hello everybody,
my mom owns a male gsd thats 3 yo. he is an incredible dog, obedient, smart, impressingly large and extremely protective. my mom had a gsd when she was achild in cuba, but had to part ways with him when she moved here. i bought him for her when he was 9 weeks old for her birthday. he is a purebred, and his litter was the first born in this country. his mom and dad were both imported from germany.
ok that out of the way..... my questions
1.) only one of his ears stands up, the other kinda flops forward. is there anything that can be done to stregthen his ears now. i think it might be to late but i figure its worth a shot. i kinda like it cause it gives him character but my mom thinks a gsd should have strong erect ears.
2.) his coat has gotten very coarse and he is shedding like crazy. he has been eating pedigree for 3 years and has tried numerous different shampoos with the same outcome. his hair use to be smooth and the shedding was controlable with a daily brushing. now he can be brushed 3 times a day and still shed like he hasnt been brushed in days. this has started about a few months ago. and its not the weather cause this is the first time in 3 years. she has delt with the summer winter coat changes and this is different. i am guessing its his diet.
well those are my questions so any ideas would be great
thank you guys.......

there is really nothing you can do for a floppy ear at 3 years. if it has been this way since he was a pup it is a genetic fault. the original dogs used to develop the GSD had both types of ears.
re: diet. i have not found pedigree to be a sufficient food for GSD's. it has worked well when mixed with something with more protein. try this: 4 cups of pedigree and two cups of ProPlan chicken or beef with rice. soak in warm water until pellets are soft. add 2 tbspns of corn oil.

Manny, check out the all-natural diet section of this forum. Raw diets work wonders for dogs! Also, Pedigree is a very low quality kibble. Some good alternatives: Innova/Innova EVO, Chicken Soup, California Natural, Timberwolf Organics, Flint River, Wellness, Canidae, Wysong, there are lots of high quality kibble out there. There are articles on this site discussing diet options as well as the all-natural diet forum. Use the search function to find out more. Once you get on a GOOD diet, you'll notice a big difference in the dog's condition and attitude.

I really don't see how Proplan is a substantial improvement in diet. I agree that there is certainly room for improvement in diet that has potential for dramatic improvement in coat quality. Adding raw ground meats, salmon oil and seriously considering switching to all raw - which can be purchased commercially prepared in many forms - or a high-quality kibble such as Innova Evo, "Chicken Soup" plus the raw meat and salmon oil.

Use the search function to look into this as the topic has been thoroughly addressed.

I just wanted to add.. Diamond dog food apparently still has problems with outbreaks of vomitoxin, so any food manufactured by them might be risky. Search around, there are plenty of articles and topics about that, but I think it includes Chicken Soup, sadly.

Hint: if reading the ingredients list on a bag of dog food makes you go "blech," it's probably not good to feed to your dog. If the ingredients are things you'd eat yourself or don't gross you out, it's probably a quality kibble and likely a good choice to feed!

Diana, do you have a link to a recent article that talks about this continuing problem? The origional problem did not include Chicken Soup. Also there was only one plant that had the problem and it was in Gaston South Carolina. Anyone can just do a google search on Diamond Dog Food and read about the past problem. I have not seen anything that backs up your claims of another or continuing problem????

Glenn

Maybe we should move this part of the thread to it's own spot with an appropriate subject heading? If this whole Diamond food thing is still going on, I'd hate to have someone miss it because they didn't click the "gsd's" link.

There isn't an article, only a post in a forum concerning an owner who fed a food manufactured by Diamond (premium edge) whose dogs got sick w/ Vomitoxin. Tests were done, and they discovered a small amount of it in the food. Reading further into it (to make sure I'm not spreading misinformation), turns out that they're still doing more tests, but apparently Diamond admitted to finding vomitoxin in that plant (they posted in the forum topic about this). If what I read is an isolated incident, so be it. If it's a real issue, we'll be hearing about it from reputable sources. Anyway, I will post the link, make of it what you will. Sounds like they're in the middle of figuring out exactly what happened and testing the food to narrow down what could be going on. I apologize if I'm erring in posting this. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> If the mods deem this too much "heresay," feel free to delete, I don't want to perpetuate rumors.
The post in question

Im surprised that no one has called a spade a spade here. Pedigree is terrible, cheap, crappy dog food, Id feed to a junk yard stray, and thats it. Dont believe me, look at the ingredients-mostly corn and by products, soy etc. You are what you eat, so is your dog.
#1 you need to supplement with Vitamin E capsules and fish oil- its cheap and goes along way, far as coat is concerned. Any Food store/Pharmacy sells it.
#2. Get yourself a decent food- Innova Evo, Royal Canin, Candidae, California Natural if not RAW. Huge difference in coat will be evident within weeks.
Ears will not change. You got what you got. Sounds like a nice dog. Look at it as a beauty mark! Makes em unique.

http://www.TheHonestKitchen.com

A balanced raw diet without the hassle, just mix with water, add optional (but reccomended) raw ground beef and let it sit for 10 minutes, voila your dog's coat can shine in the sun, his poop won't smell nearly as terrible as Pedigree canned food makes it smell (I fed that stuff for about 3 weeks because my dog wasn't eating anything else, the poop smell was horrible!), and shedding will be considerably less.