Determining The Food Your Dog Does Best On

[Maddy]

I've been thinking about starting a discussion on this for a while. We often say here in discusssions about canine diets that you should feed the diet your dog does best on. That's very true but how do you know??

So, can we please share ideas about how to evaluate diets? I'll start with a few of my thoughts on this. This is NOT designed to be a thread about what kibble is best or a raw v processed debate so please don't make it one. :)

1. Do you have to feed tons of food or hardly anything in order to keep your dog at a decent weight? If you have to shovel food into the dog or its constantly hungry (yeah I know that's nearly all dogs all the time) I'd say the fat content of the diet needs tweaking up or down.

2. Is your dog at the vets a fair bit for minor skin irritations, ear or other infections or hot spots? If so, I'd say that avoiding some types of food in the diet is worth trying. A lot of dogs are gluten intolerant and changing the diet can help with these issues.

3. What's going on at the back end? Does your dog produce firm stools? Or are they large mounds of mousse like poo (see this quite a bit) and are they foul smelling? I'd say a diet that sees your dog produce masses of soft smelly stools on a regular basis isn't ideal.

4. Does your dog smell? Teeth, anal glands, general odour? Diet can be frequent cause of these issues and making sure that your dog gets a decent amount of tooth cleaning via its diet and a decent amount of fibre can help with some of these issues.

5. Does your dog LIKE its food? Some dogs are just picky but what you feed should be enjoyed by the dog. If you're constantly having to spice up the main part of your dog's diet with additives, I'd say its time to try something else.

Thoughts??

I'd say that's a pretty good set of guidelines.

Only thing I'd add is more on poo :p

Input vs Output- How much is actually getting digested. On their current diet, my dogs get about 1kg a day and output is probably only 100g or so. On previous diet, I'd put a few cups in and get roughly double the amount back out.

The poo- What kind of effect does it have on grass. When we fed our dogs Advance, their poo killed grass at an ungodly rate and took a very long time to break down (was basically impossible to compost). Compare to current diet where the grass in the dog's favourite poo spot is actually the only grass that's doing really well (still green ) when the rest of the lawn is completely dead. It also breaks down quickly when composted. I actually used a heap to fill in a big hole (dug by Doug) and after it got a bit of rain, a whole mass of grass and weeds sprang up over that patch- the rest of the lawn in that area remained bare, even though the soil had been dug over by Doug.

I've actually ordered myself one of those proper poo composters so that I can use the poo to fix up the lawn* (we have clay soil so keeping grass happy can be hard).

*Clay won't allow the composters to drain properly so I plan to install it, use it until half full (including the enzyme tablets to make sure it breaks down safely), fill the rest in with soil, move it to new part of lawn and repeat until (hopefully) I have actual grass on my lawn, instead of packed earth and the occasional sad tuft of weeds.

[OSoSwift]

1. Do you have to feed tons of food or hardly anything in order to keep your dog at a decent weight? If you have to shovel food into the dog or its constantly hungry (yeah I know that's nearly all dogs all the time) I'd say the fat content of the diet needs tweaking up or down.

NO I don't have to feed a huge amount of food. One Whippet gets around 1 to 1 & 1/4cups of food on average and the other 1 1/4 to 1 1/2. The BC puppy gets around 2 & 1/2 to 3 cups daily.

2. Is your dog at the vets a fair bit for minor skin irritations, ear or other infections or hot spots? If so, I'd say that avoiding some types of food in the diet is worth trying. A lot of dogs are gluten intolerant and changing the diet can help with these issues.

No, they mainly go due to accidental damage. Once Lewis ended up at the vets very unwell after eating Turkey, I have since discovered he doesn't tolerate Turkey or Chicken very well and can end up with a a very upset tummy and a very squirty back end. He also doesn't tolerate much fat.

3. What's going on at the back end? Does your dog produce firm stools? Or are they large mounds of mousse like poo (see this quite a bit) and are they foul smelling? I'd say a diet that sees your dog produce masses of soft smelly stools on a regular basis isn't ideal.

They poo on average twice daily it is firm but not hard, they don't have to strain to much to produce it and the smell is rather minimal. It is a kickable poo

4. Does your dog smell? Teeth, anal glands, general odour? Diet can be frequent cause of these issues and making sure that your dog gets a decent amount of tooth cleaning via its diet and a decent amount of fibre can help with some of these issues.

