FOOD
You can't overestimate the importance of right feeding in the health of your pet, Especially its first year of life. If you invest into your puppy food you will save money on the vet in the long run, not mentioning that everybody wants to have a pet, who lives a long healthy life.
RAW FOOD
I believe raw food is the best diet for our shepherds that could be.
Whole milk (it's not raw, but nevertheless is a nice addition to your dog's diet), raw eggs, raw chicken are actually cheaper than good quality commercial food and of course are way more nutritient and healthy.
Also, make sure your dog eats organ meat, such as glizzards, hearts, liver, raw (the one in the stores is bleached and has no nutrient left) tripe from time to time. Raw tripe is absolutely the best treat for your dogs, it smells outright awful, but for dogs tripe is the tastiest thing on earth!
I buy most of raw food in grocery stores (meat products for people) and online here
My Pet Carnivore
COMMERCIAL DOG FOOD
However, raw food can be pricey, so you can feed half raw half commercial food.
I like Evo, Acana, Orijhen, Zignature (chewy.com seems to have the best prices, at least for now). But these are not the cheapest ones and there are many other brands that are just fine, just make sure that the food is
GRAIN FREE
and with NO BY-PRODUCTS
If you are not ready to get into raw feeding please make sure you won't feed your pet just kibbles, no matter what a wonderful brand they are. After all, you wouldn't want to live just on canned pasta (and you won't thrive just on canned pasta either). Your puppy will not get all necessary nutrients if you feed it just with commercial dog food.
ROTATING DRY FOOD AND UPSET STOMACHS
They recommend gently switch different brands which always keeps me wondering. Imagine someone would say to you "You can't eat one brand of canned beans and the next day eat beans of another brand! You should get used to it gradually, eating one bean at a time." Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?
Maybe if a poor dog is on one food all its life, it will get upset stomach from new food, but how poor its diet should be! I change brands all the time and give them to my dogs without "transitioning" and didn't have problems with upset stomachs.
Sometimes my puppy do have loose stools and that happen with food they have been eaing for a while. I watch them closely of course, usually diarreia comes and goes, just like with people so don't go insane thinking your puppy is in trouble just because its poop wasn't perfect in the morning.
Sometimes I use one brand for a while, but then I may notice that my dog starts smelling like... a dog. I switch brands and the smell goes away. I believe a healthy dog and not in stress (like dogs have in shelters) do not have a doggy smell, with the exception of when it is shedding.
BONES
One thing you must feed your dog - it's bones. In fact, when a dog is on homemade food or raw food its diet should be 25-30 % bones, especially if it's a German Shepherd (as they are prone to hip displasia) and especially if it's a puppy (as they grow very fast). If you feed mostly commercial dog food you still need to give bones.
I am talking about real bones - beef marrow bones, gullets, rib bones, chicken and turkey bones (raw), etc. The bones you can buy in Walmart in pet section are more like a toy.
You also can give bones from your leftovers, but since that will be cooked bones make sure they are one of those bones that do not splint (cartilage bones, chicken ribs).
Though to tell you the truth I have seen thousands of time all kind of cooked bones given to dogs (I grew up in another country in a place where people are not too mushy with dogs) and never seen that that would cause a problem.
If your dog eats bones on a regular basis it will have clean teeth and it will have no health issues with their own bones.
Another tremendous plus of bones - your puppy WILL NOT CHEW your choes, cords, homework, etc. From all puppies I have had I barely have any damage done. Believe me, when you see your $100 shoes chewed on you would wish you invested in raw bones for your puppy!
More about benefits of bones in your dog's diet here.
MENU
Our usual feeding plan for an adult dog looks like that:
Sometimes we treat our dogs with cheese (it makes a great training treat), other varities of raw food, walnuts, etc.
FEEDING A LARGE BREED PUPPY
- Raw Food
- Commercial Dog Food
- Rotating Dry Food And Upset Stomachs
- Bones
- Menu
- Feeding A Large Breed Puppy
RAW FOOD
I believe raw food is the best diet for our shepherds that could be.
