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Large Breed Puppy Food


axxl
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Hi all, over the holidays I managed to get my pup Holly (GR), 6 months old now, back to see her breeder. Did not really go as well as I had expected, maybe I expected too much, but basically she didnt even care to see her as she doesnt like looking at puppy's at 6 months of age as they are all gangly. Fair enough I guess, but as for me wanting to get her on the main reg, so I can even think about showing her, well I didnt even mention it, she just wasnt interested.

What she did say was that my girl is looking a little on the small side and compared to other puppy's same age as her, she thinks she is pretty small and probably wont make the right height. Now my question is, I changed my pup from Supercoat (which is what the breeder had her on), over to Eagle Pack large breed puppy almost straight after I got her and I was wondering if this could be the reason for her smaller size? I mean after all isnt the large breed puppy food supposed to slow their growth down to help prevent HD etc. ?

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I don't think you need to worry about her size at this point. My understanding with giant breeds is that you do want them to grow slowly ... and the big dogs will still be growing at three or more.

She's got plenty of time to make the height and if she gets there slowly you've got a better chance of getting her there healthy.

My Neo pup is almost 9 months old, and she's not as big as some other Neos I've seen around her age, but I feed her raw and I try to keep her on the lean side so that she doesn't get too big too fast.

I got my male Neo at 2 years of age, and just before he turned 3 he put on a real growth spurt and filled out considerably, so your girl has lots of time.

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I persnoally am not a fan of the Super premium puppy foods.

I cannot comment on Eagle Pack as i have not seen it.

But through several years of experiance with Neo Mastiffs i have found pups raised on Science Diet or Eukanuba tendered to be leaner and taller than pups i have kept on Supercoat puppy .

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I doubt very much it is the Eagle Pack contributing to your girl not growing. I've raised my girl (now 7 months) on Eagle Pack and she's quite large.

Shame on your breeder for not taking much interest in her though. Even if she thought she wasn't show worthy, she could have pointed this out in a constructive way. One of my Golden girls grew very slowly. In fact she didn't even reach 'breed standard' weight or height until she was 2 1/2!! She is now 28.5kg and 1cm over minimum height. Out of interest, how much does your girl weigh?

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I just weighed her then and she is 19.8 kilos, does that sound right for just gone six months this week? She is rather lean looking, but as suggested by my vet to avoid HD related disorders. My breeder said she was a little leaner than she see's normally, but that it is ok, better than being overweight. Just concerned by the way she said that she is pretty small for her age. I do hope she grows to standard.

ETA: If I was to keep her pretty lean (in order to prevent HD etc... as you can probably tell Im paranoid about it) meaning feeding her the minimum portions stated on the packet rather than the maximum portion, would this cause her to be stunted at all or will she still grow to her genetic type size, structure etc..?

Edited by axxl
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Hi axxl,

Most breeders keep their young Goldens lean... as long as you can't see the ribs or hip bones, that's good! She's about 20kg, which is probably about what my older girl was at 6 months (chelsea on the other hand was almost 27 at 6 months - she's grown like a weed, even on Eagle Pack). Do you have some pics of her up in the photo section? I'd love to see her! I'm about to post a pic of my goofball, Chelsea.

Cheers,

Jen

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i have a 7 month old goldie boy (who i think is around 23-24kg) and it is better to keep them lean (as you know how they love their food). You are being very sensible because a lot of people overfeed their dogs which sometimes contributes to hip displaysia

I agree shame on the breeder. My breeder always loves seeing her puppies whatever the age of the dog. It helps her learn.

Just wait she is only young

Hey my first goldie was the runt turned out beautifullly. was my first australian champion with best in group and well over 300 points. So just wait and see.

Sometimes the pick pup always doesn't turn out to be the best.

I am currently just feeding the pup a bit of Supercoat Puppy (my breeder suggested it) but my dogs as well as the pup are mainly fed the barf diet

Edited by Russkie30
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I wouldn't worry, large breed puppy food are made exactly so it would make them grow slower, and it could take as long as 2 years before the growing stop in large breed ,the slower the better. Very often breeder suggest to owner to change for an adult food(in large breed) but the problem with this is, the puppy has to eat more and sometime they are not able to eat that much so there intake in nutrients are less, and sometimes by eating more adult food the amount of calcium/phosohorus end up to be the same as a normal puppy food. Personnaly I like better large breed puppy food for large breed puppy this kind of food has been especially formulated for them with the right amount of nutrients.

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Hi Russkie30,

I have an 8 mth old golden retriever girl who is still on supercoat puppy. She also has combination meat at dinner time. She gets chicken wings or similar 3 times a week.

I want to try and get her on a more natural diet so have been thinking about changing her to a barf diet. Problem is I don't know what the best food is to feed her being still a pup.

What do you feed as part of your barf diet??

Thanks,

Helen.

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Correct me if i'm wrong but we had a Saint years ago that wasn't putting on weight like the other youngsters we were showing against. When we had a discussion with our breeder and she said we were doing all the work for the dog

i.e. food cut way too small dog didn't have to work for its food so the natural growth hormones weren't released in the chewing action. We follow this principle now with good results. Also we feed the dog up off the ground so it doesn't have to stoop to eat ( large concrete block works for me ). :confused:

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Just had a quick browse at the site you suggested Trevanizdanes and it looks great! Thanks for the link! I have only just read a bit of it, but from what I have read so far there is a few additives I can add...do you add these as well?

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I was more excited than she was!! I had these big expectations of her being so happy that I actually came back....as she seemed really worried when I first bought her that it was the last she was going to see her or something. It may have been that I didnt ring first, I was on my way back from camping and didnt have her number and basically had to drive past her street too (she is 2 hours from where I live) so I just called in...some people just dont like that and I think she may be one of them. Plus I think she was different because she has since moved onto another smaller breed now and is concentrating more on them than the Goldens. Only thing I am worried about is that my pup is still on the limited reg and I fear that she will never be moved off it until her hips/elbows eyes are clear, which is after 12 months and would be too late to start showing then am I right?

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12 months is a more difficult time to start show TRAINING your dog if he hasn't been show trained before. It is easier if you have trained them from a pup but plenty of dogs are trained as adults for the showring. Even if you can't show him until then you can certainly have him in doing all the moves in your backyard.

You don't have to start showing before a certain age - there aren't any rules there.

It sounds like you should be having a chat to the breeder regarding the limited register stuff. Sounds like it's all up in the air at the moment. Some breeders are quite picky about which dogs are shown - and rightly so. After all it is their kennel name being shown off.

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Hi Axxl,

The breeder might not transfer her onto the main register until the hips/elbows have been x-rayed and heart/eye certificates are all done, but you could still do show training if you wanted to prepare her for the show ring. It'll also give you time to grow some thicker skin (definitely needed for showing! LOL). Did you have a chat to her breeder about transferring to the main register and showing, etc?

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We have always used the Nzymes..seem to cover a lot of supplements if you wish to add in one go ..however things like yeast infection..ecszema tc..are nigh on occuring ..the blues we have there coat are great ..and you know some blues are a concern on the coat front ..you can only read up..if you find its for you then go for it if not !! just go on whats best and your own instincts...you know your own dogs best .. :confused:

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