Best food for a working dog - Page 2

I personally feed raw to my dogs, and it works well for them. If I had to, or needed to feed kibble, I found that Merrick Wilderness Blend and Martin's kibbles were superior. Both are on the high end of expensive, BUT, ingredients were good. With the recent food recalls, I would feel very comfortable feeding anything Merrick makes and of course anything Martin puts out.

Natures Recipe has 20-12-4-10 with the first number being protein content, check out their website for additional information...From what I know and have been told that is too low in protein for a GSD...Again here on the "boards" there are 100s if not more opinions about food/feeding, we all do what is right for us or our budgets...Natural balance is very expensive with little to no "bang for the buck"...Again, check out their web site for additional information and see for yourselves what their ingredients are and what the analysis is... I have checked out just about every "premium" dog food out there until my head was "swimming" with everything they have to say about their individual products...Between what they say and what all of the people here have to say about what they feed i have narrowed it down to about 6 or 7 different brands I like, which I have mentioned before...I am not an expert but I am a biologist and know what I'm reading when I see what goes into most of the things we feed our dogs or not...Like I said earlier; ask 100 people here what they feed and you'll get almost 90 different responses with the other 10 being people who feed raw...To each their own and or their wallet... I like to use Timberwolf as treats and when trying to teach my dogs to "trail", again not an expert on anything and not promoting/sharing anything other than experiences I've had...I do not buy large bags of dog food anymore as when it sits unused sometimes when I open the bag there are moths or other "stored product pests" inside the bags, anyone else have that problem...???I now only buy say 20 lbs at a time (so I drive to my favorite feed store every weekend) and it seems to have helped, no more "critters"...I have to travel 20+ miles to get the food we like to use and that our dogs will eat... There are so many to choose from, let your wallets be your guide along with some sense as to who or what you are feeding the food to...As always, we get what we pay for... Rob

Roborob, you are correct about Natures Recipe being very low in protein, I use it just for that fact. My 7 month old is showing signs of Pano. My other dogs are on 26% protein. I too have racked my brain and read about food until my eyes ache. My first choice in feed, would be EVO but can't have the pup on that. He turned up his nose at Solid Gold's Wolf Pup which was too high in protein for him anyway. At least a bag of NR is 1/2 the price of Solid Gold and it's all natural with no food allergy fillers. It seems to be the right food, for this particular dog right now. When he is 2 and over this pano, I may change him up again.

Best value with a lower protein content is Chicken Soup for the dog lovers soul dry mix...Its premium quality but at a very reasonable cost for a no additive/no grain dog food at a good price...Then there is Canidae, can never go wrong with Innova either, the list of really good dog no "additive" foods is mind boggling but we all do what works for whatever the needs are... Love talking about premium dog foods after all the "research" I've done not to mention the reading it takes...If I have learned one thing (well maybe 2) its that everyone does what they feel they must and that cheap corn filled commercial dog foods are what the majority of dogs in this country are fed...Ignorance or $$$...??? Have a great day and my girl can be seen on last weeks user board under my name if anyone cares to see her... Rob