They don't smell and never pass gas. Lewis only did when he had his tummy issue because of the turkey. They get a little tarter from time to time but a bone or two fixes that up pretty quickly.

5. Does your dog LIKE its food? Some dogs are just picky but what you feed should be enjoyed by the dog. If you're constantly having to spice up the main part of your dog's diet with additives, I'd say its time to try something else.

Yep they do. Lewis will only eat up to a certain amount regardless of what you give him but he eats well and finishes all his food/bones/treats

For them to be "doing well" on a food they need to have a nice shiney healthy coat and skin, well formed kickable poo's, no bad breath, gas etc.

They need to have good muscle and definition, not look all soft and flabby and have enough energy to do what I ask of them in regard to training/exercise.

[dotdashdot]

I find this stuff so interesting. I hope the Animal Nutrition unit in my uni course is decent!

My dog is a desexed female Dalmatian who is a maniac (she runs a lot). She currently weighs her heaviest at 23kgs. I've found that she can lose weight very easily (fasting for one night and day for surgery she got down to 17kgs! She looked like a skeleton!)

1. Do you have to feed tons of food or hardly anything in order to keep your dog at a decent weight? If you have to shovel food into the dog or its constantly hungry (yeah I know that's nearly all dogs all the time) I'd say the fat content of the diet needs tweaking up or down.

Cleo normally has her dry food for brekky and a BARF patty and kibble for dinner. Or a small amount of kibble and a chicken frame for dinner. On a normal day it's 1.5 cups of kibble and 1 patty all up. Treats are not to common. Not because I don't give them, I have a cupboard full, I just forget that I have them.

2. Is your dog at the vets a fair bit for minor skin irritations, ear or other infections or hot spots? If so, I'd say that avoiding some types of food in the diet is worth trying. A lot of dogs are gluten intolerant and changing the diet can help with these issues.

We've been to the vet once for a skin irritation, last year. No itch, just can see her skin is irritated. Now that we just went to the vet the other week for conjunctavitus, the vet reckons she has like a hay-fever and is just sensitive this time of year. I agree as it only flares up now and she's on a grain free diet.

3. What's going on at the back end? Does your dog produce firm stools? Or are they large mounds of mousse like poo (see this quite a bit) and are they foul smelling? I'd say a diet that sees your dog produce masses of soft smelly stools on a regular basis isn't ideal.

Nice poo. Sometimes with added grass danglies. Not smelly (doesn't take much to make me gag, and I don't gag on poo patrol)

4. Does your dog smell? Teeth, anal glands, general odour? Diet can be frequent cause of these issues and making sure that your dog gets a decent amount of tooth cleaning via its diet and a decent amount of fibre can help with some of these issues.

Not smelly. Her breath is acceptable (maybe even better than OH's!) and I can handle her breathing on my face, which surprised me. She has a small amount of tartar but this disappears after a few chicken frames. Also have Petzlife gel to help maintain oral health.

5. Does your dog LIKE its food? Some dogs are just picky but what you feed should be enjoyed by the dog. If you're constantly having to spice up the main part of your dog's diet with additives, I'd say its time to try something else.

She loves all food. She wasn't keen on Holistic select when she was a pup, but ever since I swapped around she's been good.

Being a Dalmatian, her diet does have to be monitored. I won't allow her beef, roo or organ meats because of purine content, salmon is also ruled out (there's a lot more but these are the biggest no no's). Having her has taught me to read the ingredient and composition lists really well. Can't wait for a LUA dally though!

[Sheridan]

1. Do you have to feed tons of food or hardly anything in order to keep your dog at a decent weight? If you have to shovel food into the dog or its constantly hungry (yeah I know that's nearly all dogs all the time) I'd say the fat content of the diet needs tweaking up or down.

With Miss Mini, I don't have to feed her much because she's not all that interested in food. I have been trying to find something that interests her but other than the cheapo chicken treats from Aldi and roast chicken, no real luck so far.

2. Is your dog at the vets a fair bit for minor skin irritations, ear or other infections or hot spots? If so, I'd say that avoiding some types of food in the diet is worth trying. A lot of dogs are gluten intolerant and changing the diet can help with these issues.

I can't remember the last time she went to the vet. Possibly April 2012 when she had her annual.

3. What's going on at the back end? Does your dog produce firm stools? Or are they large mounds of mousse like poo (see this quite a bit) and are they foul smelling? I'd say a diet that sees your dog produce masses of soft smelly stools on a regular basis isn't ideal.

