Dog food changing my dogs behaviour?

Eels100

OK, I agree with what others have said regarding changing diet - if it ain't broke, don't fix it is generally the rule! Having said that Bakers wouldn't be my first choice (you only need to look at the colour of it to wonder what one earth they put in it!), but if it works for your dogs then stick with it.

On the subject of Frolic, not only is it another food with loads of artificial additives and colourings which can have an effect on temperament, but there's something about it which dogs absolutely ADORE. I use it broken into pieces if I need a really high-value treat for training. It's likely that your dogs find it much more 'high-value' than the dry Bakers and so aggression may creep into their behaviour because the food is so prized.

you_wicked_gay

Eels100 wrote: »

OK, I agree with what others have said regarding changing diet - if it ain't broke, don't fix it is generally the rule! Having said that Bakers wouldn't be my first choice (you only need to look at the colour of it to wonder what one earth they put in it!), but if it works for your dogs then stick with it.

On the subject of Frolic, not only is it another food with loads of artificial additives and colourings which can have an effect on temperament, but there's something about it which dogs absolutely ADORE. I use it broken into pieces if I need a really high-value treat for training. It's likely that your dogs find it much more 'high-value' than the dry Bakers and so aggression may creep into their behaviour because the food is so prized.

Thanks for your advice. What dog food would you suggest? Every dog food seems to be loaded with additives I just don't know what's good for my dogs anymore..

Lily (chihuahua/jrt cross) attacked one of my chihuahuas today and bit my mum in the process. She's been vicious and aggressive ever since having the frolic so I've taken it away and put them back on bakers - for now, untill someone suggests a good natural food for dogs which isn't full of cr*p

kit

I have the 'It's me or the dog' book and it says in there to vary the dogs diet and not to keep them on the same food all the time.

As much as i like the book and have learnt from it, I choose to ignore that part..... Once I find a food that my dog can stomach I will stick to it. she of course has bits of meat, veg etc that we have left but as a rule we stick to what we know.

Eels100

you_wicked_gay wrote: »

Thanks for your advice. What dog food would you suggest? Every dog food seems to be loaded with additives I just don't know what's good for my dogs anymore..

I feed mine dry Chappie - cheap as chips but it's easy on the little one's tum. If you want a small bite dry food then Burns or James Wellbeloved make versions with smaller kibble. Or you could buy something like Chappie in dry form and soak it, or feed tins instead. If Bakers works for you though, then stick with it by all means. Just because I don't get on with it doesn't mean it won't agree with your dogs.

Personally I don't get too hung up on additives - but I know for a fact some dogs get seriously hyped on both Bakers, so I wouldn't choose to feed mine on it (in fact, one was on Bakers before he landed with me and he was the dog from hell - changing his diet, admittedly along with a lot of other lifestyle things, did seem to help). If yours are ok with the Bakers then no problem.

you_wicked_gay

kit wrote: »

I have the 'It's me or the dog' book and it says in there to vary the dogs diet and not to keep them on the same food all the time.

As much as i like the book and have learnt from it, I choose to ignore that part..... Once I find a food that my dog can stomach I will stick to it. she of course has bits of meat, veg etc that we have left but as a rule we stick to what we know.

I knew I wasn't imagining It's me or the Dog saying to vary a dogs diet.. :rotfl:

I just assumed that because Ms.Stillwell is a fabulous dog handler she'd be right. But I guess it's all about going with what suits your dog, all dogs are different so these things won't work for all dogs.

I'll stick to bakers for now. Thanks for your input

you_wicked_gay

Eels100 wrote: »

I feed mine dry Chappie - cheap as chips but it's easy on the little one's tum. If you want a small bite dry food then Burns or James Wellbeloved make versions with smaller kibble. Or you could buy something like Chappie in dry form and soak it, or feed tins instead. If Bakers works for you though, then stick with it by all means. Just because I don't get on with it doesn't mean it won't agree with your dogs.

Personally I don't get too hung up on additives - but I know for a fact some dogs get seriously hyped on both Bakers, so I wouldn't choose to feed mine on it (in fact, one was on Bakers before he landed with me and he was the dog from hell - changing his diet, admittedly along with a lot of other lifestyle things, did seem to help). If yours are ok with the Bakers then no problem.

Is the chappie dry food good then?

I did feed them on the chappie tinned food for a while when they were pups with off tummies and it helped - but it doesn't half give your dog stinky breath :rotfl: Chappie breath isnt pleasant!

catkins

It took a while to find a food that agreed with my dog. Some of them upset his stomach and Bakers made him hyper and he was scratching all the time!! Vet said it is very common for dogs to be allergic to Bakers as it contains so much colouring and additives. He has been fed on James Wellbeloved for about 2 years now and it suits him. Admittedly it is not cheap - a 15k bag costs about £37 but it last about 6 weeks and I have a large dog

1_step_closer

I agree about Bakers - one of my dogs was actually allergic to it and we didn't realise until several costly vet bills later!

So I put them all on James Well Beloved as It's the best dry food I could find which suited them all.

Now I feed BARF (bones and raw food) but that is a personal preference chosen after many many hours of research! I do find however, that if I've forgotten to take something out to defrost and feed them tinned wet food I certainly know it - bad behaviour, horrible poo and terrible breath!

you_wicked_gay

1_step_closer wrote: »

I agree about Bakers - one of my dogs was actually allergic to it and we didn't realise until several costly vet bills later!

So I put them all on James Well Beloved as It's the best dry food I could find which suited them all.

Now I feed BARF (bones and raw food) but that is a personal preference chosen after many many hours of research! I do find however, that if I've forgotten to take something out to defrost and feed them tinned wet food I certainly know it - bad behaviour, horrible poo and terrible breath!

Could you give me a little more information about this BARF diet please. I'm interested in it I do give my dogs raw veg to chew on, and trimmings from uncooked meat, and sometimes cooked mince and pasta - but it'd be good to know more about this natural diet plan and see if it could work for my dogs.

Eels100

Can I be a real bore and remind anyone who's feeding BARF that they really need to do their homework about it? It's easy to end up feeding a pretty unbalanced diet this way, either through ignorance or convenience. There's nothing at all wrong with supplementing complete dog food with raw ingredients but I'm always concerned that a lot of people fall in love with this theory, chuck the complete food and then don't actually provide terribly balanced nutrition for their pets. The reason a lot of these complete foods cost a fortune is because the companies have had to pay nutritionists to do the maths for us! Sorry to be a moan