Afraid to switch foods...but kind of curious about other options.

[Lindsey]

My breeder had our shepadoodle eating Blackwood food. She fed all of her dogs along with her puppies that brand. So we only thought natural to keep our pup eating Blackwood. We even switched our little guy (a brussels griffon) over to Blackwood, to keep them on the same diet (easy peasy).

However, our Shepadoodle is a tad under weight, so I ended up getting her a bag of the Blackwood large breed puppy and then getting a bag of Blackwood adult for the little one. Blackwood gives our little one, HORRIBLE gas :-( but he seems to like the food and from the research I've done, it is better for him than what he was eating. So I thought we would just stick with Blackwood....
However (again) the more research I do, the more I hear great things about the Orijen brand (grain free) and I'm really tempted to switch them both to that brand....but is it worth it? I can't decide. I don't want them both getting gas from the switch...I can handle one having gas for a bit, but I don't know about two, lol.

Also, I really want to introduce our Shepadoodle to yogurt, carrots and maybe wet food in her meals...but I'm afraid this will cause her to start begging. Right now, she could care less what we're eating or what we're doing in the kitchen when we're cooking. She is perfectly content w/ her dry food...I think there are benefits (a better coat, more calories to help with her low weight) from putting the extra stuff in at meal times, but I don't want her to start having a taste for the "yummier" stuff and become a picky eater...or a begger.

Maybe I'm just over thinking all of this, ha! Will someone let me know?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I had never heard of Blackwood, so I just looked it up, and I would switch my dogs off of it ASAP...it's not a very good food at all. Whether you feed grain-free or not, this stuff is full of corn and wheat, and has a very low protein content. It's very cheap food, and the ingredients reflect that.

It's hard to say what's causing the gas with your smaller dog, but it's natural for dogs to get gas when switching foods. It usually goes away after the dog's digestive system adjusts, but you don't want your dog's digestive system adjusting to that food. It's very possible that all that corn is causing the gas if she isn't used to it; grains take longer to digest than other macronutrients. But it depends on what she was eating prior to this.

Grain-free diets work well for many dogs, but others do better with foods that contain some of the healthier grains...rice, oatmeal, etc. It sometimes takes some time to find what works best for your dog. Dogs who are big chowhounds are often happier with foods that contain grains, as they are not as nutrient-dense as grain-frees, so the dog gets more food. For underweight dogs, sometimes grain-frees are a better choice, because they pack more calories per cup and contain more usable ingredients.

Orijen is an excellent food, but any of the foods on our Recommended Foods List (see main page of the Food group) would be fine, and much better than Blackwood.

As far as introducing your puppy to yogurt, carrots, etc., let's take things one step at a time. What you don't want to do is to introduce too many new things at one time; if you're going to change her food, let's stick with that for now, and talk about adding fresh foods after she's been transitioned to a new food and is doing well with it. If you change her food and also introduce fresh foods at the same time, you won't know what's causing any problems that might occur.

Feeding fresh foods does not cause begging or picky eater, if you do it right. But let's save that discussion for later.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I agree - take a look at the foods recommended and see what you think might work best.  My Peri is a chowhound so we feed with healthy grains (Fromm) and she LOVES it.

To switch, you gradually mix in the new food - starting at 25% new, 75% old and throughout the next wee-10 days, start adding in more new and phase out the old.  You may experience some gas/loose stools, but it will  be worth it i the end! 

Don't think about adding carrots or anything until they are okay with new food.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I will add that plain (NOT vanilla) fat-free yogurt might help with the gas or other digestive problems during the switch. You can give a tablespoon or two with meals.

[Lindsey]

Thanks for the replys!!
I printed out the recommended food list and I'm taking it with me to pick out new food today.
I think I might stick to healthy grains, only b/c both of my pups are chowhounds.
I've always mixed the food together before switching over 100%, so I'll keep that up...and I'll look at getting some plain yogurt! Thanks for that advice!!!!

[Lindsey]

Can I mix TOTW with one of the healthy grain brands (maybe wellness or solid gold or canidae)? I would like my doodle to get more calories.

I just realized getting FROMM or Orijen is going to be hard where I live, as I can't find anyone locally that offers it.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I think you should go with either grain-free or health grains, but no mixing (except during transition). Most companies, including Wellness, SG, and Canidae have grain-free lines too.  Why don't you just do TOTW?  Grain-free has more calories as Karen stated...you feed less though....

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Agree with Allyson. Choose one brand and stick with it for awhile. There's no sense in buying (and paying for) grain-free food and then mixing it with foods that contain grains. Plus, you have the same issue of not knowing which food is causing a problem if there should be one. You don't need to mix foods to get more calories. Also, a lean dog is always healthier than an overweight dog, so unless the vet says the dog's weight is a problem, I wouldn't overdo the calories. It isn't good for puppies to put on weight too rapidly, especially a breed mix that's known for HD.

TOTW, Wellness, Solid Gold, and Canidae are all good choices on their own. Solid Gold has one grain-free formula, Canidae has several, and Wellness has their Core line opf grain-frees. Use our Recommended List and go to each manufacturer's website, where you will find feeding guidelines and calories/cup amounts.

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

We switched our doodles to TOTW a few months ago and they're really doing great on it.  We can find it for a reasonable price in a store in our area so it's working really well for us.

[Lindsey]

So, I finally got some TOTW last night! Yay :-)
I can't find Orijen anywhere near me, so I went with TOTW, it is a little bit more than Solid Gold, Wellness or Canidea but not by much. I couldn't decide between switching to healthy grains (since my girl is a chowhound or grain free since she could use more calories) I finally ran across a post about how people have noticed their dogs breath was much better after switching to grain free. SOLD! My little guy has horrible breath (he's actually scheduled to get his teeth cleaned).
I got a small bag (the wetlands), so that I can start mixing it with the food my breeder had our girl on.
DH thought I was a loon last night. I came home with the new food, ziplock bags and a tub of plain yogurt. I started measuring the food out in the quantities that you're suppose to when switching foods. I labeled the bags so DH would know which bag to feed on on which day. I did that until I ran out of the old Dog Food and then after that I told DH how many scoops ( we have one of those scoops with a measure cup line on it) to feed once they were fully switched over. I also marked on the ziplock bags to add one spoonful of the yougurt on top of the food.
I have high hopes for this food! I hope the switch goes great and once they are used to it I can introduce a little bit of the TOTW wet food.
I gave both of them a few pieces of the food last night, and they scarfed them down.


Just and FYI (which I'm sure everyone knows, and I'm just slow) but as I was checking out I just casually asked if they ever carry Orijen and the guy said "nope, but we can bring it in for you. I'll just have to ask the manager". WELL, what a nice surprise! I told him if TOTW didn't work out, I would let him know and we could look into getting Orijen. I love friendly, helpful pet stores!!

[Lindsey]

Just an update:

So far, both dogs (brussels griffon and our doodle) are doing great with TOTW.
They seem to really enjoy it, with a small scoop of yogurt on top and THANKFULLY neither of them have had gas!!! Yay!!

I will say, the first day we started switching over, my little guy did have a poop accident on the floor...it was just like he could not help it...but the stool was normal and he hasn't had an accident since. I thought it could have been from the yogurt, just causing him to have to go quicker than he normally has to go after he eats.