Working Dog food

[BUCKSHOT1]

Hi

i have been using a dog food with added Chondroitin and Glucosamine for years but the price in the last 3 months have increased ever month .I am paying £ 22.50 a bag with delivery of 32 bags a lot of money to find over a period of time.

I wonder if anyone has a cheaper price with the added ingredients my dogs work once a week .

and they are Adult dogs 

[Stonepark]

If you are getting a quality food with additives you are currently at the bottom end of pricing.

 

CSJ CP21 which is what i have fed mine for 16 plus years is now up to £38.45 a bag plus delivery and this is by no means the most expensive brand out there.

[Walker570]

Whooooo dog food is getting very technical.  I used Chudleighs working crunch for many years and my dogs looked and worked good on it.

[scutt]

Mine get the cheapest ****  I can buy supplemented with pheasant, pigeon hare venison scraps and any leftovers from the table .Done alright over the last 45 or so years.

[Dave at kelton]

The point is how well do they do on any particular food. I don’t see it as an issue with price but the dog’s condition. Mine work three days a week on the hill plus wildfowling so have a tough season. Three do really well on Arkwrights the fourth is on DrJohns Titanium. If they need glucosamine I buy them at Holland and Barrett and feed as a tablet. 

[marsh man]

I have always used Skinners ( Field and Trial ) Muesli mix , retail around £24 / 25.

[London Best]

28 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I have always used Skinners ( Field and Trial ) Muesli mix , retail around £24 / 25.

I fed Skinners F&T Muesli for many years. 
Bizarrely,  my current lab won’t eat it.

[Bigbob]

I feed my two raw i buy in from Greyshill and sometimes my wife will put a bowl of dry food in the kennel when she thinks they had a hard shift ive seem them eat a couple of mouthfulls but the bowl can sit in the kennel for a fortnight before they empty it  

[loriusgarrulus]

I add glucosamine individually to the dogs meals.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IAOLP3E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dose of Glucosamine 10,000plus with MSM is 1g per 10kg bodyweight for dogs. You often find the same things for horses are a lot cheaper than sold for dogs. I also buy 5 litre containers of cod liver oil for horses to add to the dogs food and seaweed to keep their teeth plaque free all made for horses by NAF.

Although £22.50 a bag is resonable for dog food depending on the bag weight its worth shopping round especially if buying in bulk. The Skinners I buy varies from £18.50 a bag to £28 for 15kg depending on supplier. Its worth doing a web search for best price. I have found you can often buy stuff cheaper than buying direct from the producer which is crazy. A lot of supliers do free delivery over a certain price so it really is worth shopping round. 

[ditchman]

i used to use wafcol.....then upped the % protien for working ....i also had a biiig cooking pot (ex army)....that i could boil 20 odd pigeons in....then the meat would fall off i would pour it into trays let it set score it freeze it then break it up and bag it and add it to the soaked wafcol......to dogs used to go loopy for it...left quite a bit of feather in it as well for digestion..........

[Lloyd90]

I think it just varies massively from dog to dog.

 

Years ago with my first Lab and Springer I could feed them anything, Chudley's working crunch, skinners museli or any other, pretty much whatever I gave them they did great on. 

 

The last 2 springer's I have had seem to have a lot more sensitive stomach's, I tried all sorts of feed, many of which were quite expensive. I found some of the cheaper ones worked best. 

 

My older one does best on CSJ tripe, about £26 for a 15kg bag. He does better on this than foods that cost twice that amount. 

My younger one didn't do as well on the CSJ, he recently had some Dog and Field and seemed to do real well on that so I am doing to try him on the dog and field. 

 

It's a pain feeding different dogs different feed but they work hard enough to earn a good feed and proper looking after. 

[Dave at kelton]

10 hours ago, Lloyd90 said:

I think it just varies massively from dog to dog.

 

Years ago with my first Lab and Springer I could feed them anything, Chudley's working crunch, skinners museli or any other, pretty much whatever I gave them they did great on. 

 

The last 2 springer's I have had seem to have a lot more sensitive stomach's, I tried all sorts of feed, many of which were quite expensive. I found some of the cheaper ones worked best. 

 

My older one does best on CSJ tripe, about £26 for a 15kg bag. He does better on this than foods that cost twice that amount. 

My younger one didn't do as well on the CSJ, he recently had some Dog and Field and seemed to do real well on that so I am doing to try him on the dog and field. 

 

It's a pain feeding different dogs different feed but they work hard enough to earn a good feed and proper looking after. 

Lloyd, you are dead right it really does vary by dog which is why I made the point about how the dog does on any particular one. I am currently using three different foods because that’s what I need to do. If a dog doesn’t seem to be doing well on a food I try a different one. I used to use Skinners when I trained spaniels but found labs didn't go well on it.

[Krico woodcock]

I have my 4 springers on feedwell sport, plus the scraps from the house. But I don't start working them really hard until end of November right through end of January. Then they get raw( beef, tripe etc) mixed with the nuts.  I honestly don't think any nut no matter what brand or price is as good as raw, its vital that they take in high protein, fat, when working hard. If you want them going strong.  

[deeksofdoom]

I have mine running on Lidl Orlando Chicken and Rice dried dog food, supplemented with a half tin of either pedigree chum or in the last week I have been trying lidl orlando tinned dog food and usual scraps from the table for a  bit of variety, she is in great condition.

