UKC

Many months ago (August in fact) I posted a question regarding my puppies incessant barking and whether to consider an anti bark collar. The consensus was no and I took a lot of the advice and behaviour improved considerably.

One poster (kylyr)wrote this

"Another couple of things to take into consideration with behavioural issues - diet can play a huge part on behaviour so I would look at what food you're feeding him and see whether that could be contributing to any issues. For example, highly coloured foods like Bakers can often cause problem behaviour"

I didn't take too much notice of this at the time. I should have done

My 10 month old GSP (same as yours Wee Davie, and bigger than yours TC has eaten Orijen large puppy for the last 7 months. They had a fire in Canada and there was a shortage in the UK and I ran out last week and have been feeding him Purina Pro plan for the last few days.

Different dog

Cannot relax, more aggressive and rebellious, howling when left alone in room and resorting to destructive tendencies. Constantly sniffing and looking for food, hassling at the dinner table. Asking to go out then just staring at me when i open the door. Rufusing to come back in after asking to come back in. HArd to put to bed. It was like a switch went off in his head after two meals. I am really suprised at the difference.

I have received a large delivery of Orijen this morning and am hoping that he soon reverts to his old lovely self and its not just a testosterone teenager type stage.

In reply to Game of Conkers:

Sounds like normal dog behaviour haha. My dog does all this but in a totally weirdly enjoyable way. She is a total character in her own right and I wouldnt change her a bit.

In reply to Game of Conkers:

Difficult to know from afar, and I'm no vet, but here's a couple of thoughts-

If the calories per serving in the other food weren't what he normally gets that might make him quite hungry and agitated. Our Pointer gets pretty naughty and demanding in the hour leading up to his evening meal....

Watch in case he has eaten something that is blocking up his gut (and therefore stopping him absorbing food). Our GSP ate some pants on the Monday and by Friday he was anorexic and very ill (had to have surgery). We were hoping the pants would just come up, or out the other end. It was a big mistake on our part and we would and should have got him straight to the vet.

Maybe it's time to get his nads off? Maybe he's getting to the rebellious teenager stage and needs some wind out his 'sails' (ahem).

If he doesn't settle down I'd def get him to the vets asap.

Good luck!

In reply to Wee Davie:

Oh dear god ! Just reading "maybe it's time to get his nads off" makes me feel faint !

In reply to Game of Conkers: Our family dog (who lives with Grandma) mostly eats human food. She wolfed down my veggi curry last week happily enough. Best trained dog I've ever known and she talks to me (using dog sounds - obviously... I'm not mental).

In reply to Game of Conkers: protein content over 20-25% will make a dog more active/hyper active. But lower protein intake, won't make a disobedient dog a show winner either!

In reply to Game of Conkers: Why not try feeding him on something he's supposed to eat?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_feeding

I feed our 2 a diet very similar to this. Harder/Smaller stools. Better teeth. Calmer. Fitter dog altogether. It can be a little messy, but it's worth it for the dogs overall well being.

In reply to Game of Conkers:

I was told a while ago by an independent dog nutritionist (yes, that's an actual job title...) that commercial foods such as Purina, Pedigree Chum, Bakers etc. are pretty much jam-packed with the dog equivalent of E-numbers, and that feeding them such foods is like giving Skittles to a toddler, i.e. it'll send them batshit insane.

My dog eats Skinners Maintenance (working dog food), which is low-protein and all proper natural ingredients, and she's fine on it. Still full of energy, but not neurotic or anything like that, just normal collie behaviour.

In reply to Game of Conkers:

I have the opposite problem with my dog. He's the laziest greyhound I have ever met and would be happy enough to be carried out the front door for 'business' purposes. That's lazy even by greyhound standards!

There's nothing wrong with him, established after many tests by the vet, bar a slight bit of arthritis which he gets treatment for.

I've been purposely feeding him kibble with slighty-higher-than-average protein percentage and he's perked up a lot recently. I also fed him a raw diet for a few weeks and he was more 'awake' on that too.

It's mad how much difference diet makes!

In reply to Game of Conkers:

Eek! All sounds a bit troubling. Puppyface is on Chudleys Puppy at the moment, which is what her breeder was feeding her (she's from working stock) and she seems fine, though she's growing at a scary rate! She's likely to stay on Chudleys as she gets older.

The only weird food thing we've noticed is that we had some Wagg puppy treats which sent her totally loopy - like the dog equivalent of blue sweets. She now has some more 'nutritionally balanced' treats and she's a lot more stable after those

In reply to Game of Conkers:

Surely a human test is the only ethical way forward here. Experimenting on animals is most uncool.

In reply to ice.solo:

I heard somewhere that all pet food has to be fit for human consumption, by law. No idea whether it's true or not...

In reply to Tall Clare:

Try it & see.

In reply to Noelle: if I give our collie stuff that is over 30% protein, he's manic, will run all day, ( well, even more than usual for a collie) .

In reply to arch:
Although recent research highlights dog's ability to deal with starchy foods, in contrast to wolves: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21142870

In reply to ceri:

From what I've read, as with cats, so with dogs - there are pros and cons to raw, wet and dry diets, and no 'clear cut' best answer.

In reply to Game of Conkers:

If we feed ours anything other than the plain Lamb/turkey and Rice dry food, (the harrtingtons stuff ifs the one we use) It sends him loopy, Wagg, Pedigree etc are all no good at all. John Wellbeloved seems ok, but you need a motgage to feed a a large dog on that stuff.

He's a collie/spaniel/something Mutt for reference.

In reply to Tall Clare: I decided to do some research (ok, a few minutes on google months ago to find out which foods were meant to be good. I found a lot of good reviews of Orijen so decided to give him that.

I am not sure how independent this website is, but pretty interesting

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=230...

His behaviour, coat, physique and energy levels all seem excellent, and most importantly...he seems to enjoy it

In reply to Game of Conkers:

That does sound very good. If Lotta does turn her back on Chudleys (no sign of that at the moment!) I'll see if I can find that locally.

In reply to Tall Clare: I haven't found it in any petshop yet, I buy it online and have it delivered. It is a bit pricey though. Maybe he knows and the whole Purina pro plan behaviour thing was a stunt to scare me into continuing to buy it

In reply to Game of Conkers:

Haha! Our cats did similar when we ran out of Iams and fed them GoCat - no animal can radiate 'appalled' vibes quite like a cat...

In reply to Game of Conkers: I have 2 dogs both Terriers, the one is always completely mad if I feed him a high protein diet, so I avoid foods of that nature.

They are not working dogs so don't need the high protein.

Perhaps if you lowered the protein content of his diet it might help.

Jason

In reply to ceri:

Given our respective longevities, does this mean that dogs have evolved roughly seven times faster than humans? In which case I can see how dogs that scavenged starchy foods from humans could have changed genetically in just 10,000 years? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

In reply to Game of Conkers: If dry food is what your after, give these a try.

http://www.csjk9.com/

Iv'e not heard a bad word about them.