Hiya it's been a while.

I have a GSD bitch, who displayed aggressive behaviour as a puppy, the folks on this site advised me to take her off pedigree chum complete as the high protein had been linked to these behaviours.  It did the trick, I took her off the complete put her on the tinned and used a mixer, since then we moved to France and everything was ok till two months ago.  France seems to have stopped stocking any mixers in supermarkets or pet stores, all that is available is the complete dried foods.  I tried adding some Lydog complete to her food and sure enough 3 days later she was yampy again.  In the meantime I am using pedigree chum small bite mixer (not very staisfactory).  Can anyone suggest a low protein alternative complete (preferably by Royal Canin as that seems nost widely available) I am at my wits end try to stop her ADHD tendencies.

Jean

I would take a look at additives aswell as protien content in the food.Any dry food that has 'pretty colours' has unnecessary colourings added...a bit like giving excessive food colourings to children.
Try putting 'premium dog food' into a search engine and look for a complete with a good meat content and no additives.Its a bit hard giving you info on exact foods since I have no idea what is available in France.
Burns seems to be a widely recommended good quality food.
Regards
Nikki

I work my dogs during the shooting season and they go onto a food with a 24% protien, during the rest of the year they are put down to a food with 19% protien. My spaniels would be absolutely climbing the walls if they were kept on high protien out of season.

Additives and colouring can also play havoc with activity levels. It would be well worth looking at all of the food on offer, checking protien etc.

Good luck with your search, it may well be worth contacting some manufacturers in England to see if they export to France and where the stockists are.

I am not sure that pedigree chum complete has high protein levels, does it?  What is the percentage of protein content as a matter of interest?

As dogs in the wild eat mostly protein I am always at a loss on what evidence and information people put forward to support their view that protein levels per se cause behaviour problems in dogs.

It is far more likely that other triggers are the cause which could be:

milk
cereal
colourings
preservatives

etc

If she has ADHD tendencies as you call them have these been verified by a vet or a behaviourist or is she just a dog with too little mental or physical stimulation?

I completely agree with tohme! The average protein % of a raw diet is around 30-35%,this is what dogs are meant to thrive on.

In your post you mentioned pedigree,royal canin,mixers and lydog.I wouldnt feed any of them,as each has questionable ingredients which would be much more likely to be detrimental to a dog than the protein levels,and from what i remember pedigree's levels are rather on the low side,and royal canin achieves their high levels through corn gluten meal and not meat. Look at the sources of the protein first, before blaming it ;)

FTR one of the foods in my dogs rotation is 36% protein,all derived from meat(grain free).Myself and the countless others who i know who feed this food have had no problems with so called hyperactivity.

>have these been verified by a vet or a behaviourist or is she just a dog with too little mental or physical stimulation?

Ditto this question.

OP...any chance of telling us which foods you can get over there? I would think it sounds more as if your dog is reacting to something in the food, rather than the protien content. (Like the kid with the mars bar effect :) )This is not uncommon. If we knew what foods are available, and their content, then maybe someone could better advise. :)