I am feeding Lady a good quality puppy food (Acana) and she eats it really well but while she is not exactly thin she doesn't have any spare weight either. With colder weather coming I would like to put a little bit more weight on her. I am feeding over the reccomended amount for her weight by about a cup a day. Should I be adding something? Does anybody else supplement their boughten dog food with anything else and if so what and why?

Just wondering, I don't think I have to worry about her gaining too much weight as she is always on the go.

Thanks

Newton

If you look back through the archives, you'll see I've weighed in on this a number of times. I use my GSPs for mushing so keeping weight on them is something I'm pretty darn familiar with. To summarize:

• Make sure you're feeding a good 30/20 kibble to begin with. Less protien/fat in that core ration will be tough to overcome, as a dog's metabolism is designed to use both as it's ideal fuel.
• Keep the dog locked up in a warm spot at night so theyr'e not just fretting or shivering calories off (ideal is a crate in a heated room IMO). If the dog is out in a kennel during the day make sure they've got a tight box loaded up with straw. Jackets are an excellent idea IF the dog won't chew them up.
• Split feeding into 2 meals (plus whatever snacks you want to throw in of course) and offer the most calories at night.
• Once my dogs require over 3c of food a day I start supplimenting with meat, and my personal rule of thumb is not to feed more than 4c/day of kibble altogether. Joe Runyan's book about distance mushing had some insights about a pound of dog food a day being the point of diminishing returns if anyone cares to read it. I've also supplimented with lard, eggs, and Annamaet Impact. Any of it will work if you start slowly. If you just throw a huge wad of greasy meat to a dog that hasn't had it before, it can get sick enough to die- so be patient! The Impact is probably the most forgiving stuff I've used as far as that goes.

RIght now the most popular kibble brands in mushing circles seem to be Eagle, Red Paw, Cariboo Creek Gold, and Blackwood. I have fed Eukanuba, Kasco, and NutraNuggets (by Diamond) in the past. We switched to Eagle Power last year and I've never been so impressed with a kibble.... it's not cheap, but I'm not having nearly the problems keeping weight on that I have in years past and the dog's coats are looking fantastic.

How old is Lady? I hear of a lot of people worrying about the weight on there puppies, but they just grow so fast.

The vets want to see this perfect weight and perfect look thats this and that. Fact of the matter is our dogs work. One lady at my 'old' vet was trying to compare my dog to a Rotweiler. LOL. If you can feel but not seen the ribs your fine. If you can see a couple ribs your fine (2 to 3 or the back ribs). You shouldn't see the hip bone.

Meg has pretty much summed it up. The 30/20 ratio is optional, all dogs are different, and so are there exercise plans. Most of the time a standard 26/16 does ok. Which is what my dog eats. I had him on a 30/20 feed at it was to rich for him.

Newton,
can you us some more info? How tall is she and what is her weight?
And 1 personal question - does she poop a lot?

Lucky7, 65-70lbs is kinda a lot. How tall is your dog?

Haiko, at 26" is 68lbs.

Substituting with human food is not a bad idea to add weight.

Francine

This is true. I post about the 30/20 because I've seen people posting that they're having a hard time putting weight on a dog only to later say they're feeding something like your 26/16. IMO there's no point in long-term supplimentation for weight issues if the kibble we're starting with isn't sufficiently concentrated, no matter how fancy the bag's packaging or marketing.

And yeah, double check the standards. I've found my dogs run best when their back 2-3 ribs are clearly visible. Below is Rogan (standing with his back kinda arched up probably hoping I'll scratch his butt) in what I consider just about perfect shape towards the end of last season... you can see that he's trim, but also carrying lots of muscle and his coat is really nice.

Shorthaired dogs can survive outside if they have a tight house with plenty of insulation (like straw), but they'll burn a lot of extra calories.

Beyond that, I prefer the extra bit of interaction we get having them at least crated in the house at night. I try to give a little extra pet-kiss-sweet word to each hound as I'm running them in and out to potty at least. Mine are NOT velcro dogs, but they obviously enjoy every moment they can get no matter how small.

That would be Rogan glaring at the camera, lol. I love that picture just because he's so obviously annoyed- most likely with the flash.

My all time favorite pic of him was the day after my 'three hour tour' of Blewitt pass. I  was skijoring with Dulcie and Rogan and the 3 maps I had didn't jive with the trails in the non-motorized area and we ended up doing a MUCH longer run than I would have voluntarily attempted. It was least 20 miles and a brutal quanity of elevation gain. The dogs pulled through admirably, and I was OK until I stepped out of the car at home and my foot immediately cramped up, darn near dropping me to the dirt in the carport...

I took this picture of Rogan jumping a broom handle in the living room the next day. With a little height to spare. Obviously the trip was much harder on me than it was on them, LOL!!!