Dog Food Your Opinion?

[Ridge View]

Does higher priced dog food such as pro plan, Eukanuba, iams, etc.... give dogs an edge in competition when comparing to cheaper dog food? If so in your opinion how?

For an example: Dog A is competing against Dog B and both are in shape and are same in their abilities. However Dog A is being fed Eukanuba performance (30/20) and Dog B is being fed a lower grade off brand (that is lower in protien and fat ratio). Is dog A going to win simply because he is being fed supposedly a better quality of food.

[pineridgebeagles]

I dont believe it does ,in competition the dogs are not running hour after hour like when hunting,they run an hour or so and usually have a rest in between casts. Al

[Ohiohntr]

I had the exact opposite of your senerio...had to back off of "good food" because my dog would not settle in (mouth and wired up). Dropped back to "cheap" food and she finished shortly after.

[DIXIEDOG]

I know a few successful field trialers that are feeding their dogs Blue Seal Krunchies which is a pretty low end food.....their dogs place pretty consistently. So I'd say there is more to it than food alone.

[MaineDogs]

It all comes down to the ingredients, look at science diet, high priced and corn is in the first ingredient. It also depending on the competition and the dog. some dogs do good on average kibble and some dogs look like $hit on the same food. as far as the competition goes, if it was a hunting trip with 10-12 hr days with dogs on the ground none stop for 3,4,5 days than kibble quality and protein/fat % is going to be a big part. a dog getting fed average feed in this hunt will break down much faster than the dog getting fed the better stuff., AND the dog getting fed raw will most likely be running circles around the other two dogs.

It really comes down to how much you run your dogs, how much you want to pay for kibble and preference.

[mybeagles]

Big advantage to quality diet is the ability to sustain a rigorous training routine without loosing weight or having to consume large volumes of food to maintain. High calorie potent foods need to be managed so you don't feed the same amount as the lesser grades. Otherwise you get loose stools or fat dogs.

I think its foolish to think two dogs with the same ability will perform equally with a difference in nutrition. Dogs are no different that any other athlete such as human or horse. When pushed to the limit the body draws on nutrition to get that little bit extra and to aid in the physical recovery.

As was stated, the most expensive does not always mean better, but its also not a free pass to buy the cheapest food you can find and think they are all the same. As some of you with pot bellies have discovered, not all calories are created equal. The grilled chicken breast has 160 calories but so does a jelly filled doughnut. The effects are different......

Mybeagles

[MaineDogs]

well said mybeagles, to sum it all up; research ingredients and what is good for dogs, than read countless hours about study's on different types of nutrition's for dogs good and bad............. quality not quantity!

[pcable]

I agree with everything that has been stated to an extent. But I learned in Vet Tech school that it is just as important that a dog be able to digest the ingredients as the ingredents themselves. Digestablity is where its at. I have a good friend who was feeding a premium dog food and his older male dog looked pitiful. He switched to Purina Dog Chow and he picked up weight, his coat slicked up, and the dog just seemed to feel better.
I think dogs are like us humans in that we can't all live on the same diet. What hurts my system may be great for you. You have to find what works best for your dogs. Mine also do great on Dog Chow. I don't competition hunt, but if I did I would be very careful about changing their food. Too much protein and fat can have adverse affects as well as benefits. Like I said before it doesn't matter if the food has 40% protein if your dog can only get 10% out of it.
This is just my honest opinion and I don't claim to be the smartest hillbilly!

[eddywilliams]

We feed Purina dog chow to all also Purina one Chicken & Rice when running hard .Hard stool and not a lot of it the dogs do great .

