Dog food

[Anonymous...]

Sorry if it's been covered but can someone recommend a dry feed for a 12 month old border collie, currently being schooled on sheep, I've been told to be wary of the protein content, the chap who started his schooling fed him cobbydog but it looks to be very high in protein
Also how long a training session should I be giving him

Many thanks

 

[Dry Rot]

Can't advise about the food (I always fed meat) and my experience is mostly with gundogs, but training sessions should stop long before they get tired! I've seen more than one promising young dog spoilt with too much work while his brother, laid up in the kennel for some reason, surpasses him when he is next brought out and is fit to run. Work should be a privilege, not a duty.

 

[Anonymous...]

Can't advise about the food (I always fed meat) and my experience is mostly with gundogs, but training sessions should stop long before they get tired! I've seen more than one promising young dog spoilt with too much work while his brother, laid up in the kennel for some reason, surpasses him when he is next brought out and is fit to run. Work should be a privilege, not a duty.

Must have run him a bit to much this afternoon, he just lost interest all of a sudden,
I usually give two 15 to 20 min sessions most days, but went out 3 times today

 

[Spartacus]

We feed csj 20% protein to ours.

 

[Gator]

Ours get Arkwright's complete

Product Brand: Arkwrights
Type: Working
Life Stage: Adult
Protein Source: Animal Derivatives
Arkwrights Complete Beef Dog Food is a complete diet designed to suit adult working dogs that enjoy a distinctive beef flavour. This food features easily digestible proteins, beneficial fibres & a selection of carbohydrates that dogs can use as a reliable source of energy.

• Complete diet for adult dogs
• Easily digestible source of protein
• Beneficial fibres improve gut health

Composition

Cereals, meat and animal derivatives (minimum 4% beef), oils and fats & minerals.

Analytical Constituents

Crude protein 18%, crude oils & fats 7.3%, crude fibres 3% & crude ash 6%

 

[Dry Rot]

I used to know a canine behaviourist who has since become quite famous. He used to work for one of the major pet food companies and his job was to work out how to get dogs to eat more without putting on weight so they'd sell more! He once told me that a good brand of pig food would probably be better! But he didn't tell me which one. Weaner rations?

 

[ffukedfarmer]

I feed my collie on a grain free complete food. I tried him on the cheaper cereal foods but they would without fail make him sh!t through the eye of a needle.

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Be wary of cheap dog foods, as they often contain a lot of cereal bulk and plant proteins. Neither of these are natural foods for dogs.

Look for something with a good balance of carbs & protein. Rice is a good alternative if your dog doesn't get on with wheat.

Always stop training before the dog gets bored (not easy).

At the first sign that your dog is losing interest, give up and do something else.

Pups have short attention spans, training should always be fun for both of you. Sometimes just ten minutes is plenty.

Training should be a game for the dog, not an hour of stress and frustration. Training should be reward based with positive reinforcement, not some sort of boot camp.

 

[foobar]

It's not the protein levels that you have to worry about so much, it's the carbs. And they don't put that on the label, you have to work it out: %carbs = 100 - %protein - %fat/oils - %ash - %moisture (you ignore the %fibre I think)
http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory is a handy site that review/compares many common dog foods, but not all working food yet.

 

[Fleeced]

As dogs only digest minimal carbohydrate the better foods are those with less carbohydrate. Carbs are generally fillers in kibble. The ingredients list is listed in order of greatest volume so the better foods should have the protein listed first and should be a good source of protein ie animal based not plant and specific animal rather than 'meat derivatives'. The cheaper foods contain high filler content like wheat, rice,maize, corn,sugar beet, potatoes etc which literally go in one end and come out relatively unchanged from the other causing large, frequent, bulky poos. - often a cause of dogs eating their own faeces.
The site listed gives info on most of the main manufacturers so you can compare and contrast.
As scavengers most dogs will do ok on anything, but will do better on better quality feeds. So many suffer from GI issues due to poor breeding these days.
http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory

 

[ffukedfarmer]

Be wary of cheap dog foods, as they often contain a lot of cereal bulk and plant proteins. Neither of these are natural foods for dogs.

Look for something with a good balance of carbs & protein. Rice is a good alternative if your dog doesn't get on with wheat.

Agree with the above but would add that many dogs have an intolerance to rice. Potato can be used as an alternative source of carbohydrates.

 

[ffukedfarmer]

Agree with the above but would add that many dogs have an intolerance to rice. Potato can be used as an alternative source of carbohydrates.

Apologies that should have been sweet potato.

 

[Qman]

I am feeding this to my new collie pup, what do others think of it?

https://www.millieswolfheart.co.uk/dog-food/60-meat-fish-recipes/farmers-mix

 

[ffukedfarmer]

I am feeding this to my new collie pup, what do others think of it?

https://www.millieswolfheart.co.uk/dog-food/60-meat-fish-recipes/farmers-mix

Looks good to me. Odd though that they don't use beet pulp yet are happy to use potato.

 

[Fleeced]

Millies is a good food, you don't feed much and there's little waste. Overfeeding causes the runs. Having said that my GSD can't eat it as he can't tolerate any starches at all.

 

[Qman]

It amused me that the beef in it was "black Aberdeen Angus beef"!

 

[phillipe]

my girls get chappie mixer with some winalot meat ,they look healthy ,shiny and fit.

 

[Anonymous...]

my girls get chappie mixer with some winalot meat ,they look healthy ,shiny and fit.

One of the collie training websites recommended dr john but the website linked elsewhere slated it!
The training website also recommended a tin of chappie as a cure for dickie tum ( in the dog not the owner )

 

[phillipe]

One of the collie training websites recommended dr john but the website linked elsewhere slated it!
The training website also recommended a tin of chappie as a cure for dickie tum ( in the dog not the owner )

on the food chappie and winalot the tums are perfect,gave the older collie some especially for senior dogs ,crap everywhere,my fault ,trying to spoil her

 

[foobar]

I feed Millies and think it's fab. Perfect small poos.