I Would like to know what other members feed their collie dogs,being as I am new to keeping these dogs.I fed mine Bakers complete either Chicken / Beef I put this in what I call their bicky box for them to pick at during the day,then in the evening I feed either butchers / winalot tinned food 1 tin between them with wagg complete food to make it taste good as it does not look much on its own.They also have hide chewy bones to keep them amused . This is what I feed my 2 collies my other 2 little dogs have other food.. waggingd

I feed mine raw meat and mixer biscuit.

Mine are fed mailnly raw. They have raw meat / chicken wings and meaty bones as the main part of their meal. They can also have pulped veg / yoghurt / cottage cheese or sardines.
They also have a couple of buscuit meals a week, this is just to keep them used to eating a biscuit meal for convenience when away etc.
They also have various stuffings in their kongs, frozen carrots and various treats for training.

Bakers is one of the worst foods to give a bc!! It is full of e numbers, colourings and high protein. It often causes collies to be hyperactive and have behaviour problems. Border collies dont do well on high protein foods, it hypes them up too much, when of one my bcs was younger I ran out of his food and my son gave me some of his GSDs food, a good quality food for working dogs. It sent Skye manic, he couldnt concentrate, became very reactive and was practically climbing the walls!

I mentioned this to my son and he said 'it did the same to my dog'! Kids!!

The working dog range in many foods is designed for the dog that is actually working all day ie sheepdogs, police dogs etc and the protein level reflects
this . Most adult bcs do well on a protein level of around 22% or lower.

There are a lot of good quality foods out there, James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange, etc . CSJ is recommended for collies, its good quality and cheaper than the other named foods. There is a webside for CSJ on the net and you can order online. My dogs will be going onto it when they have finished their current bag.

Raw chicken wings are good for all dogs, and my dogs also love vegetables, especially carrots, brocolli, and fruit.

Any treats given to the dog should also be low protein, you can make your own which most dogs love, or give things like small pieces of cheese, hot dog etc.

Please dont be offended when I say Bakers is a bad food, not having a go at you' I homecheck for a Border Collie rescue and a lot of dogs are handed in for rehoming with behaviour problems and are found to be eating Bakers or similar type food. Once the diet is changed the behaviour problems often disappear.

Most people dont realise how diet can affect the dogs, most of us have learned the hard way!

Any other questions please feel free to post or pm, if I can help I will, as will the other members on the forum.

Diane and the gang

As others have said i would definately change from Bakers

Ours are fed raw chicken mince, occational chicken wings, carcasses, bones etc. As well as an evening meal of Skinners. Used to feed them James Wellbeloved but they upped their prices and it got a bit ridiculous.

Our litter of puppies are fed on Burns dried puppy food and natures diet trays.

cripes, avoid bakers at all costs! if you want a good quality dry food then you cant go far wrong with burns or CSJ.

i feed mine raw.

Please. please take your dog off Bakers asap - I didnt know how bad is was for e numbers etc. It was only after i lost my Jess and was looking for a puppy that the breeders told me all about dog food. Its worth looking around at the other brans and like the other posts say, its a lot cheaper than Bakers.

Its a really personal thing feeding our dogs and cats, but I was told that basically for 8 years I feed my dog Mcdonalds everyday - Do wonder she died young - IM GONNA GET SUED NOW nailbiting

Im feeding Millie CSJ - She loves it
She has liver cake, cheese and hot dog and sassages for training treats and if i have any left over veg, i put this in her CSJ dinner.

Good luck and do what you feel is best

Hope this helps

Jo

Draven is on CSJ - that'll do, though a lot of the time he is having left overs from our meals :/ Which I am trying to train my parents out of.
He used to be on Dr Johns but that made his fur a bit dry and rough.

I used to use James WelBeloved for all 3 dogs. However, it is very expensive and 1 of our dogs was a bit fussy about it. So we now use Wagg (available from PetsAtHome). This is VERY healthy, and only £9.99 for 15kg. All 3 dogs love it and show no signs of any bad behaviour or poor health. Actually, their coats gleam compared to James Welbeloved. Their stools are nice and fibrous and a light brown - compared to a very dark brown and dried texture with James WelBeloved.

Link - Wagg for Doggies

I feed all my dogs apart from Zak on James Wellbeloved, they are all in good health and have glossy coats. Zak is fed on Burns as I have trouble with him gaining weight and Burns seems to agree with him and keeps the weight off, he is also in good condition.

During the week mine do have a few meals of raw, such as chicken wings, carcasses, mince, bones, etc, which includes vegetable pulp. They love this food and it is good for keeping their teeth in good condition as well as their general body condition.

My dogs then also have various treats in the week for training purposes!

