Pinky Mice & Other Expiements...

So a couple days ago i (finally) convinced my husband to take the raw plunge,

and I've been "testing" the waters a little bit with the dogs.
We used to own a snake that ate pinky mice, and although the snake has been gone
for a while, we still have several packages of pinky mice in the freezer. So I
thought I'd make use of them.
Our 2 GSDs are used to catching and crunching an ice cube from the freezer every
time we open it. So, I just tossed them a frozen mouse instead. It was eagerly
consumed like it was nothing new. The Great Dane, however, spit it right back
out like it was an alien.
So then I thought maybe if it wasn't so cold he'd be more open to it. So I
thought the mouse out, and gave it to him. He took it, but was clearly uncertain
what he should do once it reached his mouth.
Then, he punctured it's abdomen and I assume whatever unpleasantries might be in
a mouse gut, promptly got in my dogs mouth. He spit it out immediately, and
started foaming and drooling to get the mess out.
He wont try mouse anymore.

However, I also have some venison meat in the freezer, so I thawed a pound or so
of that. it's small steaks probably no more than a couple ounces each. I put
them the GD's bowl, and he immediately started licking.. and licking.. and
licking.. I tried to praise and encourage, but it took forever before he finally
picked one up, and plopped it down onto my kitchen floor, sniffed it, and
returned to licking what was in his bowl.
Eventually, when all of the steaks had been plopped on the floor, he picked them
up one at the time and began to slowly eat them. I witnessed for the first time
what I've read about dogs not knowing how to chew their food, because it was
obvious he couldn't quite get the hang of it. Fortunately he's a big dog with a
big throat, and they were fairly small pieces, so he was able to scarf them
down, however ungracefully. Except the last piece, which he chewed a few times
and returned to the floor, then lost interest. I gave up on him and split it
between the other dogs who are apparently way less picky.

Anyway - We're not going to start the raw diet for another week, for multiple
reasons I won't get into here, but I'm definitely glad we decided to start with
the chicken quarters, as clearly at least one dog needs some chewing lessons.
The mice are getting dumped occasionally a few at a time into the cat bowl, and that seems to be going well.