Whole milk (it's not raw, but nevertheless is a nice addition to your dog's diet), raw eggs, raw chicken are actually cheaper than good quality commercial food and of course are way more nutritient and healthy.
Also, make sure your dog eats organ meat, such as glizzards, hearts, liver, raw (the one in the stores is bleached and has no nutrient left) tripe from time to time. Raw tripe is absolutely the best treat for your dogs, it smells outright awful, but for dogs tripe is the tastiest thing on earth!
I buy most of raw food in grocery stores (meat products for people) and online here
My Pet Carnivore
COMMERCIAL DOG FOOD
However, raw food can be pricey, so you can feed half raw half commercial food.
I like Evo, Acana, Orijhen, Zignature (chewy.com seems to have the best prices, at least for now). But these are not the cheapest ones and there are many other brands that are just fine, just make sure that the food is
GRAIN FREE
and with NO BY-PRODUCTS
If you are not ready to get into raw feeding please make sure you won't feed your pet just kibbles, no matter what a wonderful brand they are. After all, you wouldn't want to live just on canned pasta (and you won't thrive just on canned pasta either). Your puppy will not get all necessary nutrients if you feed it just with commercial dog food.
ROTATING DRY FOOD AND UPSET STOMACHS
They recommend gently switch different brands which always keeps me wondering. Imagine someone would say to you "You can't eat one brand of canned beans and the next day eat beans of another brand! You should get used to it gradually, eating one bean at a time." Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?
Maybe if a poor dog is on one food all its life, it will get upset stomach from new food, but how poor its diet should be! I change brands all the time and give them to my dogs without "transitioning" and didn't have problems with upset stomachs.
Sometimes my puppy do have loose stools and that happen with food they have been eaing for a while. I watch them closely of course, usually diarreia comes and goes, just like with people so don't go insane thinking your puppy is in trouble just because its poop wasn't perfect in the morning.
Sometimes I use one brand for a while, but then I may notice that my dog starts smelling like... a dog. I switch brands and the smell goes away. I believe a healthy dog and not in stress (like dogs have in shelters) do not have a doggy smell, with the exception of when it is shedding.
BONES
One thing you must feed your dog - it's bones. In fact, when a dog is on homemade food or raw food its diet should be 25-30 % bones, especially if it's a German Shepherd (as they are prone to hip displasia) and especially if it's a puppy (as they grow very fast). If you feed mostly commercial dog food you still need to give bones.
I am talking about real bones - beef marrow bones, gullets, rib bones, chicken and turkey bones (raw), etc. The bones you can buy in Walmart in pet section are more like a toy.
You also can give bones from your leftovers, but since that will be cooked bones make sure they are one of those bones that do not splint (cartilage bones, chicken ribs).
Though to tell you the truth I have seen thousands of time all kind of cooked bones given to dogs (I grew up in another country in a place where people are not too mushy with dogs) and never seen that that would cause a problem.
If your dog eats bones on a regular basis it will have clean teeth and it will have no health issues with their own bones.
Another tremendous plus of bones - your puppy WILL NOT CHEW your choes, cords, homework, etc. From all puppies I have had I barely have any damage done. Believe me, when you see your $100 shoes chewed on you would wish you invested in raw bones for your puppy!
More about benefits of bones in your dog's diet here.
MENU
Our usual feeding plan for an adult dog looks like that:
- A bowl of whole milk in the morning
- A bowl of kibbles once a day or a can of wet dog food
- Raw chicken (whole or drumsticks/thighs, all with bones of course) 3-4 times a week (or turkey, lamb, etc.)
- Organ meat 1-2 times a week
- 3-4 raw eggs a week
- Raw bones 1-2 times a week
- A can of mackerel or salmon twice a month
- Kefir/cottage cheese once in a while
Sometimes we treat our dogs with cheese (it makes a great training treat), other varities of raw food, walnuts, etc.
FEEDING A LARGE BREED PUPPY