Dog food?

I own a rottweiler and have fed her expensive foods such as Iams, Purina dog chow, Kibbles and Bits etc and cheap brands and she craps just as much on either brand. It was probably in my opinion a sales pitch theyre throwing at buyers because no matter what you eat you still need to pass it through your system sooner or later. Sometimes i feel like im gonna need a back hoe to clean up after my dog. If you want to feed your dogs less then eventually theyll get used to it as they are used to getting fed the same amount everyday at the same time of day as it is but their whining will continue until they get used to the change. Im no big dog expert but i know from experience with my dog thats shes gonna go potty no matter what i feed her.

Gary

You got it right...."look at the tags, Fat, Protein and other nutrients are about identical".

IAMs needs to say something to charge outrageous price to yuppies with puppies.  If your dog is healthy, and needs nothing special (low ash, etc) then the generic with the same active ingredients is great.

If you feed less, and get less shit....if your dogs are not getting enough nurishment....you will only know when they are undernourished.  Seems like playing with your dogs health to see if a stupid ad claim is OK. My dogs mean to much to risk starving them, especially my labs and an older pet.

Suggestion: get the IAMs and eat it you self for 4 weeks.  See if you shit less and feel as well.  My bet is that the IAMs and the  generic that you are feeding are a lot better than our daily diet!

BEAR

  One- teach dogs to poop off property not on lawn-

I have fed about everything- BUT over last 25-30 yrs Purina puppy and then dog chow has proven best- i used to buy it by the ton when I had 35 dogs- for real hard conditions I would supplement with lamb- fish- beaver- horse- liver- chix etc but dau ain and out Purina does it at a reasonable price- only fed other stuff when sponsor demanded it.

Rockydog, I don't think your off the wall buy not buying those types of dog food that are high dollar, inorder to feed your Labs. I raise German Shorthair Pointers and I can tell you for a fact, that over the last 2 years, I  have seen no difference in the effects of various dog foods verses the High Dollar brands and Low Dollar brands, as far as my dogs performance goes or their skin or hair.

However, there is a difference in the amount one has to feed their dogs, that is if you compare their recommended feeding for that size and weight of your dogs, to other brands. I have done so and those like Purina PRO-Plan, will recommend less cups of dog food per day, as opposed to some like Ole Roy (Wall Mart Brand). You will have about 25% more poop to scoop!!!

I mix several brands of dog food for my dogs! I do NOT feed just one type of dog food, as one never knows for sure if that company's fallen down on product nutrients for a time period. Meaning they are NOT putting into their food, what it prints on the back of the bag you buy.

I always (thanks to 2 friends of mine who are Dog Doc's) read and compare bag labels, such as the amount of Protein, Fat, Fiber, Moisture etc and weather or not it has Minerals & Omega Fatty Acids in the feed.

I mix a ratio of 25% Diamond Puppy, (31% Protein & 20% Fat) 25% Purina Pro Plan (28% Protein & 18% Fat)**** 25% Diamond Sporting Dog, (24% Protein & 20% Fat)**** 10% Ole Roy High Protein and Black Gold 15%. This way my dogs are covered from any loss of product that might not be included at the time of purchase and my dogs won't suffer from their shortage of nutrients in product. My dogs average around 27% Protein and 16% Fat for the most part. I also give my hunting dogs, in addition to their regular feed, a  half a can of salmon 3 times per week, during weeks of hard heavy activity.

As the owner of one black lab and to dachsunds I'll chime in on this one. 

First I've NEVER fed them any Yuppy food.

Second if they're getting Purina Dog Chow, all is well. If I feed'em WalMart Sam's Ol'Roy what ever they poop like manure spreaders.......

Therefore they always get Purina and I never have to scoop.....YEAH!!!!

[QUOTE=Dakotazeb]I've had labs, springers and currently have two Brittany's.  For the most part I have always fed premium dog foods like IAMS, Eukanuba, Science Diet and ProPlan.  You all might think these are too expensive, but you don't have to feed as much as the less expensive brands and thus there isn't really much difference in price.  The premium brands are generally more digestible because they also contain less filler and/or fiber.  The amount of fat and protein won't make any difference in the amount of "poop to scoop".  Look at the percentage of fiber.  That will be a better indication.  A lot of the really cheap foods are simply full of filler.  You don't have to feed the most expensive brands but I would recommend something from a reputable company like Purina, etc.  For what a good dog costs, the vet bills, shots, etc. why worry that a bag of food costs $20, versus $12 for the cheap stuff.  I want my dogs to perform at peak when I'm in the field and won't skimp on their chow.[/QUOTE

 I gotta chime in on this one,I have been around dogs all my 51 years,bred em trained em,everything from Moms poodles ,Sis's Poms,Dads Sheaphards,my street dogs and all the Labs I have had the BLESSINGS hunting with and being around and this topic of Yuppie food vs Wallmart food (for lack of a better word) comes up all the time.

  So heres my take,my 2 favorite foods for a heathly dog IMHO is Nutro Max and Natures Recipe,YES I get smaller stools to pick up and as I said this has been my job since before the invention of a pooper scooper. I have one Lab right now thats 11 years old with all her teeth great bones and a great coat,my best friend ever was just put down at 14 years old and hunted hard most of her life,my last one was almost 16 years old when we put her down.Heres something I haven't heard mentioned yet ,"Shedding" my buddies wife's don't let their Labs in the house because of hair everywhere (course they don't talk about theirs) Mine shed but about a 3rd  of what theirs do,same breed,good owners that take care of them only big difference is the food.

  We are what we eat and so are they. A question if I may,your going on a big hunting trip,up in the morning early out in the cold walking for who knows how far and lets not forget the dips in the fridged water,what are you gonna eat a bowl of cold ceral the night before and the morning of ??? Think about it like that.