What's your favorite dog food? - Page 3

Nans gsd, I feed Orijen Large Puppy until 10 - 11 months then slowly over a one month period mix in the 6 fish. Never had a problem. Can you describe your "too rich" problem? Maybe a sudden swich. Our supplier does runs out of the Large Puppy every so often and we have had to make a sudden temporary change to 6 fish with not even a change in the stools consistency. 

I have gotten best results with Origen LBP,  which  I regularly mixed with lightly cooked skinless chicken breast. I also use Nusentia probiotics. My dog has developed a muscular 74 lbs in the first 7.5 months of her life, smooth shiny coat, completely neutral body odor, and fantastic poop. Shes always energetic and ready to go.

A good book on canine feeding for uptimal health - "Canine Nutrigenomics" by Jean Dodds and Diana Laverdure.

http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DN334

Ok, Nan, if you have all those special requests, then disregard what I and most others have said. I have never had to avoid an ingredient. In all the dogs I've had over the years, I've never had a GSD with any special dietary needs like no flax, no chicken, etc. Victor has flax, as do most of the Honest Kitchen formulas. What's the problem with flax? You're looking at Orijen Regional Red or Orijen 6 fish with those requirements, I think. If 6 fish is "too rich" your dog might have other problems besides what you're aware of. I fed Aria 6 fish FREE CHOICE (not purposely- she broke into the pantry daily and I didn't realize it, lol) when she was pregnant and nursing her E litter and she did absolutely fantastic, zero stool issues. Never looked better. If I could afford to feed 7 dogs 6 fish, I would. I just can't. So, I feed the Queen and Cancer Boy Orijen and Victor and the rest get a mix of other top notch foods that I get a good deal on, hence the variation, topped with or substituted by raw several times per week. 

Victor is a very good kibble. Dog food advisor rates it 4.5 to 5. I've never owned a dog of any breed that didn't do well on any brand of food I fed. Back in the day when there weren't all these designer brands and no one fed raw, dogs seemed to live as long, looked as good,  and as were as healthy as they are today. I guess the ingredients were more natural? The most I ever had to do was to add some fatty acids to a few of my dogs' rations. If I had a GSD with ongoing dietary issues, I'd be thinking something other than the food. And when I hear the statement - my GSD won't eat that, I cringe .

BTW Jean Dodds recommends feeding dogs a variety of food. I believe Becker does too.

OK I have to start over, internet just farted.

As far as the flax goes oil or seeds;  2 of 4 dogs in the past would itch like crazy;  don't have that problem right now so if flax is on the list of ingredients hopefully it is down the list a ways.  The chicken has been dropped due to the fact that in some cases as in my older sammie boy has been raised on chicken products most of his life (now 9) and it was recommended with the PAF's that their is a possibility they can be from food allergies.  Therefore I have taken him off chicken (about 6 months ago) and he has never been better.  Soooo that is the chicken story.  The Orijen 6 fish my 2 sammies did great on, you cannot overfeed however, BUT my almost 2 year old GSD had blow out diaherra (sp)...  However, I just did a week course of Metro---- on him and he is good now, eating Acana (pacifica/ranchlands mixed) and raw at night with a l/3 cup HK (love)  as a topping.  The stool sample showed 0...

Blitzen I have to agree that variety is good;  Becker recommends to change about every 3/4 months or approx 3 times per year.  Have not had the pleasure of reading Dr. Dodds book yet.  But wlll get it. 

So see Jen I am just trying to get ideas;  not crazy about the Acana, but it's OK, liked the way the dogs looked and acted on the Orijen 6 fish better.  Am trying to figure out if it is worth going back to it again, or try another Orijen flavor/protein.  Just searching.  Would still like to be able to feed some raw;  Like kibble in AM, raw at PM feeding.  Should work and YES I do agree about looking into the GI upsets if it comes back.  Also am using Fortiflora as a probiotic in PM feeding.

So thank you all for any assistance and recommendations you have.  Nan

Nans. the beauty of feeding The Honest Kitchen preference base mix is  you can vary it daily if you want simply by adding any protein source you want, cooked or raw. I use white fish, salmon, trout, tuna, beef, chicken, turkey, duck, bison, whatever plus 1 tbs of coconut oil with every meal. I feed two times a day, so I just divide the suggested daily amount of mix and meat into 2 meals feeding a little heavier in the AM. The only problem I have is Bev can't stand waiting until the water soaks into the mix. She sits and stares at her food bowl drooling until it is ready to eat.

Well starting over again, those damn easter bunnies are playing with the computer.

Blitzen:  have used Preference before and love it, however it did not solve my problem with lack of meat sources.  I also used Zeal because I could not find a good fish source and added some other ground meat at the same time;  beef, chicken, turkey, pork.  Then I knew my guys could get some sort of fish in their diets.  Love that idea.  Am currently using Love and add to ground meat, it is beef so am adding some (l/2 cup) beef/organ meat Sm. Batch and top ground turkey with it;  so far so good;  for now that has to be my raw.  Prey model feeding raw for me did not work as I could not find a decent meat source except grocery store meats which I am really not too crazy about that.

PS:  cracked me up about Bev drooling for her food;  and that is why it wont work for me to feed in AM. takes too long to prepare;  but really I do like the Honest Kitchen products.  That is what I wanted the kibble for AM feeding, just dish it up with a little water , done...

As I may have mentioned I had an incessent barker, she is now rehomed with friends of mine that absolutely love her to pieces so the 6-7 AM barking has pretty much ceased, was also teaching the shepherd same bad habits and the two were fighting any chance I turned my back.  Really was not working and my neighbors we NOT HAPPY to say the least.  So all is good for now as long as I can keep this big boy (92 lbs) of lean muscle mass fed healthy with good poops, thank you very much.  

Thx  Nan

Here in FL we have many sources for freshly caught fish, so thats not an issue for me. I use ground beef and turkey from the local fresh food market.