Dog Food

Flush 'Em Hard Rocky

Flush 'Em Hard Rocky

New member
I am curious what all of you feed your bird dogs. I have been using Science Diet forever with my dogs. I have always liked it... my dogs have always been healthy, great coats, etc. but at $52.99 a bag and 2 dogs, well it is just crazy. I recently switched to Pro Plan Performance food. So far, I like it, the dogs like it and no major changes in them, so I am pleased so far. Curious on what the rest of you feed and your thoughts on that food.
 
Same as you Pro Plan Performance and I mix it with Beef and Rice during hunting season then I feed them straight Beef and Rice during the off season. I use to be a Ekuanuba guy until the price went up to $50 a bag
 
I too the proplan, but as Mr H said it is good to feed the regular or mix with something, regular adult during off time, That is a lot of protien for the liver to digest.Performance is good for verry active dogs and by that I mean guy's that compete and train allot and if you hunt allot all day and stuff during the season.But it is over kill on the liver during the slow time. I got this right from purina, the guy runs his dogs in competition too.
 
I've been feeding Black Gold for several years and get along pretty well with it. It's not ProPlan or Eukanuba, but the dogs stay in good shape and maintain their weight when hunting. I do up their ration during the season.
 
Native dog food here, I feed the level 3 formula during the season and level 2 offseason. Good feed competitively priced. I pay $38 for 40 pounds.
 
I've been feeding Pro Plan for quite a few years and the dogs appear to do very well. Like others have said, I would be cautious about feeding the Performance formula year round. Unless the dogs are getting a tremendous amount of expercise that's just too much protein. Even during hunting season I only feed the adult formula and in the off season to keep my dogs from getting heavy I will switch to, or mix in, the Weight Management formula.
 
Ditto on Dakotazeb...I too use the performance in season and mix 50/50 out of season with the weight managment. However, I ran out unexpectedly and bought the IAMS All-Breed formula for a short period of time. The dogs loved it.
 
Birdshooter- Your dog is doing and looking good with Native? I talked to the Rep. at Pheasant Fest and I want to try it out on my dog. She suddenly became a picky eater! Most Labs would eat anything! So I am looking for something new to feed her with out spending $50 per bag.
 
Flush 'Em Hard Rocky said:
I am curious what all of you feed your bird dogs. I have been using Science Diet forever with my dogs. I have always liked it... my dogs have always been healthy, great coats, etc. but at $52.99 a bag and 2 dogs, well it is just crazy. I recently switched to Pro Plan Performance food. So far, I like it, the dogs like it and no major changes in them, so I am pleased so far. Curious on what the rest of you feed and your thoughts on that food.
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Another Pro Plan performance guy here. I go with the chicken blend. Been using it for several years with great results.

lefty
 
gracierator said:
Birdshooter- Your dog is doing and looking good with Native? I talked to the Rep. at Pheasant Fest and I want to try it out on my dog. She suddenly became a picky eater! Most Labs would eat anything! So I am looking for something new to feed her with out spending $50 per bag.
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Thanks for the compliment, you have better eyes than mine if you can tell that by looking at my tiny avatar pic.:)

I think it is a very good feed for the money. When Kent feeds (makers of Native) put it out on the market a couple years ago it was going for $30 per bag. Then the fuel prices skyrocketed and we all know what happened to all dog food prices then.... Still at $38.99 / 40 pounds, (where I buy) I think it is very competitive as far as performance feeds go. Yes Diamond Extreme athlete you can get cheaper, but I like the ingredients in Native plus the different levels they offer which means you can tailor it to your dogs caloric requirements.

Most people that I know that are feeding it are happy with it, although there are always a few dogs that have issues, as could happen with any feed. The other nice thing about native is that if you DON'T have a dealer near you it can be brought in thru their "Do it best" program which will drop ship it to participating hardware or retail outlet near you for no extra shipping costs and same price as retail. If interested, go the the Native website and look for "do it best" if there is no dealer near.
 
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I started feeding Connley's Red Mills about 8 months ago and couldn't be happier with my decision. I have feed alot of other foods but not with the consistancy per bag of the red mills. They are a new company to the midwest but have been in Ireland for years. Less stools, easier cleanup, and feed less to maintain there weight than other brands I have feed.
 
