Off the hook! BAD DOGS! & Re-thinking dog food

Oz is on his collar today FYI. He sorta knows he's on it, sorta doesn't.

I busted Radar digging at the corner of the couch and soaked him with the squirt bottle just as he was getting started. He has retreated to his crate. He remembers pretty well. Fingers crossed. Maybe catching him in the act will fix that one.

Of course, things were okay with Oz when I got up. A little ampy as normal. A couple of squirts and he calmed down. Then Radar came out. The chaos began with the green blanket being drug off the couch.

Then I was getting their food going. I had to go to garage for something. I come back in and Oz is eating the dry food out of his bowl on the counter. That was it. Collar on. Then I opened the can and left it there. I backed off into the hall where I could see the bowl and the can. I waited. Yep, he went up to the counter. I zapped him and he backed off to the counter and lied down again.

Dog Food:

We changed to a mix of I/D dry and I/D canned. It's working but it's disgusting. I can't imagine all that processed shit is any better for them than it is for us. Lord knows what the hell is in it really. They start with crap they wouldn't give to people right? But, making your own is an un-mittigated pain in the ass. The problem is it spoils so you have to either make is daily or make it every week at the most.

Idea - Meat grinder & Freezer

So, what if we get a small freezer so we can make batches of fresh food for them once a month. I can get a small chest freezer for about $200.00. Then we can get a meat grinder for the KitchenAid for $150.00. (plus tax & shipping)  That's a good one that'll deal with regular use.

I think these will pay for themselves in six months.

One week:
Rice - 6 cups ~ $2.00
Chicken - 2 lbs ~ $12.00
Veggies, broth for flavor,  vitamins - $5.00
(We can use scrap veggies since they are going to get cooked & ground up anyway)

One week ~ $20.00 (rounding up) (could be less if I use Costco prices)

That's probably half what we are paying for dog food.

So the payback on the food is going to be about $80:00. Now take away $20.00 for electricity and we are still $70.00 / month ahead. So in six months we end up saving about $420.00. That's close to paying for the initial investment.

The time and fuel investment will be less too. No more separate trips to get dog food. Just a couple hours a month to make the food. I'm guessing that saves us 4 hours a month or more. Maybe more if we tag team it and work it in with regular meal prep.

If the cost difference was only like 10% I'd say no. Usually when the cost difference is penciling at 50% or better like this, you will actually save money.

Maybe we can do a two week experiment without all the extra equipment to see how it goes with the dogs. We need to see what the mechanics are. How does it go when you forget to thaw a batch? How long does it take to thaw out? Stuff like that.

We've done chicken & rice a few days at a time when they get "out of sorts".  These two typically eat anything, with a vengeance. I doubt boredom is going to be an issue. With the broth / bullion we can change it up too.