Anyone for Precise dog food?

[bentleysmom]

With all of this recent Diamond stuff (I don’t feed Diamond, but have fed Taste of the Wild) I am looking for a dog food for my guys that will give them the nutrition they need and give me some peace of mind.

I work for a pet food retailer and have dealt with many reps, pet nutritionists and have had lots of training. Pet owner feedback on foods is important to me, and while every dog is different I’m hoping I can get some input here.

I’ve met with reps from Precise on numerous occasions but I’ve never tried the food with my guys. One of our dogs gets regular ear infections (so far only somewhat helped by strictly Nature’s Variety Instinct Salmon)- grains seem to be an absolute no for this dog. I am willing to spend the $18 on a 4.4lb bag of the Instinct Salmon but he seems to be quite bored with it. One impressive thing about Precise is they haven’t had a recall on food in 82 years of being in business, which sounds good to me, but how does the food work with dogs? Has anyone here fed it? Pros, cons? I’m looking at the Precise Holistic line if that helps!

[Casey09]

Google Linda Arndt. I believe she is involved in Great Danes and likes that food if my memory is right.

[wendy]

all of their formulas are high in carbohydrates and low in protein and fat. The only grain-free lines they offer are based on legumes- if feeding grain to dogs is unnatural, feeding legumes is downright criminal.
Plus they toss around terms like “holistic” that mean nothing and are intended to impress the ignorant.
I see nothing particularly attractive about the company’s offerings at all.

[tradewind]

Many breeders like Precise. The way to find out if your dog would do well on it, is to buy a bag, gradually switch your dog over and give it a couple of months. Many breeders also like Fromm Gold alot. They also have grain free if that is your thing. Many top winning performance and conformation breeders have fed food with grain. It depends on the individual dog. Talk to some breeders with good reputation in your breed and see what they say. Diamond has had problems before and it is no surprise they are having them again. There are many many foods out there that have not had these issues.

[JB]

Many breeders also like Pedigree and Eukanuba

It’s not really about feeding some grain. It’s about feeding food that’s so high in grains/carbs. Dogs may not be obligate carnivores like cats, but that doesn’t mean they should be eating a high carb/low protein/low fat diet either.

[tradewind]

Many foods that contain grain also have 30/20 foods that high performance dogs do well on. My point its feeding dogs is not a one size fits all. The way to tell is to try a food, give it a couple fo months and then really look at your dogs. The top winning Afghan hound of all time was fed Eukanuba exclusively, the whole kennel was. The kennel was renowned for great temperments , naturally proper coats and longevity. Many of their dogs made it to their twenties. You look at muscle tone, coat, skin, overall vigor etc. when assesing its value to your dog. If you don’t like what you see, move on.

[wendy]

The top winning

In CONFORMATION. What characterizes dogs who win in conformation?

well, they tend to be a bit well-fleshed. Overweight. Sometimes downright chubby- it hides conformation flaws. What makes dogs fat? If I wanted to get my dog to be fat, I’d select a food with lots of carbohydrates in it. Corn, maybe. Or rice. Something with less than 27% protein; the less protein, the more carbs there are.

Also conformation dogs don’t really do much. They trot around for a few minutes. Not exactly taxing. Lots of studies on performance/sporting dogs find that high carbohydrate diets are detrimental to performance; but probably not to a conformation dog.

Also they tend to be young. Conformation dogs are shown young and retire young. The effects of poor nutrition rarely show up until dogs enter middle- to old- age.

So if you want to win in conformation, then yes, talk to breeders about what they feed for this purpose. Keep in mind that many breeders feed what they feed primarily because they get breaks in price from the company if they buy a lot of that company’s food. You won’t get these price breaks if you’re a typical pet owner without a kennel full of dogs.

If you want to win in agility, or field trials, or sled dog races, I suspect the people who win here would give you very different answers about feeding than the conformation people.

So if you want an active pet who runs, plays, and lives life with zest for many, many years I’d probably want to ask the lady whose 14-year-old dog is still tearing up the agility courses what she feeds, not the breeder who retires all of her conformation dogs at age 2.

And of course you always need to balance “personal stories” with careful scientific research- that lady with the 14-year-old agility dog may be a total fluke and the dog would be out there even if being fed old roy. Science says dogs need protein and fat, not carbs.

[tradewind]

My conformation dogs certainly do more than trot around a few minutes. I breed dual dogs, they have to be good looking and work. The fact is many dogs do well on traditional foods, whether or not you happen to agree. I am not going to get into a huge discussions on food. You believe what you believe, I answered the OPs question based on my 30 years of breeding, field trialing (not just hunt tests) obedience, handling, and judging. Also, I am sure the people who had those Afghans who also lure coursed, did obedience would be beyond insulted. I will put my dogs record, life span, lack of serious health issues up against almost anybodys. And they have eaten the same brand of dog food for 30 years. I have never had a skin problem, a seizure disorder, a dysplastic dog, a low thyroid etc. I did have one dog die of leukemia about 7 years ago. Not food related.

[tradewind]

And by the way, the myth that conformation dogs just lay around and are retired early shows complete ignorance on your part. There are many many confo dogs that due alot more that conformation, the more I thought about your statement, the more annoyed I got. Its people like you making blanket statements such as that that really really get serious dedicated breeders mad…

[HillaryH]

Not an expert by any means but my little mixed breed dog has been on the Precise Small & Med breed Holistic dog food for about 6 months & is doing really well on it. I started him on Earthborn Holistics when I adopted him little over a year ago but was having trouble with consistenly loose stool so the pet store staff said to try Precise. Not that one is better than the other just that different dogs respond differently, I guess.

I think Precise also makes a grain-free food if that’s what you are looking for. Since my dog is doing really well, I’m not looking to switch. Also, they put coupons in the bags so you almost always can get a few dollars off when you purchase it.

[GotGait]

My conformation dog wants to “weigh” in… Ok, he says he’s not fat and just because he’s sleeping on my bathrobe right now doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to go for a run later.
But sorry, he’s never tried Precise.

[tradewind]

My dogs don’t eat Precise either, does not make it a bad food. Dogs are individuals and respond individually to food, be it with grain, without grain, high fat, low fat, high protein, low proten etc.

[yesidorock]

I just recently switched all 3 of my dogs to Precise. They have done well on it and really like it. I feed them chicken meal and rice formula. There isn’t any wheat or corn in it and there are no mystery meats and doesn’t contain any by-products. I searched for a while for a great dog food and found this. I like the fact that it’s a family owned company and has NEVER been recalled unlike Diamond products (which there are about 9 or so different brands) that seem to be recalled on a regular basis. I was horrified when I found out that dog food that doesn’t specify what type of meat could be euthanized dogs and cats. Needless to say my dogs never ate any of that kind of food!!

[GraceLikeRain]

Mr. Impossibly Picky (who is also a lovely conformation boy and gasp a barn dog and an agility prospect…not a couch potato) consistently ate Precise for a lot longer than any other brand. He ate the lamb and Rice (I think it was the “foundation” line). My parents had their Wheatens on it with good results.