[Alyss M]

Hey! I’m actually on here because I’m writing a paper on Dog Food, and I was wondering if I could get some information about what to look for in food for an working dog. I’v seen a lot of information about looking for what type of meat is in it, for whole grains and vegetables and to make sure it doesn’t have sweeteners and artificial coloring and stuff like that, but nothing on the amount of protein, fat, fiber, calcium, and basically anything other then what I listed above. I’ve seen that dog foods are required to have the correct amount of protein and that stuff but that would be geared more for pet dogs then working and show dogs right?
Just looking for any information I can.
Thanks,
Mom of a Barbet

[crazy4cats]

Hi Alyss M-
I’m sorry, my dogs are pretty much couch potatoes! But, I’ll bump up your post to see if anyone else has any info for you. Good luck!

[Saint G]

Lets get real! The most important thing in dog food is that your dog will eat it…..My dogs love pedigree….Corn meal is the first ingredient, But they are not starving on it. Every 3 bag I mix it up with beniful. I also have some cat food with the fish and liver mix, I use it as spice. Spinkle a little on the dog food. The pups go crazy for it. I have had a german shepad for 9 yrs, a golden retriever for 14, a dane for 9, a german short hair for 11 and have a 2 yr old dane now. They have all been very healthy dogs, and I didn’t have to get $80 per bag food.

[Susan W]

You want to look for meat – real meat, not by-products. Stuff like chicken meal or fish meal is also good as it’s a dried/ground/powdery form of the actual meat product. You want health veggies – not just fillers, and you want to make sure the vitamin/mineral sources are NOT from China. If it’s a fish formula, you probably won’t want a salmon product as the salmon used in dog foods are farm raised instead of the more nutritious ocean-caught. Tip-top premium foods will use organic meat sources & free-range chickens (yes, there are companies out there that do this). AAFCO standards aren’t as useful as they may seem – they’re simply an industry recommendation. You will also want to look into what kind of facilities they use for manufacturing the food. Many premium dog food companies use exceptionally clean facilities that adhere to higher standards like EU Certifications. Lastly, you’d want to avoid foods that are high in GMO’s. Look are websites. I have a list of some great companies with great websites that give a lot of info (I’ve done projects on dog foods, etc) if you’re interested. Just PM me.

[Cannoli]

Hi Alyss,

This is a very vague question you asking about “working” dogs.

You need to define the kind of work a dog is doing before you chose the food.

Don’t start by looking at dog food lables..Most dog food companies just like human food companies have no understanding of “working”. Instead you need to define what kind of “work” a dog is doing and tailoring your food to meet the dog’s work demand.

For example, if your dog is involved in weight pulling competitions you would want to build muscle. Just like in humans, when we lift weights and we want to put on muscle mass we consume higher rates of protein. So you would need to feed your dog a high protein diet. If your dog is into dog mushing as work during the cold winter months than you need to provide a food that provides higher ratio of healthy fats and carbs to compensate for the cold weather and long miles they will be running.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Cannoli. Reason: typo

[Susan]

Hi, follow “Rodney Habib” the Pet Nutritionist on face Book & google “Dog Naturally Magazine” has heaps of links about bad dog kibbles & what too look for……
Working Dogs should eat high protein diet that’s low in carbs & low in fiber & higher in fat but here in Australian the poor working dogs are feed crappy brands like Purina brands Bonnie & Supercoat etc cause these pet food companies put “Working dog food” on the front of the kibble bags & these kibbles are sold where farmers buy their produce… These farmer’s don’t know how to read ingredients list properly & know what are premium good kibbles for their working dogs, so they buy the cheap & nasty, low in protein & high in carbohydrate kibbles, that are about 20% meat proteins & 60% grains, corn, fillers.. its very sad there needs to be laws against low quality pet foods allowed to be sold….In Australia I’ve noticed our Purina, Pedigree, Royal Canine & Hills have heaps better ingredients then the American Purina, Pedigree, Hills Royal Canine etc so we must have some type of laws against feeding pets a poor quality pet foods…
Here’s a link I found. http://webcanine.com/2010/nutrition-for-working-dogs/

[Alyss M]

Thank you for all of the replies! Very helpful.

For a Working dog I’m keeping it general just like any dog who uses high activity level, probably leaning towards something like Agility and things where they run a lot.

Thank you again C:

[Rusty T]

Mine aren’t working dogs, but they are incredibly active. They run like crazy on a fenced seven acre private dog park, go hiking with me, and are constantly wrestling around in the backyard. I look for food with no grain, high in protein, real meats, no artificial colors, etc. We feed them dry kibble in the morning, and kibble mixed with a high quality wet food in the evening. On Fridays the evening meal is replaced with fresh fish. Once a week they are fed raw food for the evening meal.

Both dogs are two years old and both are high energy with soft shiny coats. It’s the same diet I had my lab on, and until he got bone marrow cancer, he never had a single health issue. I figure for what I spend on food, I save on vet bills. I don’t skimp on my family’s food and the dogs are a part of our family.

[Rusty T]

Alyss:

You might want to read this.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/evr_dg_focusing_on_protein_in_the_diet

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