[TheRookie]

@ddpowell 363 wrote:

Not claiming that i know what i’m doing, but i thought i’d share my short experience with our GSD’s diet. We started our 5 month old GSD Manny on a bit of a mixed, but mostly raw diet the day we got her after doing a lot of research.

Of her daily meals (which totals just over 2.2lb – split over 3 meals) 50% raw meaty bones (chicken or turkey necks, about 45% muscle meat (like pig or lamb hearts) and then a little bit of organ meat like liver. Then we toss in an egg every meal, with a fish oil cap & a cup or 2 of Hills Science large breed puppy.

We figure if there’s some crucial ingredients she’s missing from the raw diet she can get from the kibble as our local vet insists she needs this large breed kibble for her development. But vice versa the kibble’s first ingredient is Corn Meal so we don’t want to feed that as the main portion of her meals.

We’ve been really impressed with how it’s going so far, at 5 months old she weighs 27kg (59lb), she appears quite toned – has a fantastic coat and endless energy. She’s going to be a big girl judging by her parents so we want to give the best chance we can at a long healthy life

tried to attach a file of her.. not sure if it’s going to work

Dan

BTW Dan…Manny is a black beauty!!!

Im gonna try and attach some pics of my girls, Lacie (6 month weim-GSD mix) and Bella (3 month GSD). [ATTACH=CONFIG]211[/ATTACH]
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[TheRookie]

@Mike D’Abruzzo 361 wrote:

Hi Jeremy,

Welcome aboard and thanks for the compliments. Just wanted to add can’t stress how bad pedigree is for a growing German Shepherd puppy. In all honesty I wouldnt feed it if someone gave it to me for free. Now is the time that mostly will determine the health of your dogs hips and even if the ears will stand properly. The last time I heard I believe at least 40% of german Shepherds end up with hip dysplasia. This is mostly determined by the early development.

Some key factors:

1. Overweight puppies will be much more prone to later joint problems (this is a big one!) keep your puppy as tone as possible – tucked tummy!!

2. Correct calcium/phosphorus ratio (be sure the label of any food you choose says approved for ALL LIFE STAGES (just not puppy, maintanance, etc..)

3. Throw away the bad food! I am not bending the truth – when I say it isnt far off from poisoning your puppy at such an important stage. there are lots of good websites out there that will educate you on good dog food – but pedigree is BOTTOM of the barrel and you will see long term developmental problems I assure you.

I am telling you this out od honest concern – and you will see the difference when you interview people with older german shepherds that have fed their dog bad food compared to good food. You will see the difference in the health, coat, joints, and even temperamant (bad food not good for brain either). Compare to someone eating McDonalds everyday to someone eating healthy. It is criminal what junk the highly marketed profit driven dog food companies are putting in their bags. It is decietful and unfair to the customers that trust their commercials etc..

thanks mike. my wife and i have already gotten our money’s worth from your site, and ive only been on for less than a week.

anyway, i searched at Petco for about an hour reading and comparing dog foods. they dont carry either one of the foods that chris mentioned. i ended up choosing Natural Choice large breed puppy. ingredients are lamb meal, ground rice, rice flour, rice bran, pea protein, lamb, poultry fat, dried plain beet pulp, soybean oil, sunflower oil, egg product, fish oil, dry kelp and then a bunch of vitamins.

sound good?

the dogs seem to like the Natural Choice more than they did the Pedigree. They ate it much quicker.

i was also looking at Royal Canin large breed puppy, and Royal Canin german shepherd food. i chose the Natural Choice over Royal Canin because i figured the lamb would be better than the chicken that Royal Canin has.

Thanks,
Jeremy

OH, and this is off topic, but did you make a video where you had a GSD in a van with the door open and you went to take a leak in the woods and had someone attack you, then the dog was in pursuit and hit the attacker HARD! i found the vid on youtube but i cant find it again. it was an awesome video because the dog was amazing. he got a whole mouthful when he chomped down. If that’s your vid, lemme know how to find it again. Thanks…..

[TheRookie]

thanks chris. ive got some time to shop around because i just started a new back of the pedigree. so i wont be running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find the right stuff.

and by the way. i just wanted to say that im extremely excited about being a member of this site. its already been a great help and im sure its only going to become more valuable to me.

your videos of the trained dogs on youtube.com are a great motivator for me and im sure a lot of other people who are wanting to learn how to properly train their dogs. its so much fun learning my dogs, building their trust and i know that its going to just get more and more rewarding for me and my little girls.

[IMG]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31076015&l=232987aeff&id=1007175446[/IMG]

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[IMG]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31076019&l=7c3379f9a4&id=1007175446[/IMG]

Jeremy

[TheRookie]

Thanks Chris. what do you feed? and what kinda dogs?

thanks,
Jeremy