Hi,

I'm a new breeder, and was hoping some of you more experienced breeders can help me.

I can see that a few of the premium dog food companies offer special Breeder Club schemes which offer discounts and packs to give away with puppies, and I'm wondering which one is the best, and what the benefits are?

Obviously, diet is an important to me to give my litters a good start. I'm breeding a gundog breed, and I've been feeding them on Fish4Dogs food. They've just launched a Breeder Club, but I can't see the details/benefits until I actually join up. This seems to be the same with other Breeder Schemes as well, so it's hard to compare them. Does anyone know how they compare on price and other features with other Breeder Schemes like Royal Canin, Eukaneuba and Purina, etc?

Thanks in advance,

Mike.

hi mike if it was me and your happy with the food you feed your dogs on ,id stick to them if they now have a breeders scheme ,most of them offer the same now days ...im with purina because my dogs eat that food , but not only do you get a 3kg of puppy food for new owner you get the food to wean the pups onto , but if my dogs didnt eat the food i wouldnt join them ...not sure about the other schemes :) x

I agree -I think what matters is what you feed and want the pups reared on. I no longer use any food that has a breeder scheme so I make my own puppy packs up, same with the cats.

Hi, I'm with the rest of them.  Stick with the food that you know works for your dogs and you trust.  The breeder schemes are all well and good, but some foods aren't easily accessible for new owners to get.  I was with the AG breeder scheme, I received quite a big discount on buying my food, but I actually got that 'cause I have more than 3 working dogs, rather than as a breeder.  Their breeder pack used to include 1kg food, a bowl (stainless steel so that was worth getting - am fed of with being given plastic bowls free 'cause they just go in the nearest bin) and some publicity for their food - all packaged in a very expensive box which must have cost a fortune to post!  They then cut the food and gave a money off coupon. However, where I live you can't get it unless mail order - this bumps the costs up for new owners.  The latter 3 you mention I have no experience of (nor wish to have on moral grounds :-) so don't know what they offer.
Really, I would stick with what you know and trust and what you know your labs thrive on.

Hi what part of the Country are you Mike??

Mike

I think you will find that a lot of the breeder schemes are starting to reduce the freebies thay used to have.  I can only give you my own experience with Royal Canin. 

The puppy packs used to be worth having, but they have recently stopped all that, and you get a voucher to give the new puppy owner, so you need to give them a supply of food yourself, to get them started. 

As I use the mini junior for my two toy breeds, and they thrive on it, I don't intend looking around for an alternative, but I am sure that the recession is hitting a lot of suppliers.   My large dogs aren't on the same anyway, but I agree that you need to go with what suits your dogs.  ;-)

I'm with RC too, their puppy packs really have gone down hill.  What I do is give the new owners their voucher on one of their visits, so they can get their free 4kg bag  before taking pup home.

Have to agree with JeanSW though, the packs are no where near as good as they used to be.  But my dogs thrive on it and that is the most important bit.  I certainly wouldn't change their food just to see what freebies I get.

I'm with ProPlan,large athletic breed.They send you a 3kg sample for each puppy to take with them,and as I joined the scheme on-line,I got a total of 42kg feed free to the door.This may depend on the size of your litter and breed though.Their only condition is that you supply them with names and addresses of the new owners,so they can contact them.I've always asked their permission when they sign the puppy contracts for me to do this though,as I'm not sure if it goes against the data protection act.The pups thrive on the food too,there's not much waste out the back end either!