Just an idle musing. We changed Stinky's food, to a senior dog food and her mood has changed totally. She has become really relaxed and her tail wags constantly. Plus she hasn't growled at anybody for weeks. It's such a dramatic change that we're not going to be able to call her grumpy collie any longer.

None of her environmental factors have changed. So, could it really be the food that has caused this remarkable change in her mood?

Kate

It could be the food. My older boy was hyper when on Eukanuba and I mean hyper - he was literally climbing the walls. Changed him to Nutro and while he is still lively he is a lot lot better. Initially I thought it was the protein level - but I'm not so sure now. He is on Nutro performance which has a high protein level yet he is not hyper like he was before. I'm convinced there was something in the Euk that just did not agree with him. You only have to see how some children react to additives - dogs are the same as I'm sure you know.

Out of interest - as it is a subject that comes up frequently, what was she on and what is she on now?

What a wonderful change though - but a shame she won't be grumpy collie anymore - conjures up such a great picture in the mind whereas sweetie-pie conjures up a totally different picture.

Pam n the boys

Pam

She was on Beta Brutus, as that's what she was on when we got her (yet another rescue collie ). We changed her to James Wellbeloved Turkey and Rice Senior. She farted terribly for a week or two (room clearing stuff), then it all settled down and the mood change happened. It's very very bizarre. She's looking really well on the new food, she's lost her excess weight and her coat is gleeming.

TH is on Eukanuba Junior Large Breed at the mo and loves it. But she's coming up to two and due a change of food, so once this bag is finished we're changing her onto JW Adult LB Maintenance.

Kate & the Cheery Collie

Kate and the Cheery Collie

Thats great news - hope it keeps up and that it also suits TH. It's quite stunning how dramatic a change you can get from a food - yet other dogs seem the same no matter what they get. My Mum's old cairn had the same JW food and it suited her really well too.

It' was so much easier when they got the scrapings off the plate;)

Pam n the boys

My friend had a lab cross terier, and it was "grumpy", and was on that muesli type food for dogs, i forget its name...anyway, they changed her to Chappie canned and she improved hugely over a few days.....a much happier dog

LIndsay

Hi 9thM, A lady called Lisa, who I am sure views this board sometimes, had a typical food experience with her Afghan. He was being really nasty and understandably she was very worried. A change of food worked wonders for him, he was a different dog. I will see if I can contact her and get her to tell you of her experience

brown ale has a mood changing effect on the men that drink it too so im sure certain foods will- my grandson used to go loopy on certain additives-wore us all out until we sussed it,

Dizzy, my grandaughter aged 7yrs is brilliant very calm and sensible.one day she was coming to the kennels with me and I filled up with petrol and bought her some smarties,within about ten minutes she was over the top,making daft noises and bouncing around and generally being a pain,It wasnt till after My son said you didnt give her any smarties did you? well I thought thanks for telling me LOL anyway additives must work the same on dogs, and for God sake dont give them smarties

it was fizzy pop for us--if anyone gave him any we had a rough time- you'd think he'd been wound up, it was almost painfull to watch-he was even given those jelly coke bottle sweets once and had the same effect-it makes you wonder- ----and dogs cant tell us-i think a lot of it seems to be when theyre on a higher protien,

I agree with you Dizzy, a lot of it does seem to be higher protein, and also being sensitive or even truly allergic to individual proteins such as beef etc.

I read somewhere that wheat goes through a huge amount of changes at a cellular level because of the processes we put it through, so a lot of food stuffs just ain't "natural" any nmore, and so dogs bodies and our own find it difficult to cope sometimes.

By the way, for anyone whose kids go bonkers on Smarties - Sainsburys do "healthy(!)" ones in their well being section, without the nasties. (I nearly tried some the other day!!!)

Lindsay

A resounding Too BL***** right it can. Thanks Phil!
I had problems with keeping weight on my Afghan and whilst they should be more on the slim side he was bordering skinny. His groomers is also a feed supplier who told he his normal diet of Chicken mince/tripe and mixer was not sufficient enough for him and I was never going to put weight on him until I changed. He recommended I switch to Burns complete (which I thought would make life easier as well as my other 2 were on a complete food) Now here comes the stupid bit and yes with Hindsight maybe alarms should of started to ring but I went from approx £6 per week to feed him to a 15KG bag just costing under £40.

The change in him happened over an approx 6 week period, he went from an aloof arrogant whatsit to a complete nightmare. Examples were if I was preparing food in the kitchen and wanted to get him out he would just sit there, touch his collar and he growled. I won't say I was bitten as such but was caught by a warning snap after I refused to back off from his warning growl (Boy if he had gone for me properly those jaws of his would of made rather a mess of me) Needless to say I was at my wits end with him and also having a child knew something had to be done. His attitude whenever food was around both human or food was to put it blunty EVIL. His breeders recommended having him pts but my attitude was to at least try get to the bottom of it. We booked in for one to training sessions and I also had a visit from a fantastic Afghan owner living not too far from me. Only then did things fall into place we the change in temprement coinciding with the change in diet. The vets could find nothing medically wrong and also suggested I take him off burns as they were convinced the protein level was too high for him. This we did and slowly put him back on his old diet, to help with the weight he was fed Pasta and Sardines for breakfast. Within 4 weeks the trainer noticed a remarkable improvement in not only his weight but also his general mood. The Burns was ovbivoulsy just not right for him and being quite a nervous dog anway any food he was being given was constantly being burned up in nervous energy thereby making him lose even more weight. This is turn was sending his stress levels through the roof.

That was approx Nov last yr and now he is back to the aloof arrogant wotsit However last week my westie got out into the garden with him (they hate each other with a passion) and I walked straight up to my Affie who was snarling and growling, grabbed him by the collar and walked calmly back into the house with him (something beleive me I would not of attempted 5 months ago) I would NEVER of beleived that a change in diet could do so much damage but I came very close to having him PTS because he was making the whole family scared of him. Now if anyone like sales reps try to talk me into switching him onto another food I just say "Sure but you can introduce it to him in your home and I'll have him back in 8 weeks :D

yikes!!!!

Struth, Lisa, was it me that recommended the Burns- it may have been - if so a big SORRY!
I wont recommend it again, though it worked wonders for my dog who wouldn't put on weight, though he was not a hyper/grumpy type at all. Do you still feed him on pasta/sardines or have you found another diet to suit him?

Don't worry WL it wasn't you who recommened it, the guy at the groomers did as I also buy all my food of him. I'm sure Burns suits some dogs however I found it a real no no. I stated previously that a diet can alter the moods so much if I hadn't seen it before my own eyes I would of thought someone was talking complete twaddle. He's back to good old chicken/tripe mince and mixer for tea and still has the odd breakfast of pasta and sardines (like when he was kenneled when we moved and he lost some weight) My mistake was thinking the same food woud suit all 3 of my dogs however slapped wrist as this was obviously not the case. My lab and westie were fine on it but the Afghan turned into the Beast of Birmingham. A small amount of gastric acid was found in his blood during the vets tests however not enough to warrant such a dramatic change in temprement. Once he was back on his usual food he returned to normal (well if a grotbags can be considered normal) so it had to been the food. I have to admit he's not the easiest dog to own but a lot of his problems we think stem from the 1st 6 months with his co-breeder (Ie he was taken from his mum at 4 weeks as the pick of litter) but most things I can cope with. That however really shook me and I really was at my wits end with him. The good side to all this though is the help and support I received from so many people who I only know through this site and another.