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Author Topic: Puppy food  (Read 6802 times)

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Puppy food
« on: November 30, 2017, 02:16:40 pm »
We have a 6 month old sprocker. To say that she is lively is an understatement! She is on Skimmers puppy good at present and we wondered if it was a bit rich for her, and maybe we should move to something like Dr John's. Our 4 year Springer seems to do well on the adult version. Anyone have any experience please?

alang

  • Joined Nov 2017
  • Morayshire
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2017, 02:30:13 pm »
We used Eukanuba puppy for our dogs and then swapped them onto Harrington when older. They seem to love it
I'm not scared to be seen, I make no apologies. This is me!

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2017, 04:44:13 pm »
What breed please?

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2017, 05:19:57 pm »
Why do you think it is a bit rich? Because she is lively? That'l be the Cocker in the Sprocker!

alang

  • Joined Nov 2017
  • Morayshire
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2017, 05:22:18 pm »
I'm not scared to be seen, I make no apologies. This is me!

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2017, 06:10:44 pm »
Harmony - when I said a bit lovely, I meant manic  :yippee: but lovely: -)

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2017, 06:23:09 am »
Why do you think it is a bit rich? Because she is lively? That'l be the Cocker in the Sprocker!

And the Springer in the Sprocker :).

I’ve found all my collie and collie cross dogs to be too hyper, unless working hard, for other than Chappie and a plain wholewheat biscuit.  Next best is Autarky, only small flights of the helicopters on that... :/. 

But I’d hesitate to reduce protein before 6 months.  Young growing bones need the input.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2017, 11:18:48 am »
I agree with Sally about reducing protein levels too soon.


Yes, Springers are busy dogs too but Cockers beat them hands down. And yes, two lively breeds there so manic is probably a good word. At gun dog training it is the cockers who do the most miles and are the coiled springs.


We have always put pups onto Beta Puppy then moved them onto Beta Junior.


You could always look at it from another angle and look at your diet and see if you could increase your energy levels to keep up! Lol!


DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2017, 12:49:13 pm »
Thanks Harmony, I'll try Skimmers myself  :roflanim:

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2017, 08:37:39 am »
You could always look at it from another angle and look at your diet and see if you could increase your energy levels to keep up! Lol!
Thanks Harmony, I'll try Skimmers myself  :roflanim:

 :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2017, 08:49:09 am »
I don’t know how experienced you are, [member=27141]DavidandCollette[/member], so please forgive me if I’m teaching granny to suck eggs... but a few insights into keeping working dogs as pets that I’ve gleaned over the years.

  • many such dogs cannot be tired out by just running about.  They need their minds exercised too.  You can run a collie all day and it’s still fresh as a daisy, but add some obedience, nosework, agility or something and you can have it sleeping it off after only a couple or three hours. You can start the less physical options at a very young age; agility and so on is usually best left until they’re 18 months old.
  • do not feed a working dog feed.  They only need that level of input if they’re actually working - and proper, all day out in the fields and moors type working, not just a bit of training or trialling. And not just an all-day walk, either - see above.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

DavidandCollette

  • Joined Dec 2012
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #11 on: December 02, 2017, 09:25:07 am »
Thanks Sally. I will bear that in mind and adjust her diet accordingly. We are thinking about gun dog training for her as well.

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
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Re: Puppy food
« Reply #12 on: December 02, 2017, 02:13:21 pm »
I agree with Sally, mind games as well as physical ones will help.  I have had Brittanys for 35 years since they came to the UK and they are basically a hunting machine on legs, which is fine so long as you are fit and able to take them out shooting or hunting with hawks etc (which I used to do, sometimes twice a week in season  :innocent:), but as a 74 year old with mobility issues I needed other ways of tiring my lot out. I have bought indoor treat games for my youngster (four this week), and they definitely work as well as the hour and a half free running in woodlands.

They also do 'hide and seek' games in the house, retrieving, and the best game for Missy is the 'chase the hens along the fence and back again' game  :roflanim:  Occasionally Henny Penny jumps up onto teh fence and down onto teh grass foor alook see.  She chases Missy if she gets too close, and Missy spends a lot of time stalking her around the back garden

But I would add in addition, please do not take her off puppy food too early - pups need the protein and nutrition that most good brands contain.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2017, 02:17:02 pm by doganjo »
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #13 on: December 07, 2017, 05:15:46 pm »
It's not protein that makes them hyper, it's carbs.  Get a low carb food - they are usually the ones that are grain free.
(oh and just to be annoying manufacturers don't print the carbs on the label, you have to work it out from the other analysis - google can tell you how.  high carbs would be 40%+, low carbs would be 20-40%) 
Note that there are dog foods that are suitable for all ages (puppy through to senior).
I'm a Millies Wolfheart fan myself :).
« Last Edit: December 07, 2017, 05:22:40 pm by Foobar »

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Puppy food
« Reply #14 on: December 07, 2017, 09:57:14 pm »
It's not protein that makes them hyper, it's carbs.


I think it's probably more correct to say that with some dogs, it's the carbs / cereals, and with some dogs it's the protein / red meat.  I feed my collie dog (and the collie crosses before her) partly on tinned Chappie, which is 6% protein and that mostly fish-derived, with a wholewheat biscuit.  Any other feed for both her meals and she's completely hyper (as were the crosses before her.).
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

 

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