best dog food

[educk]

I recently purchased a 2 year old hunting lab.I was wondering what dog food most of you guys feed your hunting labs.She is being kept in a kennell outside in Ga.She is being hunted and worked about 4 times a week.She is on ol roy high protein now but my neighbor said I need to switch to a food with more meat than grains.

[bear]

I have had good experience with Sciene Diet with 4 Labs. Follow the feeding instructions to avoid feeding too much. It does not take but 2 cups for a 80 lb. dog per day.

[Ringbill]

I have done some research on this in the past. The premium foods, like Science Diet and Iams are great foods, but expensive. There is a brand called Diamond that is made by a former employee of Iams I believe, and it is a GREAT food. Good nutritional info is avaliable on each type they carry, and my lab Tule is very healthy on it, with a great looking coat. Best of all it is probably not much more in price than old Roy, maybe $18/40lbs. Most feed stores/coop's carry it.

Ringbill

[timberjack]

You are probably going to get as many different answers as you do posts. Here is my 2 cents worth. I raise Mountain Cur squirrel dogs and coon dogs so I have alot of experience with different dog feeds. I have found that you are better off during the hunting season to go ahead and spend a little more money and get the good feed. You can tell how much your dog is getting out of his feed by looking at the waste left in the pen. If you're feeding a cheap feed then you'll have to wash your kennel out about twice as often. If you feed the good feed you'll start to notice that it doesn't go through your dog as much. My personal favorite is a feed made by Nutrina called Pro Energy or PE for short. It is a 28-12 fat to protein ratio. It costs me $17 for a 50lb bag but it is worth it because the dogs don't eat as much and I don't have to wash my pen out but every 2 or 3 days. The dogs just look and hunt better as long as they've been wormed and are otherwise healthy. Riverrun also makes a good feed, in the red bag , not sure of the ratio but we used to feed it too. Good Luck

[goosebruce]

Purina Pro Plan & Purina One get the nod for me. Eukaneuba is good, but pricey, and lots of dogs gain weight on it, no matter how hard they are worked. If I had a dog I needed to put weight on, Euk would get the nod. Walmart sells a private label called Maximum Nutrition that is an excellent food as well. There are no bargins in dog food, cause the cheaper ones require more food, and make more poop. travis

[chance]

I use Purina One. I like the lamb and rice formula. It cost $25 for a 44 lb. bag at Sams. It does a wonderful job with the dogs coats and keeps the energy level up while maintaining body condition. I feed about two cups a day per dog.

[NOHERE]

ONE OF THE BEST FOODS FOR "WORKING DOGS"
IS PURINA PRO PLAN RICE AND CHICKEN...
IVE FEED MY FIELD TRIAL DOGS THIS FOOD FOR
QUITE SOME TIME...I HAVE SWITCHED TO
RICE AND CHICKEN FROM SAMS CLUB..IF COST
HALF THE PRICE 39 PER BAG TO 18 PER BAG (40LB).

IS HAS THE SAME MAKE-UP AND PROTEIN/FAT
PERCENTAGE AS PRO PLAN...I HAVE NOTICED
THE DOGS PERFORM AND LOOK THE SAME AS THE;Y
DID ON THE OTHER FOOD. I KNOW QUITE A FEW
FIELD TRIAL PROS THAT USE SAM'S RICE AND
CHICKEN.

[chance]

nowhere---i see you are from nesbit ms. if you run field trials you should know Joe and Scott Harp, Charlie and Jan Bunn and Gwen Jones. In fact, you wouldn't happen to live in Bridgetown do you?

[h2o_dog]

The best food is Eukanuba. (period) Designer hamburger meat is less expensive than Eukanuba, therefore I quit buying it when I quit winning it at Hunt Tests.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I feed my labs the MaxNutrition 31%protien/18%fat from WalMart. I use the chicken based version in the shiny green bag. I like the fact that I can get it at 11:30 on Sunday night (when I usually run out). This food produces small stools and nice coats. Most people comment on my dog's coat, so something must be good about it. I called the number on the bag and found that it is 86% digestable which is really the most important consideration for dog food. You'll get at least 100 varying opinions on this, and many people will get fighting mad if anybody questions their dog food. I don't care what folks say, just use the food you like.

