Totally confused.com about dog food...

Hi...going to be totally honest here - I can no longer afford to feed my GSD on the 'best' dog kibble coupled with the fact that he is a fussy git.
I am currently living near Malaga, Spain. Seven years ago I fed both my GSDs on Burns dog food but the cost became prohibitive as I couldn't get it locally. I allowed myself to be swayed into buying crap food from the local supermarket by my husband the end result was that certainly one of my dogs was in v. poor condition coatwise. He also has behaviour issues. Anyway a trainer that I had been consulting and training with suggested changing his food to a food which she had researched on the internet and she was now selling....I know I know.........! anyway this was a puppy food but according to her (she is big on dog nutrition) it didn't matter what it said on the label, what mattered was the content which primarily states 20% chicken and then goes on to list various other ingredients...veg etc. She has several of her clients on this puppy food, quite a lot of them have adult dogs like myself. I have been giving Jake this food now for nearly 3 months - he likes it, his coat is much much better and friends have commented that he is looking really good now but I am still concerned that this is 'puppy' food and should I really be giving it to a 6 year old GSD? People blind you with science and the old saying bull$$ baffles brains comes to mind here.......the food I am currently using is called Dapac puppy.... it seems to be a spanish brand. What are your opinions please......a breeder friend was horrified when I mentioned this food, initially she couldn't find it anywhere - she recommended other brands but I simply can't afford them over here.........

Have you ever considered going raw? It is much cheaper than the top kibbles.

No, definitely wouldn't do that here.

O - I would have thought you would find it better in Spain to get some good deals?

sorry, but nooooooooooooooo............

Re giving an adult dog 'puppy food' I was always told you shouldn't do this as it will make them fat as puppy food is designed to 'build them up' while they are still growing. It's more 'maintenance' that's needed with an adult that has stopped growing.

I found this out because I stupidly thought 'puppy food' was labelled as such just because it was small bite size so therefore suitable for smaller adult dogs too.

I can only think the trainer makes a higher profit from selling the puppy food than she does selling the adult. Dapac as you will see by looking at:
http://www.distribucionescalvo.com sell a selection of kibble for adult dogs.

I know what its like when someone thinks they know better than you plus thinking you're an easy target. I went to the pet shop the other day to buy a 2.5kg bag of Acana Grassland for my puppy only to be accosted by this one assistant who always seems to be lying in wait for me. I told her what I wanted and she spent the next 10 minutes trying to persuade me to buy a 25kg bag of a brand I'd never heard of. I could have screamed! Unfortunately the only other pet shop is the opposite side of the city, if it was nearer I'd shop there rather than having to put up with THAT woman.

I used to use www.zooplus.es who sell all the usual brands of complete dried food (better than the crap from Mercadona!) and free delivery when you spend over €35, if that's any use to you. You can do a 'page translation' if you need to.

Re giving an adult dog 'puppy food' I was always told you shouldn't do this as it will make them fat as puppy food is designed to 'build them up' while they are still growing. It's more 'maintenance' that's needed with an adult that has stopped growing.

I found this out because I stupidly thought 'puppy food' was labelled as such just because it was small bite size so therefore suitable for smaller adult dogs too.

Thanks Tang (new short name?) what you say makes sense. x

Chlosmum - I am looking at Acana over here. It seems to be the best on the market from my understanding, but it's very expensive so was hoping for a happy medium. As you say it's very annoying when you know what you want and someone is trying to hardsell you for their own reasons, something else.

Tikali - I looked at a link to them yesterday but yours was better. Still not sure about the best food apart from the Acana though...there is a large pet warehouse not too far from me so I may go down there and see what's available. I don't want to be ripped off but on the other hand I want the best I can afford for my dog....

Try putting the ingredients list in the instant review generator here

http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/instan...ood-review.php