When I first started to have giant dogs about 25 years ago, they said certain things they said would help to prevent the bloat, and from time to time they change it. I used to feed in raised when I had danes, with Hera and the other ones not, simply because they are not as tall, when Galahad gets bigger I guess I will though. I have lately heard the same things that they now think the raised dish is not doing much good, but I tend to take all the reports and studies with a grain of salt, because they change so often. Things they say have an impact on bloat is the food dish, exersise before and after feeding, stress, not feed too much at a time rather spread it out on two or three times a day, be sure to give enough water with food, so not too much moisture has to be taken from the body in order to digest the kibbles. But I think one real big factor if genetics, certain lines seem to tend to be more prone to bloat than others. So personally I think it is a combination of a bunch of things. Mind you one thing that seems to be real important is to not let their bellies get totally empty inbetween meals, I read a study that stated that as good as all the dogs that come in with bloat has an empty stomach. But it is a very complicated topic thats for sure.
Marit