[Big Lou]

Eukanuba is my choice I feed both my Labs Performance during hunting season and maintenance during hunt test, training and off season. you can not beat that Omega 5 coat! It will cost more than most other dog foods, but you get what you pay for! Remeber there are no such things as something for nothing! You can buy it online from Eukanuba and save about $10.00 to $15.00 a bag and their shipping is free. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[jebster]

I was in the pet food business for over 10 years. The most respected brand by the expert pet nutritionists is Eukanuba. (I worked for a competitive brand) I feed the high performance variety,. Yes, it is costly. But, if you have a Petsmart nearby you can save a lot. The closest one to me is 45 minutes away, so I buy three, 40 lb. bags at a time. Usually they include a $2.00 coupon in the bag good towards the next purchase. The Ol Roy brand is belly filler, nothing more. The premium food sold at Sams is, however, very good, perhaps the best value for money out there.

What you feed your dog is extremely important. It determines how long and how well he will live. All foods are not equal, some are lousy. With almost no exceptions, the more you pay, the better the food.

[Jeff]

After tryin a bunch of foods to find one that Lacey really liked, Science Diet got the nod. She eats it like a horse and her poop and everythig else are great with it, except when the poop is in the boat YUK! Anyways I like SD, but pro plan and the others mentioned are all supposed to be good foods.

[CaptnT]

I used to think there was no difference in dog food, I used to feed my dog Ol' Roy because it has almost the exact same content as regular Purina. Then a buddy of mine showed me the light. He worked for Iams, and sold me damaged bags of Eukanuba for $10. My dogs coat almost immediately became more glossy, his energy level improved (during hunts), and his piles of "doo" are harder and smaller. I was impressed.

Then my buddy moved away and I was forced to spend that $30-$40 on a bag. I visited a local co-op, and a fellar there recommended the "Diamond" brand. I have seen the same results at half the price.

The main thing to consider when buying feed is the ingredients. They are listed in order of content, meaning the first ingredient listed is the most abundant in the feed. Look for one with beef, chicken, or even lamb as the first ingredient. Corn is the other ingredient to look for. Make sure you find one with AS LITTLE of corn as possible. It goes right through your dog and does little for nutrition, its mostly filler. Plus it makes those HUGH piles of "doo" we all like seeing, stepping in, smelling. If your dogs "doo" is light colored, and there is alot of it, it may be because of the high corn content in the feed.

That said, I am certainly no expert, your results may vary. [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[sondance]

I have fed all of the afore mentioned dog foods. Started w/ the Old Roy cause it was cheap and I am a cheap B@$%@*D. My dogs coat looked and smelled bad. I read an article in Gun Dog magazine about dog food. The long and short of it was look at the ingredients. The first item listed is what is mostly in the feed. Dog are carnivoirs it makes since to feed them meat and not corn. I switched to Diamond and the coat problem cleared up in about 2 weeks. Not to mention less and smaller stools. Even though a premium feed may cost a little more you save because you can cut back on the quantity you feed. Right now I feed the Sam's and Walmart brands just so long as meat, chicken or fish is the first ingredient. During hunting season I jump up to a high pro diet and switch back to maintanence in the Spring. ALL the posts that preceed are giving you good advice from my personal experience. Although, my dogs seem to like the flavor of chicken better than anything. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[h2o_dog]

I agree that Diamond is good food for the money. I used to feed it, but I couldn't get the feller at the feed store to open up at 10:00 on Sunday night. I think the MaxNutrion is equally good for about the same price as Diamond. Digestability is the key to finding a good food.

The primary ingredient (first in the list of ingredients) should be meat/chicken of some kind - not corn! not rice! Another thing, "brewers" rice has already been pressed for beer, so it is nothing but filler in a dogfood.

Those corn stools are NASTY!