Food/Supplement Question - Page 2

Real "capitalist breeders". Who said we ain't make no money breeding GSDs? . . . profit from puppies, food n even dog's supplements, what a "biz" even we claim "hobby, just to improve". Common sense has it that you don't feed kibbles high in nutrition and also give supplement, except your gsd is a "guinea pig" or somebody's saying so, or masking an ailment.

Is that right Emoore?  Wow, isn't that just lovely.  NOT.

I only know one breeder that makes you sign in the contract for Nuvet, and she went to breeding strictly LSC, as there is more money in it.  I'd never buy a pup from her.

That was going to be my response, the breeder makes money off of it because they get a commission for each bottle sold. I'm assuming that's why it's in the contract. But I CAN buy it without going through the breeder.

I of course was not aware the breeders own dogs weren't using the product until after I had purchased the dog and was all set up with food and supplements. Again, I should have done a lot more research on this breeder before even thinking about buying a dog from them.

For further info: Now I understand why my 6 month old dog is 70 pounds. I'm guessing the over-supplementing has a lot to do with this.

The breeder was also trying to get me to buy all my food/products through them, wasn't happy when I told him I could get the same products for less and would be going that route.

I wish I was more informed before choosing a breeder, but I have a gorgeous dog, it's just all the dishonesty (or not being up-front about motives) that makes me upset. I recently learned one of the great "studs" he uses is not even 2 years old and I am aware of 5 litters from this one dog. I'm guessing there are more. I was given all the right answers to my questions - how often do you breed this female (every other year), etc. unfortunately it turned out to be every heat cycle. I wasn't involved a lot prior to purchasing my own puppy, which is why I didn't see a lot of the discrepancies. I guess my advice to new puppy buyers is to spend time with the breeder PRIOR to purchase. Puppy mill in the making...

I don't think there is anything in that supplement that is harmful enough to make worrying about it now a sensible thing to do. ;-)  While the breeder makes money on it, that alone isn't enough to say the supplement is bad for the dog or that's why he's 70lbs at 6mos. I have bred pups larger/heavier than that. They weren't supplemented at all and they're healthy as horses. Big doesn't always mean something is wrong with them or will ever be wrong with them. 

There is also nothing inherently dangerous about breeding every heat cycle. There is more to it that that, but again, this doesn't mean your dog has a higher chance of anything bad. Sure, pay closer attention next time, BUT don't beat yourself up about it, especially if you're happy with your dog. At least the breeder did something right! The dishonesty is the main issue. Enjoy your dog and chalk it up to a lesson learned.