I say. What are your thoughts?