Thanks Michika, I'll look into that stuff. Sadly there are no Hutterite communities that I am aware of around here and I doubt I'd find a listing in the phone book (joke).
My personal observations with my Whippet are, when I feed a premium food he has about half to a quarter of the stool he has when fed food from Costco/Walmart/Safeway etc... When I fed him raw chicken and a veggie mix in the morning his stool was looser but if I didn't clean it up with in a couple of days it would turn solid and when I did try to pick it up it would crumble into dust. In the summer his stool would be white by the next day and again turn to powder. Even with premium dry food his stool lasts for a long time and it's stinky and messy to clean up.
With my dog being a Whippet he doesn't like the winters, he's not fond of autumn or early spring either. When I feed him raw chicken he likes to play with it a bit, drop it on the ground/floor etc... I can't feed it to him indoors or he'd get raw chicken all over the carpets so I have to feed it to him outside. I'm thinking I'll build him a dog house this spring, maybe he'd take it in there to eat it when the weather turns ugly.
If anyone does want to try the raw food recipes do a google search on alternative dog food or cat food. Raw Meaty Bones (RMB) is another good search. One thing I found is that apple cider vinegar added to the chicken makes the bones rubbery PLUS it is an excellent healthy addition to most dog and cats diets.
http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/acvfordogs.html
Of the 22 minerals essential for health, apple cider vinegar contains 19 in exactly the right amounts. *Some* of these minerals are potassium, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, sulphur, iron, copper, silicon and pectin. ACV also contains natural malic and tartaric acids which are important in fighting body toxins and inhibiting unfriendly bacteria.
Doug