Thread: Dog Food

I feed my dogs dried food and the supplier has put up prices quite a bit. Would be keen to know what others are using that’s good for the dogs and well priced. My Dogs are both labs -fit and not fat!!
Tux is quite well priced but unsure about it. I have been using Wishbone Gold

we feed chunky dog roll..$7-9 per roll and each dog gets 1/6th of roll per day..... that it,total food for day. been doing so for years and the ylook great. big working days the ymight get 1/4 instead or some kibble....weve had vets ask what we feed as dogs in such good nick.

We use Coprice from the local farm supplies store. Its Australian , and has a variety of formulas for working dogs , older dogs , lawn loafers , handbag dogs etc.

Ours gets a 2 inch thick piece of dog roll and about 3 cups of pams biscuits once a day. Sounds pretty crap food but that's all he will eat. He likes the cheap stuff so we aren't complaining..

I’m feeding my non working heading dog mighty mix biscuits and she is doing well on it. I’ve used black hawk in the past which I think is better but it’s too expensive. Have also tried cop rice and tux but found it makes her crap more and gets that bad dog smell.

Coprice, mighty mix dog roll and cheap fatty dog roll.

My ridge back cross only has 200g of roll and a cup of biscuits a day. My vis on the other hand takes 800g and a cup of biscuits and is still a bloody lean even with the cheap roll.

Originally Posted by Taranaki bushman

I’m feeding my non working heading dog mighty mix biscuits and she is doing well on it. I’ve used black hawk in the past which I think is better but it’s too expensive. Have also tried cop rice and tux but found it makes her crap more and gets that bad dog smell.

Our dogs just love MM biscuits. Supplement with hares, possums, venison, pheasants.

Tux is the crappiest food around, I only feed it as a teeth cleaner since the big triangle biscuits are quite thick and as they bite it, it rides up the side of the teeth scraping them and reducing buildup.
Unfortunately good dog biscuits are expensive and the price of the food we feed at work went up $50 per bag a few months ago.
Most of the cheapish stuff are probably the Purina range.
I have fed in the past Royal Canin, but am currently feeding my dog Black Hawk chicken and rice and a bit of working dog. It's not cheap though, it's more of a case of how much you can spend

If your dog just lounges around the yard and gets one walk a day, just about any food will probably be fine. If the dog/s are working hard everyday the cheaper dog food might not be enough to maintain condition. Higher quality foods have substantially more protein and fat. I know for one of my dogs, Chunky roll and Tux Working Dog couldn't keep his condition, he would get really skinny from an extended bush trip no matter how much I fed him. Switched to Royal Canin 4800 and the difference was incredible. Costs a lot more per bag but I also have to feed the dogs a lot less. Buying in bulk when it comes up on special keeps my costs a little lower. When I did the maths it doesn't cost me a lot more per dog per day because they don't need as much. Of course it will also depend on how large your dog/s are. Putting a coat on your dog during the colder months of the year holds their condition better too.

Real Dog Food, Ae Kuri Mahi Working Dog - 18kg, dog biscuits, produced in West Auckland from NZ ingredients weekly $158.40 delivered
Lasts about 45 days for a 29kg vizsla, think about 450grams a day.
Was using Orijen Adult $210 for 11kg. Both were about the same in terms of nutritional value.

Talking with a store owner, the overseas stuff is good but it is packed and shipped, so might be 2-3-4 months old by the time it is consumed so will lose some nutritional value apparently. A good reason to source locally. I try to supplement with the odd egg, and frozen venison + fatty cow bones in place of a biscuit serve) to keep his fat content up as he is super active. Does much better when on veni and fatty bones, but having the biscuit option is great for hunting overnighters.

Agree with @joelhenton above. I have to try and fatten my boy up before trips (serve him more food) as he loses condition quickly after big hunting trips (and feed him more during and after). Probably fast metabolism and single coat (have to pack a puffer for him at night)

an old waterfowlers trick is to give dog bowl of milk n egg at night to perk them up after a hard day.... possum itself is one of the best for gaining weight but man are the farts foul....

It's all about nutrient density, and as Joel mentioned above when he tried Royal Canin 4800 he got great results. That will be because 4800 will most likely be MJ/kg and is very high. The Black Hawk working dog is 4050 MJ/kg and most of our 30kg dogs eat about 300g per day. but since they aren't working it is really only for Maintenace at that level. Keeping them warm during winter makes a huge difference and we had dogs that lost weight no matter how much we fed them ( you can't make a dog eat more than they want). I put heaters in the kennels and this Winter I was reducing intake since they dogs were putting on weight. One of the bonuses about feeding a high MJ diet is you need to feed less, so smaller turds

+1 for what Joel said

I've got 2 dogs, both pets and not a high amount of exercise either. They get a 50:50 mix of Pedigree biscuits and raw chicken necks, we've just changed from necks to raw minced products (same supplier) as Bo has trouble with the necks due to his age.
https://www.woofles.co.nz/shop/woofles-bulk
We would buy 30kg of necks at a time and freeze them in ice cream containers.

Use Royal Canin medium dog and nothing else. My dog does high mileage each day and does well on it. Talking about price increase, gone from approx. $150 to $220 for 15 kg bag.

Blackhawk for us.
Mainly because its the biggest bag size I could find.
Dog gets nothing else apart from odd venison trimmings.
Usually about $180 a bag from Animates (with "frequent feeder" discount).
When we had 3 pointers 1 bag lasted about 3-4 weeks max.
Now with just the one milage is better but would rather old age had not stolen the other 2