What do you feed yours????

skinnylizzy

I recently picked up a lovely Sprocker. He's 12 weeks old (and quite big for it), he's showing great potential. Amazingly easy to train, he's picking up commands and hand signals very quickly (simple stuff mind you, nothing complicated). He's mad for jumping into and bashing around in any cover he can. Seems very instinctual, absolutley loves to retrieve (brings dummies and balls back and drops them at my feet without even being asked) and I couldn't be happier with him.

I want to really look after him with regards to Diet and Excersise. I've an exercise plan in mind thanks to a post I read on here a few months back by highduck on how he preps his spaniels for a season.

I'm looking for the best diet for him. What do you feed yours? What brands of foods? Any raw/cooked meats? How much do you feed them? and how often? Cost isn't really an issue, I'm not well off at all but I'll make sacrifices if needs be for him to be properly looked after.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

deano2882

where did ya get him lookin for a new pup as cash tight lookin for alot i no but one free ta good home wud be great...

snipe02

Pedigree chum puppy soaked in whelpi until 6,months also small amounts of liver or oily fish tinned tuna or salmon is good .... Easy on the training until after that age let him gallop and socialise explore and develope his bones and mind training now will stunt him so avoid it

skinnylizzy

deano2882 wrote: »

where did ya get him lookin for a new pup as cash tight lookin for alot i no but one free ta good home wud be great...

I got him down in Carlow. The chairman of the local gun club down there bred them. I didn't get him for free though.

skinnylizzy

snipe02 wrote: »

Pedigree chum puppy soaked in whelpi until 6,months also small amounts of liver or oily fish tinned tuna or salmon is good .... Easy on the training until after that age let him gallop and socialise explore and develope his bones and mind training now will stunt him so avoid it

Sounds good man. Yeah with regards to the training, he got the sit and lie down stuff so quickly that I was encouraged to see what else he'll get, it's like he's egging me on ya know ha ha. Nah the stuff he does now is while playing and I don't do long periods of the one thing if ya get me. I'll take your advise though and I'll lay off till later down the road. I've got the book by Joe Irving 'Training Spaniels' on the way from amazon so I'll have a read and take it handy. I appreciate the advise though, keep it coming. Would you give him raw liver or fish (apart from the tinned stuff ofcourse)? Or would it be cooked? It doesn't sit we'll with me to give a dog cooked food, we've evolved to eat it that way but surely dogs would be eating it raw? Having said that, if the guys in the know tell me cooked is good, I'll go for it.

Thanks again for the advise, it's much appreciated.

Cheers man.

jap gt

To be honest i would'nt give my dog pedigree. Its like give a child mcdonalds everyday its full of sugar. The best pup feed i found was red mills mother and puppy, its in a pink bag. Im feeding it to my new pup until he is four months or so then im switching him to raw food same as my other 2. I give beef lamb, hearts. Tripe. Liver. Some chicken all minced up together. With a few bones every few days. Its important to feed pups 3 small meals a day. Then cut back to 2. And when i feed raw i only feed once a day

snipe02

Raw but pulverise the liver so he can break it down ,,,
Never found anything wrong with the pedigree hav had pups thrive big time on it they spend an awfull lot more on research and devopment than id say redmills do , I wouldnt use redmills any more there are better foods if you go to your vet but very expensive for any really decent dry food its gonna be over 50 yo yos a bag but if you balance the diet with whelpi and other meats etc your pup will do just fine .. jap is bang on about the 3 small meals at first

skinnylizzy

jap gt wrote: »

To be honest i would'nt give my dog pedigree. Its like give a child mcdonalds everyday its full of sugar. The best pup feed i found was red mills mother and puppy, its in a pink bag. Im feeding it to my new pup until he is four months or so then im switching him to raw food same as my other 2. I give beef lamb, hearts. Tripe. Liver. Some chicken all minced up together. With a few bones every few days. Its important to feed pups 3 small meals a day. Then cut back to 2. And when i feed raw i only feed once a day

Thanks for the advise jap gt. do you mind if I ask why you go for the Engage Mother and Pup over the normal Puppy feed? Cheers for the heads up on the raw foods, looks yummy ha ha. What time of the day do you feed them the one raw meal a day?

