What to feed my new hunting dog

Yotarunner

Yotarunner

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Eastern Alberta
So I'm going to be getting my first ever hunting dog. A yellow lab puppy.
Being new to the game I am pretty overwhelmed by the sheer amount of different types of dog food out there. Research tells me everything from high protein food developed for stimulating growth and brain activity to "just feed em regular dog food"
Any insight from people who know more about this? If recommending food I'd prefer it be at least somewhat available. I live in the middle of nowhere so finding ultra rare ethically sourced unicorn meat is not an option.
 
If you can get to a Costco, I highly recommend you check out Nature's Domain once your pup transitions to adult food.
All natural with no corn/grain fillers. One of my Rottweilers had food allergies but did very well on, and absolutely loved this brand.
 
I feed Purina Pro Plan. Don't buy into the grain free high priced specialty foods. More champion dogs are fed Pro Plan than all other brands combined. There has never been a recall except a voluntary recall due to some minor nutritional shortages that put no animals in danger. I like to mix in some other quality food from time to time to keep the animals digestive track healthy and make certain nothing is missing in their diet. One has to experiment a bit with different mixes. I have one dog that can not handle any chicken but does great on beef, fish and lamb mixes.

The Costco food is good too but I do not trust the manufacturer Diamond Pet Foods. Please Google Diamond Pet Food recalls before feeding their product.
 
"Now" fresh dog food.
No grains, wheat, soy, junk fillers, rendered meats or artificial preservatives.
Pea and potato for fiber. We use Turkey, Salmon, Duck mixture.
Canadian company too!
 
Whatever food you choose, make sure it’s got a higher fat content. Like over 20%. Feed less in the off season and bulk them up a little preseason.
My dogs get Acana Sport and Agility, good stuff and very little byproduct to pick up.
You don’t seem to save much feeding cheap food.
 
I have a maremma, not a hunting dog but we mostly feed her a raw diet of lamb and fish also a few cups of our pet dogs food here and there. Our pet dog eats whats on sale, but hes old and lazy. Not sure what id do with a dog that was for hunting or going to be overly active.
 
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We feed First mate or Arcanna as they are Canadian /North American sourced with no weird Chinese additives or poisons. Many people fee RAW which is very good but takes a good deal of time and doesn't travel well unrefrigerated which is problematic for hunting dogs on multi day hunts. There is a website
ht tps://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ that rates dog food and puts out advisories that might help you make up your mind. I start pups off on a high protein puppy food and its worked for me Have fun with the new pup. My new guy likes to eat his First mate puppy food.

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I am an animal nutritionist and have formulated my share of dog foods. Including high performance working dog diets. The basic science is pretty well known and is not mysterious. But the commonly seen marketing hype in dog foods is way over the top. People will tell you all kinds of things that are not true in order to reinforce their beliefs or to sell you expensive food that's no better for your dog. As an example, people who say a dog can't properly utilize some "byproducts" or rendered ingredients are full of ... crap. But, Soy is not a good source of protein for dogs. Some grain is OK, even essential to a balanced dry diet. I'd avoid buying foods that have wheat though. Dogs fed wheat can have some allergic sensitivities develop. Rice and corn and oats are decent ingredients, but not if they're too much of the total. Fat content is quite important, especially for puppies and working dogs. 18-22% or so total fat is good for those categories. And proper antioxidant protection is extremely important in any dry dog food containing fat. If the fat is not protected with a good antioxidant, such as ethoxyquin, rancidity quickly robs the food of fat soluble vitamins ( A,D,E) and the free radicals produced by rancid fats have many other bad effects. So be wary of foods that say " no artificial additives" They may be using expensive vitamin E as an antioxidant, which works, but is inefficient and you're paying for a vitamin to do the job of a preservative. Silly and expensive and no better for the dog. I'm all for supporting local, and Canadian, and wholesome ingredients. But be wary of the hype. Buying reasonably fresh stock is important. Some small town stores have dog food that is months and months old. Not good for vitamin and fat stability.
The big name proven brands are OK. You don't need to buy an expensive, specialty or fashionable dog food. Purina Pro Plan is a good place to start, or Eukanuba, Iam's etc. are all good. Even Costco Nature's domain is OK for adult dogs. You should feed hunting dog puppies large breed puppy formula while they are under one year of age, and a high fat "active" formulation for adults in the late summer and fall working season.
 