I have Indy on Genesis working, as it is difficult to keep weight on him.
Paddy is on 'Pets at home' complete, it has almost the same ingredients as Genesis, but seems to keep the weight 'off' him! rolleyes* In fact it's quite expensive for a home brand (£38 for 15kg).
They both also have a scoop of tinned Chappie with their meals.

Lil Roody is on Iams puppy complete, now with a bit of Chappie 3 times a day.

Paddy used to be on Bakers!! OMG, he was soooooooo hyper, it's rubbish for your dog - might as well give a bowl of Smarties! jawdrop

i wouldnt touch Iams either - they still test on animals and keep them in horrific condition

mmm, not getting into a debate about this. I had heard about them, but I would imagine they all do to some extent, it's just they haven't been discovered!
It wasn't my choice, that is what the breeder had him on, I just haven't decided which food to change him to yet. I must admit though, I like the size of Iams food, very smalll kibbles compared to some. Maybe I'll try JWB, but that is very expensive.

Pretty much the same story as everyone else Bakers drove Poppy up the walls and i mean literally. She was running around the walls like it was the wall of death at a fun fair. yikes

Now all of mine are on CSJ not only is it a great price they love it and look very healthy, i do mix in the occasional chicken or gravy to give it a different taste and also sometimes a tin of pedigree chum - it is between 3 dogs though. Recently started using mince raw and they love that too. waggingd

I also give kongs and raw beef bones as treats every day with different pastes and dry treats - amazing how long it takes them to get them out after i've forced them in. :D

Hi All so far I am having a great response on this subject thank you to all of you, What is CJS & Burns like please is this a complete meal is it like Wagg .Some of you have said about raw mince / meat how much of this would be added to a mixer food? Please Keep your ideas on this subject coming they are very interesting & helpful both to me & other members that are new to keeping collies.

runningdog runningdog runningdog

Sorry I got the food name wrong it should have been CSJ.

I have Roxy on an own brand by Donald Cooke's a warehouse in Rotherham £7.45 for 10kgs of puppy food, cheap I know but she likes it, also on a sunday she gets a chicken dinner,consisting of chicken and skin, boiled potato, peas, sweetcorn and rice, a bit of cauli and and a couple of green beans.

CSJ is a complete dried food so you dont need to add anything to it unless you want to. Like most people we sometimes give the dogs a taste of our food if it is suitable but its just for a taste, not for a complete meal. You can add hot water or gravy (be careful with the gravy as most of it contains salt which is not good for them) to moisten the dry food.

Have to admit to giving the dogs the odd cup of very weak tea without sugar and the odd dish of ice cream! Spoiled or what?

If we give the dogs chicken wings, or other additions such as mince or tuna, for their meal then I reduce the amount of dry food I give them.

Diane and the gang

Ours have a couple of large spoonfulls like serving spoons quite large ones mixed with their biscuits. Or you can give it as a meal on its own and maybe a buiscuit meal later.

Hi, All my dogs are on Burns,
One of them has the Burns tinned meat.
waggingd

arden grange is a very good food, and they have a breeder scheme, which is for anyone with 3 dogs or more, you can buy the bags for about £25 for a 15kg.
my 2 oldies have this, the senior version, my shop says you have to buy 2 at a time though, so thats how i do it and i save about 30 quid.

my younger ones are all on herbie rings from csj, i used to stock it, but due to the cost of having to pay for 50 bags at ordering, i now buy through someone else!! the bags vary from stockists but are around £14 or just under. they do a range of complete food, which maybe worth looking at seeing if you have a local stockist.

i tried burns, but it made my dogs thin, and their coats wernt as good, i know of another collie who has sensitive tum who tried it, with bad results too, so it kind iof put me off...aswell as the price! genesis is meant to be good, havent personally tried it though.

if i ever add meat, it is generally burns tins, nature diet,natures menu, or just recently the wainrights brand from P.A.Home

the other day i ran out of food just before collection oif it the following day, so i did a make shift meal of chappie and pasta, which they didnt mind as a one off

mine have 2 meals a day since i had harvs twisted gut, they have a small dry brekkie, then i add warm water with the evening meal

i dont leave any out to pick on, they know when its meal times, and as i have 7 it would be pointless me leaving it out....meggie has been known to try eating her way through a whole bag...just to make sure no one else had it 1st!! yikes

Hi, yes Burns is expensive and the there tinned meat.
It seems to suit all mine including the older ones. They like the fish and the venison one.
I was looking it to all the different makes because one of my dogs had Cushings Disease.
Burns fish with its herbs was supposed to benefit a dog with that condition.
Because they suffer with there liver and kidneys when they have that.
Whether it helped or not i will never know he lasted 18 months from being doagnosed and i was told that the time limit is about 2 years.
I suppose its like us humans whats good for some of us isnt for others.
I have never heard of CJS food.
Who sells that one. runningdog

The website is CSJK9 and most of the stockist are listed there.

csj isnt a shop stocked food, but they have stockists ( general people in agility, obediece, sheepwork etc) the main website is www.csjk9.com

reading my post back now, it loks like i was complaining about burns, i wasnt - i know my aunts yorkie has been on it with brilliant results for years, it just didnt suit mine or my friends - just wanted to make that clear!! :-)

Thank you Ruth.
I will take a look at that site. waggingd

Hi Chel,

No thats fine.
I have had alot of dogs in my time and what suits one doesnt suit another.

