I thought about maybe trying one of these, but I've never heard of them before, are they any good?

Pinnacle
AvoDerm Original Plus
Health Food for Dogs

All from same company:

http://www.breeders-choice.com/index.htm

These are good foods. I like that they all have oils and priobotics. I don't feed these but, based on ingredients, the 'Health Food for Dogs' is IMO their best formula.

What are you switching from?

Well, I have not decided if I want to switch yet or not. I am now feeding Canidae and my dogs are doing great on it. It is also very good food. But one of the trainers at the school I go to who is a sheltie breeder as well told me that she has heard that Canidae affects the liver of GSDs and shelties in the long run. I think this is ridiculous, I mean, why GSDs and Shelties? Everyone who I know that uses Canidae talks nothing but good about it and the ingredients are awesome. I'm just confused right now, it is like I don't know what to believe any more, but the only thing I know is that I want what's best for my dogs.

I try to feed a different food every bag. It's not that possible now (Auster has a sensitive stomach from bloating, but by all standards shouldn't even be alive so I can't ask for too much), but I had good results with it before.

Why not feed all three?

Lauren, you mentioned feeding a different food every bag. Isn't that hard on the dogs stomach? Before feeding raw, If I changed the dog's feed to fast, they usually got a bad case of the squirts.

Auster got used to it, and I would mix it for several days and feed leftovers as well, so it wasn't that big of a deal, esp. since I was switching between high quality foods. She would usually eat the new food with more enthusiasm, if anything. It was nice because high quality kibble was very hard to come by where I lived. Nutro was about as good as it got, so when I went somewhere I would bring home a bag of something better. Had I fed the same thing for years and then tried to switch cold turkey it would have caused problems, but dogs get used to change.

Even now I add different things to Auster's kibble, even though she has to stick to chicken and rice kibble. Auster bloated while we were moving and she hadn't eaten all day (happened at night and hadn't eaten since breakfast) so I do not think it was food related. I feel that no kibble is really complete, so adding and switching gives me some small hope that Auster is getting what she needs.

Originally posted by Lauren Woods:
I feel that no kibble is really complete, so adding and switching gives me some small hope that Auster is getting what she needs. This was addressed in an article in last month's WDJ. The authors recommendation was to find 3 or 4 high quality foods that your dog did well on, then rotate every 2-4 months. It was also recommended that the foods be by different manufacturers. (Probably because most manufactures will use the same vitamin/mineral pre-mix on all of their formulas.)

Makes sense to me.

I used to do that by alternating several top brands and layering them in a 50 lb barrel. I would use layers of about 6 inches of each food, and it was fine, I never had a problem w/ stomach reactions. I used foods such as Canidae, Eagle Pack Holistic, Solid Gold, Chicken Soup, California Naturals, etc...

I have since switched to Royal Canin Large Breed Puppy, and will now be starting to use the adult GSD formula. It is awesome, and I have been very happy with it.

I still supplement with raw meaty bones and cooked calf liver training treats. Yesterday I gave the pup some raw gizzards and chicken necks and today she had a loose , but not liquid stool, so I was annoyed at myself for giving her too much raw at one time. I should have known better, since she is on mostly a kibble based diet <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Well here is another angle, I am with the Metro Police K9 Unit and we have a lot of dogs on Kennel, with very hot temperatures and working dogs we can not afford a loose stool/running stomach. Well what I have learned is stay with one brand, don’t switch in a hurry, if you do phase in and out etc.

A friend of mine makes cubes for Game farmers and The Beef industry, and he is an Farmer with his own cattle, he has tested all sorts of formulas over the years etc, the best results come from buying a whole batch of cubes and keeping the animals on that for two three years, they keep their condition better, pick up weight faster etc. so the moral of the story is don’t bugger around with food, it is scientifically balanced to the t, it needs nothing – if it is a good food bye they way.

So it is not a good idea to switch around, and mix up foods, as well as switching between natural and cubes, we have used just about every thing on the market and have standardized on Hill’s, I have some 76 dogs, and 14 puppies on Hill’s. And I only feed maintenance diet and adult diet. I have no skin problems; I have no more cancer, tumors and or cataracts that pop up like we did previously with the food, and the mixing of foods-donation stuff…… What does that have to do with feed, well every thing? We do give supplements now and then like blue liquid a tonic, and some oil for the coats. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I agree with Reinier.

Dogs stomachs shouldnt be subjected to constant changes in diet and foods. I went through a stage with one of my dogs where i changed his food about 3 times to find a good one - and this did him no good at all - Modern day quality complete foods are just that COMPLETE - which means they are balanced and have everything your dog needs. This means you do not have add anything or be constantly changing the food. Dogs dont need constant changes in diet - they dont live to eat they eat to live. Select a quality complete food that your dog enjoys and keep him on it, dont change every month or so. Your dog will be happier and healthier this way.