So many foods, which is right for my Doodle?
This is likely the first question you ask your Doodle's breeder. But, just because your dog's breeder used it for their pups doesn't mean it's the appropriate food for your dog moving forward. One main point to keep in mind is that breeders don't always feed the best food. This is especially true for commercial or backyard breeders who are in it for the money and not to improve the breed. Also, as your Doodle matures, he'll require a changing percentage of nutrients in his diet. I will break it all down for you on this page.
The Basics of Nutrition
Your dog has a few important needs when it comes to his nutrition.
* Give your Doodle dog plenty of water. Your dog needs to have plenty of water available at all times. Refresh your dog’s water twice daily — don’t just wait for your dog to finish his bowl. Puppies and their moms tend to drink more, as do working dogs. If it’s hot out, you can bet your dog will tend to drink more than usual.
* If you need to change your dog’s food, do so gradually. Many Doodle dogs have very sensitive stomachs. This is why you don’t want to feed your dog table scraps or whatever food happens to be on sale that week. Your dog’s digestive system takes time to adapt. Over a period of two weeks, gradually increase the amount of the new food, and decrease the amount of his old food, until you’re feeding only the new diet. It’s highly likely that you’ll have to do this shortly after you welcome your new Doodle dog into your home. Many breeders feed less expensive food that has lots of grain filler ingredients, as they have many mouths to feed. Begin the transition to the new food after your Doodle dog pup has had a chance to acclimate into his new environment – about a month.
* Feed your dog consistently. Dogs are happiest when they know what is going to happen and when. The number of times a day to feed your dog depends on your dog’s age and overall physiology. If your dog is between the ages of 2 and 4 months, feed him three times a day. Some veterinarians suggest returning to feeding 3 times per day during your Doodle dog’s fast growth period – between 4-9 months as they burn a lot of energy during that time. Most adult Doodle dogs do well with two meals each day. But in some situations an adult dog may need to be fed more often; for example, if your dog has a digestive disorder, or a tendency to bloat, you’ll want to feed him three or four smaller meals each day. Many senior dogs are also better served with more numerous smaller meals each day (If you’re not sure, as always, check with your veterinarian.)
* Don’t free feed your dog (leave food out for him to eat whenever he wants) — control the amount he eats. If you control how much he eats and when, you’ll be able to control his weight better. It’ll also be easier to accomplish a housetrained dog.
Pay attention to your dog’s waistline — to be blunt, he should have one. Dogs can develop fat rolls all over their bodies, which not only hinders their ability to exercise but decreases their hearts’ efficiency. Reevaluate the amount of food you feed your dog periodically — your dog’s needs will vary as he ages, as his activity level changes, and as his lifestyle changes.
When dogs are spayed or neutered their metabolism slows down. When your Doodle dog fully recovers from this surgery gradually decrease his caloric intake by 1/3. You can use filler foods such as green beans and pumpkin to make him feel fuller without the calories.
* Feed your dog a balanced diet. I cover the kinds of foods to find your dog in the following section.
* Make sure your dog’s food is clean and free of contaminants. Commercial foods are typically packed to keep contaminants out, but after you open the food (whether a bag or a can), be sure to securely fasten it, refrigerate canned or raw food, and store dry food in a dry location. After your dog has finished a meal, if he’s left anything in his dish, throw the food away, and clean his bowl after each meal. (You wouldn’t eat off the same dirty plate over and over without washing it, so why should your dog?)
* Consult your veterinarian if your dog experiences any abnormal conditions. Changes in appetite, thirst, or behavioral changes may be signs of serious health issues.
A shiny dog means a healthy dog. You’ll know you’re feeding your Doodle dog correctly if he has bright eyes, and a shiny coat, and if he maintains a good weight and energy level.
Types of Dog Food
There are more brands and variations of dog food than I can count. You can find many of them at your local grocery store, online pet shop, discount department store, or pet store. Where you buy your Doodle dog’s food doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better (or worse) food than any other. The only way to know for sure is to read labels.
Most store-bought dog food comes in two varieties — dry and canned — so in this section, I go into more detail on what to look for and what to avoid with these two types of foods.
Warning! Stay away from moist dog foods in a plastic pouch. There’s a reason that the food is semi-moist — in a word: preservatives. If you feed your dog a food that contains preservatives, you may as well be pumping poison into him. Over time, preservatives affect your Doodle dog’s liver, heart, and other organs. The result is organ malfunction, organ breakdown, and growth of cancerous tumors.
