Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Romanos
No. Hills has advised me that it is un-necessary to feed a Corgi active in agility with one of their high performance/high active type food and instead utilise their normal adult diet.
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But isn't that contradicting all the other advice you are giving? Puppies need puppy food, juniors need junior labeled food, adults need adult labeled food, seniors need senior labeled food, Dachshunds need Doxie formulated food, Yorkshire Terriers need Yorkie formulated food, German Shepherds need GSD formulated foods, Herding breeds need herding formulated foods, Toys need Toy breed formulated food, etc., etc. and so on. Soooo, following your advice literally, a dog involved in performance sports and training would need a performance formulated food, would it not?
Now again, should I wish to follow your example I could say that your feeding protocols for a performance dog are "nutty amd counter-productive" and perhaps even "dangerous." HOWEVER, that is not what I believe and via experience and learning from others I am able to respect what is working for you as well as what works for others. The bottom line is there is NO one correct way to feed a dog. What works for your corgis may not work for my corgis. I may not be able to feed Hills because I have a dog with corn allergies. Someone else may not be able to a chicken based food because their dog is allergic to chicken. I have raised puppies that started out on puppy formulas and some did fine, others with heavier bone and more substance we saw some pano problems. I've raised puppies that have been fed adult formula since weaning and they have done fine; no early deaths or debilitating health issues.
What I personally do find potentially dangerous is someone who tries to mandate/dictate in absolutes that his way is the ONLY correct way to feed a corgi. IF I followed what Michael says a corgi puppy
should be fed, then I would have a 4 1/2 month old puppy that would be obese and suffering from panosteitis due to his size, substance, amount of bone and overall balance. A continued, steady diet of "hot" foods would be detrimental to him growing in a healthy manner.
So when the question is asked, "What should I feed my corgi?" or "How much should I feed my corgi?" there is NO ONE RIGHT answer to those questions. We can share our experiences and what works for us, make recommendations and suggestions, but the true way to find the answers is trial and error to a degree and research. Read through the archives, read lots of dog food packages and labels. Whole Dog Journal is a good resource to check out, especially their annual food issue. Talk to people at training classes and in the pet supply stores. The right food to feed your corgi is the one that it does well on (and there might be several); how much to feed in many ways depends upon your corgi's age, size, and overall proportions.
Debbie