cindere528 Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 Up until recently I have been feeding my dogs Wagg Worker, partly because they like it, partly because they seemed to do well on it & partly because it's cheaper than a lot of others. (Worker is typically £11.50 for a 17kg bag, normal Wagg is about £9.50 for a 9kg bag) Anyway, I've been having behaviour problems with Betsy, she's been very destructive when I've gone out & left her. I don't leave her very much, perhaps an hour 3 days a week, occasionally 2 hours, but never more than that. Pansy is no bother at all, she just settles down & sleeps, it's just Betsy that's the problem. So, I tried switching food, & put them both on normal Wagg a couple or three weeks ago. I wondered if the Worker mix perhaps had too much protein, or too high calorie ratio, thus creating lots of energy. It's taken a few weeks, but I think Betsy is getting better. I've just been for a swim, I was out for about an hour & a half & she's been fine. She was ok yesterday when I went to do a bit of shopping too. Is it possible that the food is the solution? Or is she just growing up a bit & realising that knocking chairs over, eating CDs, candles, shoes & clothing is not the thing to do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackmagic Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 It is very possible the food was the problem if she has improved but I don't think it is to do with protein levels, probably more likely one or more of the ingredients. My dalmatians behaviour improved when I took carbohydrate out of his diet- I switched to a raw meat and bones diet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I really couldn't do anything other than guess I don't think. There is only 1% difference between protein in the two products and though a little more meat /animal derivatives in the worker the main ingredients appear fairly similar if you read the labels so I doubt that's it. However the worker does contain various vitamin B which may be used to boost energy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindere528 Posted October 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 (edited) Thanks for the replies Switching to a raw diet isn't an option I'm afraid as I don't eat meat myself and would find handling it extremely distasteful (I know, I'm a wuss ) Maybe it is the B vitamins, I've no idea but whatever it is, her behaviour seems better on the normal Wagg food. She's not perfect (what dog is?) but she is definitely better than she was. Nothing in the house has been destroyed or even damaged in the last week or so . Here's hoping she keeps on improving, I do love her, but it's so annoying to find destruction every time I go out. Edited October 25, 2012 by cindere528 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greygal Posted November 1, 2012 Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 I'm sure you are right. We got a sack of 'worker' recently by mistake, instead of the usual 'complete' and ours are definitely more hyper than normal. As nothing else has changed, I can only think it's the food. They are perfectly fine on a mix of normal Wagg and Arkwrights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindere528 Posted November 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2012 I'm convinced it was the food, Betsy has improved no end since putting her on normal Wagg. Ok, I did start giving her a stuffed King to occupy her if I went out, but the last couple of times I've left her, she hasn't had a Kong & she's still been good. I've got builders in at the moment & even that isn't sending her wappy, she's just a normal happy doggy now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackmagic Posted November 5, 2012 Report Share Posted November 5, 2012 Many years ago One of the pups I got had been fed on Cobbydog and knowing nothing about kibble I carried on with it and also fed to my adult dalmatian. He was already unfriendly to strange dogs ( he needed calm introductions) but he became very reactive and jumpy and one day he attacked his own shadow, which had appeared when we went round a corner. I changed his food and he calmed down again- but still didn't like unknown dogs approaching him. My retriever was fine on the food but something in it affected him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindere528 Posted November 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2012 Just to update this - I had to leave the dogs for 4 hours yesterday, the longest I've ever left them. I was organising a Coffee Morning in Church, so it was unavoidable. When I got back, they had both been very good girls (well, Pansy is always good), no mess, no destruction. I'm more than ever convinced that it was the Wagg Worker that made Betsy wappy. I still won't be leaving them for that long regularly, but it's nice to know that I can leave them for the odd hour or so now 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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