We get asked by nearly every puppy family what we recommend their new Australian Labradoodle puppy should be fed, how often and how much? Those are all good questions and answers will vary to those questions, depending on who one asks! We are not veterinarians and so do not dispense medical advice, but here is our opinion...

The first question is to determine whether or not you wish to feed your dog on a kibble, home-cooked or raw diet. There are pros and cons to all!

Raw Food Diet / BARF Diet

Pros:
Top quality nutrition, dog is less prone to allergies, possibly a longer life span, considerably less poop to clean up.

Cons:
More washing of bowls, need to be careful to keep good hygene when handling raw meat.

This is it, in a nutshell: take your adult dog for a decent walk first thing in the morning (30 to 45 minutes for this breed), then give them a meal of raw food once a day when you get home from the morning walk. (And play with them and enjoy them!)

We feed raw food to our dogs, and they have done wonderfully on it. Some vets do advocate BARF diets and many recommend against it and tell us pet owners that "commercial dog food has been scientifically formulated by canine nutritionists to be a balanced food and has all the nutrients required to keep your dog healthy"...

HMMM! Sounds just like what they told everybody in the 1960's when breastfeeding babies was discouraged and most were told that "formula is the best for babies because it is scientifically developed for babies and is the best for them"! Since then, that little piece of advice has been retired and we are encouraged to feed our children REAL FOOD.

Most of us understand that processed, dehydrated and canned food is not as healthy for us as freshly prepared food, and the same logic applies to our pets as well. There is lots of information about the BARF diet or raw diets on the web, but here is what we do.

 next page ...