[S.R.Patch]

What I seen, one day ain't gonna make much difference, two days ain't gonna make much difference, third day gonna show, they gonna be drawing from reserve an run out. Sweeten the pot and they'll come back.
A hound carries it's weight on it's back not in the gut. If you got him in good condition they carry enough for three days so what may happen at a one day trial is more about the hound, than what's in the bowl. jmho

[jdmart]

I have seen some dogs that are wired up on 30/20. But I do believe that hounds that are fed higher quality dog feed will excel in trials that last all day (AKC). I can remember one such trial when this spring when the dogs pounded the last rabbit for an hour in winners pack. Two dogs began to pull away from the pack at the end. The lead dog was fed Eukunuba, my dog was second, fed Pro Plan. I can promise you she wasn't the second fastest dog in the pack. They had been running for three hours in the winners pack. I have fed several dog foods over the years and finished several dogs on different dog foods. I do believe the higher quality ones do give an advantage. Ever seen on of Dugan's dogs look tired or hot. Never! I like 26/16 or 28/18. Just found a new food called Victor that is all natural. Like someone said different dogs respond to food totally different.

[warddog]

I have to agree with SR Patch. I followed hounds for many years and competition hunted coon hounds for many of those years. I've also got two TOP coonhound competition hunters close by me and one as a neighbor who won the World Hunt with an English female some years back. Funny thing is these fellas feed the same types of dog food as I did and still do. Neither of them feed the high protein stuff such as 28 or 30 percent. We mostly feed a kibble in the 21 to 26% protein range with me trying to stay around 24%. I've fed a lot of differnt brands over the years and NEVER had a problem being competitive due to what I put in their bowls but what I did find to be the differnce was the amount of time their bowls were left to be in the woods. One of these coon hunters in my area was a hound supply dealer and sold feed as well and never did he have any luck selling a 28 to 30% protein kibble dog food or one that cost $50.00 a 40 pound bag not did he feed such. The neighbor with the World Hunt winning female did and still does feed the same types of feed that I use. I see him pretty regular and at 70 years old is still running a coon hound or two. He comes to my property to run and bring some nite hunt casts. I sit on the front porch and listen to em get treed. I don't think what's in their bowl is an advantage but rather them being put in the woods with the conditioning and experiance. IMO a hound will perform on any decent feed as long as the owner has the ability to know what each dog needs to maintain good flesh. I've observed that differernt dogs need differnt amounts of the same feed to maintain their flesh and durabuility.

[birmi1nr]

I have seen some dogs that are wired up on 30/20. But I do believe that hounds that are fed higher quality dog feed will excel in trials that last all day (AKC). I can remember one such trial when this spring when the dogs pounded the last rabbit for an hour in winners pack. Two dogs began to pull away from the pack at the end. The lead dog was fed Eukunuba, my dog was second, fed Pro Plan. I can promise you she wasn't the second fastest dog in the pack. They had been running for three hours in the winners pack. I have fed several dog foods over the years and finished several dogs on different dog foods. I do believe the higher quality ones do give an advantage. Ever seen on of Dugan's dogs look tired or hot. Never! I like 26/16 or 28/18. Just found a new food called Victor that is all natural. Like someone said different dogs respond to food totally different.

I made the switch from Pro-Plan to Victor about 2 months ago and so far I am happy with the results. I am currently feeding the 26/18 and will likely go to the 24/20 for the winter and during trial season. Pro-Plan has been good to my dogs for the last couple of years but the price was the biggest reason for the switch. Victor is a lot cheaper and the ingredients are as good if not better than the Pro-Plan.

[TOUCHSTONE]

A dog with excellent nutrition will outperform a dog with mediocre nutrition. Some of us run dogs consistently and hard. Takes huge endurance to make it through a week of training just to be tuned in for the competition hunt.

Quality controll should play a big role in the decision of what to feed.

Where and how the company gets ingredients is important. Different companies have different standards. Some even import product from Mexico ...Yikes!???

Excellent ingredients and excellent quality controll will have a small cost. Excellent companies tend to do a large enough volume to stay competitive with the cheap brands that have minimal standards. Dan M

[Alabama John]

Go by the livestock kill plant and get some raw meat to put in pens.

Some even hang a steers head and let the dogs eat off it at will. Some throw large fat slabs with little meat in pens and let dogs pick out the part they want.
Cheap feed and good for meat eaters.