dog food

[woodiewacker]

ok i know this a call forum but i know 90% of waterfowl hunters also have dogs so what i am wondering is what dog food you guys feed your best hunting buddies, because i have a 2 year old lab that i can't get him to gain wait to save my life the vet says he is a little under weight but he is healthy as a horse literaly and i feed what i thought was a good food iams but i would like him to gain a couple pounds and with hunting season just under 2 weeks away i would like to start doing everything i can for him if you have any suggestion i would be very great full to hear them

[KILLER KENNY]

I, do'nt have a dog anymore :( But when I did, he got what i thought
was the best for him. The brand of food was Kent.. @ 27% protien it was
made for working dogs. Was getting it at a local feed mill.. I later had to
switch because the owners put up a NO Concealed Carry sign on the door
I told'em just have to take my bussiness elsewhere! I'm pro 2nd AMD...
could'nt find the Kent dog food anywhere, but i found a wonderfull substitute... it was Sports Mix same 27% protien, my dog had no problem
with the switch. and the owners of this place had the same intrests as myself, huntin,reloading,and kill'n
I'm still doing bussiness with them even though i do'nt have a dog....
Oh yeah, my dog was a chocolate lab- male.. 125-135 lbs. solid muscle
my vet called him a horse.. sorry about rambling on, but that whole deal
with the feed mill, still leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. Give these brands a try.. They're chaeper too! around $15-17 bucks for 50#

[rushcreekganderlander]

I've always fed my dogs Purina Pro Plan. It's expensive but I think it's the best dog food. I used to feed performance formula but now breed adult large breed formula to my labs. The large breed is 26% protien 12% fat whereas the performance I think was 30/10%. My labs aren't huge but my one female is around 90 lbs. She doesn't look that heavy but she is built really nice. She's the one in my picture and also the daughter of Killer Kenny's old dog. Pro plan is very pro hunting as well. They sponser a lot of dog trials and stuff.

[HRK]

i agree pro plan or iams! if ya really want to put some weight on it fast try burger king 4 times aday including a large french fry (just kiddin)

[Richie]

I have always used science diet large breed for my 2. I have a german shorthair and a lab. The protein is 21-22% and fat is 13%. I like the little bit of extra fat since they are out running for about 2-3 hours a night. Little extra reserve energy. The shorthair had no problem gaining weight and my lab i actually got from a guy recently and needed to lose about 15 pounds and he's down about 7-8 so far. I think its all in how much you give them. You will see in the better foods compared to the cheaper foods that when they go number 2 that there is less waste with a quality food. Meaning they utilize the food better. Anyhow to gain weight, try just adding a 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra of food when you feed your dog. Try to stay away from table scraps or snacks. All the foods mentioned here are good foods. Just my opinion.

[Illini Graphics]

Call the shop and ask if they have any Extreme Fuel. It is a new type of dog food on the market. It is produced by a company called Nutri Source. All levels of the dog food's nutritional value are higher than Eukanuba, they do however balance out on the Omega-3. Price is comparable to any higher end dog food, but it is cheaper that Eukanuba and Pro Plan.

[njhonker]

I use Pro Plan....its a great product...but there's alot of "good" dog foods out there...I would just recomend that you pick a well known reputable brand...stay away from "store" brands or BJ's or Sam's Club type stuff...

yea, its cheap..but its cheap for a reason.....

[DEADEYE]

Pro plan is the only food my green headed corn grinder finder eats. :lol:

[woodiewacker]

yeah thanks guys for all the insight to what you feed your dogs i have tried the all natural nutro high energy and it has a 30/20 split and i know that is recomended i am not going to swap to something like diamond or some crap like that my buddy tried to get me to feed that and i told him no i feed iams and then like a week later they came out with that press release that said there crapy food was killing dogs and i said told ya so but anywho thanks for the suggestion i think i might go back to nutro anybody have any bad things to say about them

[mlgorecki]

Woodiewacker. I feel your pain. I went through the same thing with Scout when he was younger.

A couple of things:

Hunters Ridge Kennel. You could probably back me up on some of this, being a breeder and all:

1st of all, your Lab will continue to grow and gain weight until he is 3 years old. My Scout went from 85 lbs to 93 lbs from years two to three (check out his physique in the pic).

2nd, how much are you running and/or swimming him? If you're training him like you're the Great Santini (an old Robert Duvall movie, if you're too young to know what I'm talking about), you might want to up his food intake.

This brings me to number 3: If he's a picky eater, like Scout, then feed him whatever quality dry food (important for his teeth) he will eat like a vacuum cleaner. For Scout, it's Purina Pro Plan, Performance. During weeks where I'm working him hard, I'll supplement an egg fried in olive oil into his diet once a week.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n265/mlgorecki/Scoutriver.jpg

[take em 302]

give him pro plan and mix with raw eggs and meaty moist dog food yat will give nice shiny coat of fur and help healthly gain weight...... p.s. when switching food for first few days most dogs have diareheath raw

[SMOKE]

started with iams but she got to where she wouldnt eat it so now shes on proplan

[HRK]

yep ill back ya up on that (mlgorecki) you want a food with a higher protein for energy an a low fat content 10-13% dont look for a food with alot of crap in it, pro plan, iams uekenuba, premiun grades, dogs tend to burn alot of energy exersizing and hunting hard, but you do need to keep some crude fat for reserves ,so during hunting and exersizing they tend to eat more,during the off season cut them back a little to keep them up to par, its easier to gain weight then lose it

[duckmanIII]

Pro Plan Performance all the way. I tried Science Diet when my dog was a young pup and it gave him the shttts so bad I had to take him off it. Pro Plan is the best in my opinion.

[Illini Graphics]

Team Realtree's Extreme fuel also has a couple other products beyond dog food. They have a powder mix that is somewhat like Gatorade for dogs - works real well in the summer training months and likewise in the dove fields. My black labs really enjoyed their colored water on the dove hunts.
Second, Extreme Fuel also has energy bars - these things are great. They are different from the Purina style power bars, they are smaller and provide an excellent boost for your dogs. The best part about them is if you are traveling, sometimes your dog will not eat much after a long ride in the back of the truck, but he will never turn one of these treats