Best food for a working dog - Page 1

Hello! What is the best food to give to a 15 month old German Shepherd that will be a Schutzhund working dog? Do you recomend a raw diet? Should I do both? The help and recommendations are appreciated!

100% raw diet.

You will find as many opinions as there are products on the market. The people who feed raw are particularly righteous and a few go as far to say you don't love your dog if you don't feed raw. LOL. The good news is that there are many good options, both in raw and kibble. Don't worry about the brand - instead focus on the content of the food. Read the ingredients and never mind the slick ad campaigns. Your dog is descended from wolves, so when shopping for dog food - think "wolf". If your dog food doesn't have everything you're looking for you can add some ingedients yourself to the food bowl. 1) High quality protein and lots of it Your dog's diet should be mostly protein from a good source. No byproducts. Turkey, chicken, beef, lamb, etc. Some dogs have food allergies so you might have to get a more exotic meat source like duck, rabbit, venison, etc. 2) Vegetables/Fruits/Eggs Wolves have been observed in the wild eating berries, and eggs of groud nesting birds. When they kill a prey animal they eat the stomach contents with the grass inside. So include some of these for your dog. 3) Fish/Fish Oil Wolves have been observed hunting fish in shallow streams, and this is a great source of healthy fats and oils. Omega-3's and Omega-6's. You can either add fish directly - sardines are great, just dump in a can and mix. Or you can buy fish oil extracts. 4) Supplements - moderation please! About a zillion companies are now promoting their magic pixie dust to sprinkle on your dog's food to promote health, coat, long life, energy, blah blah blah. Be cautious and don't oversupplement. Contrary to the slick ad compaigns, you can't buy good health in a bottle. 5) No grains! No wolves have ever been observed in the wild grazing in a corn field or a rice patty. This is about the most unnatural thing you can feed your dog. It is amazing how many heavily advertised dog brands have corn gluten, or rice as their primary ingredient! Oy! Here's my dog's diet - I am NOT claiming this is the world's best diet, it's just an example. 1,2) Innova Evo - turkey, chicken, carrots, apples, etc 3) Sardines packed in water (not soybean oil!) 4) Nupro Silver - glucosamine, Ester C, kelp, liver, amino acids, minerals, etc The reason I personally do not feed raw is that our dog goes backpacking with my husband and I. When we are out in the wilderness for a week at a time, there is no way to pack raw food and keep it cold. Not when we are packing every bit of food, clothing, and shelter on our backs and hiking steep moutain trails! So we bring baggies of Innova Evo and a collapsable food bowl for our dog. 'nuf said. Other opinions are welcome. Yvette

There is a food called Common Sense. You can find it on Bullinger Shepherds website. It is a frozen raw diet. Tracy Bullinger can help with any questions you have. Hope this helps!

We have working dogs and feed a high quality kibble, Canine Caviar. Add a spoonful of plain yogurt, glucosomine, fish oil tablet, and Solid Gold Seameal. Our dogs look great, are extremely healthy, and work with no problems. I know people that feed raw, fine for them, we'll stick to what works for us. Raw isn't the end all some would have you believe.

Wolves you say...???Timberwolf Organics has enough variety to please most...Just a thought since you mentioned wolves...Innova/Evo, Solid Gold, Chickem Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul, Canidae, Orijen, Eagle pack, Merrick are just a few of the premium dog foods I have had suggested to me by various people here on the board when I asked a similar question...Funny how this same question of food and feeding keeps coming up but is just said in a different way by someomne else... I love it as the more I hear, the more I know, my thanks to all of you who have been more than helpful... Rob

Your dog is about as closely related to a wolf as you are related to a monkey.

Timberwolf is good food - but it is a little expensive when you have more than one dog. If you want very good food that is way more economical I seriously recommend these foods off the shelf at any Petsmart/Petco called "Nature's Recipe" & this other one called "Natural Balance", which comes in both bag food & sausage rolls that you cut up & add to the food to supplement as you like. Neither of these two brands has any preservatives, artificial additives, wheat, or corn, besides no by-products. Give em a try - see what you think. My dogs' coats have never looked so healthy as they have now that they are on this stuff! august

Dawgma, "Your dog is about as closely related to a wolf as you are related to a monkey." Wolves and dogs share the same DNA. Humans and monkeys share about 98% of the same DNA. So, technically speaking, no, but close - good try! :P

Okay, as a former biology teacher who did a lot of work with bones and anatomy in University... One of the best indicators of an animal's natural diet is its teeth. If you compare the teeth of a dog and those of a wolf you will see marked differences. Thousands of years of domestication have caused the dog's teeth to be a little less 'carnivore' in nature. So I am sure the dog's digestive system HAS made some changes to adjust to a human diet. Back in hunter/gatherer days, the hunt wasn't always successful, and rather than go hungry during lean times, I'm sure the dog learned to eat whatever the tribe was eating. The lab I worked in had both wolf and coyote skeletons as well as the complete skeleton of an Indian dog that had been buried, and had obviously been a loved pet. The dog bones were totally unlike the wolf bones in length of jaw and size. The Indian dog's jaw was much shorter and the teeth much smaller and less pointed than the wolf's.