Great Danes need a premium dog food to ensure proper growth of bones, joints, and connective tissue. Your breeder should be able to guide you in selecting your puppy's new premium food. Why a premium food? A premium food offers optimum nutrition by providing human-grade ingredients rather than the 3 D's (Dead, Decaying, and Dying) and the 3 F's (Feet, Feathers, Fur). Additionally, these high quality foods don't include soy--a filler which could make your dog gassy and contribute to bloat. To find out more about selecting a dog food and what ingredients mean on the label, click on the ruby gem:
Not all dogs have the same nutritional needs, therefore, I suggest finding a food that works best for your new Great Dane. Some lines of pet products offer a different formula that may work better due to the ingredients or different protein and fat levels. If a "Maintenance," "Foundation" or "Kennel" formula isn't working, perhaps trying an alternative source of protein (like "Sensicare") or a different formula such as "Competition" or "Natural" formula will work. DO NOT FEED A "PUPPY" or "GROWTH" formula to your Great Dane. These typically have protein levels in excess of 29% and will contribute to crippling growth conditions such as HOD and OCD. The best advice is to follow the breeder's recommended food but if you don't have that support system or if the food isn't working for you, SierraDanes recommends the following premium foods [click on the product to go to their home page].
When choosing your new food, be sure to check out the label! The Great Dane's rapid growth requires a controlled protein/fat ratio. An excellent ratio is 23% protein and 12% fat though some foods will vary by 1% either way. A food with a 25% protein and 15% fat ratio is a bit too rich for growing puppies, thus, it is best to give your pup a food with the lower ratio. You can use this "higher energy" food when your adult dog is in stressful conditions, such as showing, breeding, or working. For a detailed guide on how to feed a Great Dane, click on the ruby for Linda Arndt's Puppy Guide:
Special Note: I do support the "BARF" (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, ie Raw Meaty Bones) method of feeding as well. Though I haven't switched to this method, I do give raw, crunchy veggies and fresh or frozen fruits to my dogs (try a frozen strawberry...fun to crunch!)
VITAMIN C: I recommend feeding your growing pup 500-1000mg of Vitamin-C each day while his/her bones are developing and ears are being taped. This is a water-soluable vitamin which means what the dog doesn't use will be eliminated in the urine. Typically, 500mg will be enough for the growing pup but if the ears become stubborn and won't stand after being cropped, the 1000mg dose has been successful at helping the ears stand. Breeders have been using Vitamin-C for decades and believe this is essential in the early stages. Veterinarians may or may not support this theory, seeing no clinical evidence of this working. Then again, there are more critical health concerns for Veterinary Science to study.
DIGESTIVE AIDS: A "probiotic" enzyme allows for proper food digestion. Often, these enzymes are found in the premium feeds, listed as "lactobacillus acidophilus". You can find these live natural probiotics in YOGURT...a tablespoon of yogurt (any flavor, just stay away from asparitame).topped on the food will assist with digestion and dogs love this extra treat. This is helpful to young pups who are weaing as well since their digestive system hasn't fully developed and it's essential to those dogs who are being given antibiotics since these drugs can kill the beneficial flora and fauna in the intestinal track. When I go on the road to shows, I feed each dog 1/2 container of yogurt with each meal. Since doing so, none of the dogs have had diarrhea -- which certainly eases the stress for me! A probiotic supplement called Daily Greenscontains the probiotics, vitamin-C, and essential grasses all in one, and the dogs love the taste.
MISSING LINK: For picky teenagers and adults, the Missing Link Plusprovides high fiber, essential fatty acids, and nutritional support to help increase the dog's appetite. Ingredients like Flax Seed, Glucosamine Sulfate, Blackstrap Molasses, Freeze Dried Liver, Rice Bran, Primary Dried Yeast, Sunflower Seed, Dehydrated Alfalfa, Dried Carrot, Freeze Dried Bone, Dried Fish Meal, Freeze Dried Oyster, Sprouted Green Barley, Dried Kelp, Lecithin, Garlic,, and Yucca Schidigera Extract provide the "missing" ingredients many dogs need for healthy, shiny coats, improved digestion, and stronger joints.
