What is ok to mix with kibble?

Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? No nutritional value? If that were the case, I don't think I would have had dogs in the past that lived to be 14, 15 and 18 years old, who ran and played and felt fine all those years, whose coats were healthy looking etc. I do think there are better foods that have more meat and less fillers in them and more vit. and minerals and such. And I feed my dogs premium foods. But the poorer quality foods will support life.

I think it's also an exaggeration to speak of corn in dog food as some horrifyingly awful thing. Corn is not a bad thing. They don't digest it very well but some undigestable fiber has some benefits. Anyhow, some corn isn't a bad thing IMO....just when it's replacing meat and/or other essential elements.

Actually (even according to my vet) corn is the number #1 allergen for dogs as a food additive. Now if there was a good food that didn't replace meat with corn it might be 'ok' for some dogs.. I personally don't feed it as my dogs get pretty much no indigestible fibre as part of the regular diet. But I can't think of a single food that includes corn that isn't skimping heavily on the meat and other essential ingredients.

Yup....they sure do skimp on meat. That's what really irks me.

you could try mixing plain fat free yogurt. i mix a spoonful with my dogs kibble (they were on raw and now that theyre on kibble for the summer they are gettin PICKYYY) and they eat it right up.

Yeah. I do mix some food with her kibble, but not every day so she'll still eat her kibble plain. I already tried some low fat vanilla yogurt (since I can't eat it right now due to my wisdom teeth and one extra being pulled recently. There's an enzyme in yogurt that's used to tenderize meat and since the holes aren't fully closed yet, should the yogurt touch where they cut, it'll burn like all hell) and she loved it. What yogurt flavors can they have btw?

Plain.

So just plain vanilla yogurt is good?

But yeah, I'll get her another kong toy when we get to make a trip to PetCo, since there isn't a Costco in Lafayette or Opelousas. Well, actually two kong toys, another kibble ball and another I can stuff.

I'd LOVE to take her to PetCo with me so I can fit her for a harness, but I'm kind of scared since I don't know how she'll react to the other pets.

Not vanilla - vanilla is a flavour You want the plain stuff. I buy the Astro Balkan Style.

In the past, the cheap foods weren't as bad, because they contained a higher amount of better quality meat. People used to supplement better quality scraps in there more as well, before "people food" became such a "bad" thing thanks to marketing by the pet food industry. Before we had Taco Bell, that meat was typically considered to be under the quality for human consumption. Now that we've placed such a demand on the fast food industry for cheap food, they've changed the requirements a bit. I used to enjoy McDonald's quite a bit as kid..now the meat tastes funny. They lowered the quality to try and keep the prices down.

Mahi mahi used to be considered "trash fish" that wasn't fit to serve in a good restaurant. Now, it's a "high class" fish you pay out the nose for.

As the overall quality of human food goes down, so does what we feed to our pets. And that makes a world of difference.

I buy greek yogurt... it's plain yogurt that is strained, with extra cultures, less sugar, and more protein. But any plain yogurt is fine and should ease digestive upsets.

Surely, there must be a tractor supply store or a feed store in Lafayette? Feed stores usually carry EVEN BETTER kibbles than Petco. I highly recommend Taste of the Wild, or Acana, if they have it. Most any feed store will carry Innova, which is one of the best kibbles... look for "grain free", and make sure that meat (preferably meat "meal", ie chicken meal) is the first ingredient.

I'm guessing that your girl having tummy upsets is a sign that A) she is not properly digesting her food, which is packed with grains/starches/fillers that a dog can only digest 25% of MAXIMUM, B) her digestive system is not hardy, healthy, and full of good bacteria and flora, and C) there is probably a lot more going on inside of her than what you can tell on the surface. When I fed low quality foods, I thought gas, runny/excessive poops, greasy coats, doggy odor, bad breath, etc was normal dog stuff. Now that I have been educated on the subject and I've fed my dogs species appropriate (as in high meat content) diets for years, I am disgusted by dogs that I work with, who are fed Kibbles n' Bits and Beneful and Dog Chow. I feel so bad for those dogs, and for their owners, who have no idea that their dogs could be so much healthier, cleaner, and better smelling with just a few extra dollars toward their food.