[Salmo]

On 25/10/2022 at 20:10, marsh man said:

I have always used Skinners ( Field and Trial ) Muesli mix , retail around £24 / 25.

Same here and they are in great health 

[12gauge82]

No disrespect to anyone, but any dog food selling at 25 quid is going to be junk and to be honest, to my mind, all kibble can't really be healthy if exclusively fed anyway. 

Its long been known for humans one of the most unhealthy diets for us is one made up of super processed food, dry dog kibble couldn't be anymore processed. Dogs are mammals just like humans, why would a diet only made up of super processed dog kibble, even more so a poor quality, under 50 quid a 15kg sack of super processed junk be good for them! 

[scutt]

MOST gundog owners  I know feed this junk with scraps from the table and the odd tin of sardines etc.  and the results can be seen in the field..

See a lot of out of condition pets fed on the best of the best including raw. 

[12gauge82]

3 hours ago, scutt said:

MOST gundog owners  I know feed this junk with scraps from the table and the odd tin of sardines etc.  and the results can be seen in the field..

See a lot of out of condition pets fed on the best of the best including raw. 

Yep I know many who do to. When I said I mean no disrespect, I genuinely meant it. 

In my humble opinion, as my post alluded to, that's probably much better for them than a dog fed exclusively just kibble, even a very expensive one, as I can't see how a super processed food like dog kibble can be any good for them, but especially true for the cheapest kibbles which have next to no meat content and are full of cheap fillers. 

Whilst I'm no scientist, I believe my my reasoning is common sense and I would be interested if you can point to why you believe it wrong other than the old "my dog eats (insert name of cheap **** dog food here) and they thrive on it" 🤷‍♂️

Edited November 12, 2022 by 12gauge82

[London Best]

12 hours ago, 12gauge82 said:

No disrespect to anyone, but any dog food selling at 25 quid is going to be junk and to be honest, to my mind, all kibble can't really be healthy if exclusively fed anyway. 

Its long been known for humans one of the most unhealthy diets for us is one made up of super processed food, dry dog kibble couldn't be anymore processed. Dogs are mammals just like humans, why would a diet only made up of super processed dog kibble, even more so a poor quality, under 50 quid a 15kg sack of super processed junk be good for them! 

I fed kibble to 13 different labs over 45 years and only had one that did not live to be over 14 years. The odd one was 13 1/2. 
And all dogs were working all the season and all seriously fit.

[12gauge82]

15 minutes ago, London Best said:

I fed kibble to 13 different labs over 45 years and only had one that did not live to be over 14 years. The odd one was 13 1/2. 
And all dogs were working all the season and all seriously fit.

Likewise, I know people who ate junk food and smoked 40 a day who lived into their 90s, doesn't mean their lifestyle was healthy. 

[Poor Shot]

To revive a topic rather than start an alternative but almost identical one..

Does anyone change their dogs feed to match the on/off season?

My springer bitch is a fed raw and has been since we brought her home at 9 weeks. She's fed her daily calculated amount early morning and will only eat again in the evening when we give her a handful of cheap kibble when we eat. 

The raw food she has is quite rich with protein and fat. Its mostly made up of beef, chicken, tripe and occasional fish as well as any scraps from shot game.

Now that we're in the off season I'm thinking of changing her over to a less rich kibble as her activity levels are lower and she's not running up and down the side of mountain or up to her neck in mud three days a week. 

Good idea or stick with the raw and lower portion sizes to maintain condition?

[scutt]

used to be 21%+ protein  working and  19% or less when idle. 

I suppose it depends on how you exercise the dog out  of season .

 If mine are energetic and I can see the ribs then to me that's fine . 

As always just my opinion.

 

 

[Dave at kelton]

22 hours ago, Poor Shot said:

To revive a topic rather than start an alternative but almost identical one..

Does anyone change their dogs feed to match the on/off season?

My springer bitch is a fed raw and has been since we brought her home at 9 weeks. She's fed her daily calculated amount early morning and will only eat again in the evening when we give her a handful of cheap kibble when we eat. 

The raw food she has is quite rich with protein and fat. Its mostly made up of beef, chicken, tripe and occasional fish as well as any scraps from shot game.

Now that we're in the off season I'm thinking of changing her over to a less rich kibble as her activity levels are lower and she's not running up and down the side of mountain or up to her neck in mud three days a week. 

Good idea or stick with the raw and lower portion sizes to maintain condition?

I don’t change the food but I do feed a little less. Whilst they are exercised it is nothing like three days a week on the hil. I play it by ear to judge condition. I don’t mind them carrying a little extra weight until end of July.

[Krico woodcock]

I feed raw beef and tripe along with nut( feedwell sport) in shooting season,  as in from middle of November on, and from mid December really up their feeding till end of January.  Then really ease off on the raw  month of February.  Then its mostly nuts,  with some raw occasionally. During the summer I  ease back on the nuts too. Dogs loafing about in hot weather don't need much grub. 

[Old Boggy]

Is tripe still available in bulk form?

When my wife used to train and show border collies, I seem to recall that we got tripe in bulk from the local abattoir for peanuts. Sadly all the small abattoirs no longer exist, so hence my question.

OB