Anyone with a working gun dog?

[vwmark]

Basic question - what do you feed your dogs on and why?

I have a ESS that until recently was just a well exercised pet. Now I work him on a friends shoot and for the 1st time got him absolutely knackered.

He has now been joined by a German wirehaired pointer. Again, mostly a pet but will be worked.

I have always bought a basic dry working dog food supplimented by scrambled eggs and tinned macheral or pilchards as a treat each week.

Would I see a benifit to going to a more "expensive" food?

What do you all think!

 

[balmerchris]

I used to give mine a tin of custard on working days, seemed to help.

 

[vwmark]

I used to give mine a tin of custard on working days, seemed to help.

How did you find that out?

 

[balmerchris]

One of the guns was a vet, he told me.

 

[Bobtail4x4]

ours get a basic diet of jollies own dry food, and a webbox between the 6 of them,

they never seem to tire out.

 

[glyn.c]

i have 2 a gwp and a lab x gwp and had quite a few working dogs over the years these are the first 2 that have been fed on barf and the difference is night and day ! all the others have had various brands of complete ,have you had a gwp before mark ? just asking as this was my first and shall we say its been an experience

 

[Wendelspanswick]

My sister in law thought her dog was well exercised until she left it with us to look after, the poor thing was shattered after 10 days with our dog.
Mine will think nothing of doing a 10 mile run in the morning with me than still expects a 3 mile walk with the wife in the afternoon. The rest of the time it's charging from gate to gate barking at the tractors that go past.
She is a Hungarian Puli and just has whatever dog food is on offer at the time, so rather than change the dogs diet maybe concentrate on increasing the dogs fitness.

 

[scotb]

I used to give mine a tin of custard on working days, seemed to help.

how the hell did it work the tin opener?

 

[Kent]

Have no problems with the complete food I feed. Deffo give more meals when the dogs in the thick of it. Spaniels used for flushing need rest periods and popping up through the day, extersize induced collapse is a real risk. Honey rubbed into gums is a fix before vet trip for low blood sugars.
Don't work your dog to death its quite possible stay in charge and Err on the cautious side Imo.

 

[rory1]

I keep a vizsla pointer and feed him raw. Plenty of info online about it. He does very well on it

 

[vwmark]

i have 2 a gwp and a lab x gwp and had quite a few working dogs over the years these are the first 2 that have been fed on barf and the difference is night and day ! all the others have had various brands of complete ,have you had a gwp before mark ? just asking as this was my first and shall we say its been an experience

Whats barf?

 

[vwmark]

i have 2 a gwp and a lab x gwp and had quite a few working dogs over the years these are the first 2 that have been fed on barf and the difference is night and day ! all the others have had various brands of complete ,have you had a gwp before mark ? just asking as this was my first and shall we say its been an experience

Hi. Only had our 3 weeks and she is perfect. She is just under 2 and had a few different owners. Supposed to be gun shy but has been no problem around guns so dont know why she was moved on.

Didnt mean to get one. Went to see her and fell in love. Took her then and there and had to go home and explain to wife and spaniel - he had to be castrated.

 

[vwmark]

 

[arther dailey]

fine looking dog. feed depends not only on what type but how many times a day and how much,if working hard smaller meals through the day,rather than one feast in the evening was best,well that what was explained to me ,and it worked for my labs.differant dry foods vary hugely on protien content,and this will make a quiet dog erratic if not "burnt" off. If you do change diet do it on a slow pace,remove a little of old diet and add sinilar amount of new,gradually increasing ratio, this gives the dogs stomach/system time to get used to it.

 

[Pete.]

I used to give mine a tin of custard on working days, seemed to help.

We need proof that this is genuine. A photo of the custard with a tin of custard will do

 

[knighty]

guess the first thing I should say is I make frozen dog food for a living.. don't want to sound like I'm pimping my business, your in Wales so you're too far away for us to supply you anyway...

try some raw food, tripe mostly, minced chicken too

try a couple of different local suppliers, small pet shops, not pets at home etc...

I don't know any manufacturer in your area well enough to recommend one

honestly, as long as the manufacturer's pick it up super fresh them mince/portion/freezer it quick (the next day) it should be good
(that's pretty much the rules from DEFRA now anyway)

cost wise, it'll be more than cheap dry food, but less than expensive dry food
(tho if you stick with it you'll need a freezer for it)

I supply loads of pickers, all over the place, from a couple of independent guys with dogs to shoots where they have their own people/dogs and people who talk like the royal family pay the bill

 

[Migmac]

I work a GWP daily, he gets fed on dry food and scraps that get left over from our meals. The dry food is not the most exspensive one out there, £10 a bag. It's Wagg worker. I don't follow the feeding instructions, it's never enough for him. His food bowl is eight inches across and four inches deep, this is normally very full at feeding time. He has a health check yearly and has never been criticised for being over weight or unfit.

 

[Migmac]

View attachment 101770

What kennels it from? Looks like a mustwork pup to me

 

[Rig Pig]

James Wellbeloved is my choice, the dog is a lot less smelly than on other foods.

 

[addjunkie]

guess the first thing I should say is I make frozen dog food for a living.. don't want to sound like I'm pimping my business, your in Wales so you're too far away for us to supply you anyway...

try some raw food, tripe mostly, minced chicken too

try a couple of different local suppliers, small pet shops, not pets at home etc...

I don't know any manufacturer in your area well enough to recommend one

honestly, as long as the manufacturer's pick it up super fresh them mince/portion/freezer it quick (the next day) it should be good
(that's pretty much the rules from DEFRA now anyway)

cost wise, it'll be more than cheap dry food, but less than expensive dry food
(tho if you stick with it you'll need a freezer for it)

I supply loads of pickers, all over the place, from a couple of independent guys with dogs to shoots where they have their own people/dogs and people who talk like the royal family pay the bill

Our dogs get fed raw food, my mrs buys it online through ebay from a place in Manchester, middleton raw dog foods come by courier.

Basically its ground up chicken bits and bobs, dogs love it. Our vet who is anti raw diet always comments how healthy the muts are. And any picking food or top up is just waag worker. They like the tripe too.

And knighty if you work where I think, you dont deliver up our place hence why we do the other route, since the previous supplier cut his packing costs the food kept turning up defrosted.