What brand lamb and rice are you using?

Have you tried exercise like walking her?

I changed my Sheltie from chicken to lamb. By the calorie label there is suppose to be less calories in the lamb. This is between the brands that I purchased. And maybe because she is suppose to herd the little sheep, she is really into that flavor.

Hopefully as the weather starts improving, that will definitely help with weight control.

Using Purina.

Cannot walk myself for exercise. I have worked with her and try to daily play in our fenced yard---she loves chasing soccer balls. I have several, some inflated completely, some half way and some almost flat. The differences help to get her to treat each type differently.

We also have three play---our guard dog(Max), Molly, and I play jump and grab---they jump and I grab them momentarily as they pass me. Or tag---or keep away. She gets that kind of exercise about twenty minutes twice a day about four days a week. Plus, whatever she and Max do between themselves.

My point is that the lamb and rice formula is so nourishing and well digested, I have had to cut way down---about 2/3 of what I fed her with the Pedigree.

That's good to know (about feeding 2/3 less)....as it seems she is getting exercise...more than most dogs get anyway...it seems her weight gain is truly due to just better quality food....its help to eliminate other causes of weight gain too though which is why I asked about exercise.

my rescue great dane girl did so well on natural balance dog food, she gained TOO much weight. i cut her kibble way back and added green beans to her meals to keep her full. it's working wonders, she has gone from 150# to 147# in the last 3 weeks. i'd like to get her down to about 145#. the trick will be finding the right ration to KEEP her there, once i GET her there!

What you are noticing handymac, is that the price of a better food isn't necessarily proportional to the price on the bag, because you really do feed less of it.

Are you feeding all of your dogs the lamb and rice, yet?

IN addition to feeding less, you should also be seeing smaller, more compact and dense stools that are easier to clean up.

To me there is very little bargain in some of the cheap foods.

Well, I have a Rott/GSD mix(guard dog) who has been on Pedigree dry and canned mix since I got him. A bag of Pedigree is about $23 and a 12 pack of canned is $8---I use about 30 cans per bag---so his feed is roughly $50---for two months. He eliminates generally twice a day---size/amount is not excessive for a 70 pound dog.

The Purina lamb and rice is $36 a bag, lasts less than a month for a 35 pound dog---I'd say about 3 bags for two months. That is over $100 a month---twice as much.

Max does just fine on the mix. Molly did not---thus the change. I can't justify changing Max to lamb and rice for no reason.

Won't the bags last about 30 percent longer now that you have reduced the amount you are feeding?

No, those figures are the present useage.

My point is why change when there is no reason to change, other than personal opinion? I could afford it, but there are other things I can ust that extra money to accomplish.

We used to own several horses---keeping them on pasture and feeding grain daily was less expensive than feeding two 70 pound dogs with Pedigree dry. I did not use a premuin feed for the horses either.

My question about feeding the other dogs, was because I wondering if you noticed similar or any changes in the dogs without allergies due to the lamb and rice? Seeing how you only switched one dog's food then I my question is moot.

I am glad your dog is doing better.

When I first starting switching dog foods because of a dog with allergies, I was buying different foods for different dogs. But then over time, I got tired of handling two different and at some times up to three different types of food. So eventually I just switched all the dogs over to one food... to make it simpler... (its not cheaper, just simper).

The "personal" preference for my dogs on premium food is that there is less stools to handle and dispose. And I much rather handle the small, firm stools from a premium food than the large, stinky stools from usual foods. Its an important thing for me, because I pick poo up on a daily basis. The extra cost in the bag of food is worth it to me for that reason alone.

But when I combine the stool handling benefits with the knowledge that my dogs colon is functioning more efficiently... I think the extra cost acts as "preventative" health care over the long term health of the dog. My dog is eating less, passing less stools, absorbing more nutrition through less volume of material passed through the colon. Thus improving the long term colon health of the dog.

My other point that I was trying to make; that wasn't very clear, wasn't that the premium food was "cheaper", but that the extra expense isn't directly proportional to the price difference of the bags.

If 10 pounds of cheap food costs $10 and 10 pounds of premium food costs $20; the bag appears to cost twice as much.

But as you pointed out the $20 bag will last longer, because you can feed less. So instead of twice the price, it may only be 67% more, instead of 100% more.

Glad to here your dog is doing better.

We have four dogs:
German Shorthaired Pointer
Vizsla(Hungarian Shorthaired Pointer)
Bassethound
Yorkie mix

Our Vizsla had similar food allergies. We switched him to Diamond Lamb&Rice and he showed remarkable improvement. We were so impressed with the increase in muscletone and energy that we switched all our dogs to it. They have all shown the same improvement and they have decreased their overall intake of food.

Our Vet said it was probably due to the fact that they are are getting the nutrients they needed while consuming a lesser volume of food.

You may want to consider switching all of them and see if the same holds true for you.

I am not endorsing Diamond per say, it just happened to be the first thing we tried. If our Vet is right the same should hold true with any high quality food.

Our monthly dog food bill has only slightly increased after the switch as the volume of food has decreased. Now we don't have to keep up with which food we need to get.

You can always check with your Vet and get his opinion. Our Vet doesn't recommend feeding canned food(mostly water) with a few exceptions nor did he recommend Diamond specifically. There are alot of opinions out there.
If your dogs are healthy and happy that's what really matters.