No sense of smell, me, so can't tell. But her poo is kind of in between firm and mousse. Firm mousse?

4. Does your dog smell? Teeth, anal glands, general odour? Diet can be frequent cause of these issues and making sure that your dog gets a decent amount of tooth cleaning via its diet and a decent amount of fibre can help with some of these issues.

I know her teeth need a good clean but she prefers buried treasure to eating bones. She'll sometimes gobble down a pig's ear but she prefers burying those, too. Some of this is because she no longer has competition from Grumpy.

5. Does your dog LIKE its food? Some dogs are just picky but what you feed should be enjoyed by the dog. If you're constantly having to spice up the main part of your dog's diet with additives, I'd say its time to try something else.

Doing this at the moment. She's like a cat!

[lokelani]

I have been trying to find something that suits Bosco for 7 years now!! He does not have a lot of issues as such, but his skin is awful! It is always flakey and dandruffy no matter what I try. I have not tried everything, but I have tried a few, cheaper kibbles, and the more expensive ones. I want to try something like the Black Hawke, Holistic or the Nutro or one of the other much higher quality brands, so I might have to see if I can get a small bag to try out.

I've been thinking about starting a discussion on this for a while. We often say here in discusssions about canine diets that you should feed the diet your dog does best on. That's very true but how do you know??

So, can we please share ideas about how to evaluate diets? I'll start with a few of my thoughts on this. This is NOT designed to be a thread about what kibble is best or a raw v processed debate so please don't make it one. :)

1. Do you have to feed tons of food or hardly anything in order to keep your dog at a decent weight? If you have to shovel food into the dog or its constantly hungry (yeah I know that's nearly all dogs all the time) I'd say the fat content of the diet needs tweaking up or down.

Bosco has been putting on weight lately, but he is 7, and I have been feeding him a few too many treats, which I have cut down. He used to have trouble putting on weight. Now he is fed one cup of kibble in the evening and a chicken frame in the mornings.

2. Is your dog at the vets a fair bit for minor skin irritations, ear or other infections or hot spots? If so, I'd say that avoiding some types of food in the diet is worth trying. A lot of dogs are gluten intolerant and changing the diet can help with these issues.

No, but his skin is awful (as mentioned above) he is not itchy or anything like that, just constant dandruff! Othewise he has only been to the vets for yearly vaccinations, and last year his surgeries for lumps.

3. What's going on at the back end? Does your dog produce firm stools? Or are they large mounds of mousse like poo (see this quite a bit) and are they foul smelling? I'd say a diet that sees your dog produce masses of soft smelly stools on a regular basis isn't ideal.

Um, not soft, they are firm and I would not say foul smelling as such, but they do stink. I thought it was just normal dog pooh smell though?

4. Does your dog smell? Teeth, anal glands, general odour? Diet can be frequent cause of these issues and making sure that your dog gets a decent amount of tooth cleaning via its diet and a decent amount of fibre can help with some of these issues.

I don't think he is smelly no, he does have bad breath though, even though I feed him bones and he has had a teeth clean!

5. Does your dog LIKE its food? Some dogs are just picky but what you feed should be enjoyed by the dog. If you're constantly having to spice up the main part of your dog's diet with additives, I'd say its time to try something else.

He is not overly picky, and does eat what he is given. Sometimes he is super excited about dinner time, other times he could not care less. He does miss a meal every so often.

Thoughts??

[corrie]

Great idea for a topic. I agree with others so don't think I have much to add but I do notice that I don't get a great deal of up chucks as I have when feeding other food. They do eat grass but I feel some of that is habit.

My guys get a tick in most of the boxes but I am not quite as happy with their coat as I was when they were on a cheaper food that required more food and resulted in bigger more frequent poo. They are relatively shiny but a bit dandruffy.

So what is the tipping point to make you go from a food that is mostly great to trying a new food that could potentially not agree with your dog and effect its heath and condition.

And just for a light-hearted immature giggle......I am loving some of the descriptions in this topic.

Lovely poos

If you could describe poo as perfect that is how you would describe it.

kickable poo's

Nice poo.

Edited February 14, 2013 by corrie

[SkySoaringMagpie]

Love the expression "kickable poo"! :laugh:

[OSoSwift]

Means you can kick it and it does go splat on your shoe :)

[tdierikx]

lokelani - have you tried putting some tinned sardines or mackerel in oil in Bosco's dinner? That can help with dry skin... and you don't need a lot of it...

T.

[lokelani]

Thanks T.

