It's been a few years since (50?) since I had a GSD & my folks didn't go to extremes with him (he ate dry Purina Dog Chow and only went to the vet when he was physically hurt) and he was healthy, happy and had good stools.

But it's today.

1.  What do you feed your GSD?  Opinions on Royal Canin?

2.  Apoquel or supplements to control itching?

I've fed mine everything from prescription food made from Kangaroo meat to Science Diet. Now he eats Diamond Premium Adult dog food. He had allergy's that caused hotspot issues but never caused itching. The vets at the University of Illinois Veterinary College have treated him for over a year now. ($$$$) But the hot spots have stopped and I give him an allergy shot once a week. I do know  Apoquel doesn't help hotspots and is pricey for large dogs.

I just feed my dogs dry food with no or low corn added [filler, corn isn't digested by dogs] and give then rice and chicken occasionally and meat and veggie scraps. Most, if not all my dogs live to a ripe old age at the top of the breeds life span.

And none of them have ever had teeth and gum issues.

My newest lab is a scratching/chewing on herself machine. Apoquel worked great but was really expensive so my vet recommended getting a cytopoint shot, it also works good but lasts around two months at a time.

Grain Free Fromm dry and wet food. I also give my GSD a healthy mix of raw meats and bones. My 9yo GSD has fistula (starting about 3 years ago) but since switching to grain free food it has been under control with some flare ups now and then.

We have used Nature's Logic (grain free) for both our Malinois (11.5 years old) and our GSD (1.25 years old) with great results.

Mice and squirrels?

I used to feed groundhogs I had shot on a neighbor's property to a his GSD.

She would get really excited when I showed up with one.

We feed our 4 purina one and they are healthy as can be. Good coats, healthy all around.

Before you feed a grain free food research DCM in dogs that can be directly correlated to it. Taurine deficient dialated cardiomyopathy specifically.

Grain free dog food, lots of meat treats, required vaccinations otherwise only calls to vet for dewormers or if something is wrong. Lots of walks and 15 mile hikes.

Good looking pup. Royal Canin is excellent food but is pricey. Other options that are quality at a lower price point are abailable. Avoid grain free diets; there is mounting evidence that there are links with this a development of heart disease in dogs. Avoid raw diets.

Recommended vaccines are rabies and dhpp. Other vaccines are recommended based on lifestyle risk such as bordetella, lyme, leptospirosis, and influenza.

If you are in an area with heartworms, ticks, and fleas I recommend prevention.

Otherwise an annual check up to make sure things are in order and you are good to go unless tou pup is sick.

ETA: If your pup is itchy there may be underlying allergies such a flea allergy, food allergies, or environmental allergies. Environmental allergies are the most common and they can be seasonal or year round. Apoquel and Cytopoint work well for environmental but are pricey. A mord affordable alternative is steroids but repeated steroids over the long term can have side effects - it a risk vs reward vs cost thing.

Hope this helps

Also, you can get your pup screened for hip dysplasia.  There is a surgery (Juvenile pubic symphysiodesis (JPS) is a procedure that causes the hip socket to rotate and. improve the contact with the ball of the femur) they can get when they are young that will basically prevent it.  Ours was checked and she was fine in one hip and was likely going to get it in the other hip.  After surgery, her numbers were excellent and well below what was considered bad. She is now two and can almost ALMOST (not really) keep up with our greyhound. She tries!

Also, if you are going to get your doggy fixed, wait until they are at skeletal maturity.  There is a correlation between cancers and being fixed when they are young.

And I just realized the pic posted earlier is the OP's dog.  I didn't read the screen name associated.  Reading is fundamental!

Our girl below eats Purina One.

taste of the wild is good stuff but $$$, diamond is so so. a solid bones and raw food diet is the best but it takes time and energy.

I feed my gsd Victor Purpose hero canine. We rotate between sardines, eggs, blueberries and pumpkin and carrots.

Hunter eats taste of the wild grain free. It’s good for him and it keeps those poops down to a minimum because he’s not filling up on junk filler. His cat eats an even more expensive prescription food. $60 a month for cat food! So much for a free cat Attached File

Meaty bones and meat - mostly beef, some lamb and chicken. All raw...He would not eat anything but meat... his favorite treat - rabbits he would catch and eat whole...

Abby eats 4 health grain free duck and potatoes.  A long with various veggies and trimmings of whatever im cooking that week.  Been a lot of brisket here lately.  A long with various 3 dog bakery treats. Attached File

Farmer'sDog!!!!!!!

My 13 year old GSD was having skin and fur issues. We tried everything at the Vet and with different foods.

Farmer's Dog, if your willing to spend the money, might be your answer .

He no longer sheds. My housekeeper can't believe it. I can't believe it.

If they'll eat it.

We tried our late black dog Sarge on it.  He ignored it.

My wife tried her mini Pin / Weiner dog on it.  She just spun in tighter circles (that dog ain't right,).

I tried my late GSD Otto on it (dog in my OP) and he looked at me like he'd been poisoned.

Tried my new GSD 2 YO boy Mavrik on it.  Mavrik had been on a high quality kibble & raw diet with the breeder's family (he was their "keeper" but she got cancer).

He looked at it.  Smelled it.  Sat down and said "where's my turkey neck?".

So Farmers Dog has batted zero at our house.

I fed my Shepherds and even my daughter's little something Royal Canin for a few years.  I've even had my dogs on Apoquel.  Apoquel worked but when you have two large dogs it's expensive.  I found a vet who isn't looking to gouge me and he recommended steroids same as what others here mentioned.  My concern too was the long term effects but the doc said it was such a low dose that it's safe. After the loading dose they each get a tablet on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. He even talked me into changing my food from Royal Canin to the Costco brand.  The Costco brand has the glucosamine in it so that was a win.  It's about half the price and I think the bag is larger.   I forgot to mention I've tried cytopoint as well.  That worked for about 6 months, but it's pricey too.  If money is no object then you might consider going RAW.  When I fed my dogs RAW we never had any skin issues.  The problem was it was costing us more to feed our dogs than it did us, I wanna say we were averaging over $600/month, maybe even $800.  Because it was for my dogs I tried ignoring the costs but my wife wasn't in agreement.