Best dry dog food for working dogs

EPointer=Birdss

So as it says what gets your vote. Price being no object.
Criteria of best being nutrition, maintaining condition, less waste etc.

Note: please no debates on dry vs raw. That's not the purpose. By all means mention if you add anything to the dry food as a supplement but the dry is the topic here. Also no lectures as regards why people are doing right or wrong as we all have out own budgets, methods & reasons.

Personally I feed gain 28 mixed with mince, chicken legs, scraps, tinned food now & then as a treat. Also mix in eggs & oils few times a week.
Been toying with different options lately as I find the gain produces a share of waste but for now it suits my pocket & the dogs are in good nick.

I have fed beta & didn't find it much better if any.
In the past I've fed eukanuba & one or 2 other expensive brands but how sustainable 60+ quid a bag is I don't know.

jap gt

iv been feeding all raw for last year or so, but the cost can add up with feeding 3 dogs so i ordered this a few days ago, a friend uses it and finds it great, il still mix a bit of mince eggs etc with it but it will do them in the off season

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Skinners-Ruff-Ready-Dry-Mix/dp/B003ZGIB1Q/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1388602899&sr=8-4&keywords=skinners

sheebadog

Orijen. Canadian made. Best on the market by a mile. I don't use it myself as it's waaaaaay too expensive !!

cookimonster

Purina Betta plus small pouch of Lidal dog food or tuna or meat table scraps once a day in the evening.

kermitpwee

I use Markus Muhle and find it excellent. In the past I have use Royal canin, Pro Pac, Burns, Pedigree, feedwell, Hills Science, Leader, Winner, Starr, Nutts, Pedro, Greyhound Mix and a few more that I have forgotten.

I have learnt a lot over the years and had many different opinions on dry food. I will keep using what Im using as I know it works. From observing what my uncle does where money is tight the following can work well. Feed a cheap dry food and add mince, eggs and vegetables a few times a week or leftovers from the dinner, his dogs are in great nick and work hard and are showing great stamina. If you feed a cheap dog food on its own the dog will go to pot from what I have seen.

Flynn89

Personally I found red mills to be the best, unfortunately I don't have any dogs at the moment due to work but when I did I always fed them on red mills. Think it was red mills pet (It was the one in the red bag) and when I was working the dogs hard I used to buy a bag of red mills racer, found the extra oils and protein in the food very good for the dogs and they never got sore or stiff. My uncle feed his working border collie all his life on red mills and was from him saying it to me I started using it. The dog lived until his was 17 and worked until he was 15 so must be good.

I played around with cheaper dog food for a while, but the big problem I found with was 1. the poor enough quality 2. if you found one that was good quality, the next bag might not be the same and the consistency was very poor on cheaper food.

This is another plus for red mills found it to be very consistent.

charlie10

i also feed gain 28 along with can of wet food but gonna have to up the feed with raw chicken as the weight has fallen off the whores this season

Boogiewoogie

Wouldn't be a fan of most Red Mills foods as there's too much cereal in them. However, they have a range for working/sporting dogs called Engage. I get mine in Petworld in Mullingar. Not sure where else stocks it but I'm sure Google will help. I use the salmon and rice for joint support. A 15kg bag feeds 3 x labs, 1 lab x dane and a terrier x for just over a week. You wouldn't need to add anything to it, no supplements and no extras, just adjust the amount per energy requirements. Mine are on the resting allowance of 90g per 10kg bodyweight and doing brilliantly on it. They range in age from 3 to 15 years and it suits all of them.

Y2KBOS86

Feed my Husky taste of the wild, he loves it.

Expensive though at 60 euro for 13kg.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taste-Wild-Wetlands-Roasted-Fowl/dp/B000W5QSZE/ref=pd_sim_petsupplies_2

Flynn89

Boogiewoogie wrote: »

Wouldn't be a fan of most Red Mills foods as there's too much cereal in them.

I think the one with all the cereal is called red mills worker, found it poor personally as well.

Y2KBOS86

Flynn89 wrote: »

I think the one with all the cereal is called red mills worker, found it poor personally as well.

