hi am new to this site and havent owned a dogs for 6 years ,who where both feed on what ever i could pick up at the local shop etc,one 12 and one 16 both terrier types, but at that time there wasnt the internet for me and i was just like most dog owners,or any person brainwashed by adverts and the muti national compaines who still spend more money on advertising then what goes into there products animal or human food, and turn a nice profit .i did think they both lived quite old ages but when i read about wolfs and dingos living to 25 yrs on a natural diet makes u think a bit. Anyways i got a lovely 13 wk min pincsher  cross coming from recuse this week or next ,what with the excitement of a new m8 for me and my moggy ,i want to get things right so i put in alot of hrs on thoughts for training and looking after her .  SO foods become by biggest worry i know a dog can survive on the cheaper brands ,or most adverised but when they add natural on there can and sponser cruffs ,the picture they paint omg next there be telling us to invade iraq lol   
i hate all this spin in the world and lies ,just put my dummy back in , so am i right in saying raw home made up diets are the best ? if u experienced that is which am not so i take that off the menu for her until i am ,dry foods now lovely what a  result no mess comes in abig bag bobs your uncle,how long have these complete dry foods been about ? and wow what a load of crap in these even sold by vets ,its only until u relise the filling materials that go into them ,can a dog be really happy on dried food all his life they must have tease buds too .
i looked at a lot of them and have found this one ,www.canidae.com   but what do u know we cant get it here only the states ,and this timberwolf has any one tried this i know its like 52 quid mainly due to importing it  i think, but compares to all the others seems to have the b est contents of any ive seen ?  so now wet foods naturediet,naturemenu which i changed my moggy to,and natures harvest they all seem to be the best ?   SO FINALLY IF U STILL HERE LOL  once i fouind out whats she on at the moment i want to slowly introduce her to one of these foods naturediet i think,or  timberwolf  on there own ,or can u mix them together , or one morning one lunch one evening ,    Anyways not had a puppy for 22 yrs just a concerned dad and soon to be single puppy parent any other tips be great thk u

Too much choice, is the problem, I can understand the confusion.

We all do different things on here too, so we are all going to confuse you even more.

Myself, I always go for a good quality dry food, it has all the vitamins, minerals, proteins in a balanced diet that a dog needs, and yes, it really is all they need. It keeps their stools small and solid aswell which is a big plus. But as with most the same food, day in day out as owners we feel is boring, so my pups have always had a variation of tastes, srambled egg, chicken, white fish, minced meat with rice for evening meals.

Raw foods, chicken wings etc too.

At the end of the day some foods, may upset your little ones tum too, so you will have to take that into consideration with perhaps a little trial and error.

Always look out for dry foods with lots of colourings in too, they can make your pup hyperactive.

Good luck with your pup.

I think if you feed something the dog will eat, does well on, you can afford and store and it is readily available then what else do you want to do? Only you can answer that so really it is your business what you feed your dogs.

My dogs like and do well on AG but there was a time I had to feed Repnor Gold and they loved that and did well, so I take your point and agree with you, dogs seem to cope despite what they are fed and in most cases do well. I believe a good deal is blamed on food that has other causes, providing your dogs are doing well then that is all you need to know.

PS. think most dog food and diets are designed to appeal to us and not the dogs.

Agree totally, our BC has been on Bents for all his life and the same menu, hes 12 months now. Had to change my CS a few times and he is on Natures Best  occasionally I add something extra but that is really rare. Both coats seem fine, dogs healthy, vet agrees.
I think foods adverts are aimed at owners , if a dog eats pony pooh and dead slugs I do not think they care less as long as they have fresh clean water. Mind you puddles taste good as well!!!

> if a dog eats pony pooh and dead slugs I do not think they care less

lol,

Yep, so many dogs appear to enjoy the most disgusting 'snacks' they find outside!!

i totally agree with all the above We all feed our dogs what we have found to be best for them. A raw diet suits many people & thier dogs, but not others, the same goes for dried foods and everything inbetween.

