diet, mixing 2 formulas

Question
QUESTION: I have a 12month old GSP. He is an extremely fussy eater. ALso has never had very consistant solid stools. He has done the best on Canidae All Life Stage, no gas, decent stools, shiny coat, but he isn't crazy about the food itself. I recently tried a sample bag of Wellness CORE (no Grain 34% protein)& he likes it alot. I am unsure of giving him such a high protein diet & it costs a fortune where I am. ($35 for 15 lbs) I was wondering if it would be OK to combine some of the CORE with the Canidae, which would give him more incentive to eat, be a little more affordable & both are high quality diets. need an outside opinion as I would expect both companies to say no. Thanks.

ANSWER: I think your distrust of the dog food companies is well placed.  I trust the people selling what you need to follow their home made diets even less.  The only ones I do trust are the dog guide school I have been raising puppies for since 1991 and other similar schools.  They have a tremendous wealth of experience in caring for Shepherds and other large breed dogs, perhaps even more than the dog food companies.  

I trust what they tell me about maintaining dogs at the right weight.  Likely your dog is being a typical light eating Shepherd.  If otherwise, you like the Canidae, I would go back to it, and see how thin he gets following this:

Put down the dish with what the dog should eat, and give it 15 minutes to eat. Then take it up. Do not give it anything to eat until its next scheduled meal. In a few days, it should be eating what it needs. Continue to check its ribs and adjust the food as needed. This is not easy. I had a Shepherd go 3 days on a few nibbles. I was a wreck, but she was fine. It is almost unknown for a healthy dog not to eat what it needs. Unfortunately, in too many cases, it is less than the package says, and less than the owner thinks the dog should have. Many dogs are quite good at holding out for tastier chow. Like kids, sometimes it calls for tough love.

In many cases, it is best tolerating having a Shepherd's ribs showing a little.  If it goes beyond that, then you might try something different.  There is no real reason to go to the expensive, premium chows.  Remember, you can't trust anything anybody selling dog chow says.  And you can't always identify who is selling dog chow.  The people that spend $35,000 training dogs that they give away, feed the dog Pro plan or other common brands.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Your advice makes a lot of sense & I will try the 15minute time limit. I want to clear up that he is a GSP (German Shorthaired Pointer), not a GSD, (I should have been more clear, they are often referred as GSP's amoung those who own them,) That being said would your advice stay the same?
Thank you for your outside'not dog food company' answer, & I will stick with the Canidae.

Answer
I am sorry, I have been behind recently and very likely I was rushing and saw GSP as GSD.  The only thing I would say differently is that I don't have enough experience with the GSP to know their typical eating habits.  That isn't important.  Even if they typically have the same gluttonous eating habits of typical Labs, yours doesn't.  I once had a Lab that I had to switch from regular Purina to a concentrated, meat based one to keep enough weight on him that I could take him out in public.  Perhaps it was living in a house with a half dozen Labs and Goldens, but my friends had a GSD that wolfed down her chow.  

It is not just the dog food companies I don't trust, but all the small distributors that are selling dog chows and other products as a side job.