I USE PURINA PRO PLAN, BUT THAT IS WHAT MY BREEDER RECOMMENDED IT ALL DEPENDS ON PREFERANCE AND HOW ACTIVE YOUR DOG IS.

I'm a Veterinary Tech I feed IAMS.

Have U ever looked into different brands of foods? What they have in them and what not. You can find Iams and Purina anywhare. Have u ever looked at an actual pet food store and looked at some of the foods they sell? They have alot less brewers rice and less grains in them and just alot beter ingreedients. But does it really mater that much?

I feed my black lab Iams Large Breed/and at one year he is still growing. 70 pounds now, the breeder and vet said he would be 60 pounds max...

I buy high protien food from Bryant grain in Aledo, Tx.I had an Alaskan husky that lived 17 years in good health. That is the only feed that I bought. He got some table food and always got venison scraps when I brought a deer home. I now have a cow dog mix and feed him the same. The food cost less than $20 for 50 pounds. My wife had a cat which she fed only Science Diet.  At about one year of age the cat died with kidney trouble. Science diet publicly admitted that they had a problem in their food that caused kidney trouble.

I have been happy with Native, they have different levels, 1,2,3,4, with more fat and protein as you go up. Level 2 has been plenty for my wirehairs and my friends springers as well. I do believe good quality ingredients are important.

My first dog I fed Iams lamb and rice his whole life. He had to be put down in July because of a tumber on his lower jaw at the age of 9. Ill always wander if I would have fed him beter food if that would have changed things or not. Probly not i am geussing but who knows. I thought Iams was a good choice till a friend of mine told me to start looking into beter dog foods. I didnt know there were "better" foods out there only the ones i saw at walmart and cub foods. I have heard a lot of people mention the Native brand food Ill have to look into that stuff. I have also been looking at " Tast of the wild" suppose to be grain free and have alot of meat in it.

Orion4 sorry to hear about your dog. What breed was it? Some breeds are predisposed to tumors. What kind of tumor? Osteosarcoma?

If you're as old as I am you remember Alpo advertising that their food was 100% meat. Problem was that a diet of 100% meat means a malnourished dog.Organ meat or as labeled meat by products is where all the vitamins and mierals a dog needs are found. These vitamins and minerals are also found in rice and other non meat products.

There is a formula we use to figure out the amount of food to feed a dog. It takes into account the dogs age activity level etc. If anyone is interested let me know and I'll dig it out. Dogs aren't people dogs utilize fat in their diet differently than we do. Fat is more calories per gram than ingrediants in food fat also equals flavor.

Before going hunting do not feed your dog he feels the same way you do after a meal. Do you want to go out and run your butt off after a meal? NO! You want to lay back on the couch with the remote. Its OK to give a dog 1/4 of his daily food but not a full meal.

Overweight dogs (and cats) are a result of too many treats and table scraps. Worst thing you can feed. Onions cause heinz bodies in red blood cells which diminish the bloods ability to transport oxygen.

Thats good advice I never feed my dogs the morning before a hunt. Except some times if it is cold out and I am duck hunting but even then I dont give them the full amount. I usually put a few little milk bones in my pocket and give them some through out the day for being good. He was a Black lab and Im not sure what kind of tumor it was it was on the bone of his lower jaw.

Sounds like an osteosarcoma in the bone. It was a malignant neoplasia. Neoplasia is the term for any abnormal growth(tumor) they can be malignant or benign. When its really cold feed a little bit of something high in fat as dogs metabolize fats quickly.

Country Vet

Have you looked at the stuff in food like Kibbles and Bits. Purina, Iams, Petagree. Its all junk. Hardly any good things. Just filler and stuff that food prep places would have thrown away.

WRONG with the exception of kibbles and bits which is garbage. IAMS and Purina are both good foods. Trouble is most people just throw food in the bowl when you really need to measure out a daily ration.

NO it is not WRONG . Take a look at what is in it. Mostly filler. The Main ingredients are corn, gluten meal, flouer and brewers rice. NONE of whitch are good for dogs.

I’m no expert. My Vet told me to look at the first 5 ingredients listed. Out of those 5 ingredients 3 need to be protein based (a meat or meat byproduct). He seems to be of the opinion that regardless of price all modern dog foods were equally adequate except for this one criteria.

My Breeder recommended Purina Puppy Chow for the first year and Old Roy Performance during periods of high activity like hunting season or off-season training.

Both the Vet and the Breeder suggested no table scraps, but occasional treats were ok.

Right now my German Shorthair pup is still on the Puppy Chow (8 months).

My old Shorthair Pointer spent her life on local made performance dog food purchased through a feed store (very cheap). I don’t know exactly how old she was when she died (10+ years), but she was never in need of a Vet for anything more than shots until she was caught in a house fire. Complications from her injuries ended up doing her in about 16 months later.