Cheers.

skinnylizzy

snipe02 wrote: »

Raw but pulverise the liver so he can break it down ,,,
Never found anything wrong with the pedigree hav had pups thrive big time on it they spend an awfull lot more on research and devopment than id say redmills do , I wouldnt use redmills any more there are better foods if you go to your vet but very expensive for any really decent dry food its gonna be over 50 yo yos a bag but if you balance the diet with whelpi and other meats etc your pup will do just fine .. jap is bang on about the 3 small meals at first

Thanks snipe, I'm gonna get as much advise as I can and maybe do a pick n mix of the best bits of advise. I'm always warey of taking advise on what to buy from Pet shops or Vets.......... It always feels like they're pushing whatever the flavour of the month is, i.e. which feed will help them hit targets or make the most profit. I trust vets with medicines and wellfare of animals but they need to make money too. I'll keep an open mind at the mo. The stuff I have him on now was meant to be the best stuff they had in the shop for his health and a shiney coat, I've just compared the RedMills ingredients to this and RedMills is way better, and much cheaper too! They definitely saw me coming in that shop! Ha ha.

Cheers man.

TriggerPL

@ snipe , ur pup would trive better on the p chum if it got a higher sugar content would it not !

I know no trailing man that has a gud thing to say about P chum !

Look the key to feeding any pup is for the first year give them lots keep the food to them if they not feed then they never reach there full potential size and strength .

But lay off the training till at least 6 months , just bond with your dog let her grow and be a pup . Confining her to training every time she out will stop ere thinking for her self , and a dog with brains is better that a dog on a remote control !

Food wise
brilly food is top class ! 13 a bag

Nutts about dogs food is great too at small money 11 a bag !

Red mills mother and pup is great but to much money there better out there for ur buck .

Best of luck with you pup

dodderangler

Feedin mine a bit of everything really
Different foods every week of different flavours.
Mostly purina food.
And twice a month I get a pigs heart from butchers for like 1.50 and I give her half rabbits here and there an if I get a few of tem I put the livers in her bowl mixed with her dry food and and egg for her coat
Pigs heart is great for shiny coat

skinnylizzy

Thanks for all the insights lads. Keep the tips coming, they're much appreciated by me and the dog ha ha.

Do ya remember ya used to get a bag of jibblets inside your Sunday roasting chicken. Would it be worth finding a butcher that still does them? Having chickens heart, liver and kidneys and that in a handy little bag to mix in with his feed would be good no?????

Cheers again lads.

dodderangler

Better of asking for bits of the pig.
Most butchers throw out most innards of pigs like heart and liver as there's not really a demand for them parts so ask for them and they'll give it to ya. Not sure about the chicken but its no harm to ask.

Rosahane

The best value working dog food is Skinners online from Amazon.
Do a search and you will get comparisons to other high quality brands focusing on the ingredients, composition and protein levels.

Is you set up a subscription you get free delivery at monthly intervals and you can skip or cancel at any time.

It's about half the cost of the comparable brands here, partly because "working dog" food is VAT free in the UK.

patdahat

mother and puppy for the first 6 month's and then get massbrook, it some serious tack, and a solid s**t that you kick from 1 end of the country to the other, easy clean up and no sloppy mess. It really builds the dog up and gives a great shine.

jap gt

skinnylizzy wrote: »

Thanks for the advise jap gt. do you mind if I ask why you go for the Engage Mother and Pup over the normal Puppy feed? Cheers for the heads up on the raw foods, looks yummy ha ha. What time of the day do you feed them the one raw meal a day?

Cheers.

i feed them in the morning, what im going to do with the pup is i will feed 3 times a day on nuts until around 3.5 to 4 months, then on to raw twice a day until he is 10-12 months then he will be once a day with the others, its not engage i feed its red mills mother and puppy its in a pink bag costs around 16
http://www.redmills.ie/ie/pet/products/product/?id=533&parent=56

skinnylizzy

Thanks to all for the advise. 'Tiz much appreciated.

223vmax

I offer whelpi/Golden frisky once a day. Go to your butcher and get all the off cuts,throwing out stuff, bones etc and slow boil like stew near end add some rice. Then all meat falls of bones and and your left with quality stuff. I then mix with quality puppy dry food. Its serious stuff for growing pups.

allan450

ya redmills mother and puppy is good their is the engage one and the normal one.i use the redmills engage chicken its 34 euro a 15kg bag my dogs are flying on it.3 gsps and a cocker.feed them in morning and evening.stools nice and hard and not much of it either.also what works great for cockers/springers is chudleys working crunch i seen springers they were in great shape/shine also skinners.their your best options there mate.