What is the Best Dog Food???

[Shady Grove Beagles]

I have no doubt that Pro Plan,Iams Eukanuba,Nutro,Blue Buffalo,etc.are good quality feeds.Problem is that I can't afford to feed my dogs dry kibble that costs a $1.00 a Lb. or more.
Plus I've never been convinced that as far as performance or dogs physical appearance/looks that it makes a huge difference.
Over the past 40 years I have feed retrievers,coondogs and beagles Purina Dog Chow with whatever comes off our dinner table or out of the kitchen that the people aren't eating and they have always done just fine on that diet.
I've got two good friends that feed Pro Plan and swear by it and another one that feeds another name- brand high end chow.All three of these guys have the income to feed whatever dog food they want and I don't think cost concerns them that much.One guy only keeps two beagles so not costing him that much anyways.For a guy that keeps a half dozen beagles [ or more ] or three or four big coonhounds,etc.cost can be a concern.
The one thing that has me not convinced that the premium/expensive chow is worth it--------I run with these guys up north on hare and south here on cottontails.I've run my dogs everyday for two weeks and run them hard.Bottom line is my dogs look in just as good a shape as theirs',run just as fast as theirs',have as much or more stamina as theirs' and my dog's turds look just as good as their dogs turds.LOL
I don't know about you but I can't/don't eat filet mignon steak,spiral ham,rack of lamb,ground round burger,pork loin,sword fish,veal and all other kinds of high price eats every meal.Can't afford to and would look like a top hog if I did so.Some days I just have soup and a grill cheese,some days a P.B.and J sandwich and a bowl of cereal.I don't know anyone that eats gourmet everyday.
I think the dog food companies are taking a lot of folks for a major ride with some of this super premium feed.They've got the doggie doo/foofoo dog folks with one Golden Retriever in the front yard beleiving that if you don't feed the absolute best/most expensive feed that is available that you are doing your"canine family member" a great disservice.I mean how can he make it through life without dinning dailey on wild caught salmon,venison,lamb,brown rice,beets,peas,carrots,apples,wheat germ,yogurt,etc.,etc.,etc.
I used to go down to south Georgia and coonhunt with an old man down there.Every morning he got up and cooked big trays of corn bread in his oven to feed the dozen or so hounds he kept.They got cornbread and cracklings to eat.Robert was in his 70's and he said that's all they'd ever fed his Daddy's fox hounds and his setters and coon hounds.
Fellow I hunt hare with up in northern Maine lived in Alaska one year and worked for one of the Iditerod mushers taking care of his 100 + sled dogs.He said their diet consisted of salmon that had been caught and sun dried during the summer.In the winter it was dumped in a 55 gal. barrel with hot water and a reconstituted mush resulted which was spooned out onto the ground in front of each dog.
I would say that any dog that is being campaigned extremely hard on a reguler basis would need a high quality feed and that would pay dividends in his performance but for many others I think you could be wasting your money.
As always.....JMHO.

[gwyoung]

Shady, A very good post from a man of long experience. I do like Purina because of their reputation and because dry food makes up such a small amount of my feed that it doesn't matter. I feed a hell of a lot or ground deer. I hear so much crap about feeding table scraps and such because it upsets a well balanced diet . Anyone think I throw the extra table food out such as fried potatoes, spaghetti, peas .corn, broccoli, macaroni, cabbage, beans, spinach, oatmeal, cereal, Pizza, etc: I feed this to the hounds and always will,it is ridiculous not to do so, no human food goes into the garbage it goes to the dogs. My first post on this subject was a tongue in cheek remark! Once again a good post, down to earth so to speak and keeping it real.

[BB Beagles]

for VICTOR

[warddog]

Right on Shady, I picked up ALL that you laid down. I can also add one other thing and that's when folks get on the kick of too much poo. Boys if you fire the boiler you are gonna have some clinkers. What I find as funny is when I was reading some sites about these FiFi folks feeding the $3.80 per pound NO grain dry dog feeds and how so many of them complained about the amount or POO-POO and or how many times they had to PICK IT PU behind little FiFi on their walk. Got a real kick out of pone post that was really tired of how loose little FiFi was the more they walked. This gal was only feeding a $3.00 per pound dry dog food and some others stated she probably needed the $3.80 per pound stuff. This crap debate really cracks me up. Well, I had me a bowl of CORN flakes for breakfast so I got to go get rid of some clinkers which is probably that corn that just went right threw me! I hope little FiFi ain't a squattin in there on my commode. Here's one last thought, HOW CAN YOU PUT OUT MORE THAN WAS PUT IN? Put a two pound log in the boiler and get a four pound clinker out? darn, if that's the case I'm gonna feed mine Ben Franklin Brand.

