Ways To Feed Your Guard Dog

The top dog's that are bread to be a guard dog are the famous German Shepherd, Doberman Pinscher, Boxer, and sometimes the Labrador Retriever. The average weight of a full-grown male guard dog is around 70 to 80 pounds. It's very rare to see a guard dog weigh less than 50 pounds.

Food should contain the 3 characteristics below, to give a guard dog the correct amounts of energy and nutrients it needs each day,

1) There should be around 2000 calories per pound.
2) It must contain the right amount of nutrients balanced out to about 40 calories, per each pound of body weight.
3) The digestibility of your dogs food should be around 80 percent.

These characteristics can not be found in commercial foods. Although there are few canned foods that have the digestibility requirements, there is no commercial dog food that meets the caloric density or nutrient balance required. Softer dog foods meet the digestibility requirements, although the caloric level is even lower than dry foods.

By adding fresh meat to your guard dog's dry food should improve the digestibility of the fat and protein of his diet. But, with the increase in water content from the fresh meat will actually reduce the caloric density of the diet combination.

You can increase the caloric density by adding a little corn oil to the diet. Although, this should only be done when energy needs are lower. A guard dog's energy requirements are usually higher than a regular dog, and to get the proper caloric density, you take the risk of diluting the food and nutrient deficiencies.

To keep a guard dog at his top level of performance, you should feed him with portion control. Each dog's weight, general condition, and performance are affected by its diet; you can more accurately control this when using portion control. If this is not kept under strict control, you will have a guard dog that will become overweight, sluggish, and unresponsive.

You should always feed your guard dog at least 3 hours before his shift, and 3 hours after to keep him from feeling bloated and lazy. Although, it is accustomed to feed regular dogs around the same time each day, this rule doesn't apply to a guard dog, they will actually come to expect their feeding around 3 hours before their shift.