# Best puppy food?



## Nadie (Sep 3, 2011)

Since I only have an in town homestead, i've invested in a not so large gard dog... A pitbull. We plan on going to the raw diet eventualy, but until then I need a puppy food that is as close as possible to build a sturdy (and large as possible) gard dog.


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## LoneStrChic23 (Jul 30, 2010)

Your puppy is only going to grow to his genetic potential. No food will make him bigger than what he's genetically destined to be.

It's been ages since I've bought kibble but I like Diamond Naturals, Taste of the Wild (close to RAW as it's grain free), 4Health & Orijen. I personally wouldn't feed kibble that was loaded with by-products or corn.

I avoid popular ones like Iams & Science Diet.


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## DaniR1968 (May 24, 2008)

Pitbulls are not usually very good guard dogs. Unless you meant more of a farm dog. They can make good farm dogs; but if you're looking for a dog to guard your home, they are usually too people friendly to be good at that.

As for food, ditto what LoneStarChic said. There is nothing you can feed your dog to make it grow bigger. Feed a good quality puppy food. I like Exclusive, but it's not available everywhere.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

Sorry....Pit bulls are pretty awful guard dogs. They love people too much! They don't like other dogs (tend to be very territorial) but welcome strangers. My pit bull Bailey put on one heck of a show with her barking but the furiously wagging tail and that famous pit bull smile give her away. Even the mail man and UPS guy ignore her barking. She is the best dog I have ever had, but she is NOT a guard dog. She is an awesome farm dog though and does bark and let us know someone is around. And then she turns the problem over to us to deal with. She does not chase the chickens or bother livestock even though she was not raised around stock of any kind. And she shares her food bowl with my two chihuahuas.

Anyway....I have found 4-Health (available at Tractor Supply) to be a wonderful food and it's priced about the same as Iams (which is pure garbage). Kirklands (fron Costco) is also wonderful. I am pretty sure 4-Health and Kirklands are manufactured at the Diamond Dog food plant. Diamond makes a premium food too, but don't get their lower end food. It has a lot of corn in it. Avoid grain if you can.


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## BoldViolet (Feb 5, 2009)

Wellness, Taste of the Wild, Blue Buffalo, Royal Canin are all great foods.


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## jandersen (Jul 11, 2011)

On the plus side alot of people find the appearance and reputation of pitbulls intimidating. Mine have always got the job done. I plan on moving them to the raw diet over the winter.


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## jandersen (Jul 11, 2011)

I would also like to add that while you can't outgrow their genetics you can help them reach their potential. So the better food you feed during the prime growing months the better.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

yeah pit bulls certainly do have a bad reputation and most would-be boogie men are scared to death of them just because they LOOK mean!


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## simplepeace (Oct 29, 2005)

Why wait on the raw diet? Do you have any specific reasons (like lack of freezer space etc...)? All dogs grow great muscle and little fat on raw.

You could save yourself a lot of $$ and a lot of chewing grief feeding a pit pup in particular on raw now (ask me how I know ).


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## Nadie (Sep 3, 2011)

of course his bark is worse than his bite(exept for those little needle teeth), lol he is such a lover but it is the stigma that goes along with pitbulls that keeps the bad guys away and has all my neighbors murmuring (close minded small town folk, no offense) ^_^ we are kind of known as radicals in our little town...
and of course I can't feed him miracle grow and make a giant monster out of him, I just want whats best and most natural... 










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## LoneStrChic23 (Jul 30, 2010)

simplepeace said:


> Why wait on the raw diet? Do you have any specific reasons (like lack of freezer space etc...)? All dogs grow great muscle and little fat on raw.
> 
> You could save yourself a lot of $$ and a lot of chewing grief feeding a pit pup in particular on raw now (ask me how I know ).


I agree!! Plus in my expirence it's easier to get a puppy to try new things than it is an adult.... I could feed my puppies a variety of organs, lamb heads, green tripe & whole raw fish....Where as my adults were pretty freaked out by the stranger raw items (my Weim was terrified of whole raw fish....he'd raise his hackles & growl at the alien in his bowl, he never got over it... lol).

When I switched to raw ages ago, I had a 6 week old Dane puppy, an adult Weimaraner & no deep freeze....Just bought food a lil at a time. Did this for 6 weeks before I got a small, used chest freezer.


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## jandersen (Jul 11, 2011)

I'm just waiting until I have the freezer full for the family. Hope this hunting season is good and the rabbits are knocked up. Then we should have plenty of meat to get them going. I agree that the sooner we get them on raw the better. My lab is 11 I think he will take to the new diet ok. He eats everything he can get his mouth on.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

I would go with TOTW which you can often find in the feedstore as one of the cheapest grain free options. If you can't afford grain free then diamond naturals or kent native which is newer and showing up in feedstores. The kent native is a little grain heavy _but_ every dog we switched to it has done great from the akita who never holds weight well on kibble including TOTW and has lots of allergies to the shiba who gets chubby on dirt. It does have better quality grains and no corn, by products, hulls, etc... Price range is between Diamond Naturals and TOTW. Both are made by diamond by the way. So is Chicken Soup and it's pretty comparable to Diamond Naturals but I usually only see the Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul in large bags and the dog food only in small bags if they have it at all.


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