Why THAT feed?

[Stoneface]

I was wondering what you guys feed, but mainly WHY you feed it. What about that feed makes you happy?

I'm not looking for an argument or anything, but I'm not a fan of any of the foods popularly fed to birddogs. Black Gold, Diamond, Purina... I saw a dog run in October that was really an outstanding dog and just as lean and in shape as could be - in short, the dog is a well cared for. I asked the owner what he feeds and he said Diamond. My point is, I don't think just because a dog eats food that costs less than $500 a bag he's going to magically turn into a slovenly excuse for a birddog, but I just don't like the foods. I mean, my brother eats three square meals a day of Taco Bell, Subway and McDonald's and is about the same stature as a block building and is going to college on a full-ride basketball scholarship.

I put a lot of time researching the ingredients and processes of how different foods are made, picked the ones that I could afford then tested them on my dogs to see which the dogs did better on. I wound up really liking Blue Buffalo and Taste of The Wild, but usually go with Taste of The Wild.

How about you guys?

[jcbuttry8]

There are plenty on here that will get into ingredients with you. I will not. I have tried several with Kona. The best I have found for her is Annamaet. I let her make the decision. It was the best I have found that she finishes everything I give her and she seems to look good on it. I run her somewhere between 2 and 4 times a week and she runs up to 1 1/2 hours from the quad and on foot. She gets 3 to 4 cups a day. She gets a Red Solo Cup full in the am and 3/4 of a cup in the evening. She eats it well and seems to look good on it. Just look at the avatar. She is not by any means doing bad. I use the blue bag. 32%

Joe

[Stoneface]

She sure is one good lookin' pup. Enjoyed those training day photos.

[slistoe]

Of all the feeding trials I have run on the dogs over the years I have concluded that corn and chicken by products are the best things for fueling bird dogs.

[bossman]

Since I can't get Annameat in Texas, have no first hand experience with it, but heard nothing but good things about it. If it were available, I'd sure give it a try. Currently feed and am happy with Eagle Pack Power that I special order from a"Pets Plus" store in Dallas. Dogs look good, have pleanty of stamina. As we take the three dogs back to Kansas in the AM for four days, will have another chance to see how they do.. Eagle Pack Power is by far the best that is available in my area, imo.

[DonF]

I have mostly fed Pedigree for the past 20 some years. My dog's have always done well on it, they like it and I can get it anywhere I go. I think the best I ever fed was Biscuit but I had to order it by the ton to get it. Every dog that I had on it would pick it out of their bowl when I switched them over to it. Big problem was getting it. I either had to carry it with me or change feed when I went off for several days.

[Crestonegsp]

We feed Purina Pro Plan, good food and the GSP on the Performance bag is a show dog we bred, CH Crestone Armed And Dangerous. The real reason is the Pro we use feeds it and it is easy when dogs come home and go back. Purina also supports FTs and you can get money back for Vet visits.

[art hubbard]

I feed Diamond Extreme Athlete, 32% pro 25% fat. No corn, no wheat, no soy. Feed less clean up less. Coats shine like a mirror with lots of stamina. A little pricey but pays off in the long run.

[jasonw99]

anamate is awesome food just pricey. I know i spelled that wrong. I use loyalle for two reasons price and ease of aquiring.

[dan v]

I think what a person feeds is dependent on a few variables. The number of animals being fed is one of them, cost and cost per feeding are two more. Activity level of the animals is another, age comes into play as well.

[CHJIII]

I feed what I can afford for 9 dogs. Fed ProPlan for a long time. They outpriced themselves. Been feeding Loyall for the last 2-3 years. Now they've outpriced themselves. Will wait until after hunting season to switch again. Probably go Propac or diamond.

Taste of the Wild is Diamond's brand. They have a newer product called Premium Edge. It is priced between TOW and regular Diamond.

[Susie]

I wound up really liking Blue Buffalo and Taste of The Wild, but usually go with Taste of The Wild. How about you guys?

Ditto on Taste of the Wild but during the winter months I feed raw. My crew does better on foods that have meat as the main protein source rather then grains. Another benefit is they maintain their weight on less food so there is less to clean up LOL

[bigsugar]

I feed Diamond Extreme Athlete, 32% pro 25% fat. No corn, no wheat, no soy. Feed less clean up less. Coats shine like a mirror with lots of stamina. A little pricey but pays off in the long run.