Commercial dog foods aren’t your only options. You can cook your own food for your dog. Or you can prepare a raw diet for your dog, or have one delivered to your door. Homemade and raw diets offer many benefits, but you have to be careful with how they’re prepared, stored, and given to your dog. It is extremely difficult and labor intensive to feed your dog a raw diet, but there are several good commercial raw diet products available in the frozen dog food section of your pet store.
You can also sign on to a pet food subscription service which provides custom pet diets shipped directly to your door. It’s as easy as typing a few key words into a search engine.
For a custom designed diet with human grade ingredients, here’s 5 to start with: You can choose the meat protein, vegetables, fruits, vitamins and other nutrients. This is an ideal way to feed your Doodle dog a healthy, safe diet without preservatives, fillers or ingredients he cannot tolerate well.
To understand which ingredients are best, I will give you an outline of how to choose the right proteins, carbohydrates and fats depending on the type and age of your Doodle dog.
Doodle dogs thrive on good quality, meat-based, protein sources. The amount of protein depends largely on the size and age of your Doodle dog. Puppies require a higher protein content of 22.5%, whereas adult Doodle dogs shouldn’t have a diet of more than 18% protein.
Always check the dog food ingredients of any brand you purchase. The meat protein source should be within the first 3 ingredients on the list. Meats such as lamb, beef, buffalo or venison are always great protein sources and your Doodle dog is likely to tolerate them far better than a poultry protein. Fish and eggs can also be beneficial to your Doodle dog’s health.
Some dog foods add the protein of corn or other carbohydrates into their protein total. This is a false narrative, as Doodle dogs to not digest some filler-type carbohydrates very well so these grains merely move through and are not beneficial to your dog’s health. In fact, many Doodle dogs have little tolerance for them and can develop skin problems, ear infections, urinary tract infections and other physical problems.
Reading the dog food label will save you many hours and lots of resources spent at the veterinarian’s office, as well as enhance the overall health of your Doodle dog.
There are healthy carbohydrates and unhealthy carbohydrates. The difference is that the healthy carbohydrates are digestible and beneficial to your dog’s health. Whereas the unhealthy carbohydrates can cause an allergic reaction or merely move through and out the other end without any health benefits at all.
Good carbohydrates are a good source of fiber, which helps your Doodle dog’s digestive and gastrointestinal systems. These include oats, barley, chicory, brown rice and lentils. The poorer quality carbohydrates (those that can cause a physical reaction) include corn, wheat, rice hulls, white rice or white potatoes.
If the ingredient list on a dog food bag has more than one grain listed, it means that the dog food may have a higher ration of filler carbohydrates than necessary. And, while your dog will feel full, it will not keep him healthy, and carries the risk of skin and bowel disorders as well as ear infections and more.
As a general rule, there will be more carbohydrates in a dry food than with canned foods. It’s still important to read labels, however, as some manufacturers use filler ingredients that appear like meat or vegetables and are really neither.
Vegetables are an important part of your dog’s diet, provided they are green vegetables such as peas, green beans, or broccoli. A light dose of carrots are great, as well as sweet potatoes.
Fat is a source of energy for dogs, and puppies require a higher percentage of fats than older dogs as they burn a lot of calories every day. A good puppy food will have at least an 8% fat content, whereas an adult dog food is fine with a 5% fat content.
Steer away from foods suggested for all life stages. Different ages require different amounts nutrients.
The fat content should be sourced by meat fats, such as chicken fat. Even better would be fish (such as salmon) oils. Plant oils are not nearly as nutritious as the meal-based fats.
Some Doodle dogs have very sensitive stomachs and cannot handle a high fat content in their food. As most puppy diets contain a high fat content, you may want to consult with your veterinarian if you see loose stool. Sometimes just adding digestive enzymes to your Doodle pup’s meals is enough to help her digest the rich puppy food.
Choosing a dog food with grains versus one without has several schools of thought. It depends on your individual Doodle dog. If she can digest some of the good grains, such as barley, quinoa or oats, by all means it should be in her diet. These grains offer energy and some protein, as well as some fats.
Grain free diets aren’t good for your dog long term as the fillers (peas, lentils, and other legums) may lead to heart disease. Consult with your veterinarian if you’re considering this type of diet.
In general you merely want to remain clear of dog foods with the following ingredients: ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, rice hulls, wheat, wheat middlings, beet pulp, or soy. These are inexpensive fillers and not healthy sources of nutrition.