We were really worried when the cocker had an upset stomach, one morning my husband found a big lump on his side, we squished it and all this goo came out. Rushed him to the vet who examined him, asked if he could shave a patch and shaved off a huge slug which OH and I had squished. When he finished laughing he sent us off home, pup with a bald spot, and didn't charge - felt it was the best laugh he had in ages.
Cocker at this moment is emptying a bin looking for food, they eat awful stuff and we worry about their vitamins. I am happy with a good dried food. A few treats - pigs ear, bulls pizzle etc.  cheese when training. No probs, sometimes we make problems for ourselves, kids get food fads not dogs.

hi thks for the replys everyone ,thinking i feed my pup on burns , ag, naturesdiets,and the odd bit of raw stuff when i looked into it ,i dont want a fussy dog,
that seems to be one problem sorted .  now the living arrangements my cat useds to dogs 12 yr old ginger,who likes to be out all night and sleep on my bed when it pls him ,i got a 2 up 2 down with cat flap dont want to lock moggy in all night ,so puppy in my front room locked in , or with access to stairs and my bedroom .orjust my bedroom  with training pad be ok ? ALSO chewing toys i seen them puppy kona toys or bones ,can u give puppy real bones like knuckles and marrow.,and whats the best treat for his training classes ?  so pigs ear ok for pups and bul prizzle no idea what that is lol  cheese ok for his stomach ?

A bull pizzle is a penis

You can get Canidae here

Cheese is fine for him but not to much, penis is ok too.

we used a crate from day 1 so we always knew where pup was, we used it as his bed room. When pup no 2 arrived he had his own room! We also use one in the back of OH truck. We partially cover it so they do not get a draft and the can just see each other. Both know their "own" Bed, my OH straightens their vet bed and gives them 2 bikkies for bed. When he was away Jake would not get in his bed until the vet bed was straight!! Both are carpeted, when they were little we put a small bed in half and half was toys, the longest we left tem like that was Sainsbury's. If we go out for a few hours now we leave the crates open and the dogs in the kitchen.

No problems at all. When I collected Whistler he had a bit of his mum's bed so it smelt right and he slept about 8 hours!! Jake was the same, but as we had Whistler already he had company and again breeder had prepared a piece of an old towel that smelt right. I really cannot recommend them highly enough, but if you have a small room they are bulky but can fold up all day. Got ours off ebay aroungd £34 big enough for a border collie.

Viv

hi thks peoples but i don think its morally right to give bull pizzle ,from a mans point of view dont want my little bundle of joy licking my face after lol .
yeah i did think about the crate idea and i know it works ,but i play online poker from home and just brought a seat cover for my leather car\seats  my little girl going be spending most of her time with me ,just booked her in to her new school too puppy classes and training twice a week.ALL DAY today i put up fencing puppy proofing my house got the inspection of my house in the morning and pick her up from the mayhew dogs home in the afternoon hopefuly,  like the idea of the famialer smells blanket for her brought her a big cuddly dog and nice bed, also thks for the site for the food dont know whats she on yet ,must get to bed up early cleaning .

hi zarah was just looking at your funny dog pics lol    my pups  mum was a min pinscher but crossed  with god knows she still got here coloured tan boots and face i have to get some pics up ,thks for the food site i think that food look slike it got good content compared to most others do u ?

Tony have a look at http://www.zooplus.co.uk They carry most of the decent brands such as :

Orijen
Timberwolf
Solid gold
Arden grange etc etc

You're right in putting so much time and energy into researching foods and feeding,it is one of THE most important things we can do for our beloved companions.

> just booked her in to her new school too puppy classes and training twice a week.ALL DAY today i put up fencing puppy proofing my house got the inspection of my house in the morning

sounds like your going all out so good for you she's a lucky wee girl. mind and post a pic when she arrives!

Hi, Glad you liked the pics - he's a bit of a clown

I do think Canidae looks like a good food - certainly much better than most of the foods available to buy in this country if you are looking for a more natural food and very well priced considering. I think there are a few people on this board who feed it. You might want to take a look at the analysis on this website. There are also loads of other foods on there, but very few of them are available here - interesting reading though.

Look forward to the pics

hi thks zarah and everyone had the home visit was hoping to pick her up same day , missed the cut off now have to wait till next saturday which is a shame for her and me,but have been watching her and her sis  and staff puppy playing on the webcam at the mayhew dogs home .will pop down and see her durning the week . Also zarah got your dog as my srceen saver just cracks me up every time i turn my pc on lol. 
anyways back to food i think i narrowed down a few good dry ones ,and u can order them on line but i also keep going back to thinking  wet foods taste better such as naturediet,seems to be the top one still got a few days to chew it over .

>thinking  wet foods taste better such as naturediet

I agree,and they are much healthier. There is nothing wrong with feeding just wet food,as long as it's a healthful one,there's no law saying that we HAVE to feed dry food at all

Zarah i just had a look at your profile,and i so agree that Talli is  gorgeous and so obviously full of character

hi ktee nature diet dog food seems to be the best wet food out there for sure ,judging by the people who use this when they cant feed there normalraw diet,am leaning towards using this with maybe the odd hand ful of dry to mix it up a bit.Can puppy s have the odd bone now then and what types ? also exercise 2 X 15 or  30 min walks aday ?

