I think Orijen is great too, I noticed my older Chihuahua got a sparkle back in her eyes and seems to have more energy now plus her coat is softer.

Interestingly Acana has now been released in the UK too so we now have a couple of Super Prem foods to choose from

Acana Dry Dog Food: Great Selection at zooplus!

Could be useful for dogs who don't get on with Orijen.

Were do i start. We throught we were giving our baby girl the best by giving her Bakers, which she is still on, and we can just about afford this because hubby retired and i'm at college. We now know this is not the case and we are interested about giving her the BARF diet but we are not sure.

We are not sure because she is a funny eater. She doesn't eat all her food in one go, but in little bits. She takes a mouth full, brings it into living-room, eats it, and then goes and get more. She does this about four times and thats it. She does this about every 4 hours, and she has done this ever since we got her. She was 7 months when we got her from a breeder.

We are wondering if we change her diet to BARF would it be okay with her eating habit or not. Any advice would be helpful because we want to give her the best but don't know what to do because of her funny habit.

Our spaniel Fern used to be a wee bit fussy like that. She would take hours to eat a bowl of food. Since changing her to Orijen she now wolfs it down and you can genuinely see she gets excited about meal times.

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It was because of this site (linked to from another forum) that we decided to change to Orijen. It's really informative, just be wary some things vary from UK to USA, so contents and nutritional values might be a little bit different.

Acana is another really highly thought of food on the review site linked above.

Wee Fern is a bit of a pie now! Eats her meals in seconds. It's the first time in all the time I've had her (from 8 weeks and a day old ) that she's enjoyed her food.

I got a problem like that with my pup. Ever since I got him from breeder, he has been fussy about food. I have tried numerous brands, dry and wet, you name it.
If he was an adult dog, I would probably say, will eat when hungry, but pup needs to develop and grow, and for that needs nutrients, therefore I am jumping over loops and trying to come up with 'perfect formula'.
Faced with this problem, I have done loads of reading, am very grateful to participants of this thread, for got more than few good advices.
Since nether of diets on its own worked for my pup, I am doing a mix of few.
I do offer him dry food at beginning of every meal, and sometimes (rate ~one out of 8) he would have a full meal of it.
The other 'food' I give him is yoghurt with cottage cheese. They both are rich in protein and calcium thus providing proper nutrition, and sometimes he likes it. However, I never load his bowl with full portion. Add a teaspoon (he is a little breed pup) at a time. Once he is done with it, I ad another. Following this method he always has a good meal out of it, while if bowl was loaded he would just sniff couple of times and leave. No clue why.
For meat, I make him liver meals with carrots, and meatballs (adding some rice and carrots-peas mush into it).
Once in a blue I would offer him raw beef mince.
Combining all these tricks together, I am managing to get him growing quite well.
I did not expect to have so much fuss about dog’s food, but I have to do what’s best for the pup.

To break a habit going into his beloved spots to eat, and stay by his bowl, I close pen (he loves to eat there) and doors to other rooms, leaving kitchen door open, not to make him feel claustrophobic. Seems to be working all right. He makes few attempts to go to his pen or my office, but then comes back and eats meal at the bowl

PS. Inspired by this thread.
I got Orijen (arrived today). Was dismissed by my pup, but tomorrow he might change his opinion.

I've been looking at Acana, it is lower in calorie than Orijen probably due to it having more plant material in (I think it's about 10% less meat).

I'm going to order the lamb one for Shiro as he puts on weight really easy, I think it may be because he is fixed whereas Chichi and Millie aren't. They both seem to be able to scoff whatever they want and always be a perfect weight (I wish I could the say the same about me).

Re comments above, I'm not gullible enough to accept everything that a pet company tells me, but that extends to all pet food companies () because at the end of the day they are going to promote their food at the expense of someone elses - that's as true of Orijen as it it about Iams or the big boys.
However, and it's a big 'However' I did look at the research some time ago, and it's pretty conclusive, that dogs are healthier and live longer when fed a lower protein/fat diet and kept lean. The fact that Purina altered their own recipes as a result of this research says a lot.
It also validates what John Burns of Burns Pet Nutrition has been saying for around 20 years, that in his experience, and that's based on the use of his food over that period by thousands of dog owners - that a lean dog is a healthy dog, and if you feed a food that is high in protein/fat then it is far easier to overfeed, which leads to health problems in the longer term.
But at the end of the day, one food suits one dog and another suits another

When we adopted our Lab from Blue Cross she was ten months old, on Science Plan, but had very loose stools. Other makes were gradually tried, but still loose poos. Our vet recommended James Wellbeloved Lamb and Rice, and fortunately it has worked really well with the dog passing two well-formed stools nearly every day since. (A year.)
Having read all this thread, I have learned a lot, reactions of the dogs seem to be different, but I am reluctant to change to cheaper food except for good reason. The only down side has been, she has tired of it a bit, and to encourage her we have added a little bit of cooked meat to the middle of the bowl, which she eats first with some of the meal, and the remnants we stuff in a Kong with a dash of peanut butter which she loves and finishes. Someone might tell me this is not recommended, but it seems to work!

I too wanted to try orijen as there was so many good reviews about it and I do like it having no grain - my dog however would not touch it all all - if he took a bit while eating his other food he would spit it out again and if he had crunched it would spit all the little pieces out!

Hi,

Tey this website. Dog Food for gundogs, sheepdogs, agility dogs, and show dogs.
Really good food at very good prices. Do a huge range of protein levels etc. Made with the dogs in mind. Have been using it for a while now and saw such a big diffence in myy 2 collies. Both used to have to eat diffent food due to being fussy. They are really approachable if you give them a call or email they will help you through with the choices and reccommend one.

Prices range from under £10 for 15kg upwards!!! A bargain in anyones eyes surely.

Martin