is your dog smells nice?? feels healthy?? and thinks smart?

@kcrysea (195)
Philippines
May 1, 2007 12:38pm CST
does your dog smells nice?? what hair care products do you use for your pet dog?? slim and fit.......... what dogfood brands do you give to oyur dog?? pedigree? alpo?? eukanuba?? are there still othors you can recomend?? does branded dogfoods affect your pet dog mentally?? I mean, do they really get smart when you feed them with foods like alpo the one's you see in the comercial ads?
6 responses
• United States
1 May 07
I can't smell so I really can't answer your first question but no one's complained so far! How they smell can have as much to do with what foods you feed them as any shampoos or perfumes you put on them. I've researched dog nutrition and commercial dog foods pretty well and I personally don't like any of the brands you mentioned. There's much better foods out there than any of those. The last reply you got mentioned an excellent brand of food. Nutro Lamb and Rice is what we use. It's not the best food on the market but it's definitely much better than the majority of icky grocery store foods! And it works nicely to help combat our lab/pei's skin allergies because it doesn't contain corn products in it. I show my great dane in AKC shows so when he's being shown we're much more picky about his grooming. Usually though we just use a gentle dog shampoo about once a week or so to keep him clean. No, what food you feed them has no affect one way or the other on how smart they are. I agree, this has a lot to do with genetics and to some extent the breed of dog. Although there are quite a few breeds that I feel are mislabelled as "dumb". Afghans supposedly came out the "dumbest" in a study but this is actually not true. Afghans are sight hounds and were created to range far ahead of their handlers. They had to be smart enough to make their own decisions so their independant nature sometimes leads them to being hard headed in some ways. They're not dumb but they can generally be more difficult to train than some breeds. It's the same for many of the more stubborn, independant breeds. If intelligence is important to you try to seek out dogs that were developed specifically to work closely with their handlers. In my years of working with, training, and rehabbing rescued dogs I've found German Shepherds to be one of the most intelligent, eager to learn breeds! They're often smarter than their owners and if not given sufficient mental stimulation turn to annoying habits in an attempt to try to meet their own mental needs.
• United States
1 May 07
If there was a study done that involved Beardies, they'd probably come out "dumb" as well. Of course those studies usually aren't really about smarts, rather trainability. My dogs are about as stubborn as they come, but they are by no means dumb. Mine figured out how to open doors, how to open crates, how to weasel their way out of anything in order to get what they want. They know basic commands, but choose not to listen to them! Personally, I think breeds that will follow a piece of food into a sit, stay, come and handshake aren't geniuses. They're just responding to the positive reinforcement. Real smarts come from being able to make quick decisions on their own out in a working environment. Being able to bring a flock of sheep back over a mountain without any aid from a trainer. . that's smart. Sitting on command. . any idiot can do that!
• United States
1 May 07
LOL I completely agree with you on that! There is a big difference between intelligence and trainability! My great dane is just smart enough to play dumb exactly like you described your dogs doing!
• United States
1 May 07
Food will not make a dog smarter. That is determined by genetics. If both the dog's parents were doofus', chances are your dog isn't going to be winning any sort of genius prize. Dog food doesn't affect the dog mentally, at least not directly. A good quality dog food will help get the dog in better physical condition, which could affect his performance mentally. My dogs are fed Innova Evo, which is a grain free food you can buy at specialty pet stores and feed stores. The food doesn't make them smarter, but their coats look nice and they are in good physical condition. Of course I pair that with lots of exercise and grooming. There is no miracle food.
• United States
1 May 07
That's supposed to be one of the better foods to feed your dogs and a great response! Kudos to you on being a good doggie parent!
@pelo26 (1552)
• Philippines
1 May 07
Our dog is bathe at least thrice a week so that he stays smelling nice and clean.
1 May 07
I my dog smelt lovely ((past tense because he was sent away a few years back to join the police)) but yea he was aired daily so no bad smells and he was washed with some dog shampoo that smelt minging when applied but lovely when rinsed off. He was a very healthy dog with alot of energy, not too fat not too thin and i fed him on a supermarkets own brand food and ham because he loved his ham hehe
@cwriter (88)
• United States
1 May 07
I don't recommend any dog food that uses recycled pets in its product. I recently found out the "mystery meat" labeled on the back of dogfood bags is quite possibly rendered animal fat obtained by euthanized pets. Disgusting. I don't want my dog to be a cannibal. It is revolting. At first I thought that this was just a hoax. Then I found the article that was in an actual Missouri paper. So what happens when a pet has artificial limbs, cancer, or other disease and gets rendered and added to the food? :( Isn't Mad Cow caused by cows canabalizing themselves?
@xayarii (72)
• Canada
2 May 07
My dog stinks he eats poo. hehe :D