That's the great thing about Taste of the wild dog food, it has no cereal, grain free, no filler like in most dogs foods.

sheebadog

Y2KBOS86 wrote: »

That's the great thing about Taste of the wild dog food, it has no cereal, grain free, no filler like in most dogs foods.

Orijen 6 fresh fish is even better. But mucho €€€€€€€€.
TBH tho stamina is 90% breeding.

snipe02

I use gain original its very cheap suits my budget supplemented with mince scraps etc I get great results ,, started the young pup on gain puppy and sapling its good stuff aswell has calcium and phosphorus for bone development only 26 euro a bag

Vizzy

Have tried loads of different ones Burns, Feedwell, Pedigree and had to throw most of them out.
Dogs simply wouldn't eat them
Now I use a mix of Pedro and Countrymans (Redmills),dogs love them.
I normally make a gravy and give them scraps,mince, maybe tinned mackerel, sometimes mix in a tin of wet dogfood and a bit of olive oil to keep them shiny

mallards

I feed mine Gilpa. Leaves them fit and healthy with a small hard stool, which was what I was always taught as a good way of identifying a good dog food. Plus it's the only one the dogs consistently like.

http://www.gilpa.co.uk/product.php?shopprodid=13

Mallards

brianfrancis45

I have also found Markus Muhle dry food to be excellent - keeps the dogs in very good condition and the stools are firm/easily cleaned up. At close to E 40 for a 15kg bag it is relatively expensive but if you can afford it I'd def. recommend it .

This season I've been feeding Nutts Speedrite Feed & Trial 24% protein mixed with a small handful of Nutts Gold Muesli , purely because a few of us decided to get together and give it a go. We bought it in bulk at a discounted price ( if my memory serves me correctly it worked out at about Euro 10 -10.50 per 15KG bag if you buy a half or full pallet load) . I must say that at the price it's quite good value and I've just been mixing through whatever left overs are available from the dinner table and once or twice a week throw in an egg and a bit of mince . Dogs are doing pretty good on it but stools are sloppy, and again if money isn't an issue I'd go with the Markus Muhle.

Stonehall9

All my lads are on the speed rite muesli gold, have them on it since the start of the season and all are flyin, labs have a beautiful coat which is a good sign and the pointer is in excellent form, I mix it with a tin of butchers tripe and sardines every now and again. I was on Brillys choice up to this but feedin 4 dogs made me shop around at the fair in birr, speed rite deliver to the door aswell.

Clinty

I feed mine the speed rite field and trial and with meat on a Friday and a Monday i also give a good tonic every night during the season I hunt for five hours sat and five hours Sunday the dog comes home like he goes out.

snipe02

Clinty wrote: »

I feed mine the speed rite field and trial and with meat on a Friday and a Monday i also give a good tonic every night during the season I hunt for five hours sat and five hours Sunday the dog comes home like he goes out.

What tonic you using

Clinty

It's called dog vital it has lots of vitamins and minerals it a lot of greyhound men use it about 15 quid for a 500ml bottle only give a cap a day great for coat stamina and recovery

snipe02

Clinty wrote: »

It's called dog vital it has lots of vitamins and minerals it a lot of greyhound men use it about 15 quid for a 500ml bottle only give a cap a day great for coat stamina and recovery

Ya I know the stuff have you tried appollo vet over short periods its fair stuff ya cant give it to greyhounds when they are racing

Clinty

No haven't heard of that do you use it yourself

snipe02

Clinty wrote: »

No haven't heard of that do you use it yourself

ye I use it but onky for 5 days at a time then leave it a wekk or 2 its fair tack they be leaping out of there skin it has a lot of caffiene so dont overuse it or it has oppisate effect and it doesnt suit all dog in my experience but ive always used it or similar gives them a healthy appetite aswell

jap gt

shaka wrote: »

Are you getting that shipped to Ireland? Tried ordering and it was blocked

yeah its meant to be delivered monday, not sure why its blocked for you, iv a friend thats been getting it for a few months, try the customer support link they are very helpful

Clinty

Where do you get that stuff snipe I find the horses shops are great for the supplements and wound care

snipe02

Clinty wrote: »

Where do you get that stuff snipe I find the horses shops are great for the supplements and wound care