Especially with half of mine being over 12 its a headache trying to find the right one.
They all have there own little ailments due to age, also one has a liver condition.
Its nice to know theres different food out there that might be just as good for them.

Thanks waggingd

If you need any advice give them a ring - they are brill and will send out samples if required.

Ive been adding a little water to the CSJ, makes a nice gravey and Millie seems to like it, makes a change for her too.

Over the years I have tried a few different foods for my dogs, until recently all mine have been on James Wellbeloved for the past few years, however I have recently switched over to Skinners salmon and rice. Its is hypoallergenic and contains similar ingredients to James Wellbeloved but is vat free and only £24 for 15kg. So far it seems to be suiting my dogs really well and in fact one of my collies coat is looking shinier.

One of my collies is really sensitive with meat, particularly chicken, so the fish is great.

They do of course have dog treats along with training treats of hot dogs or cheese and a few veggies.

Ceri Rundle at CSJ will send you some lovely samples if you ask her. I feed mine on Arden Grange Lamb and Rice. But with all Collies I personally think you must watch the protein levels and the colourants in some foods. Some owners can cope with hyper dogs some can't so it does depend on your way of living with them. I have had them for over 25 years now and must say they are one of my favourite breeds apart from German Shepherds, which I grew up with. Mind you I like most breeds as being a dog trainer I have to get to grips with most of their funny ways :D

Hi
I'm also new to bc's we also bought bakers for Meg, which she turned her nose up at (She knows better than me!) so we have started mixing it with winalot tinned and she wolfs it down, litterally pushing the empty bowl round the room and she doesn't seem to hyper on it (although that maybe her age) however having read all your comments I shall try something else!
My question is.... many of you have mentioned chicken wings, do you de-bone them first? as I thought chicken bones were a no no.
Alison

As long as you feed them raw they are fine :) as the bones done splinter like they do when they are cooked.

I would definately be changing her off bakers and winalot, definately take a look at CSJ :)

you just have to hold onto it for the first few times some dogs have them otherwise they try to swallow whole (or is it just a dalmatian thing lol) little Tinka however never had a problem she always started at one end and worked her way down :wub:

I feed ben Natures harvest wet food

I feed my 4 on Skinners duck & rice.

They were on Arden Grange which i think is brilliant but it got a bit too expensive. I searched the web for ages trying to find a good cheaper food & thats when i fell upon Skinners.

Its very similar to Burns but half the price. My lot became too thin on Burns .

I swear by it & they love it waggingd

Skinners are great they send out samples to try too :) and there not owned by any other company and theres no chemical preservatives in their food!

I used to feed raw, but couldnt get flynn to eat enough of it, he then turned this noseup at Burns & ND (is he the only dog in the world to HATE ND?) & then tryed CSJ,Royal Canin, Oscars,JWB, etc etc, nothing he would contnue to eat, bit the bullet & invested in genesis.NEVER looked back, it suits my collies down to the ground. I also feed Kronch Salmon oil. OHs Grons are on Burns active, it really suits them.

Advice on raw diet

I keep hearing loads about border collies having raw diets but I 'm not sure what they can have in the way of vegetables, meat excetera do they have fruit?
Silly question but is it okay to give raw meat instead of cooking it first?
and I assume its cut into bits?

At the moment Shadow has Wagg Beef as everytime we gave him chicken he was sick which seems weird as chicken is a plain meat but even when I cooked him some fresh chicken he was sick. He's not hyper on the wagg and keeps it down and is steadily gaining weight a real priority where he's so underweight from being mistreated previously.

He's also developed a real love of lactol puppy milk when he was very poorly when we first got him the vet recommended rice but he wouldn't eat anything lumpy I resorted to making him dog rice pudding by liquidising the rice into puppy milk this was the only thing he could keep down until his infection had cleared a bit and we'd realised every time we gave him chicken he was sick, slowly by trial and error we found the right dog food and we started introducing the wagg and he was fine but he definately didn't react well to pedigree dog food.

Can I have some information from some kind soul about all the fresh foods border collies can eat.

hi all
what is best diet for my sqiggley
she is under weight and tined food is not doing her any good but she wont eat dry food
any ideas @ the moment she needs 2 meals a day

I'd look for something high protein, its expensive but natures diet do wet type tray foods. Maybe try mixing biscuits with it. If shes very under weight try feeding her smaller wheels 3 times a day.