and just some idle musings here, you have fed food X for Y years and say you have "good results", but do you have a basis of comparison? how do you know that a better brand of food made with superior ingredients wouldn't get you even better results? have you ever seen any changes in your dogs when the brand of food you fed was reformulated, which happens every so often?
Thanks for the response. As per your question above.....if someone's dogs are in superb condition, how would you even be able to tell if using another "better" food were giving "better" results.
The point of breeding is that it is impossible to tell just how "good" a food is unless a b!tch is RAISED on that food, fed on that food during gestation, and then you see the quality of the newborns condition. Are the newsborns in good weight? Do they have sleek shiney coats. Do they have good bone, and does the dam maintain her weight while lactating. Does she have sufficient milk for the pups, etc, etc, etc. THAT is the only way to judge the quality of a food being fed.
Over the years there have been food that were considered almost miracle treatments for feeding dogs. Food that were widely used that I am sure you never heard of, and I have long since forgotten. But when they were used it was discovered that b!tches aborted pups, b!tches had NO milk for puppies, males were infertile. All kinds of fun things. The ultimate proof of a food goodness is in the breeding of the dogs fed those foods. Gee........isn't that the same thing the food companies do, and call it research???
Do the names Carlton Fredericks, Adele Davis, Winfred Shute, Linus Pauling ring any chimes with you? I grew up with them, not by choice, but it gave me an excellent foundation in nutrition. I knew all about carbs, protein, fats, complex carbs, incomplete protein and the like long before becoming involved with dogs. So what you say on your web site is not anything I have not read or heard long before you decided to start your research. It is good that you took the time to compile the info and make it available to those who need it.
I have a slight advantage of having been able to personally observe things that you only have access to thru others written words. I am a firm believer in hands on experience. I have been able to help many over the years also. Especially the miracle of using Vitamin C for knuckling over. Folks are absolutely amazed by what they see.
Then there are those who want to pump calcium to their large breed dogs....and know nothing about phosphorus. Or needing vitamin D to help with the absorption of the calcium. Etc, etc.
However there are some genetic factors that if a person is not involved in breeding can lead to discouragement. Some lines of Manchesters are just prone to sparse crappy coats. You can feed the highest, bestest quality food and the dogs are still going to have sparse, crappy coats. Very discouraging, but sad fact. And then there are the Blue Dobes, with their Blue Dobe Syndrome.....or alopecia. Talk about depressing!!!!!!
So with dogs, it helps to have the broadest picture possible.
Oh, I had meant to say "a" puppy chow. I have never been a fan of Purina, or any food with soy in it. All it does it make the piles of poop bigger!!!
Stool is also an excellent gauge of how good a food is being used by one's doggers.