Dog Food ?

[NT-HOGGIN]

Howdy Folks.  I'm new to this board and just wanted to say hi and ask a question.  I am not new to hog hunting but I am new to owning my own dogs.  I just got two pups over Christmas and was wondering what brand or types of feed you guys use.  I am currently feeding the Retriever brand that Tractor Supply sells, which is what one of my hunting buddies uses for his dogs.  If you have any suggestions on other brands that work well for your dogs I would greatly appreciate any help.  If it is not a national brand that you use could you please let me know where you purchase it.

Thanks & best of luck in 09'

NT-HOGGIN

[tnichol]

Welcome NT!  You'll find this a great source of information - alot of really good guys on here with alot of experience. 

I feed Diamond Extreme Athlete.  Last year Diamond (like some other companies) had some quality problems that actually resulted in a major recall.  I know LOTS of folks who stopped using Diamond after that happened - but my experience with it has been really good. 

Used to be my #1 criteria for dog food was availability - I wanted to be able to get it anytime I wanted easily.  Because of that I went to Walmart.  The walmart brand was cheaper, but I found that I had much more waste with it.  With the Diamond I don't have to feed as much of it to keep the dogs in good hunting shape.  I'm no animal nutritionist,  or expert on the subject - but logically it makes sense to me that CORN shouldn't be the #1 or #2 incredient in a dog's food either.

Tim

[shawn]

diamond is good, and duralife, (says for sporting dogs on the bag) sold at atwoods is good too, a little cheaper than diamond, usually sets beside the diamond. but availabilty is an issue with the duralife, ive went there a couple times and they was out so i had to get the diamond

[Wmwendler]

I tried the retreiver brand high energy last year and it is not much cheaper than the diamond high energy.  The dogs do better on Diamond so I switched back. 

I've been considering Loyall Brand Dog food its made by Nutrena.  They supposedly cook all thier grains a special way for optimal starch digestion, and test and keep records on thier grain shipments so that they dont run into problems with aflatoxin.  And I think the guy said they dont buy thier grain from china or other sketchy places, all this is coming from the feed store owner who sells it.  Its pretty pricey but not much more than Diamond Extreem Athalete.

Waylon

[jhy]

Like Tim, I dont care for corn in the first couple of ingredients.  I feed Extreme Dog Fuel, and corn is the fifth ingredient.  Also, I dont feed anything with soy.  I prefer a 26% protein, 18% Fat , and I feed according to how much they are being worked and weather.

Joey

[L3Outdoors]

I really like Black Gold 26/18 Hard to find though.

[muleman]

I love to talk about dog food! Back in my coonhunting years I sat on a panel for purina, along with a couple of other coonhunters, some retriever people, pointer people, some foo foo dog people, and a police dog dude. We got paid to go once a month and talk about dog food. Nearly all of the people, besides the coonhunters, fed purina food. The purina folks would try like hell to change us over every meeting. The truth was, we had all tried purina feeds, and our dogs LOOKED great on it. Problem was, we all hunted 7 nights a week HARD. the dogs would hunt like hell for about 2 hours then peter out.

I did tons of research on dog nutrition and changed up the feed and the dogs were able to hunt all night as hard as when we dropped them out. The main thing I learned was it doesnt really matter what the percent protein says on the bag. What does matter is how digestible is the protein. You could have a feed with 40 percent protein and your dogs do crappy if it was only 30% digestible. on the flip side a 28% feed with 85% digestibility would look to be not as good on the lable (most dont put digestibility on the lable) but it would actually be a superior feed to the 40% feed.

Here is a cool site to check out and you can do your own research:

http://forums.dogfoodproject.com/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=dogfood

it has tons of information on it. I currently feed Nutro. its higher than hell.
 

[pig snatcher]

I have been feeding Pride for years and have had good luck with it.  Dont know if you have it out west though.

[hogdoggintexas]

diamond hi-energy and the dogs have never looked better

[NT-HOGGIN]

I am having what I think to be a lot of waste with the Retriever brand.  I know they are just pups, but I am cleaning up 6 - 8 piles twice a day oout of the kennel.  Is that ammount normal or is it probably related to the food?  They have both been wormed and fecal tested so my guess is the food.

[Jasonmac]

I will stick with the Diamond High Energy. My dogs look better than ever.

[btpp]

black gold black bag have tried diamond, pmi, purina, retriever, hi tek, and sportmix it has been the best for me

[Hogboy]

I tried retreiver for a few months, due to ease in getting it and the price.  On the bag it looked like a good product (24,15) and the ingredients weren't bad.  I gave it a shot and the dogs ate it up at first.....then I started noticing, more waste, bad coats, not eating and upset stomachs.  I gave it a shot and was not pleased.  I have since gone back to the Diamond hi-energy.

[NT-HOGGIN]

Thanks for everyboy's input.  It seems like the majority is the Diamond brand.  I just picked up a bag of Diamond Large Breed Puppy.  It seems like it has more highly digestible protein than the Hi-Energy formula and not much of a difference in the protein percentage.  I will give it a try and let everyone know how it goes in a few weeks.

MuleMan - That link you posted is awesome.  The site gives a lot of useful information.  I really appreciate you tunning me into his website.  Thanks alot.

NT-HOGGIN.

[Mike]

I fed Diamond Hi-Energy for many years. When the recall came out a couple years back, my feed store quit carrying it. I started feed Sportsmix 24/20... the dogs did a lot better on it.

I even went back to Diamond a few months ago because it was cheaper and the dogs didn't do as good. With the same amount of feed, they started dropping weight and getting dull coats... so I went back to Sportsmix.

[muleman]

Any time! Here is another one that I have not been all the way through but it seems to go into even more detail.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

[Eric]

I also really like Sportsmix, but I can Enhanced Hunters Edge locally for $19.99 a bag... every 13th bag free. Two of my Cur dogs are on 3/4 of a smalll coffee can a day, the other is on 1 can, bulldogs are on 1 can.

The area sales manager said they are now the official dogs food of Ducks Unlimited, real nice guy. Most likely going to be a sponsor for the Tdha Contest.

[Purebreedcolt]

Know several working dog guys feeding the Enhanced and are vary happy with it.  I am also feeding it and really like it.