Evo Salmon herring.
Don't run the pup to much. His bones haven't developed yet. I'd wait till he's at least 18 months before doing any long dist running with him.

 

Costco - Kirkland

 

Beggars, postmen, salesmen, hawkers all welcome at my place....dog food is far too expensive and my Malinois loves the variety!!:lol:

 

Orijen fish. Expensive, but still the cheapest kibble I can find that doesn't make him drop weight.

 

Have you tried Go! Chicken? I think we had this chat before... Haus couldn't keep weight on Orijen Fish, he did much better on Go Chicken and gets less of it (it's also cheaper then Orijen, triple win!). The only other high calory food I have found (in fact highest) was Evo chicken and turkey, although I haven't tried it as it's more expensive then the Orijen. I might consider mixing in a bag once in a while.


My guys are on raw for the most part, when we travel or when I run out of raw they get a combination or one of Orijen Fish and/or Go Chicken.

 

Solid Gold Barking at the Moon, Merrick (canned), tripe, whole fish.

 

Right now it's Costco, Kirkland for some and Nature's Domain for others. But I've also used various other brands with success, Diamond, Taste of the Wild, Canidea, Solid Gold and others. In addition they have some raw meals each week, and "extras". Lots of raw meaty bones. They eat a lot of oranges this time of year, maybe 3-4 per week each, and zucchini. Also other fruits and veggies. If I'm not careful my garden, fruit trees, and berry bushes become a full service salad bar. Enough so I consider it part of their diet, it's not just the once a month theft. Plus I feed them a lot of the excess, can only eat so much zucchini.

 

Holistic Select Lamb.

This food is fed to several Mals and GSD's. I've tried many other foods, and I've had the best luck with Holistic Select for general health, digestion, keeping weight on, and consistency.

I've had great luck with any of the foods made by Wellness, but in my opinion it is a great food, at a mid range food price.

 

RAW diet, best move I ever made.

 

I have fed most Dry foods to my mals, and found no matter what dry food you feed they are all CRAP!!](*,) People have told me to try Royal Canin, and that to I found was not good enough. Probs like I had to double feed it to put some weight on my dogs. .. Now I have found a dry dog food called Black Hawk and it suits my dogs. :-D http://www.blackhawkpetcare.com.au/dog-food/ so there is not one food that suits all our dogs, all dogs are diffrent what suits one does not mean it will suit the other. ;-) I may have to try RAW one day.

 

Ralph stop being lazy, get educated on RAW and feed it properly.

 

EVO Chicken and Turkey
Raw meat (what ever is on sale)
tablescraps

 

Adult male: trying out California Natural Chicken Meal Grain Free (pretty high calorie and moderately high protein, limited ingredient with no rice or potato)
Adult female: California Natural Herring & Sweet Potato
6 month old female pup (mix): Innova Large Breed Puppy

 

I am quite surprised that there is so much raw feeding overseas. It is almost non existent here in South Africa. Most top breeders feed royal canin, hills or eukanuba.

 

Then most top breeders arent doing the best for there dogs.
Seems to be alot of people feeding innova cal-nat or evo. Have you seen any change in the food since PG took over the company? Makes me nervice like feeding any foods made in adiamond factory. Try to stay away if I can. Tend to go with food made in Canada..

 

Thanks to everyone who responded so far. Seems like there's plenty of choices. I look forward to more information, so keep the responses coming.

To clarify a point in my original post regarding running: I realize that a pup's bones and muscles are not fully developed. Thank you for pointing that fact out. So I am not intending to rush right out and start marathon running with her. To the contrary, I am very conscious of my pup's health and I should have articulated that better.

Feeding requirements change in a dog's life over time, so please clarify if in responses - which some have done - male vs, female, or pup vs adult, etc.

Background

I have had three Akitas during my adult life. From that experience (including breed clubs, handlers, breeders, etc too) I learned about the potential health issues that can arise from too much stress work (e.g. long distance running) and and an insufficient diet.

Malinois being far more active in general than any of my Akitas ever were, prompted me to inquire as to what others are having success with.

 

We feed raw here to a 2.5 yr old male and a 15 month old female. Been feeding it for about a year and couldn't be happier!

 

Raw... Will never give another dog kibble. We also add in The Honest Kitchen - Preference. THK is a Dehydrated raw. I feed their Embark formula when I travel as carting around raw meat is a pain in the arse

 

I feed Abady. It is the closest thing to Raw and don't have to feed a lot of it compared to normal kibble. I feed raw (chicken qtrs, organ meat, beef) as well. Give abady in the am and raw in the evening. Always have a bag of Healthwise handy as my emergency food just in case I run out or forget to pull something out of the freezer.

 

Hi Pete
can't imagine why anyone would actually go out and buy a new dog food because someone else used it for "their" dog, and i'll bet a lot of brands mentioned aren't even available where you live

once you are really up to speed on canine nutrition rqmnts and learn how to read labels you can make your own decisions based on what is available and within your budget if you're gonna feed store bought
..don't know of a true "breed specific" dog food that is uniquely formulated for a specific breed cause i don't know of a breed that has unique nutritional requirements ...mostly it's just what you use the dog for that might require some adjustment or tweaking

fwiw, i've known a lot of akita owners here and convinced a few to switch to raw and all the dogs did better .... the ones here seem strong in the endurance and stamina dept, but don't know any akita owners who are serious runners ... are you ?

 

I feed Acana and I love it.
Orijen can be too rich and cause the runs with my dogs.

 

Don't have a malinois, but I used to have one. All of my dogs are on Raw. I spent five years trying different kibbles, but wasn't happy until I was introduced to Raw. It was the best thing that ever happen to my dogs. I am very happy with my dogs' weight than I did when they were on kibble.

 

Raw feeders are almost like Vegans.
True believers out to spread the gospel according to them.
I feed my dogs Dutch Shepherd, GSD and Dobermanns all
Sams Club Simply Right complete nutrition $20/50# mixed
50/50 with Exceed $30/40# bag. The dog feeding business is a big scam with pet owners being convinced to spend more money on their dogs then they do on their kids food :-(

 

I don't think I've ever tried talking anyone into raw feeding. I've only given out information about its benefits if I was asked to. I generally just try and steer everyone away from grains. But if it's working I don't care what anyone feeds.

 

Raw all the way..... I have had my dogs on raw for over a year and we all love it wouldn't think of changing!!!!

 

Raw :mrgreen: wouldn't have it any other way!

I do supplement with Nupro and Salmon Oil, and they get a little kibble here and there to keep it easier on them for when we travel and have to feed it.. when they get kibble it is usually Precise Grain Free or Earthborn Holistic Grain Free.

 

I feen my dog dead animals, a few greens, McDonalds on occasion, natural balance for treats....They share my ham sammich for lunch somtimes... They eat the left over waffles from the kids everymorning. They eat grass, and from looking at thier shit apparently styrofoam and something that looks like sillystring except it's stronger. Sometimes they get my oatmeal.

I feed everything except food that has been processed for canine consumption.

 

A bit of Soylent Green too eh?

 

Good one!!!