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Longwalker said:
I am an animal nutritionist and have formulated my share of dog foods. Including high performance working dog diets. The basic science is pretty well known and is not mysterious. But the commonly seen marketing hype in dog foods is way over the top. People will tell you all kinds of things that are not true in order to reinforce their beliefs or to sell you expensive food that's no better for your dog. As an example, people who say a dog can't properly utilize some "byproducts" or rendered ingredients are full of ... crap. But, Soy is not a good source of protein for dogs. Some grain is OK, even essential to a balanced dry diet. I'd avoid buying foods that have wheat though. Dogs fed wheat can have some allergic sensitivities develop. Rice and corn and oats are decent ingredients, but not if they're too much of the total. Fat content is quite important, especially for puppies and working dogs. 18-22% or so total fat is good for those categories. And proper antioxidant protection is extremely important in any dry dog food containing fat. If the fat is not protected with a good antioxidant, such as ethoxyquin, rancidity quickly robs the food of fat soluble vitamins ( A,D,E) and the free radicals produced by rancid fats have many other bad effects. So be wary of foods that say " no artificial additives" They may be using expensive vitamin E as an antioxidant, which works, but is inefficient and you're paying for a vitamin to do the job of a preservative. Silly and expensive and no better for the dog. I'm all for supporting local, and Canadian, and wholesome ingredients. But be wary of the hype. Buying reasonably fresh stock is important. Some small town stores have dog food that is months and months old. Not good for vitamin and fat stability.
The big name proven brands are OK. You don't need to buy an expensive, specialty or fashionable dog food. Purina Pro Plan is a good place to start, or Eukanuba, Iam's etc. are all good. Even Costco Nature's domain is OK for adult dogs. You should feed hunting dog puppies large breed puppy formula while they are under one year of age, and a high fat "active" formulation for adults in the late summer and fall working season.
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Thank you so much that helps a lot! It's nice to know I was at least sort of on the right track. Pro plan was what I had been looking into when I made this post.
Costco is 3 hours from me so I doubt I would be getting any of theirs.
Good to know about making sure to have high fat food for later on in life as well
 
Friend of mine breeds yellow labs. When we got ours a couple years ago they were feeding him royal canin for puppy’s. after a year so we switched to pedigree. Didn’t take long for him to brake out with rash and soars. Back to royal canin. Talked to the breeder, that is what she recommends for all her yellow labs. We are getting the Labrador retriever blend now. Good luck. Just finished putting together a ball launcher. 20lb propane tank. 2” ball valve. Barrel that fits a baseball. It’s his new favourite toy. Shoots about 300 ft. He slept by it lastnight while I was working in the shop. He was having trouble finding the the balls so we mixed up some duck sent with water, dip it in before you load the cannon. When the ball hits the ground and rolls I can see the water comming off. Makes a great sent trail. How much energy does it take to send a baseball 300 feet. Is my ball cannon a prohibitive? If i change the barrel back to a tire blaster is it still prohibited? What ever medication billy is on he needs to double it or cut it in half. What ever he is doing isn’t working.
 
Our hound made 17 years on the Kirkland brand.
I used to switch it around so she wasn't eating the same
bag day after day.
I'd probably do the same if we decide on another pewch.
 
kamlooky said:
Our hound made 17 years on the Kirkland brand.
I used to switch it around so she wasn't eating the same
bag day after day.
I'd probably do the same if we decide on another pewch.
Click to expand...

Ha! So funny. My last Gordon RIP had 3 Kirklands from year one to year 14. Now my puppy,6 years old, lol is repeating the schedule 3 different Kirklands.
 
Some good advice here from decent sources. I don't have hunting dogs, but I have a 13 year old purebred Black Labrador Retriever and a 13 week old Black Labrador Retriever. Selecting foods for them has been quite time consuming. Over the years my Old dog has eaten Canidae and Acana grain free foods. I got tricked into grain free and wouldn't necessarily recommend that. If your dog doesn't develop allergies, a balanced diet is preferred. In my last round of research I was tied between Lifetime Brand and Fromm Family. Both high end, small batch food producers. I ended up with Lifetime and so far my little pup is doing well on it. He came from the breeder on Royal Canin and I re-named that corn diarrhea food. Any food whose 1st ingredient is corn is bad.

Regardless of which food you choose, monitor your dog to make sure it's agreeing with him/her. Coat should be shiny and feel soft with a bit of oil, stools should be consistent, breath shouldn't smell super gross and ears should be clean. If there's something consistently wrong with your dog, it's probably the food you're feeding him. Make sure once they're 18 months that you transition to adult food and monitor their weight accordingly. Most important thing is to limit people food and treats accordingly.

Good luck! Have fun!
 
compare prices of quality food and look at cost of cooking yourself.
We feed our guys a stew we make up.
Buy end of day vegetables at the market.. discount meat, and table scraps.
Make a big batch on Sunday..let it simmer all day.. put it in containers in the freezer and fridge.
 
Galt said:
compare prices of quality food and look at cost of cooking yourself.
We feed our guys a stew we make up.
Buy end of day vegetables at the market.. discount meat, and table scraps.
Make a big batch on Sunday..let it simmer all day.. put it in containers in the freezer and fridge.
Click to expand...

Oh man that would break me trying to source food for that haha. I live in a town of 200 people so just going to a market is out of the question. I'm already looking into options for getting food shipped to me rather than paying gas to drive 2 hours to the pet store.
 
Agreed on hype- marketers work overtime to convince people to spend more money on fancy packaging and names when inside is the same. My only additional suggestion would be to mix it up. Naturally no animal is ever is eating the same thing over and over so we mix it up a bit. Our guy gets a bag or two of one thing, then a bag or two of the next. We also divert to him all the appropriate table scraps from meals and adjust kibble accordingly. He is doing well- can't complain. Diversity is important imho.
 
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