Hi everyone, Here we go again, but........................( no wars please)
I think dog food preferences go in fads. At the moment, loads of people are raving about the BARF diet. A few years ago it was Eukanuba. Before that all the vets were pushing Vitalin and telling clients how wonderful it was. Now vets push Hills of all decsriptions, a pretty penny in their pocket no doubt. In my humble opinion, if your dog is healthy, enjoys its food and looks good on it, why change?
To quote an old saying.....If its not broke, dont mend it"

Hi Philippa
I've only got my first dog last November and fed him what the breeder told me to. I am changing now through reading different posts on here about BARF because they wont eat dried food and if I force them I know they are not enjoying themselves. Also I have stupidly let Barney get overweight so I am hoping to straighten out my feeding patterns for the future. I agree with you about the fads over the years so it is nice that it is easy for me at the moment as I havent had a dog long enough to worry about them yet :D
Regards Gina

Hi Gina, Good luck with getting your dog back to a nice trim figure. As you say, you havnt got any comparisons to make really,lucky old you
I have fed my crew the same way for the last 20 years and have no intention of changing, now, or in the future, so lucky me I suppose too.

That is why I like this site so many people liek you have so much advice to give to us learners .
Barney has lost 7lbs so far but I am sure his new diet is better for him than cooked boiled chicken and he manages to leave every grain of rice or pasta in the bowl which I added to give him a little bit of carbo, so I am glad I feel good about giving him what I hope will be a well balanced diet and all the chewing will keep him busy and away from fattening treats.

Going to get the Weightwatchers programme that Issysmum has so I can lose some weight myself - dont fancy the BARF diet for me :D :D

Might even give up smoking and drinking.... well first things first :D

Gina

Oooooo gina, giving up smoking, drinking, AND going on a diet.Ouch!!!!

On second thoughts just the diet to begin with (I start every Monday anyway) :D

...........and it lasts till Monday lunch time lol

ha ha exactly :D

We must be the only ones with food fads tonite (I've just finished my Sunday lunch LOL)

Gina

The dogs I grew up with were all fed on raw meat and home cooking. They only ever went to the vet for a booster and rabies jab. ALL of them. I don't recall any sickness other than a serious adverse reaction to a snake bite once which was touch and go and very scary.
My dogs have had one thing after another over the years - skin complaints, digestive problems. I've had a torsion and various allergies. I've now got dogs on different diets. Two on complete foods and one home cooking (BARF - sort of! with my own variations)
lol - not sure what my point is exactly, but it's too much of a chew on to be faddish. It's what works for them and it's taken me years in one case to get where I am with her diet now. I find the one with the skin problems only does well on Nutro. Another won't eat Nutro at all. BARF is good but time consuming.
I only wish it was that simple to be able to find something and stick with it. I guess most people want what's best for their dogs and if they don't have any health problems but think that something else may be better anyway then I don't blame them for giving it a go!! Who knows - they may get superior results