[likeemfast]

Whatever you feed add a raw egg or two each week. Break it over the dry feed and you'll see a difference in dogs coat and health. WE have a few chickens "Red Stars" to be exact that lay those dark brown high protein eggs. They hardly miss a day laying regardless of the weather, not like most chickens. Hybred vigor!!! All you need is one for every 3-4 dogs.

Is that compared to those high gloss white low protein eggs?

[BB Beagles]

If ya mix some VICTOR in them cornflakes, it might not run right through ya so bad.
JUST FUNNING!!! LOL!!

[warddog]

LOL, by adding Victor to my cornflakes I would only be changing the grain formulation and making it ALL BRAN! I did come across a link that explains EXACTLY what I have been trying to in my replies to pet food. We have been talking dog foods specifically BUT the junk isn't limited to merely dry dog food as ALL this stuff is in other animal feeds as well, EVEN cattle! Yep, cattle are vegetarians BUT they are feed dry feed that contains cooked up animals including the tissues of other cattle that have been determined as the carrier of mad cow disease that the USDA mandates be removed from all cattle 30 months of age or older. In those countries that have had outbreaks of MAD COW disease it was determined that the spread most probably came from the feed and that was when the FDA banned the use of cattle tissue in cattle feed and the USDA mandated that any bovine 30 months or older was unfit for human consumption unless specific tissues were removed at the time of slaughter. This included all brain and spinal cord tissues. With that being said the manner of determining the actual age of 30 month old cattle was done via dentation by the slaughtering company itself. GUESS what many of them couldn't tell the difference between a thee month ole bovine and a 30 year old one by looking at their teeth so many 30+ month old cattle go into the human food chain that MOST consumers have no clue of. NOW, why would a producer take the chance of NOT removing the mandated tissues of cattle 30 months of age or older? The answer is simple, ever see a "T" bone or porterhouse steak without the "T" bone? No, because that's what determines the cut of beef but in order to even put ANY meat of a 30 month or older beef the spinal cord and ALL it's connective tissues MUST be totally removed, therefore the only possible way of assuring total removal is to saw the flat portion of the backbone enclosing the spinal cord completely off and disposing of it. WHERE is this disposed of? Right in the offal or inedible barrels that go to the rendering company to be put right back into animal feed products. I found a link that I am posting below for folks that may be interested in this issue. I know it's hard for folks to wrap their minds around an industry doing such things but FACTS are they do it with you and your families health as a consumer so why should they worry about your pets or animals in general. The almighty dollar is what drives many businesses today with total disregard to the consequences be it your pet dying, your cattle, you or your family member.


http://www.acreaturecomfort.com/truthaboutpetfood.htm

[gwyoung]

wardog, Next thing you will be telling us it that folks are not becoming Doctor's because they really care about us, instead of the money and such. You will be saying that Insurance companies are not in the business for OUR financial security instead of their own. And that car salesmen are not just wanting to see us get a nice car every now and then but they are also just after money, LOL!

[Hammerpolly]

I will give you a bit of my history and experience with hunting dogs and feed that ive found works best for me and most oldtimers that work their dogs hard.
I got my first beagles in 1962 , I was 12 yr old. We ran rabbits and deer with them, my father fed Jim Dandy feed. Those dogs stayed in good shape summer and winter in and out of hunting season, they also got table scraps.
In 1973 I moved to Idaho, I met a liscensed guide who hunted bear, mountain lion, and bobcat. His dogs worked year round in very rough country 7 days a week. Some dogs could stand up to that and some could not, if they couldnt he didnt keep them. He fed Purina Dog Chow year round, in severe winter he would get beef meat scraps from butcher shop, in summer only Purina.
Those dogs worked in temps as low as 30 below in winter and summer temps up to 100. In high altitudes and as low as 3000 feet. He never expermented or changed feed. I saw those dogs work, stay treed for 3 days and nitghts until we could find them when lost. Then go back to work catch game the next day. Ive seen them on a mean baying bear that would not tree for up to 3 days before we could get to them, and next day go catch game again.
They were very tough hounds but had to be fed proper nutrition or they couldnt do that.
I have personally tried many different feeds on someones suggestion, but I allways go back to Purina my dogs do better than on any other ive tried.
Im in Arkansas running beagles now and my dogs perform and look great on Purina Dog Chow.
I wonder why so many think they are smarter than the scientist that spend their lives designing feed for animals, with scientific research, under all conditions.
Hope I didnt offend anyone.

