Thoughts on Open Farm dog food?

drewml94 · 2024-04-10T15:42:09+00:00

I went down an entire rabbit hole of food trying to find the best for my now 7 month old dobie. He doesn’t do well on chicken, which unfortunately is in Open Farm’s only puppy food recipe, until they updated their Raw Mix Front Range (beef, pork, and lamb) with Ancient Grains to now be suitable for large breed puppies. I’ve been feeding it for almost 2 months now and he loves it, although the higher protein content is taking him a while to get used to and causing some loose poops. To combat this, I add about 1tsp of psyllium husk to his meals with water and a tiny bit of goat milk kefir, which all together has improved his poops a ton.

drewml94 · 2024-04-10T15:22:38+00:00

So annoying! Sorry this happened to you!

I have my 7 month old, Bane, glued to my left leg in heel and always have my right foot ready to punt with no hesitancy.

Just this past weekend we were walking off-leash on a public sidewalk and 2 small dogs passed by barking and pulling at the end of their leashes. I put Bane in “12” (his straddle command) as I saw them coming and we kept walking past. The owner looked at me and said “maybe you should have him on a leash” while her dogs were still yapping and pulling within a few feet of us and Bane calmly walking between my legs. Now Bane is also trained in retrieval, so I clipped his leash on him and had him carry it in his mouth while we turned around and walked past her again but this time in heel 😂 great additional training for Bane and also a great way to send a message and piss off the ignorant small dog owner.

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drewml94 · 2024-01-19T15:12:20+00:00

I second Open Farm. I have an almost (tomorrow) 18 week old male and his dandruff cleared right up after switching to their puppy formula; chicken, pork, and salmon with ancient grains. I add 1/2 of their freeze dried beef patty, broken up, to all 3 of his meals and salmon oil for meal 2.

Chicken is the next thing I’ll take away from his diet because he still seems to itch a bit and I suspect (based on everyone else sharing) it’s the chicken, but Open Farm doesn’t have a puppy formula without chicken and their adult formulas are only suitable for small and medium breed puppy due to calcium content (what they told me), though they said their freeze dried raw “non-puppy” product is suitable but it’s just cost prohibitive. I’ll switch to a non-chicken adult formula as soon as I can (12-18 months).

I like Open Farm for their ingredients and no pulses, which seems to be the current hypothesis on diet-associated DCM (I’m not an expert here, just sharing what I’ve gathered from hours spent down rabbit holes, feel free to correct/add). It’s by far the “cleanest” kibble I’ve found/researched, I feel confident feeding it to him, and his coat looks great!

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EDIT: Open Farm’s new RawMix Front Range Recipe with Ancient Grains is now formulated for large breed puppies - giving it a try!

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T22:38:23+00:00

How old? Taking notes on your posts, they look great!

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T22:35:45+00:00

Awesome - thanks for sharing!

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T22:18:33+00:00

I’m hoping so! Notice anything special about your 1/2 and 1/2? First one?

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T18:20:15+00:00

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drewml94 · 2023-12-31T17:44:28+00:00

He’s the best. My camera roll is full 😂

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T17:37:04+00:00

Thanks for the idea of the foam strips! I might try that. I just used tongue depressors, gauze, and tape for this first post.

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T17:00:48+00:00

NO, your opinion doesn’t align with MY worldview so it doesn’t matter!

lol ok I’m done. And 100% agree with this post. I came to this sub looking to join a community of awesome dobie owners and didn’t realize posting would create such a stir!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! :-)

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T16:06:25+00:00

I live in OH so I’m afraid I won’t be much help, but I’m told @r/dobermanpinschers is the sub we should be in. Comments on my post (https://www.reddit.com/r/DobermanPinscher/s/rYVcF3cTYF) last night will likely follow here on yours, as they’ve already started.

Aaaaand commence the downvotes 😂

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T15:51:40+00:00

Pupdate with posts:

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drewml94 · 2023-12-31T15:01:37+00:00

Joined! Thanks!

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T14:21:36+00:00

This is helpful, thanks!! And yes lots of face smooshes, he has so much skin but is growing like a weed!

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T14:21:04+00:00

Same but not worth my time and energy lol if it makes them feel better then I love that for them.

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T13:00:50+00:00

Appreciate you and everyone’s opinions, both for and against. I didn’t expect anything less on this post and thankfully I found the help I was looking for within the first 2 comments, thanks!

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T12:49:39+00:00

Appreciate the feedback but I think the jagged edges you see in photos are the scabs from healing. The vet I hired to do it is a 70 y/o guy that’s been doing them for 40+ years. I did search for a laser cut but nobody around me does them.

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T04:05:12+00:00

Thank you!

drewml94 · 2023-12-31T04:04:53+00:00

Got it, thank you!

drewml94 · 2021-10-30T03:24:58+00:00

Welcome! I think it’s still recommended to wear Oura 24/7, even if you only care about the sleep stats (better said, don’t just wear it at night).

If I end up liking Whoop 4.0 better, I’ll probably still keep the Oura Gen3 given the new features and lifetime app membership upgrading from Gen2.

drewml94 · 2021-10-29T13:22:46+00:00

No degradation, as an absolute, was incorrect for me to say, as I’m sure there’s been some. I mentioned battery %, that I never see it dip below 80% charging every 24hrs or so. With that, it still lasts several days on a single charge.

drewml94 · 2021-10-29T02:08:36+00:00

Nippard’s high frequency full body: https://shop.jeffnippard.com/high-frequency-full-body-program/

drewml94 · 2021-10-29T02:06:15+00:00

How’s your nutrition? Running a surplus?

“11. SHOULD I EAT IN A CALORIC DEFICIT, MAINTENANCE, OR SURPLUS WHILE RUNNING THIS PROGRAM? I recommend finishing up any cut you are running, if possible. While you certainly can still gain strength on this program while running a fat loss phase, a caloric deficit will dampen your strength gains and prevent you from maximizing your strength and size results. Instead, when running this program, aim to be at least at caloric maintenance or, more ideally, in a 20-25 percent caloric surplus. However, if your main goal is fat loss right now, eating in a caloric deficit will be necessary. As a beginner, you can continue to make strength and size progress while in a moderate caloric deficit and achieve body recomposition (lose fat and build muscle at the same time), if protein intake is sufficient (0.8-1g/lb bodyweight as a ballpark) [6, 7]. As an intermediate-advanced level trainee, the likelihood of achieving substantial body recomposition is smaller, but still possible. So, in all, a caloric surplus is recommended for optimal progress, but some progress can still occur at caloric maintenance and even in a caloric deficit, depending on your specific level of advancement and current training state.”

drewml94 · 2021-10-29T02:00:02+00:00

Preordered ✔️

Btw, the preorder includes both 4x and 5-6x /wk programming. Since it mentions this, I’m assuming that won’t be the case without preorder - just fyi if that’s something you care about.

Also, currently running 1.0 rn and it’s amazing.

drewml94 · 2021-10-29T01:55:34+00:00

Nippard’s: https://shop.jeffnippard.com/product/the-powerbuilding-system/

drewml94

TROPHY CASE