Depending on the table scraps they are probly beter than some of the foods out there. I would never feed my dog Old Roy anything and Purina is crap too. Take a look at dogfoodanalysis.com Purina Puppy Chows First ingredients are. Corn, chicken by product meal, corn gluten meal ( basicly left over corn that has already had all the neutrients taken out of it basicly scrap) brewers rice, (witch is basicly the left over of rice that has had all of its neutrients takent out of it for human use) Thouse are the first 4 and main ingredients prity BAD in my book. Old Roy isnt much beter. Check out the web site and take alook at some of the foods. There are alot out there that are not that much more expencive than the everyday brands and have alot beter ingredients in them. The Food I use is Premium Edge. Its not the best you can buy. If I could aford beter I would get beter stuff. But the first ingredients are Lamb, lamb meal, whole grain rice, cracked barley, oatmeal, millet, egg product. Not that impressive but atleast the first 2 ingredients are MEAT and the other to are whole grains not just FILLER.

Went out and online to do some extensive research into dog foods. First off the ingredients label of dog food is meaningless. What you need to look at is the gauranteed analysis this gives you the big three in foods protien carbohydrates and fat per gram. That is absolutely all you need to consider in feeds.
1 gram of protien = 5 kilo calories
1 gram carbs = 5 kilo calories
1 gram fat = 9 kilo calories
These sould be fairly well balanced you will notice the gauranteed analysis is given in percentile. The percent of contents should fall in an ascending order protien lowest carbs next and fat highest. dogs utilize fat differently than humans as they burn available fat first humans don't. The other thing that is good to know is ash content ash is anything not protien carbs or fat. Ash is what comes out the opposite end the food goes in. The higher the ash content the bigger pooper scooper you need. But as it applies to owners the higher ash content means the more you have to feed to insure a well nourished dog. This also means you have to buy 50lbs of food more often which just lines the pockets of the manufacturer. Inversly low ash content means that 50lb bag lasts longer.

Now we come to the part of the bags instructions that is usually WRONG. That is how much to feed by weight of the dog. While weight of the dog is part of the overall equation its not the be all end all of nutrition. Take two Labs same age(age can be a factor in equation) Lab A lays around in the house most of the day until he's taken for a walk. Lab B is out running circles in the yard out in a duck blind chasing downed ducks in 35F water. Who needs more calories? Activity level must be considered in any feeding plan as well as age.

Now if you want to make your own food start with a chicken kill it pluck it and throw the rest through a grinder. Remember your dog and a coyote/fox are canines. When you find a turkey killed by them what is left behind? Basically feathers and blood are all you find. Why? Because the only part of that bird that doesn't have some nutritional value are feathers. Canines eat to meet their nutrional needs

Table scraps and treats when given as an extra to proper feeding = fat dogs. Don't get me wrong table scraps and treats are ok in moderation. As a daily ration not good. Some of the things on our table are a no no for dogs. Oh they love them but don't give them. Big no no ONIONS!!!! Onions cause Heinz bodies in the red blood cells(RBC). Any inclusions in RBCs diminishes the amount of hemoglobin in a cell less hemoglobin less O2 that cell can absorb. The larger the heinz bodies the less O2 the blood can carry. Lying around the couch it may not be a big deal but out chasing birds et al big deal because it will lower the dogs PaO2 or the bloods oxygen saturation which in a normal healthy animal should be 98%-100% no matter how hard they are working. A healthy non smoker at rest PaO2 98%-100% A smoker Pao2 93%-97% So who gets to the top of the hill first given everything else is equal?

Now a quick lesson in assesing your dogs fitness. When you rub his/her side can you feel the slight bumps that are the ribs? While standing on all fours can you see a well defined waist? Answering no to these questions means you have an overweight dog. If you can just barely see the outline of the ribcage this is a good thing if the ribs are visible and well defined you need to increase the amount of food to start by half a cup.

DISCLAIMER These are just general guiedlines. Without seeing and interacting with your dog I can't give a educated assesment of your animal. Also dogs vary from breed to breed what is normal for breed A may be malnourised for breed B

Thank you for your post Gutpile. So what do you think of foods like Tast of the Wild compared to the big store foods like Purina, Iams, and Old Roy. The Big store foods might have a good amount of protien but all that is in it is corn gluten and brewers rice. Whitch has no nutreints in it at all. How can the ingredients not play any part? I look at "Tast of the Wild" food and I see Bison, venison, lamb meal, sweet potatoes , peas, potatoes, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries. NONE of whitch are in the "big store" foods.

Thanks for the research gutpile. I found it helpful.