Dog Food choices??

[Marc]

Right now my puppy has been fed Innova http://www.innovapet.com/products/default.asp?id=1 but will eventually be switching to the B.A.R.F. diet (Bone and Raw Food.) When he gets little bigger. Some vets will also recommend an adult food right off the start because some breeds of dogs grow so fast it's better to give them the adult food to slow it down a bit.

[LOC]

We feed our guy Nutro Max and Ultra ( 50/50 mix). He seems to like it.

[Islandali]

There are large breed formulas(puppy, adolescent and adult) that help slow the growth so you lessen the chance of structure problems(hips, etc)..if I were feeding kibble still and I got a lab type breed...I would feed a food like this.
Raw does the job perfectly helping them to grow at the perfect rate.

[houndogger]

Used to feed raw but lost my meat supplier. Dogs did awesome on it. really noticed it this spring on bear. They take longer to get back in to shape and still don't have the energy on those hard running bear. Feeding kirkland and they live on it and shit alot

[Sitkaspruce]

Our chessie gets Kirkland C&R and our lab gets GO Chicken, Fruit and Vegtables. They both do well and the GO is really impressive with the young lab.

[Greenhead]

WOW! what a response, and some great info. I have two labs, 3 and 6 years old and they get worked hard this time of year! have learned alot on this thread so far so keep it coming.
GH

[Islandali]

Hi all,

For those of you that have aging dogs with joint stiffness and pain there is a suppliment called Green Lipped Muscle that is amazing! A friend had a lab that was 10+ years and was very stiff and sore...he had trouble getting up and down and couldn't do more than a few stairs at a time.
She put him on a vet food that had the green lipped muscle and she got another good 1 1/2 from him where he was doing stairs with no trouble and had good mobility.
I am sure with a little poking around the internet you could find the powdered form of it.
It would also be great for the body soreness in hunting dogs.
Here is a little blurb about it:
The green-lipped mussel is a shellfish from Australia and New Zealand. The mussel flesh is powderized and supplemented as a source of chondroitin and other glycosaminoglycans. The glycosaminoglycans maintain and rebuild connective tissue such as cartilage, tendons and ligaments as well as reduce inflammation, which results in reduced joint pain and stiffness, less inflammation, and quicker recovery from exercise and injury.
Just thought that I would share a little known product that seems to have big results...
Cheers,
Alisha

[Walker]

I feed my dogs Mountain Dog food. Its a raw diet without all the work of mixing the ingredients yourself. It comes all blended and you just need to weigh it out come time to feed the dogs. I buy mine from a supplier here in Cobble Hill. When I changed I saw a huge improvement in my dogs both in the look and performance. I also have a lot less to clean up in the kennels. I find that the cost is not much more than the kibble was before. If anyone is interested please PM me and I will give you the name of the supplier.

Al

[Islandali]

I feed some Mountain Dog Food...but I make my own fruit/veggie mixes.
Another great source is Buddies Natural Pet Foods in Saanich...at KeatingsX Road. They have great butcher blocks that have a mix of meats(turkey necks, lamb and beef) plus the organs and fruit and veggies...I just add some Salmon or herring oil and the odd time a dollop of plain yogurt as well as a little sprinkle of kelp powder and my dogs are good to go....literally.... their energy level for the dog sports is so much better than when they ate kibble.
I also feed Pro-Zyme a couple of times a month just to help with the enzymes used for proper digestion.
Buddie's also has many other items....some overprices but the butcher blocks are a pretty good price.
Cheers,
Alisha

[TPK]

What ever you look at as a choice, make sure that CORN is not in the first three ingredients. Dogs process corn as good as we do ... which is not at all.