Poodles 'N' Doodles 'R' Us

We haven't found the perfect dog food to meet our preferences. We are pretty particular when it comes to food, whether for the people in our family or our dogs, but for right now, we are feeding all of our dogs Kirkland's Salmon and Sweet Potato recipe. We've also used Taste of the Wild Prey Angus Beef recipe, and Diamond Naturals Salmon and Potato and Diamond Naturals Whitefish and Sweet Potato. We've used all of these depending on what our local source(s) have in stock, so any of them should suit your puppy. These are all formulated to meet the nutritional requirements established by AAFCO for even large breed dogs, up to 70+ pounds, at all life stages. While our dogs may go up and down in weight 5 pounds now and then, mainly depending on heat cycles, of course, they gain more during pregnancy, and they don't stay over weight or under weight longer than a few weeks. They are usually right on their normal weight, so this food works well for our intact dogs who are active and reproducing, not matter the size, age, or stage.

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We often squirt additional Salmon oil on their food, plus they sometimes get bones or cooked liver or lungs from meat in our freezer that is from the farm. We do give them other nutritious organic table scraps like salad, beans, rice, and potatoes, but those things only if they're organic. They are occasionally given dairy kefir or yogurt as a probiotic supplement. We are big into the organic, kosher, and non-GMO diets for our dogs, but we've struggled to find such a reasonably affordable dog food that is ALL of these things AND has sufficient amounts of necessary nutrients for all life stages. When we find a dog food normal people can afford that addresses all these things we will jump on it! Sometimes the local stores may run out of our favorite brand, and with several dogs, it happens often that they don't keep our brand in stock, so we have to switch between these brands sometimes monthly.

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Some people are against giving table scraps or people food, including veggies, fruits, or grains, to dogs. They swear all dogs came from wolves and were originally wild and only ate meat, and raw meat at that. We believe in the Bible, and according to Genesis 1, there were domesticated (livestock) animals from the beginning. Job had livestock dogs guarding his flock (Job 30:1) and Job is one of the earliest books in the Bible. You don't want wild, raw meat-craving wolves guarding your flock. The Messiah and the Canaanite woman said dogs can eat the children's crumbs from the Master's table, including bread crumbs. See Matthew 15:27. I'd say the Creator of the dog is the ultimate authority on what dogs should and should not eat. He kind of wrote the manual. I don't think that means we should put red wine in their water bowl or share a chocolate bar with Fido, and maybe veggies soaked in herbicides and genetically modified corn and caged chickens were not originally intended to be food for us or our dogs. We have to think about such things these days, and do the best we can, financially. We do know some people foods are toxic to dogs, and young puppies especially have sensitive tummies. Dogs tend to get diarrhea or nausea from some foods, or a change in their diet, so you do want to pay attention to what they are eating and how they are digesting it.

 

We take great pride in the health and care of our dogs. They are trim, athletic, and active, and we try to raise them as holistically as possible.

 

We do leave dry food out for them to snack on throughout the day. They all tend to choose to eat 3 meals a day - morning, noon, and in the evening before bed. Our dogs do not binge on dog food, but we do watch how much Salmon we give them at a time, as they might binge on something like that and we don't want to have to worry about bloat. We suspect that most dogs who binge eat on dry dog food might do so because they did not always have the option to eat when hungry, as food isn't left out for them all day, and so they may have developed the habit of gobbling food even when satisfied, out of fear it will be taken away from them, or that it may be a long time before it's offered again. We feel it is good practice to offer food throughout the day while still a puppy, and to make sure the puppy does not feel like he must devour his food before another dog or someone else takes it from him. We've found that starting them young with this habit ensures they eat until they are satisfied and walk away from the bowl with food still there. Our dogs eat and drink from the same food and water bowls, and we've found this really helps condition them to not be food aggressive over what is in their bowls. They learn to share from day one.