Breed specific diet

I purchased a book titled “ The best diet for a miniature pinscher” by Mr Cusick and one of the recipes if for a dog or bitch up to 4 months so I thought I’d give it a try, any way the recipe I used (is for a min pin up to 4months old and is not intended for any other breed)

I am unable to post the recipe itself as this would be a breach of copyright laws, however I can say that both Harry and Holly wolf it down every morning and lick their bowls clean.

Their coats have improved no end and they no longer have sloppy poos.

Hi minpin, welcome to Dogsey!

I do believe there is good sense in breed specific diets to some degree. Dogs have been domesticated for >14k years and it seems likely that adaptations to the available food source would be an important factor in the development of landrace breeds.

However, I'm not convinced it's as simple as the phrase "each breed of dog has its own unique set of nutritional requirements" on that website suggests. To suggest that every member of a particular breed has the exact same nutritional requirements and is unique to its breed, doesn't take into account of the wide genetic variation that can occur within a breed or the similarities of breeds that have descended from common landraces.

I would also question the thoroughness of the research into the individual breed profiles on the website. Two that I looked at; the Border Collie is said to have developed on a diet with the carbohydrate souce of potatoes, wheat and corn. There is no mention of oats, the staple cereal crop of Scotland, which would have formed the major part of this breed's diet.

Also the Pembroke Corgi, my local breed. Apart from relocating Pembrokeshire to the coast of the North Sea, the county "has never been good for growing any crops or farming" This BTW is a fertile area, extensively farmed including dairy, beef & sheep production and arable, the breed itself having developed as a farm dog.

I'm pleased to hear your two have done so well on their diet but I do have doubts about the content of that webpage.

I think what he is saying is that certain breeds will not have had acess to certain types of food, such as with minpin they would not had acess to rice but would have had acess to something similar such as barley and as such their digestive system would be less tolerant of rice but more so of barley if you get my drift

You'll find that reading the Documenting the claims" helps give a clearer picture of the research done. http://home.att.net/~wdcusick/05.html [/QUOTE]


At the end of the day it's all down to personal choice and all I was intending to do was to give yet another source of information, so that dog owners can read for themselves and make an informed choice just as I did

I've only scanned over this but I don't see anything on specific breed origins (sorry if I've missed). It does give backup to the claim "different breeds of dogs have different nutritional needs" which I personally, would not dispute, but this is entirely different to the claim on your first weblink that said "each breed of dog has its own unique set of nutritional requirements"

I do agree minpin. It was an interesting read if nothing else. My intention was just to give a word of caution in interpreting all the information given

If I remember right the information you're looking for is in one of his books which are available as a free download from http://home.att.net/~wdcusick/06.html

Somewhere in one of those books it gives information on how different breeds developed different nutritional needs, the reason I know the information is there is because I spent several weeks reading through all the information.


I can only speak from my own dos experience and since using this diet their coats have improved no end and their poos have become more firm and not so bulky which from my point of view is a good thing

I also agree you in that any information provided from any source people need to research the claims and not take any information given as gospel.