# How Much Does a Working Dog Need to Eat?



## Keagen Grace (Jun 5, 2010)

Points of view on this topic DEFINITELY vary and I'd be interested in hearing everyone's input. I talked last week on my blog about the source of a working dog's calories, and I covered how many calories a dog needs this week. Check it out here.


----------



## Keith Earle (Mar 27, 2006)

I give 2 raw chicken backs in am and cup of moisted dry food in pm, 5 mals 3 gsds they have been doing great for years now.


----------



## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Really????

This is not rocket science. I don't need to do math to decide how much my dog needs to eat, and I am not just saying that because I am blond.


----------



## Guest (Jun 19, 2010)

Depends on the dog. Some of my dogs eat a little and some eat a feedbag load.


----------



## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

I'm with Jennifer on this....

I just watch my dogs, if they look too skinny, I feed more, if they look too fat, I feed them less.

I've come across people who just feed 4 cups per day because that's what the bag of purina says... idiots


----------



## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

Too many variables to be considered - different types of dogs, different climates, different jobs.....


----------



## Tammy St. Louis (Feb 17, 2010)

how much are you feeding now, what are you feeding ? is the dog skinny or fat or just right ?
what type of work are you doing with him ?


----------



## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Both my GSDs get 5-6 cups a day. Doesn't matter if its premium or just simple stuff. For now I'm doing Purina ONE. Alternating bags of Lamb and Rice with Chicken with Rice.


----------



## Guest (Jun 20, 2010)

.48 bushels of apples per kilogram (not counting fur) every 6 days.


----------



## Keagen Grace (Jun 5, 2010)

Steven Lepic said:


> .48 bushels of apples per kilogram (not counting fur) every 6 days.


Made me grin. 

As far as everyone else goes. . . . I would agree that math isn't necessary for most of you NOW. Coming into all of this, though, it probably took a lot of trial and error before you figured out how all of this worked and how to keep your dog functioning at his best. 

Even now, in humans, when eating couldn't be more simple (eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full, indulge every now and again, and get off your butt for a few minutes a day), people turn to calorie calculators in order to get the best results. 

For the absolute new kid, it potentially takes a lot of guesswork out of it and gives them a baseline to work from.


----------



## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

Way too much math for me, and I'm not even blond and I graduated from high school.

Wouldn't it be easier to start with the quantity recommended on the bag? Add more if the dog is too thin, cut back if the dog is getting pudgy. If that's not working, try a different food.


----------



## Keagen Grace (Jun 5, 2010)

If you feed a kibble food, then, yeah, starting with the bag is a good place. Then it's hit and miss until you find out what your dog actually needs. 

This article was more directed towards handlers/trainers/owners who feed raw or a mix, although it doesn't exactly say that. 

My bad. :-D


----------



## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Keagen Grace said:


> Points of view on this topic DEFINITELY vary and I'd be interested in hearing everyone's input. I talked last week on my blog about the source of a working dog's calories, and I covered how many calories a dog needs this week. Check it out here.


The link seems to be broken.

My input is much like others': I think that starting out with the standard percents (for example, about 2 to 3% of body weight for an adult) and adjusting upwards or downwards as body condition dictates works well.

(That's for raw.)


----------



## Keagen Grace (Jun 5, 2010)

That link is broken. . . . . I reformatted my site. You can find it here, now. 

It's a couple of articles down.


----------



## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

I have 3 dogs that all weigh around 60-65 lbs. They all eat the same dry food of EVO Salmon & Herring and get grass fed lamb bones 2 times a week.

-Fawkes the 3 year old Malinois (PSA, herding, dock diving) gets 3.5-4 cups
-Elsa the 10 year old Rottweiler (therapy, herding) gets 3 cups
-Buck the 13 year old Siberian husky/Rottweiler mix (pet dog only) gets 1.75 cups

Totally depends on the individual dog.


----------



## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Grass fed lamb bones :lol:


----------



## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Why the laughter? Most lamb in this country are not 100% grass fed, but grain fed (Americans like the blander taste in the meat). There are lamb feedlots, just like there are for beef. Plus the producer I get them from gives me an excellent price. \\/


----------



## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Maren Bell Jones said:


> Why the laughter? Most lamb in this country are not 100% grass fed, but grain fed (Americans like the blander taste in the meat). There are lamb feedlots, just like there are for beef. Plus the producer I get them from gives me an excellent price. \\/


Every time I have ever seen sheep, they are eating grass.


----------



## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Most people don't ever see cattle on feedlots, but that's where they usually end up too. You're much less likely to see a lamb feedlot in North America because we eat much, much lamb than we eat beef.


----------



## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Maren Bell Jones said:


> Most people don't ever see cattle on feedlots, but that's where they usually end up too. You're much less likely to see a lamb feedlot in North America because we eat much, much lamb than we eat beef.


I don't know where you live but beef producers don't raise their products in a feedlot around here, there is one processing plant south of here that can do 7000 animals daily, no line ups..no appointment neccessary.


----------



## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

I think you should feed it at least enough so it don’t die. Yuo gots somes typos ins your page agin


----------



## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Gerry Grimwood said:


> I don't know where you live but beef producers don't raise their products in a feedlot around here, there is one processing plant south of here that can do 7000 animals daily, no line ups..no appointment neccessary.


I personally don't know much about Canadian beef production, but Missouri (where I'm from) is the number 2 cow/calf producing state in the US. I did find this excellent page on Canadian beef production and yes, they do a lot of feedlot production like the US. You probably just haven't seen a feed yard, though most Americans probably haven't either.

http://www.cbef.com/Industry.htm

So like in Missouri, some weaned calves get sold to backgrounders (a pre-feed lot conditioning program) or stockers (people who want to graze cattle, but don't want to deal with raising calves), but the majority are shipped out to Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, and so on to huge feedlots of up to 10,000+ head. The location of the feedlot is not really related to the location of the packing plant other than it saves money in fuel costs if they are pretty close by.


----------