I do occasionally, but I might try a bit more often. I have used sardines in oil before, and I also have fish oil tablets that I try to give him, but he does not eat them every day.

I might try adding the sardines to every second meal or something and see how he goes :)

Thank you!

[sheena]

Thanks T.

I do occasionally, but I might try a bit more often. I have used sardines in oil before, and I also have fish oil tablets that I try to give him, but he does not eat them every day.

I might try adding the sardines to every second meal or something and see how he goes :)

Thank you!

Cold pressed organic coconut oil (from the health food shops) is also excellent for skin conditions. Not sure how much you would use for a little dog, but for a 20 kilo dog it is about 1 tablespoon per day. You can usually see an improvement within a couple of weeks. But make sure it's the genuine stuff :)

[Podengo]

Elsie is a very active 16 months 12.5kg border collie x jack russell. We train in multiple sports, and she we walk together a lot as I don't drive.

Elsie is raw fed, and gets around 400g of food a day.

1. Do you have to feed tons of food or hardly anything in order to keep your dog at a decent weight? If you have to shovel food into the dog or its constantly hungry (yeah I know that's nearly all dogs all the time) I'd say the fat content of the diet needs tweaking up or down.

She is fed a little more than recommended for her weight, as she is very active. She has a good appetite but isn't starving at meal times (if you offer her any people or cat food she will pretend she is starved though!).

She does tend to drop weight very quickly if she doesn't eat, or her exercise increases a lot. I have to make sure I compensate for increased exercise level by giving her fatty meats and larger meals.

2. Is your dog at the vets a fair bit for minor skin irritations, ear or other infections or hot spots? If so, I'd say that avoiding some types of food in the diet is worth trying. A lot of dogs are gluten intolerant and changing the diet can help with these issues.

We have never had any skin issues.

3. What's going on at the back end? Does your dog produce firm stools? Or are they large mounds of mousse like poo (see this quite a bit) and are they foul smelling? I'd say a diet that sees your dog produce masses of soft smelly stools on a regular basis isn't ideal.

Elsie has very small, firm stools. She goes twice a day.

4. Does your dog smell? Teeth, anal glands, general odour? Diet can be frequent cause of these issues and making sure that your dog gets a decent amount of tooth cleaning via its diet and a decent amount of fibre can help with some of these issues.

Elsie doesn't really smell, her coat smells quite sweet and pleasant and her breath isn't bad at all. If she eats lamb she gets really bad gas though so we avoid that........

5. Does your dog LIKE its food? Some dogs are just picky but what you feed should be enjoyed by the dog. If you're constantly having to spice up the main part of your dog's diet with additives, I'd say its time to try something else.

Of course! Raw food is delicious says Elsie!

[lokelani]

Thanks T.

I do occasionally, but I might try a bit more often. I have used sardines in oil before, and I also have fish oil tablets that I try to give him, but he does not eat them every day.

I might try adding the sardines to every second meal or something and see how he goes :)

Thank you!

Cold pressed organic coconut oil (from the health food shops) is also excellent for skin conditions. Not sure how much you would use for a little dog, but for a 20 kilo dog it is about 1 tablespoon per day. You can usually see an improvement within a couple of weeks. But make sure it's the genuine stuff :)

Excellent, thanks Sheena! I will go and have a look for that too. Bozzy is 28kg, so I might try him on the 1 tablespoon if I can find it and see how he goes.

Thanks for all the advice guys :) I have been trying to get rid of his dandruff for so long. His coat is fine, even shiny, but his skin is just yuck!

[Sg1suzi]

My puppy is a 5kg corgi x cav and is currently fed 2/3 of a big dog Barf pattie per day, or a third if I substitute with a raw meaty bone for one of his meals, plus he has between 1/2 to a cup of pro plan small breed puppy kibble per day which is left out for free feeding. I think he is doing pretty good on that, he has lots of energy, lovely shiny coat, his poos are firm and non offensive and he probably goes 2/3 times a day. In the garden his poo dries up very quick,y and does not seem to attract lots of flies. Puppy does not smell at all, his breath is sweet and he has a rather gorgeous puppy smell about him, he never passes gas.

