First things first: I’m not a biologist, nutritionist, veterinarian, or dietitian. That being said, people ask me all the time what I feed my dogs and what they should feed their dogs. All I have is anecdotal evidence about my dogs and the dogs that have come to me for training over the years. I do know one thing for sure: If you over feed your dog, it will get fat, and being fat is way worse for your dog than any particular diet.
I’ve trained dogs on Purina Pro Plan, Fromm, Taste Of The Wild, Acana, Blue Buffalo, and many others. I’ve also trained quite a few dogs on packaged cooked foods like Nom Nom, Farmer’s Dog, and Fresh Pet. I’ve never really noticed a difference in performance. What I commonly tell people is that if your dog has good bowel movements, and there is no secondary symptom, I wouldn’t stress too much about what you’re feeding. There are some obvious cheap foods that have unnecessary fillers in them, and probably some that are damn near poisonous, but if you stay away from them, you’re probably good.
Kibble
I have fed a variety of different brands over the years. My dog Spike, who lived to be a week shy of his 15th birthday, ate the greatest variety. We started on grocery store brands, IAMS and Eukanuba. We eventually found a food called Verus, which is made locally here in Maryland. I really liked it and actually have come back to it this year after 7 years on different foods. I fed Spike Acana for many years, and continued feeding it even when the studies reporting Myocarditis came out. I just figured that those dogs likely had contributing factors that were not shown in the studies. They were epidemiological in nature anyway which is self reported survey data vs a double blind placebo controlled study. This is very difficult to do in pet dogs and for the massive quantity of variances between breeds.
Raw Food
My dog Rhino, 11 at the time I’m writing this, had a very strange stomach issue. At about 3 years old he became unable to digest kibble. He would throw it up 2-5 hours after eating it and it would be whole and undigested. He was losing weight and I was getting scared. I switched kibbles five times in a few weeks trying to fix it. He couldn’t keep any of them down. I decided on an elimination diet. I started cooking ground beef for him. He kept it down in small portions but he had terrible bowel movements. I switched to giving it to him raw three meals a day. He had smaller dryer stools and was keeping the food down. Then I knew that I would need some variety and something besides ground beef in his diet so I started adding some veggies and some organ meat. I eventually started feeding him Canine Craving, a raw food manufactured here in Maryland. It had raw chicken, beef, veggies, and ground bone in it. He stayed on that for 5 years or so before I ever tried kibble again. For some reason he stopped wanting to eat his raw food and was interested in the other dogs’ kibble so I went back to it. He was able to keep it down and he’s been on Verus kibble for a year or so.
Cooked Food
I only tried cooked food a few times when I was trying to figure out Rhino’s stomach issues. I think it would be fine, it’s just a lot of work and requires real commitment in order to keep the variety. I have some clients who have made their dog’s food for years. I think it’s pretty admirable, I just haven’t taken the time to do it.
Supplements and Additives
I’ve used a few supplements over the years, specifically for tendon and joint health and fish oil for skin and coat. Since we have chickens, I add an egg or two on top of every dog’s meal five or six days a week. There have been other times also where I’ve added Dyne which is a weight gain formula for dogs that are losing weight during training. Things like pumpkin or sweet potato can be added to boost fiber and get a more solid stool from dogs who are struggling. Adding yogurt or probiotics to food is also something that I have frequently done. Because we don’t do tons of blood and urine testing, I can’t tell you how much of this stuff stays active and how effective any of it is. I have done it with minimal negative consequences.
I think dogs should be very low body fat. Some dogs are naturally going to carry more body fat, but the reality is that most people have dogs that are terrifically overweight. The dog’s back starts to look like a table top, the dog’s underbelly is a straight, bloated line from chest all the way back to genitalia. They have a 1-inch pack of blubber surrounding their ribs. These dogs often get tired, even just walking at a normal pace for 10 to 15 minutes. Of course, your English bulldog is not going to have the stamina and musculature of a Vizsla, but he should be the best version of himself that you can possibly make him. That means making sure that there’s a tuck in his waist, muscle on his front and back end, and that he is fit enough to enjoy as much of this life as possible.
Again, this is just my experience and like I mentioned previously, I’m not a biologist, nutritionist, dietitian, or veterinarian, so take this with a grain of salt. Do what works best for you and your dog!
