I want to start by saying, I am not a canine nutritionist and neither are most Veterinarians.  

I will share with you, our feeding program which has been highly successful in keeping our dogs coat, skin and health in tip-top condition from puppy hood to geriatrics.  That equates to 40 years of feeding many generations of  our Labradors.  

Labradors ARE what they eat!  Proper Nutrition on the inside equates to what you see on the outside.  Let’s start with the basics.

No matter what brand of kibble we use here (kibbles are discussed below), we have a routine that we do with each feeding. 

*Water is ALWAYS added to their kibble.  Just enough water added to the kibble to make the kibble “start to float”. Just the same way as when we are making a bowl of cereal and adding milk. Dogs are not supposed to eat dry, dehydrated foods. Moisture content in their diet is essential to keep all vital organs running smoothly and contributes to their overall health, especially skin health.  For the love of DOG, I have no idea why these damn DF manufacturers do not emphasize “ADD WATER”.

*Kibble alone, day after day is NOT healthy.  

*No two dogs are the same so feed each one accordingly.

*Stop reading the instructions on the food bag on how much to feed because the bag is wrong, most of the time. 

*Switch up protein sources. In other words, don’t always feed just one protein for life. That is a sure way to create protein sensitivities.

*ADD REAL FOOD.   Top your dogs kibble each day with real food.  

Our daily routine starts with breakfast.  Each dog and puppy gets the appropriate amount of dry kibble added to their bowl with enough water to make the food just start to rise up. (No soaking is required).  To the kibble/water mixture, they will get one whole raw egg including the shell and their supplements added (Supplements that we use are discussed below).   Growing pups under a year of age will also get 1 heaping tablespoon of full fat plain Greek yogurt. 

Evening meals are topped with one or more of the following. (I will emphasize that any topper you choose, shall consist of only 1/4 to to no more than 1/2 of the kibble ration you are replacing. So if your dog gets 4 cups of kibble, deduct a 1/4 or 1/2 cup of kibble and REPLACE with that same amount of the real food topper). 

Sardines (3 x per week)

Eggs: Raw, scrambled or boiled.

Boneless Chicken, beef, turkey, lamb, salmon or pork leftover meat portions that are not soaked with salt or spices.  Raw is an option but I will not be covering raw feeding as that is something off subject from general toppers. Never offer cooked bones and I mean NEVER!

Any type of salt free bone broths in place of water. 

Clean organic, non GMO cooked *veggies in moderation.  Corn but never with the COB (Cobs can cause blockages), broccoli, cabbage, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes & green beans. Low or no salt.  Blueberries, apples and bananas are a great choice and make great treats if frozen. *Dogs cannot digest raw veggies properly. They must be cooked. 

By all means the above topper list is only a sample of things you can add. Do your research. Don’t go replacing kibble all together with foods made for humans.  Use common sense and if foods are not on our list above, be sure to check before feeding as many can be poisonous to dogs such as grapes and chocolate.

Moderation in feeding is the key to keeping our pets healthy.  Don’t feed to create a fat dog.  Most of our adult Labradors get 4 cups total food per day (2 am and 2pm). That is kibble combined with toppers (minus the water).