I get it in redmills or there is a shop in the hub cattle mart in kk they have it sometimes

shaka

jap gt wrote: »

yeah its meant to be delivered monday, not sure why its blocked for you, iv a friend thats been getting it for a few months, try the customer support link they are very helpful

Got it sorted

Craigels

I feed my lot burns I find it brilliant and they love it

fiestaman

After 28 posts theres no trend so obviously each to there own and what suits the dog.

dicky82

i think i can honestly say I've tried 90% of the brands out there (well my dogs have) and I had some varying degree of results. Firstly let me rule out the royal canin as I could never justify spending that amount of money on dog food. ALL the redmills stuff had my dogs ****ting liquid that's from jacker to rottie and springers in between. It was too rich. I also had the same issue with Brandy and Quinns of Bltinglass and massbrook.I used feedwell, pedro, beta, pedigree chum all good. I was getting Gain for a good while and found it very good but when the supplier jumped the price by nearly three euro a bag i stopped getting it. I was getting bluegrass (pink/blue) bag off a guy on here but that fell through, i found that to be very good and also a food called brillies choice again very good stuff. Then i found this brand called NUTTS who make varying grades of food for dogs to suit each life style pet/worker/racer. tried them all and and can honestly say you won't find better value for money. my budget is usually 1 euro per kg. and these come in under budget when buying a few bags at a time. the one I use and find the best value is their field and trial range 24%. However I found the NUTTS muesli to be too rich and to be honest some of the dogs barely touched it but that's just what I experienced. As said previous every dog has different tastes and reactions to food. I will say one thing, none of these foods are any good if you don''t worm your dog regularly.

Rosahane

My 18 month old Lab is thriving on the Skinners Salmon and Rice.
It's wheat and diary free with added vitamins and glucosamine (important for Labs) and and has him in superb condition with great muscles, strength and stamina.
It's good value from Amazon at approx €30 with free delivery.

Beretta man

Skinners duck and rice 23 euro a bag delivered to my door..

323

Agree with dicky82, from personal experience tried many, a lot were way too rich.
Asked a friend, with a couple of decades more experience with working dogs than myself, about the great conditon of his german pointers and springers. "Lidl dried food with occasional meat and fish leftovers." claimed Lidl's stuff was one of the best balanced he'd ever came across.
Been using it almost 2 years now, 3 year old lab. No s****ing liquid all over the place, lots of energy for working and very regular comments on her condition and coat.

shaka

Have ordered skinners duck and rice , will see how my IWS gets on. Anyone been using flax oil? Have been using salmon but friend of mine thinks the flax is better for coat and skin

stoeger2000

Beretta man wrote: »

Skinners duck and rice 23 euro a bag delivered to my door..

I think you'll find it has gone up.

borntohunt

Tbh cant find it at that price anywhere online

fiestaman

This is what im using now. Heard great reports from lads using it.Have it 3days and by the s**t in the run it seems good. Small hard stool. Ingredients seem very good at E25 a bag. Also only need to feed 2/3 amount compared to other stuff. The lad loves it too.

http://bluegrasshorsefeed.com/dog-products/bluegrass-dog-delight-nuggets.html

stoeger2000

borntohunt wrote: »

Tbh cant find it at that price anywhere online

I was getting it for under £20 up until dec from amazon, and then it went up to £28

dicky82

323 wrote: »

Agree with dicky82, from personal experience tried many, a lot were way too rich.
Asked a friend, with a couple of decades more experience with working dogs than myself, about the great conditon of his german pointers and springers. "Lidl dried food with occasional meat and fish leftovers." claimed Lidl's stuff was one of the best balanced he'd ever came across.
Been using it almost 2 years now, 3 year old lab. No s****ing liquid all over the place, lots of energy for working and very regular comments on her condition and coat.

forgot to mention the lidl stuff. very good also but only comes in 10kg bags.

shotie

i buy the nuts in aldi dogs love them and no mess had them on other brands and they wouldnt touch the stuff and when they did they would leave a mess for me to clean . "how much is the 10kg bag in lidl dicky82"

staghunter

can't beat lidl good protein and oil.also add some clarinada to add more carbs during hunting season.