Brad Lhotak said:
I started feeding Connley's Red Mills about 8 months ago and couldn't be happier with my decision. I have feed alot of other foods but not with the consistancy per bag of the red mills. They are a new company to the midwest but have been in Ireland for years. Less stools, easier cleanup, and feed less to maintain there weight than other brands I have feed.
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Just curious Brad, Have you ever tried Pro Plan?, I am always Interested in diferent food. I have experimented with several brands and seem to end up with the same result of the dogs running out of gas with anything but proplan. What are your thoughts on that. We run the p and viniger out of them. Where do you get that food and do you think it holds up to the constant training and running the seriously competitive dog would require?Also availability is an issue.
 
where are you buying Red Mills at?? I would like to try it
 
Unless your dogs are getting a tremendous amount of exercise in the off season I still see no reason to feed the Pro Plan Performance formula even if you are mixing it with the an Adult formula. They just don't need that much pretein and fat. I would go 100% to the straight adult formula instead of mixing it with the Performance. I don't even feed Performance during the hunting season and my dogs do real well in the field. In fact in the off season, especially during the summer when it's too hot to really run them, I switch to the Weight Mangement formula. But this is just my own opinion.
 
My wife and I both run. We take my Springer with when we run, so he gets several miles a day running, the protein and fat might actually be good? We will see, in the end, I will probably swtich to 100% shredded formula. The feedback on the site has been great! And, much appreciated!
 
Well the performance holds up well for me because we are running all the time, in fact I took Odie off it for two weeks and he lost three pounds instantly. With a dog that is lean this is verry noticeable.But For my dog that I don't train and trial I have no need for it. I just have not found anything yet that keeps the weight and muscle built up for him doing all this running like Performance does. I am always open to new Ideas though.
 
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FCSpringer said:
Just curious Brad, Have you ever tried Pro Plan?, I am always Interested in diferent food. I have experimented with several brands and seem to end up with the same result of the dogs running out of gas with anything but proplan. What are your thoughts on that. We run the p and viniger out of them. Where do you get that food and do you think it holds up to the constant training and running the seriously competitive dog would require?Also availability is an issue.
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Yes I have feed pro Plan before. I do feel it is one of the better ones out there for the price. I do like the overall performance of the red mills better. My dogs held there weight well through hunting season and they are in the upland field for about 40 days a year plus about ten outing of duck hunting. Then we pretty much train the other months except for Jan and Feb plus run hunt tests and field trials. They have all held up really well coat and weight.

They do have some locations set up to buy the food. I have mine shipped to me. Best would be to get a hold of Tyler the regional salesman and see if they have someone in your area. Tyler @ 515-689-4194 http://www.redmillsusa.com/petfood/index.html
Here is there ingredient list
Chicken, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and Citric Acid), Pork Meat Meal, Oat Flour, Corn, Wheat Flour, Corn Gluten Meal, Oat Hulls, Pea Protein, Menhaden Fish Meal, Pearled Barley, Oats, Flaxseed, Cheese, Chicken Liver, Dried Whole Eggs, Chicory Root Extract Salt, Zinc Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Bifidobacterium Longum, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcous Faecium, Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E, Vitamin B12, Choline Chloride, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid,
Ascorbic Acid, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Iron Carbonate, Manganous Oxide, Copper Oxide, Cobalt Carbonate, Calcium Iodate, Sorbic Acid, Sodium Selenite.
 
PMI Exclusive
Chicken and Rice Formula


INGREDIENTS: Chicken, chicken meal, brewers rice, oatmeal, whole grain brown rice, chicken
fat preserved with mixed tocopherols (a form of vitamin E), corn gluten meal, dried beet pulp,
dried egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, potassium chloride, salt, cholline chloride
glucosamine hydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper
proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate,
manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, chondroitin sulfate, ascorbic acid, vitamin A
supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine
hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement,
folic acid

Crude Protein, minimum 26.0% Vitamin A, minimum 15,000 IU/kg
Crude Fat, minimum 15.0% Vitamin E, minimum 100 IU/kg
Crude Fiber, maximum 3.0% Zinc, minimum 150 ppm
Moisture, maximum 10.0% Omega-6 Fatty Acids, min 2.5%*
Ash, maximum 6.0% Omega-3 Fatty Acids, min 0.4%*
Calcium (Ca), minimum 1.0% Glucosamine Hydrochloride, min 300 ppm*
Phosphorus (P), minimum 0.8% Chondroitin Sulfate, minimum 100 ppm*
 
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Native and other foods

I too have used Native, but based on the recommendation of my trainer, he has switched his entire kennel to Precise (http://www.precisepet.com). He used to endorse Native, but also noticed more "pickiness" among his dogs than normal. I have been on Precise for 2 months now and Gypsy loves it.

As for other foods, I have used IAMS and Diamond in the past. No complaints really about the IAMS, just not as much food per bag for the money. Diamond was really good but when the tainted food issues came out a few years ago it scared the crap out of me and I switched right away. I am sure that they are still producing a great product, but the whole issue of dying dogs sticks in my memory-kinda like the time your mom made you eat liver or sauerkraut or whatever other food to this day you still hate!
 
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