Do you know what to feed your collie?  The collie does well on a variety of foods, from premium dry dog foods down to home cooked meals. His main diet should consist of high quality dry dog food either by itself or in combination with meats and nutritios home cooking. When selecting dry dog food for your collie be sure to read the label. Being carnivorous (meat eating animal), the first ingredient listed on the back should be a type of meat. It should be pure, whole met and not “meal” or by-product!

By-products are the scraps from slaughter houses, including the blood, guts, feathers, fur, beaks, and bones of animals. Most meat contained in dry dog food is meal, by-product, or 4-D meat (dead, dying, diseased or disabled at slaughter and unfit for human consumption). You should also not purchase dog food who’s first ingredient is corn or soy bean! The first product listed is the main ingredient – why would you want to feed corn as a main ingredient to your meat-eating, meat-needing collie? Take out your current bag of dog food right now and look at it’s first ingredient. You may be shocked or sickened! Unfortunately, the cheaper the dog food brand is, the more likely it is to have an overabundance of wheat and by-product ingredients. Sometimes a more expensive brand may not even be as healthy as their advertising claims. Therefore, always read your labels and look for real meat, no by-products or meal, and few wheat based ingredients.

Home cooked meals should be nutritious, healthy, and free from additives and preservatives. Collies do not need salt, pepper, or other seasonings added to their meal. You should also avoid giving them greasy foods, fast food, snack foods, and other junk foods. Whole wheat rice, turkey, chicken, and vegetables are great choices for home cooked collie food, and the occassional scrambled egg with yogurt makes a nice snack. As with human foods, your collies home-meal should be thoroughly cooked as they are prone to catching deadly diseases such as salmonella. Salmonella poisoning can not only be a death sentence for your precious collie, but also for humans around them. It is not recommended for modern dogs to exist soley on home-cooked meals due to the fact that in our busy lives we usually do not have the time to research proper dog nutrition and cook enough food for them every day. Some days we do good to get our own selves fed. As anyone with a dog can attest to, premium dry kibble is a huge convenience, and in most cases, a healthy way of feeding your collie.

Always remember – dogs existed for thousands of years before the mass marketed dog food packages came about in the mid-1900s. Those who cry “no human food!!!” and “dry dog food only!!!” with a vengeance have probably never thought of this fact. Never let anyone dictate that your dog should be confined to a boring, one-brand-dog food for the rest of his life. Research, learn, and create a blended diet of exiting, healthy food for your dog to eat like you would your own child. Just because carrots are a very healthy for humans doesn’t mean we should eat that one food 3 times a day for 10 years. The next time you hear someone demand that no table scraps be given, just take it to mean “No unhealthy human junk food!” —and then point them in the direction of the nearest by-product diner.

* Post Note: This article is not intended to criticize all dog food. I use dry dog food myself, and supplement with an occasional table meal. It is simply a starting point to teach people that dry dog food is not the end all, be all for a dog’s diet – and that it has it’s own negativities.

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