>Can puppy s have the odd bone now then and what types ?

Yep pups can start on raw bones as soon as you want.Knuckle bones,marrow bones,chicken wings/necks,ox tails,whatever you want

As for the exercise, I've never been one to follow the rules.I walked my pups for around the 30 minute mark twice a day when they were young.Yours isn't a large/giant breed,don't know how the recommendations affect the small guys.

cheers ktee

>Also zarah got your dog as my srceen saver just cracks me up every time i turn my pc on lol.

lol, which pic have you got on there? We might have matching monitors Got loads more that I should upload but am very bad when it comes to updating. Look forward to seeing the pics of yours - is she min pin size or was her dad something bigger?

Why not start off with the Naturediet and change around later if you wanted. They do a puppy one (as you've probably already seen) that I've heard people have had very good results with. My Dobe loves ND, although the lamb one tends to be quite rich and gives him dire rear if he has it for more than 3 or 4 days in a row. Remember to keep her on the food that she comes on for a week or so, just until she adjusts to her new home, and then start slowly switching her over.

The general rule people usually go by regarding exercise is 5 minutes per month of age, so 15 mins twice a day would be ok. Like Ktee said, I'm not sure whether it is as important to restrict exercise as much with small breeds though so will let someone else advise

>i just had a look at your profile,and i so agree that Talli is  gorgeous and so obviously full of character

Thanks Ktee

hi zarah the pic i got is the one where he  s laying back on the purple throw,mouth open ears back paws up look like he saying something lol
yeah my pups mom was a min pinscher definately but they dont know what the dad was think the mom got out . look here http://www.mayhewanimalhome.org/adoptmeetandcare/webcams.html  and u she her on web cam 3 with a staff puppy and her last sis.

>laying back on the purple throw,mouth open ears back paws up

One of his favourite sleeping positions

>look here

Oh so sweet! Think I just saw her or her sis taking a pee

The only problem with that website is that its only analysing the foods in America e.g the Pro Plan analysis is done on the Amerian Range which is completely different to the range that is made in the UK and Europe. The UK and European food is of much better quality and is all natural, whereas the American range is more 'basic'. That may be the same for some of the other European brands that are global too - so its worth checking out the local sites for the full analysis details.

I agree with most of the people on here about just trying something and if your dog does well, then just keep it on that. The only issue I see with RAW diets is that there is a lot of information out there, and to do it right and get the absolute correct balance of nutrients, there is a lot that has to be done. You can't just throw in some raw meat and a few veggies, as there is a lot more that the dog needs. This is why for me - a complete dry diet is the best and easiest option as its all balanced and I know nothing is missing that my dog needs. They do get extra treats with the odd bones, or meat and veg to add variety, but we musnt forget that dogs have evolved into scavengers and are no longer like wolves needing full meat carcasses to eat. Dogs have evolved with scavenging being their way of life, and thats why most dogs can eat pretty mcuh anything and be absolutely fine on it!

Good luck with your puppy - sounds like you have everything all prepared!

Oh, I haven't checked that out to be honest. I was thinking it might be useful for the OP in regards to importing one of the foods made in the USA/Canada as mentioned in some of the previous posts, as it's got reviews for Timberwolf, Canidae, Orijen etc.

Hi there, I feel exactly the same and keep swapping and changing their diet every few weeks, but I agree with the comment that advertising is aimed to please owners. Most of mine eat well, but one or two are fussy and one or two are just little pigs! They too love RC but one gains weight easily. They also love tinned with mixer and raw with home cooked rice and veg or mixer. I just think it's us who are fussy, not the dogs!! Although some dogs seem predisposed to allergies, we are in danger of excluding good food sources from their diets by immediately feeding hypoallergenic diets when we have no evidence that they have a food allergy. If a child became allergic to one food source, we wouldn't feed a diet which excluded every food known to cause reactions in some other children, would we?

there so much choice out there good and bad foods as in  human foods as well, i dont even make the best choices for myself alot of the time, ive just spent 100 quid on line for cat and dog foods ended up getting nature diet for 10 quid for 18 puppy food just hope she likes it .think thats as natural as i can get it on the shelf so as long as she doing good on it great .
i even swapped my cat food to nature menu and forthglade for dogs and cats , i was looking for training schools and come arcoss this site not in my area ,but theres lots of iteresting reading on here http://www.acorndogtraining.co.uk/nutrition.htm.
what with a good diet plenty of execise and love dont think u can do much more for your doggy pals.