# Nutritional needs for working dogs???



## Jennifer Michelson (Sep 20, 2006)

I have been thinking lately about Griffin's nutrition. He works a lot. We are on 2 SAR teams, wilderness and Urban. We do team trainings every weekend--either an hour+ running through the woods or several shorter work sessions on agility or rubble searching. He is run 1hr+ each day during the week--lots of ball chasing in addition to free sniffing.

He is on Solid Gold(hund-n-flocken) and gets some Fresh Pet wet food on top of it. He has SIBO so he does have digestive issues. He is on Tylan daily to control the SIBO (with out it he gets the runs). 

He is lean and muscular, right now as light as I wish to see him (as a pet I would call him skinny). His coat has always been a bit dry--but with the sibo I worry about too much fat. I had him on Canidae before the Solid Gold and it was dry on that food too.

I do not have him on any suppliments yet. I probably should start the joint suppliments--What are the good ones?

At this point I would rather have him an a kibble base with possibly wet/raw/cooked extras. No bones as he crushes and swallows them whole (I have found sharp sherds in his poop when I tried him on raw a couple of years ago).

I have been wondering if I am missing anything with his food--I know athletes eat differently than us non-athlete people, should a working dog have, say, higher protein, vitamins, minerals etc?? Am I missing anything? Is there a fat that I can use that would not upset his intestines?

Thanks!


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## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

I'm feeding EVO red with an egg and a raw chicken thigh or back. Sometimes he'll get raw beef if I have unused beef that is going brown. I also at times give him a scoop of cottage cheese or sour cream or yogurt. 

you want to look for high protein items



Jennifer Michelson said:


> I have been thinking lately about Griffin's nutrition. He works a lot. We are on 2 SAR teams, wilderness and Urban. We do team trainings every weekend--either an hour+ running through the woods or several shorter work sessions on agility or rubble searching. He is run 1hr+ each day during the week--lots of ball chasing in addition to free sniffing.
> 
> He is on Solid Gold(hund-n-flocken) and gets some Fresh Pet wet food on top of it. He has SIBO so he does have digestive issues. He is on Tylan daily to control the SIBO (with out it he gets the runs).
> 
> ...


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## Terry Fisk (Jul 26, 2007)

Jennifer Michelson said:


> I do not have him on any suppliments yet. I probably should start the joint suppliments--What are the good ones?
> 
> 
> Thanks!


We use Joint Strong for our competition and older dogs http://www.showandsport.com/shopping_cart.htm#Joint. It's all natural and does not seem to upset stomachs like some joint products do. JS also has Omega3's which help the coat. Can the dog tolerate salmon oil? That would be a good oil for skin and coat.


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## Jennifer Michelson (Sep 20, 2006)

Thanks Terry and Chris! 

I have been thinking about adding raw proteins to his kibble....he'd enjoy that!

Thanks for the link Terry, There are so many products out there that I get a little frazzled deciding which one to try.....


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