Other ingredients to avoid are artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and preservatives. They have no place in a nutritious diet and can in fact be harmful to your dog’s health. Some of these types of ingredients, such as BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin have been linked to cancer in numerous studies.
Your dog has a few important needs when it comes to his nutrition.
* Give your Doodle dog plenty of water. Your dog needs to have plenty of water available at all times. Refresh your dog’s water twice daily — don’t just wait for your dog to finish his bowl. Puppies and their moms tend to drink more, as do working dogs. If it’s hot out, you can bet your dog will tend to drink more than usual.
* If you need to change your dog’s food, do so gradually. Many Doodle dogs have very sensitive stomachs. This is why you don’t want to feed your dog table scraps or whatever food happens to be on sale that week. Your dog’s digestive system takes time to adapt. Over a period of two weeks, gradually increase the amount of the new food, and decrease the amount of his old food, until you’re feeding only the new diet. It’s highly likely that you’ll have to do this shortly after you welcome your new Doodle dog into your home. Many breeders feed less expensive food that has lots of grain filler ingredients, as they have many mouths to feed. Begin the transition to the new food after your Doodle dog pup has had a chance to acclimate into his new environment – about a month.
* Feed your dog consistently. Dogs are happiest when they know what is going to happen and when. The number of times a day to feed your dog depends on your dog’s age and overall physiology. If your dog is between the ages of 2 and 4 months, feed him three times a day. Some veterinarians suggest returning to feeding 3 times per day during your Doodle dog’s fast growth period – between 4-9 months as they burn a lot of energy during that time. Most adult Doodle dogs do well with two meals each day. But in some situations an adult dog may need to be fed more often; for example, if your dog has a digestive disorder, or a tendency to bloat, you’ll want to feed him three or four smaller meals each day. Many senior dogs are also better served with more numerous smaller meals each day (If you’re not sure, as always, check with your veterinarian.)
* Don’t free feed your dog (leave food out for him to eat whenever he wants) — control the amount he eats. If you control how much he eats and when, you’ll be able to control his weight better. It’ll also be easier to accomplish a housetrained dog.
Pay attention to your dog’s waistline — to be blunt, he should have one. Dogs can develop fat rolls all over their bodies, which not only hinders their ability to exercise but decreases their hearts’ efficiency. Reevaluate the amount of food you feed your dog periodically — your dog’s needs will vary as he ages, as his activity level changes, and as his lifestyle changes.
When dogs are spayed or neutered their metabolism slows down. When your Doodle dog fully recovers from this surgery gradually decrease his caloric intake by 1/3. You can use filler foods such as green beans and pumpkin to make him feel fuller without the calories.
* Feed your dog a balanced diet. I cover the kinds of foods to find your dog in the following section.
* Make sure your dog’s food is clean and free of contaminants. Commercial foods are typically packed to keep contaminants out, but after you open the food (whether a bag or a can), be sure to securely fasten it, refrigerate canned or raw food, and store dry food in a dry location. After your dog has finished a meal, if he’s left anything in his dish, throw the food away, and clean his bowl after each meal. (You wouldn’t eat off the same dirty plate over and over without washing it, so why should your dog?)
* Consult your veterinarian if your dog experiences any abnormal conditions. Changes in appetite, thirst, or behavioral changes may be signs of serious health issues.
A shiny dog means a healthy dog. You’ll know you’re feeding your Doodle dog correctly if he has bright eyes, and a shiny coat, and if he maintains a good weight and energy level.
Types of Dog Food
There are more brands and variations of dog food than I can count. You can find many of them at your local grocery store, online pet shop, discount department store, or pet store. Where you buy your Doodle dog’s food doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better (or worse) food than any other. The only way to know for sure is to read labels.
Most store-bought dog food comes in two varieties — dry and canned — so in this section, I go into more detail on what to look for and what to avoid with these two types of foods.
Warning! Stay away from moist dog foods in a plastic pouch. There’s a reason that the food is semi-moist — in a word: preservatives. If you feed your dog a food that contains preservatives, you may as well be pumping poison into him. Over time, preservatives affect your Doodle dog’s liver, heart, and other organs. The result is organ malfunction, organ breakdown, and growth of cancerous tumors.
Commercial dog foods aren’t your only options. You can cook your own food for your dog. Or you can prepare a raw diet for your dog, or have one delivered to your door. Homemade and raw diets offer many benefits, but you have to be careful with how they’re prepared, stored, and given to your dog. It is extremely difficult and labor intensive to feed your dog a raw diet, but there are several good commercial raw diet products available in the frozen dog food section of your pet store.
