We've been feeding our 13 month old YML a dry dog food called Orijen made by a small company out of Alberta, Canada. Previous to our current lab we had always fed a "premium" (but more common) dry dog food to our other labs with no noticeable improvement in their coat, performance or overall vitality. In contrast, since putting this, our third hunting lab on Orijen we have noticed what I feel is a very noticeable improvement, overall. For instance, most everyone who pets our dog will make some remark about how soft his coat feels. I agree totally. There is a noticeable improvement in the texture of our dog’s coat. We have also noticed what appears to be an overall improvement in our dog’s endurance in training sessions and overall well-being (mood, energy level, sleep pattern, airing habits). As an aside, one of the first things we noticed since we began feeding Orijen is significantly less stool volume when our dog airs.
Orijen markets its dog food line on the platform that it is more “biologically appropriate” (containing higher protein, higher fat and significantly less carbs) than the more ubiquitous "premium" dog foods commonly available at giant pet food chains. To this end Orijen has received a 5-star rating by DogFoodAdvisor.com and is “enthusiastically recommended” by that advisor.
Every couple of months we've been switching our lab between Orijen's "Adult Formula", "Six Fish Formula" and its "Regional Red Formula". All iof which are equally high in protein and fat and very low in carbs. Switching between the formulas causes no stomach upset and we usually make the transition over the course of a week or less.
