I have a 6 month old 45 pound lab/golden/other mix. GREAT dog.

I've been feeding him PetSMart puppy dry food and mixing in some canned food (usually MityDog beef).  Thinking about switching to Eukanube (sp?).  Goood move?

How do you handle the wet food/ dry food thing?  every meal?  mixed or seperate?

What about washing?  I bought puppy shampoo, cause he might have been sensative, but he seems o.k., and he's grown up.  Can I start using people shampoo?


I know the food q was already covered, but the search is down.

I have an 85 lb Chocolate Lab.....he is 1 1/2 years old..

He has ONLY had Eukanuba Dry all his life..

He is in GREAT shape.  His coat is silky smooth.

He gets 1.5 cups 3 times a day.

As for shampoo.....??  I use dog shampoo.  People shampoo can be too harsh and strips the lanonin.

Dont swtich him over all at once
Mix a  little Eukanaba with his current food increasing the amount of new food a day at a time
Also I'd mix part of the dry food with hot water ..letting it absorb the water making it soft and mix in some dry for crunchiness..
when  I make chicken I save the broth and let it jell and add a little of that to the hot water I mix dry food in..

My yellow lab has only had dry food and is happy. Pick a good brand and stay with it. As a puppy you may want to put a liquid supplement on the food for awhile, check with your vet. Don't start the downward spiral of mixing in table scraps with the food. Next thing you know they will be constantly begging at the table and won't eat plain food. Today's best dry foods have all that's necessary for a grown dog. If you must wash your dog, use pet shampoo. Don't do it too often though as it dries out their skin......

our yellow lab has always had Iams chow
occaisonally she gets some canned and/or table scraps
the scraps have made her a touch fat

We fed Euk to our dogs for awhile but since we have switched to Diamond Premium Edge their coats have not looked better and they have more energy. We show our boy and many of the people we talk to use Diamond or Bill Jac.

There are lots of good foods out there.  Eukanuba is OK, but it basically IAMS with an elevated price.  There is a lot of filler and there are other foods that are more nutritionally dense.  We switched from Euk to Wellness and the girls coats shined up significantly in about a week.  We currently use [url]www.blackwoodpetfood.com[/url] with good results.  Make sure to switch slowly.  If he has good solid stools you are doing OK.

You should only feed dry if you can get away with it.  It is the best thing for their teeth.  Wet food causes havoc with teeth so if you go that route make sure to brush every day.  Our girls only get dry and are brushed 2-3 times a week.

Most important thing is not to follow the label when feeding.  Adjust by weight.  Labs are really prone to being overweight so you should be able to easily feel but not see the ribs and their should be a tuck at the stomach.  Our two greater swiss are both over a hundred pounds and get four cups per day.

For bathing, it depends on the dog.  Our vet gave us some shampoo that you can use as often as you like.  Our girls are inside most of the day and don't require much washing anyhow so they get it about once every other month.  Mostly just wash as needed and make sure to rinse the soap THOROUGHLY.

Congrats on the pups, labs are great dogs.

Here's a picture just cause I like to post pictures of the beasts:
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I used to give my dog this stuff called Vita Gravy over dry food. He seemed to like it alot. It comes in a plastic squeeze bottle, just make sure when it is in the refrigerator no one confuses it with steak sauce.

Pert worked pretty good for my dog and he smelled alot better than with regular doggy shampoo.

I feed dry food now (both my dogs are >1yr), but when Bullitt was a puppy, our vet recommended a dash of cottage cheese mixed in with his food, or soaking the food in some water for an hour or so.  

For treats I have a couple of things they love.  I cook a hot dog, cut it in about 30 pieces.  They get 1 piece a day each.  Also, they LOVE carrots, so I chop up a carrot and give them a piece or two a day, and will sneak one in their dinner bowls occasionally.  Also have some generic doggie bones that the local store sells that are advertised as "natural". The dogs eat them, so they get one and a half or two of those a day.  

As for the amount to feed, our smaller dog, bullitt (36#), who's got more energy than a small nuclear plant, gets the same amount as Stumpy (47#), who is a bit on the lazy side (about 2 1/4 cups).