You can also sign on to a pet food subscription service which provides custom pet diets shipped directly to your door. It’s as easy as typing a few key words into a search engine.
For a custom designed diet with human grade ingredients, here’s 5 to start with: You can choose the meat protein, vegetables, fruits, vitamins and other nutrients. This is an ideal way to feed your Doodle dog a healthy, safe diet without preservatives, fillers or ingredients he cannot tolerate well.
To understand which ingredients are best, I will give you an outline of how to choose the right proteins, carbohydrates and fats depending on the type and age of your Doodle dog.
Doodle dogs thrive on good quality, meat-based, protein sources. The amount of protein depends largely on the size and age of your Doodle dog. Puppies require a higher protein content of 22.5%, whereas adult Doodle dogs shouldn’t have a diet of more than 18% protein.
Always check the dog food ingredients of any brand you purchase. The meat protein source should be within the first 3 ingredients on the list. Meats such as lamb, beef, buffalo or venison are always great protein sources and your Doodle dog is likely to tolerate them far better than a poultry protein. Fish and eggs can also be beneficial to your Doodle dog’s health.
Some dog foods add the protein of corn or other carbohydrates into their protein total. This is a false narrative, as Doodle dogs to not digest some filler-type carbohydrates very well so these grains merely move through and are not beneficial to your dog’s health. In fact, many Doodle dogs have little tolerance for them and can develop skin problems, ear infections, urinary tract infections and other physical problems.
Reading the dog food label will save you many hours and lots of resources spent at the veterinarian’s office, as well as enhance the overall health of your Doodle dog.
There are healthy carbohydrates and unhealthy carbohydrates. The difference is that the healthy carbohydrates are digestible and beneficial to your dog’s health. Whereas the unhealthy carbohydrates can cause an allergic reaction or merely move through and out the other end without any health benefits at all.
Good carbohydrates are a good source of fiber, which helps your Doodle dog’s digestive and gastrointestinal systems. These include oats, barley, chicory, brown rice and lentils. The poorer quality carbohydrates (those that can cause a physical reaction) include corn, wheat, rice hulls, white rice or white potatoes.
If the ingredient list on a dog food bag has more than one grain listed, it means that the dog food may have a higher ration of filler carbohydrates than necessary. And, while your dog will feel full, it will not keep him healthy, and carries the risk of skin and bowel disorders as well as ear infections and more.
As a general rule, there will be more carbohydrates in a dry food than with canned foods. It’s still important to read labels, however, as some manufacturers use filler ingredients that appear like meat or vegetables and are really neither.
Vegetables are an important part of your dog’s diet, provided they are green vegetables such as peas, green beans, or broccoli. A light dose of carrots are great, as well as sweet potatoes.
Fat is a source of energy for dogs, and puppies require a higher percentage of fats than older dogs as they burn a lot of calories every day. A good puppy food will have at least an 8% fat content, whereas an adult dog food is fine with a 5% fat content.
Steer away from foods suggested for all life stages. Different ages require different amounts nutrients.
The fat content should be sourced by meat fats, such as chicken fat. Even better would be fish (such as salmon) oils. Plant oils are not nearly as nutritious as the meal-based fats.
Some Doodle dogs have very sensitive stomachs and cannot handle a high fat content in their food. As most puppy diets contain a high fat content, you may want to consult with your veterinarian if you see loose stool. Sometimes just adding digestive enzymes to your Doodle pup’s meals is enough to help her digest the rich puppy food.
Choosing a dog food with grains versus one without has several schools of thought. It depends on your individual Doodle dog. If she can digest some of the good grains, such as barley, quinoa or oats, by all means it should be in her diet. These grains offer energy and some protein, as well as some fats.
Grain free diets aren’t good for your dog long term as the fillers (peas, lentils, and other legums) may lead to heart disease. Consult with your veterinarian if you’re considering this type of diet.
In general you merely want to remain clear of dog foods with the following ingredients: ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, rice hulls, wheat, wheat middlings, beet pulp, or soy. These are inexpensive fillers and not healthy sources of nutrition.
Other ingredients to avoid are artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and preservatives. They have no place in a nutritious diet and can in fact be harmful to your dog’s health. Some of these types of ingredients, such as BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin have been linked to cancer in numerous studies.