By feeding raw, you really don't have to worry about drying them out much. Kibble and creatine are water retainers, so if that's what you feed on a regular bases, then I beilieve you should dry out the dog to remove eccess or retained water within the tissue. Things that cause water retention can also give you a false weight on your dog, which is one reason why dogs are dried out, as well as to reduce bleeding. Using Dex can also hurt your dog a great deal, Dex disables the body immune system to fight off infection, so by giving it early, your making it easier for your dog to get a infection. JMO