Gundog Training Forum

Morning All,

I am new to this so I apologise if this is repeated in another post.

I have an 11 month cocker spaniel bitch that I'm currently training. The lady that I go to for training described her as 'hot' and I agree totally that she is. I have since spoken to a friend that is training a springer of a similar age and he said that he has changed the feed to one with a lower % protein and this has reduced the 'hotness', I was just wondering if there was anyone else that had experience of this? or any advice for me?

She is currently being fed Skinners Meusli.

Many thanks in advance

My 10 month old is as hot as they come. I experimented with lower protein contents but it makes no difference. Just gotta train calmness and patience in the house

it's certainly worth a try, I've seen dogs totally change and I've also seen dogs not be affected at all. I would recommend you think about a BARF diet.

Hotness has nothing to do with protein and indeed starving a dog of protein can impair its ability to learn.
Move away from Skinners Museli; crimped grain is not a digestible form of food for dogs. Although still quite highly grain based their maintenance kibble is much more digestible (based on poop!).
Many dogs are less hot if moved from a high grain diet to one based on animal protein with some easily digestible carbs such as rice or potato (or, if you want to take the plunge, a raw diet).
For the record the best thing I ever did was put my hot as hell first dog onto raw and I've seen the same resposne in client dogs too.

A cocker pup or any pup should be fed on meat based food and not one that is almost all cereal .

Agreed but this dog at 11 months is no longer a pup and if it's well bred the hotness will probably be down to breeding not feeding...

Oddly enough I used to feed Scally on Arden Grange Lamb and Rice but she does better on CSJ Complete Tripe she is a tad less "energetic" and she holds her weight on it which she didn't on the Arden Grange..

Providing the dog is working with you I wouldn't worry too much about the hotness but work with it....

Rascal

vicky payne wrote:Hotness has nothing to do with protein and indeed starving a dog of protein can impair its ability to learn.
Move away from Skinners Museli; crimped grain is not a digestible form of food for dogs. Although still quite highly grain based their maintenance kibble is much more digestible (based on poop!).
Many dogs are less hot if moved from a high grain diet to one based on animal protein with some easily digestible carbs such as rice or potato (or, if you want to take the plunge, a raw diet).
For the record the best thing I ever did was put my hot as hell first dog onto raw and I've seen the same resposne in client dogs too.

Thanks for the advice Vicky, in respect of raw, what would you recommend? Is there a preferred supplier?

Thanks in advance.

It's cheapest to make it yourself. I get my meat chunks and mince delivered by Natures Menu (previously Anglian Meat Products) then add a handful of blitzed mixed veg each day; more roots in the winter, more greens in the summer. They get mince/veg once a day and meaty bone once a day (chicken carcass or rib, neck, spine bones).
Some dogs do best with some carbs too but stick to pulses, rice, oats or potato as these are more easily digested and less likely to cause problems than other grains/pasta.
There is loads of advice on raw feeding out there, but some serious fruit loops too!
If you prefer a ready made diet Natures Menu do some nice complete frozen nuggets but they do become expensive if you're feeding a large, active dog. Natural Instinct and Honey's also sell ready made raw diets.

I get my raw stuff from DAF – Durham Animal Feeds, Google them, theirs come in handy 1lb packs frozen, for me it’s a reasonably priced and convenient way to feed raw..

Their “mince” is minced carcass so you get a good balance of meat and bone, I mix up a variety of different species to get a balance of proteins, Chicken Mince, Turkey Mince, Chicken and Tripe + Chicken and Liver (mine don’t do very well on beef and lamb), plus they have a good selection of other stuff, the bones are good too… check out their website.

My 1yr old Springer is a lot calmer on RAW, I get ours in 1kg 'sausages' from the local farm shop, all the meat is from their own organic animals most of which are traditional native breeds.