We feed the same thing - Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete. Where we get it, it's only a couple dollars more than Diamond High Energy - which we were feeding. We have fed Pro Plan - we were happy with it until they went to messing with the ingredients and formula, then each bag of food had a different smell and color. There was no consistancy among bags. We fed Eukanuba - we liked it, but it was expensive to buy at the local Orschlen's (the only place that carried it around here) and the company we were having deliver it to us, was raising their delivery rates, bag prices, and their delivery guy wasn't the most reliable. So, we talked the local feed store into carrying Diamond Extreme Athlete. We really like the dogs all around performance on this feed.

[Kmack]

Have been feeding PPP but with the plan to add another dog or two I'm going to have to cut costs. We have an elevator in the small town where I live and they carry Victor Premium Hi Pro Plus for about half of what I pay for Pro-Plan. Plus, everything I have read about it sounds good. I have a bag waiting in line when I feed the last of the Pro-Plan.

This decision was made based on quality of ingredients, opinions of others who feed it, price, local availability, and ultimately how the dogs do on the feed. I won't continue it if the dogs don't do well.

[ezzy333]

I have fed Diamond now for several years and can honestly say it is the best food for the money on the market. But there are a lot of good feeds to choose from so make sure you pick one that is readily available, you can afford, and the dog likes. Do that and you are feeding the best feed you can find. And once you find it stick with it and don't start chasing rainbows, since you will never find a better food for your dog.

Just recently I was sent a dog food to try so I set up a feed test. The food I tested is a good feed, the dogs seemed to like it, and I had absolutely no trouble with it other than it did seem to produce some really rank gas. The other dogs stayed on the Diamond HE. I fed the exact same amount and over the six week period the dog on the new feed lost 2 pounds of weight but with the colder weather and increased exercise I do not see that as significant yet. The only real difference was the cost, as the test feed is almost twice what the Diamond costs. It does appear like I might have more problem with keeping the dogs condition up as we continue to get colder and exercise more but it has no corn and I have found that to be a problem with high energy dogs.

Ezzy

[Chukar12]

I feed PPP and it works well for me and most I know with multiple dogs feed that or Loyall. When the cost comes up it always makes me wonder...I cannot come to grips with the price difference...
My two males eat 2 cups a day and my females eat 1...in cold and heavy winter work I splash about 20 % more on there.
So with 4 dogs I feed an average of 6 cups per day.
There are roughly 5 cups per pound of food.
For sake of argument the food costs me $1.10 per pound without taking out any Pro Cub incentive.
So...I feed 1.2 pounds per day @ $1.10 or a total cost of $1.32 per day x 365 days per year an annual cost of $482 for 4 dogs

[Buckeye_V]

We have beat this dead horse about 1000 times on here. There are lots of OPINIONS on what is best and not true facts and what is actually best. What is best is what you want to pay for the food that your dogs do well on.

I happen to be currently be feeding them a VEGAN diet that PETA recommends. It's the best. No doubt

[CHJIII]

We have beat this dead horse about 1000 times on here. There are lots of OPINIONS on what is best and not true facts and what is actually best. What is best is what you want to pay for the food that your dogs do well on.

I happen to be currently be feeding them a VEGAN diet that PETA recommends. It's the best. No doubt

Plants have feelings too.............................

[Elkhunter]

I was feeding Sportmix for awhile, but then the place I got it from was always inconsistent on the supply. So I switched to Kirkland and will have to see how the dogs do.

[MikeB]

FYI.... Premium Edge has been out for many years by Diamond. I used to feed it in the early 90's. Excellent food.

[Hunter]

I feed all my GSPs Pzazz dog food, number one I can buy it cheap and all my dogs look great on it as well as perform well at trials and in the field. Shorta
hairs are tough dogs to keep weight on and this is the only feed I have found that does that consistantly. I have fed Purina Pro Plan ( too expensive if you feed allot of dogs ), Diamond, Kasco, Black Gold and Native ( way to expensive and loose stools). If my dogs didnt perform well in the field and have great stamina thruout then I would be feeding it but that is definately not the case here. Another plus is nice solid stools as I hate cleaning messy kennels.

[Cajun Casey]

I feed Diamond Premium because there's half a ton of it in my warehouse, ProPlan Performance to the hard keepers and whatever the delivery people tear up the packaging on.

[edb]

Mine have been on Enhance Professional now for about 3 weeks. Good results and no loose stools after roading. I also have a pup on the new professional puppy and he is growing well also. Prior was feeding Nutrisource but was driving 40 minutes one way so had to switch. No complaints with Enhance yet