The only issue I have is sometimes he seems to get a bit itchy on his belly, there is no redness or irritation in the skin, no fleas or anything. He seems to be worse when he is out in longer grass so wonder if it just an irritation from the grass tickling his tummy as he is quite low profile with his short corgi legs. I was considering changing him form the pro plan to earthborn holistic as I did wonder wether it was the wheat in the pro plan causing it, but as he doing so well I all other respects I'm reluctant to change anything

[Kirislin]

1. Do you have to feed tons of food or hardly anything in order to keep your dog at a decent weight? If you have to shovel food into the dog or its constantly hungry (yeah I know that's nearly all dogs all the time) I'd say the fat content of the diet needs tweaking up or down.

I'm always amazed at how little I feed my dogs. Everytime I put the food into their bowl I think surely they need more than that, but I look at them and they're all in beautiful condition, except Tag who IMO is a bit fat, and I suspect that is because he's been stealing eggs.

2. Is your dog at the vets a fair bit for minor skin irritations, ear or other infections or hot spots? If so, I'd say that avoiding some types of food in the diet is worth trying. A lot of dogs are gluten intolerant and changing the diet can help with these issues.

I took Kibah to the vet last week for an eye problem and asked them when she was last in. According to their records, 2001!!!! She's going to be 13 at the end of this week. I almost never bath my dogs, their skin and coats are lovely.

3. What's going on at the back end? Does your dog produce firm stools? Or are they large mounds of mousse like poo (see this quite a bit) and are they foul smelling? I'd say a diet that sees your dog produce masses of soft smelly stools on a regular basis isn't ideal.

Poos are normal apart from sometimes I see lots of seed from stolen chook food. Again

4. Does your dog smell? Teeth, anal glands, general odour? Diet can be frequent cause of these issues and making sure that your dog gets a decent amount of tooth cleaning via its diet and a decent amount of fibre can help with some of these issues.

My dogs dont smell although as they are all aging now, I have started to have issues with teeth getting dirty. I suspect it is something to do with changing mouth chemistry, I've never had a problem with their teeth before, and even now it's only the 3 older girls, the boys teeth are still immaculate.

5. Does your dog LIKE its food? Some dogs are just picky but what you feed should be enjoyed by the dog. If you're constantly having to spice up the main part of your dog's diet with additives, I'd say its time to try something else.

My dogs love their food. I've also started making it for a friends dogs too and they love it as well.

Thoughts??

I would like to try feeding raw but have never got myself organised enough to do it.

Edited February 24, 2013 by Kirislin

[Jess the Lab]

If you have desire to start a new brand of dog food, I suggest you do some simple reading of reviews out there.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

I hate to say it, but the packaging and the commercialism of dog food can be very deceiving. I had fed popular premium food and even bought food endorsed by most vets here in Aust, but was then shocked to find out from the abovementioned reviews that they are mostly in par with the quality of cheap supermarket dog food.

The dog food you select may not be suitable for your dog, but at least as a starting point you know on review it's of good quality. I wish I knew much earlier!

Edited February 26, 2013 by Jess 123

[Maddy]

If you have desire to start a new brand of dog food, I suggest you do some simple reading of reviews out there.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

I hate to say it, but the packaging and the commercialism of dog food can be very deceiving. I had fed popular premium food and even bought food endorsed by most vets here in Aust, but was then shocked to find out from the abovementioned reviews that they are mostly in par with the quality of cheap supermarket dog food.

The dog food you select may not be suitable for your dog, but at least as a starting point you know on review it's of good quality. I wish I knew much earlier!

I don't think PF was thinking of starting a new brand?

Unless it was a new Deshonko line? "Deshonka's Magical Perfect-For-Every-Single-Dog-Ever Kibble (now made with real homeopathic poo water!)"

I think the point of the thread is that there is never going to be any one food that will fit all dogs so how can owners determine what their dogs do best on (using a list of good indicators).

Edited to add..

Unless you mean feed a new brand of food, rather than "start" a new brand. Either way, it's the same thing. Knowing ingredients is great but you can't know how your dog will do on any given combination without trying it. To give you an example here.. in terms of ingredients, Taste of the Wild is superior to Royal Canin but for my dogs (who occasionally have to suffer kibble if I run out of fresh meat), they always seem to do better on the Royal Canin.

Ingredient combination, how it's manufactured, individual tolerances of certain ingredients are all going to play a part in how well a dog does on any given food so those reviews.. useful to a very limited extent.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Hardy's Angel

[Jess the Lab]

I don't think PF was thinking of starting a new brand?

Unless it was a new Deshonko line? "Deshonka's Magical Perfect-For-Every-Single-Dog-Ever Kibble (now made with real homeopathic poo water!)"

