# Food for reactive dog



## nysirk (Apr 15, 2008)

This is one of those it worked for a friend kind of things. As some of you may know I am working out a reactivity issue with my ten month pup Dexter and other dogs, Its getting there slowly and theres good days and bad. A dog friend of mine has a pack of dogs and has one dog that also is reactive.
She decided to change the dogs diet around along with training to work out his issue, when her dog was on a chicken or beef based diet the dog kept at his reactivity, She switched her dog do a Fish based diet and noticed a big improvement with his reactivity. 
I don't know enough about nutrition to be able to understand why it helped or if maybe all the training finally started to get through the dogs head, and it had nothing to do with diet. I think it may be worth a try to see if a salmon based food insted of a chicken based may help Dexter, on the up side I could at least stop giving those smelly fish oil pills, and keep his nice shinny coat. 
any Thoughts?


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## frenchie27 (Jan 12, 2008)

Charlie has never had any major issues as to reactivity. However, I started feeding him a fish based food (Orijen Fish) since he was almost 1 yr. old and it works great. It's high in price but it's worth every penny!!! Good luck!!!


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## AnnaRiley (Feb 14, 2008)

This responds to CHI. There are warming foods, cooling foods, conditions referred to as stagnant, damp, heat producing, etc. I took switched my so called reactive dog from Lamb based (heat producing) to fish (coolng). There seems to be a difference in his temperment.

If you are familiar with the Macrobiotic diet then ithis makes alot of sense.


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## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

Grimm is MUCH less reactive after a dietary change. A Japanese pal said it makes sense "Look at the diets of American kids. They don't get their omegas (omega 3's), and then the teacher wonders why the kid can't THINK!!"

Here was Grimm before the change-- look at the nearly crazed intensity in his EYES... anything set off his reactivity










And here is Grimm AFTER the dietary change. Look at his eyes, his expression NOW-- much less hair-trigger reactivity, he relaxes better in the house too:










Grimm was on Orijen 6 Fresh Fish-- it is grain-free, but contains potatoes. Now he is on a raw diet, and has basicly no heavy carb load... CARBS like potatoes or rice to create the excess sugars in his bloodstream.

He is now almost LAZY by comparison. I noticed the drop in tension in his body, his eyes, his expression after only 4 days on the raw.


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## Kayos and Havoc (Oct 17, 2002)

Very interesting!


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## AnnaRiley (Feb 14, 2008)

Sorry for all the typos - long day at work. Maybe I need some new food.


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: nysirkThis is one of those it worked for a friend kind of things. As some of you may know I am working out a reactivity issue with my ten month pup Dexter and other dogs, Its getting there slowly and theres good days and bad. A dog friend of mine has a pack of dogs and has one dog that also is reactive.
> She decided to change the dogs diet around along with training to work out his issue, when her dog was on a chicken or beef based diet the dog kept at his reactivity, She switched her dog do a Fish based diet and noticed a big improvement with his reactivity.
> I don't know enough about nutrition to be able to understand why it helped or if maybe all the training finally started to get through the dogs head, and it had nothing to do with diet. I think it may be worth a try to see if a salmon based food insted of a chicken based may help Dexter, on the up side I could at least stop giving those smelly fish oil pills, and keep his nice shinny coat.
> any Thoughts?


I'm a big believer in the diet-behaviour connection. Our first rule at training was to get rid of all corn in the diet. Chicken is so common, I can see why sensitivies are easily created, and there are a number of beef products in vaccinations that might do the same thing.

Of course, if the fish based food has a good omega-3 content, that can also make a positive contribution to mood and behaviour.


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## twogsdoh (Nov 2, 2008)

This is very interesting. My Numa is very reactive to noises also. She will sleep or rest well but she will also jump up at any noise and start barking her head off. If she is watching me and I turn around in the computer chair to see what she is doing ,she will start barking. Numa is almost 16 mths old. I feed raw but mostly chicken leg quarters since they are the cheapest. She gets one 2000 mg salmon oil every day also. Fish is so expensive though. I like feeding raw and dont really want to put her on a kibble with fish. Is there any other meat that might help? Thanks for any advice/suggestions.


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

I don't think I have answers, only a lot of questions. In term of food, something novel that she isn't used to, and mostly if not entirely grainless. 

My experience from this board is that GSDs either do great or terrible on pork -- some feed it raw, I homecook so the trichonosis (sp?) issue with pork, which some say no longer exists, isn't an issue for me. Costco has some of the better prices for meat.

That "barking at every noise" sounds like protectiveness/alerting behaviour. Maybe the folks on the training forum will have some suggestions for that too.


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## nysirk (Apr 15, 2008)

Thank you everyone for the responses. Wow look at Grimm,thank you that gives me hope for Dexter! So a good diet for a reactive dog would be low in grains and high in omegas and fish based? 
I am currently switching from Blue buffalo Chicken and brown rice adult to Blue buffalo Fish and sweet potato. The omega analysis is Omega 3 fatty acids 1.30% to Omega 6 Fatty acids 2.75%, Hope that is enough, although there is still some grains in the food, brown rice, barley and oats. It was the most convenient fish based holistic food I could find. Open to suggestions tho if someone knows a food that might work better. 
Anna Riley do you have a link or a book that further describes the cooling vs warming foods, very interesting would like to learn more. Im assuming with this diet change i also need to lay off of any type of chicken or beef training treats as well, do you guys think freeze dried liver would be an okay training treat with the new diet? Again thank you


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

I think it's a good start, the warning is that every dog is different!!

If the issue is just reactivity, a few treats shouldn't hurt. BUT, many treats might mess up your experiment, so I would stay away from proteins that are common, like chicken. Maybe beef too. Maybe switch to a protein he hasn't had much of, like lamb or venision jerkey, while you are in this watchful stage????


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