GLUCOSAMINE & CHONDROITIN SULFATE: These new neutraceuticals have been found to be extremely beneficial not only to humans but also to dogs who suffer from joint pain (OCD, hip dysplasia, tendonitis, etc.). Glucosamine & Chondroitin Sulfate work with the amino acids in the connective tissue and muscles to improve elasticity. Therefore, it's beneficial to use as a PREVENTATIVE as well. What a fantastic alternative to surgery! There are so many new products on the market that it's difficult to decide which are actually beneficial and PURE. I have used COSEQUIN DS, a dog product, with great success and I have like the OsteoBioflex from the drug store. Additionally, Adequin is another product that has been reported to be as effective as CosequinDS. Check out the results from ConsumerLab.com's recent Product Review comparing glucosamine products on the market: (Note: Nutramax Lab's CoseMIN is for people/CoseQUIN is for animals).
FAT BALLS, SATIN BALLS, RAW BALLS: Sometimes the teenagers will decide not to eat, probably because hormones are getting the best of them. To assist them in their finicky stage, I sometimes give them frozen "meatballs". Here are some of my favorite recipes. Store them in a Ziploc bag in your freezer and feed them frozen for extra chewing fun (some dogs don't like the feel of raw meat). Click on the ruby for recipes...
EAGLE PACK
Fed by many Great Dane breeders, Eagle Pack was developed with giant breeds in mind. It's a good product but it can be difficult to get. I tried the food but found my dogs were underweight but their coats were fabulous. Thus, you should have other options available if this food doesn't work for you....it's worth a try!
PINNACLE
When one of my pups had problems absorbing the nutrients in the Eagle Natural the entire litter was being fed, I had to find a high quality food that would give him the best nutrition. I switched him to Pinnacle and was amazed to see how beautiful he was. The color was so rich -- had to be from the sweet potatoes! This has a higher protein and fat content so be careful with this potent food with younger dogs! This is an example of how every dog food is not right for every dog... follow the breeder's advice, but in the absence thereof, consider other premium foods.
PRECISE
Another more economical food is Precise. It has human grade chicken and all the stuff we like in it plus there are many food products for different needs. Some breeders have reported weight loss on this food, too (not an uncommon problem in growing teenage Danes) so if it doesn't work for you, try one that will.
WELLNESS
Old Mother Hubbard came out with a premium product called Wellness. It contains fruits, vegetables, protein sources, etc., which sound great for the dog. There's a fish and sweet potato formula, too. I saw amazing results with this on my setter who has skin allergies, though the rest of the gang when fed this food picked up the nasty habit of "recycling" their food! It's quite expensive, but if you have only one or two dogs, it could be worth it.
EUKANUBA
I have been feeding Eukanuba for three years now.
One of the few foods I can feed "cold turkey" and have no problems with gas and loose stools) is Eukanuba. When I ran out of Eagle years ago, I fed off the shelf and bought Eukanuba for 6 weeks ...great results -- shiny coat, healthy weight maintenance, less gas, firm stools (i.e. digestibility), and it's highly palatable even for picky eaters. Be very selective when choosing a Eukanuba product as the protein and fat levels can be higher than optimally desired for a Great Dane. The LARGE BREED ADULT is ideal with a 23/13 protein-fat ratio and the addition of glucosamine & chondroitin for joints. For danes in competition, underweight or stressed dogs the ADULT MAINTENANCE (25/16) is good. In my experience, the LARGE BREED PUPPY is "too hot" with a 26% protein and 14% fat ratio so go with the LARGE BREED ADULT.
In only SIX months, a Great Dane pup will grow 100x's its birthweight! It takes a human baby 18 YEARS to grow just 20x's its birthweight. BALANCED Nutrition is ESSENTIAL to promote steady, slow growth.
Dane fans have read up on Dane Nutrition since July 26, 2003