I think the point of the thread is that there is never going to be any one food that will fit all dogs so how can owners determine what their dogs do best on (using a list of good indicators).

Edited to add..

Unless you mean feed a new brand of food, rather than "start" a new brand. Either way, it's the same thing. Knowing ingredients is great but you can't know how your dog will do on any given combination without trying it. To give you an example here.. in terms of ingredients, Taste of the Wild is superior to Royal Canin but for my dogs (who occasionally have to suffer kibble if I run out of fresh meat), they always seem to do better on the Royal Canin.

Ingredient combination, how it's manufactured, individual tolerances of certain ingredients are all going to play a part in how well a dog does on any given food so those reviews.. useful to a very limited extent.

Not sure what the joke is in regards to 'Deshonko' but your last paragraph was well and correctly expressed. We are lucky that we can tell the difference between Royal C and Taste OTW. Some people are not even conscious of the contents and just blindly buy premium dog food with assumptions it's better than cheap supermarket ones. Sometimes they are the same quality! Yes, that was me.

[Maddy]

I don't think PF was thinking of starting a new brand?

Unless it was a new Deshonko line? "Deshonka's Magical Perfect-For-Every-Single-Dog-Ever Kibble (now made with real homeopathic poo water!)"

I think the point of the thread is that there is never going to be any one food that will fit all dogs so how can owners determine what their dogs do best on (using a list of good indicators).

Edited to add..

Unless you mean feed a new brand of food, rather than "start" a new brand. Either way, it's the same thing. Knowing ingredients is great but you can't know how your dog will do on any given combination without trying it. To give you an example here.. in terms of ingredients, Taste of the Wild is superior to Royal Canin but for my dogs (who occasionally have to suffer kibble if I run out of fresh meat), they always seem to do better on the Royal Canin.

Ingredient combination, how it's manufactured, individual tolerances of certain ingredients are all going to play a part in how well a dog does on any given food so those reviews.. useful to a very limited extent.

Not sure what the joke is in regards to 'Deshonko' but your last paragraph was well and correctly expressed. We are lucky that we can tell the difference between Royal C and Taste OTW. Some people are not even conscious of the contents and just blindly buy premium dog food with assumptions it's better than cheap supermarket ones. Sometimes they are the same quality! Yes, that was me.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/226655-new-from-deshonko/page__p__5494187__hl__deshonko__fromsearch__1#entry5494187

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/205187-time-to-order-your-christmas-puppies/page__p__4818805__hl__deshonko__fromsearch__1#entry4818805

And so on.

[Staffyluv]

1. Do you have to feed tons of food or hardly anything in order to keep your dog at a decent weight?

My Answer: Zig hardly seems to eat at all.. He gets one of the following at breakfast time:

Turkey neck, 2 small or 1 large chook wing, half a chook carcass, a rack of 3 or 4 lamb ribs or half a cup of Euk with a tin of sardines (only once or twice a week for this last one)

I have noticed that he can go from 25 to 27kg easily - he looks best at 25 (has a nice tummy tucked up and his muscle definition is best at this weight)

Dinner time he gets either:

1 BARF patty, 150g meat (roo, beef, lamb)

On top of this he gets a kong a couple of times a week with some kibble and cottage cheese stuffed in it (if I have to go out for a long time during the day), on hot days I sometimes give him a cup of frozen home made chook stock..

He does get an upset tummy if he has too much fat.

2. Is your dog at the vets a fair bit for minor skin irritations, ear or other infections or hot spots?

Answer - He has just started obedience at Queanbeyan dog club and the grounds are covered in itchy grass - it is the only time he gets itchy and it is only on his tummy where he lays down (when he is playing with puppies) - it seems to be just a contact allergy and clears up with an antihistamine and or some cream from the vets..

3. What's going on at the back end? Does your dog produce firm stools?

Answer - small, firm and not smelly - but he has a stafford gene in there somewhere as he farts like one and it can be offensive

4. Does your dog smell? Teeth, anal glands, general odour?

Answer - nope, not a smelly guy at all. Considering he is usually a wet dog (loves water and mud and will lay in small puddles if that is all that is available)

Has awesome white teeth as well.

5. Does your dog LIKE its food?

Answer - Zig is not food motivated at all and has been known to go without dinner and breakfast and still not hassle the humans for food..

He will bypass food for another dog - we train using a tennis ball.

A tennis ball on the other hand is a total obsession (although he is happy to share if someone else wants to play)