[warddog]

wardog, Next thing you will be telling us it that folks are not becoming Doctor's because they really care about us, instead of the money and such. You will be saying that Insurance companies are not in the business for OUR financial security instead of their own. And that car salesmen are not just wanting to see us get a nice car every now and then but they are also just after money, LOL!

LOL gwyoung, YEP and a couple were left off. Folks are not becoming lawyers to find the truth and render justice but rather to skip to the bank off the backs of those they represent be they right, wrong or in between. I have saved the biggest and best for last and that is that folks are NOT becoming politicians to better the country but rather to line their pockets with cold hard cash (yours and mine of course) and feed their ego with power. Notice I didn't get partisan and single out any specific party because they ALL bow down to BIG Corporate America's highest bidders. What's in dog or people food for that matter is the least of our worries until some sick wacko figures out how easy it would be to contaminate the food or water supply and how quickly thousands would die before anyone knew what hit them. Hey, didn't that experiment already happen with diamond dog food! Just sayin we don't have to go very far to find wacko's as they walk among us.

[gwyoung]

wardog, Some have finally caught onto the fact that big corporate America does not contain even close to the amount of votes as the illegal aliens and their families! Donald trump has one vote , who needs it when you can get 22 million ILLEGAL aliens and their legal families on your side. It is truly a shame when a politician would destroy America just so he could keep his job, just so he can be still referred to as Senator at parties ! Many fall into this category. Would our founding fathers stand Idle while this happened, If they were alive today the government would be overthrown, no doubt about it! There is also a hidden gun control agenda behind the illegal aliens. American culture is too heavy with gun ownership for the antis to make a significant change. ( we keep passing it on) Import 22 million people who do not have a culture of gun ownership and who will quickly breed many , many more generations with no culture of gun ownership and you will get the quickest path to gun confiscation available to the Democrats, yes I did mention a party!

[BB Beagles]

If Victor was around back in the day of are founding fathers they prob would've fed that to there dogs. Lol!!!

[gwyoung]

I would say you are right,Probably would have served ole Vic' right also, that way he wouldn't have been around to start selling what some refer to as dog food!

[BB Beagles]

VICTOR

[Shady Grove Beagles]

Hey,I've got to tell you a story.I've gotten to the age where I've got a lot of them.
In 1974 I moved from Massachusetts into the mountains of New Hampshire.I got introduced to coon,cat and bear hunting and was soon looking for hounds of my own.
Everybody I asked about hounds told me I needed to go see Leet Ware over in Vermont as he was a bigtime bear hunter with good hounds.I got directions and headed out.Finding Leet's place and pulling up his drive I saw kind of an unbeilavable sight.It was about 10 degress out and here's this white haired guy bucking up a 1,200 pound Holstein with a chainsaw and throwing chunks of frozen cow to his hounds!
I asked if he was Leet Ware and he kind of growled"who wants to know?"I told him that I wanted to talk dogs with him and he invited me in and that began a long hunting friend ship of many years.
I asked Leet about feeding dead cows and he said he fed horses too.Said he fed that only in the winter and summer was just regular chow.Leet and his brother Willard kept about 25 big hounds between them.They knew about every farmer around and when there would be calves born dead or a cow go down that wasn't saleable they'd go get them for dog food or in the Spring for bear bait.
There was an old time commision sale that would go on every Monday across the river in Vermont.I used to go sometimes cause it was more entertainment than you can imagine.All the real old/longtime Vermont farmers would come down out of the hills with just about everything and critter you can imagine to sell.A lot of old plug horses would be brought in to sell.Most were being bought for the rendering plant and were going for $25.00-$50.00.Leet and Willard would go down and buy a horse cheap.Haul him home and feed dogs for weeks.
When I was coon hunting I'd take my hides to the fur buyer.He was an old guy that had been buying fur all over for years.We got to talking one time and Leet's name came up.The old fur buyer told me that the first time he had met Leet was he'd gone there to buy some bobcat hides Leet had called him about.When he got there Leet had just come in from hunting and was skinning out two bobcats.When he was done he pitched the bobcat carcases in to his hounds which the promptly ate.
I don't know if those old boys were feeding the "best dog food" but they sure had some pretty good hounds over the years.