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Location: uk
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 564
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interesting results
My three have been on raw now for 2 years and I really thought it was the best thing for them until recently.......
Sol has always been a thinker and because of this he gets brain tired in training so sessions need to be kept short. They have been increased as time has gone on and he can manage up to 30 minutes agility before I have to swap him for deef so I tend to change them over while he is still keen (around the 20 minute mark)The week before easter I was running down my freezers so that I could defrost them and we went training on the friday as normal except sol wasn't normal..... He was totally mad, really up for it and fast and confident in a way he isn't normally during a training session. After 20 minutes I swapped dogs and he watched and then we brought him back at the end and he was just as keen which has
never happened before, even my trainer commented on it! The only thing I had done differently was to feed them nature diet for a couple of days before. I went to a show over easter and decided to experiment with this and only fed them nature diet over the weekend to see what would happen.... sol was like a different dog. He was still really up for it and mad as ever but instead of queueing and grumbling at dogs next to him that came and got close or flirting with those that he thought might be girlies he was totally focussed on the ring or me. He was much more relaxed in himself on the whole over the weekend. I put them all on arden grange adult the following week and never said anything to my trainer but at his next session he was even more focussed and generally just more relaxed in himself. Sol was floored by another dog at a show in July last year and clubbed by its muzzle and every show since then he has appeared to be a little worried and on edge until Easter. I switched them over to the AG prestige yesterday when my small bags of adult ran out and today we went to our nearest park for a treat. We met a guy with a lovely dogs trust rescue collie pup, a little nervous and unsure but we spent some time with him and I had a good chat to the owner and the result was that his pup had a lovely play with all of mine... Sol doesn't like puppies, he usually grumbles at them so I put him on the lead as I could see this pup was unsure and I didn't want him to be frightened on what turned out to be his first proper walk but as they all seemed so relaxed and he wasn't that bothered I eventually let him run loose and he played with this pup so nicely as it chased him about and herded him without even a dirty look. Now I know that he is now 3 years old and growing up but this was literally an overnight change in behaviour and the only thing different was the food
I now am unsure what to do next, I still think raw is a great way of feeding but now I am not so sure that it is the best thing for him.... I am not anti complete food but never expected to end up putting mine back on it
He is generally a much calmer more relaxed dog all round which I am chuffed to bits about. His experience last year was really horrible for him as it was the first time I think he realised that not all dogs are friendly and so it was a bit of a shock
I did consider having him castrated after his last show in february as I was beginning to think it might be the best thing for him but after chatting to my vet, trainer and a behaviourist decided to wait until the end of the season and try some other things first. The feeling was that it was as much likely to make a difference at the end of the year as at the beginning and I would have been happy to drop him out of competition at any time and have it done if necessary.
Now I don't mind putting mine on AG as I think it is a really good quality food, they were on Burns previously but as deef was always too lean on that I didn't want to go back to it and AG looked a better option. I don't mind keeping them on this food forever if its the best thing for them (although it goes against the grain for me it is them that matters) and at the moment it seems that it really is the best thing for sol but what I really want to know is has anyone else experienced anything similar? I don't want this to be a raw versus complete thread as I believe that you should feed what suits
your dogs but I have to admit I am really surprised by it all