There is a feed store just up the highway here, I don't know the number now because they just changed ownership and the old number doesn't work anymore. We used to go there to get horse feed for my cousin's horse.

But no, she hasn't had any stomach upset, other than some gas if I feed her canned dog food. She used to do good on Beneful, but I had to take her off of it when the last bag I got her made her constipated.

I just want to change up her feeding routine to give her something new every now and then and something interesting to do, like play with her kibble ball to get her food, she LOVED that. She's a bored girl and sleeps quite a bit but thankfully isn't fat, but I want to give her something to look forward to other than walks.

But off topic for a moment, I'd love some ideas for enrichment for her so she's not so bored when we're not walking. I can't get her to play with anything to save my life, the most she'll do is wiggle around and flop on her back for a bellyrub.

If she is fed a better food she might have more energy and want to play. I know if I eat junk all I want to do is lie around.. (and have a back rub )

I agree with Dekka on this - a species appropriate diet can do wonders for every aspect of her health, including her energy.

As for other stuff... the world is your oyster! I recommend seeing if she enjoys chasing lasers. I never thought my dogs would, but Fozzie runs from across the house if he hears the jingle of the laser, and he will chase it more intensely than anything else. You might also want to make her a little teaser pole. Attach a destuffed plush toy (I recommend Skinneeez) or a piece of an animal skin to a thin, strong line of rope, and knot that through a flexible plastic pole. Most dogs who wouldn't normally "play" with stuffies will go wild chasing a toy on a teaser pole. There are also activities like swimming, hiking, backpacking, etc, to consider. She might also appreciate having playdates with other dogs. One of the most enriching things I do with my dogs is training; it makes them feel good, it makes me feel good, and it strengthens our bond so much. You might even look into taking formal Obedience classes with an Obedience club, or Rally-O classes, or Agility, etc.

As far as stimulating toys, stuffed/frozen Kongs are always awesome. When I feed kibble, it's almost always either out of a frozen Kong, a Buster cube, or a Tug-a-Jug. Make her work for her meals! You can also make her hunt for it by hiding kibbles or treats around the house/yard.

lol yeah Maybe a change in diet will get her more active. But I would like some ideas for enrichment for her.

But I can't get her to play with any toys at all, they just don't interest her. She's a mouser and has caught mice and rats before, and brought them to me all proud of herself, yuck... but at least she didn't tear them up for me to clean up THAT mess. But I figured since she hunts vermin, that the cat toy mice would interest her, but nope, a toy rat, nope. No balls, no ropes, no squeaky toys, not even a ball with a fake squirrel tail on the end or even a cat teaser with feathers. The only thing she's ever played with was the kong kibble ball.

We gave her the toy rat and she sniffed at it for a moment then huffed at it and walked away, even when we moved it around and slid it across the floor, same with the toy mice.

Here is an article on how to get a dog to play How to Create a Motivating Toy.

Thanks for the site ^_^

But wouldn't boiling it in liver or chicken broth make the toy mold? Or does it depend on what sort of toy and the material you use?

Not if you let it air dry.. I would think you would be safe.

I guess to be on the safe side, I won't do it with a rope toy.

update:
I'm waiting to hear back on a possible trip to the feed store just to check out what they have, but I'm not going to get my hopes up and end up finding out they have next to nothing. I can't find their number, much less the place's name in the phone book, so they must have changed names, but I DO know the place is still open.

I set up two chairs outside that have rungs on the bottom and stuck a broom in between them to make an improv bar for her to jump over. She went underneath the first time but then she caught on that she was supposed to jump over it and I got her to do it several times yesterday and today, I'd also make her jump up on the chair and sit and stay and sit up too. She seemed to enjoy it and got lots of praise and pets for doing so. I'm going to stick with kibble, praise and pets as rewards, since if I use actual treats, she becomes more focused on the treat she's going to get than on what she's supposed to be doing.