Diet problems for German Shepherd rescue boy

Question
I have had my german shepherd for just over two months now and he arrived to me very thin but had been in kennels with german shepherd rescue for about 6 weeks.He had very loose stools whitch did not settle. I then tried him on a sack of chicken Iams and was giving him the full amount over two meals then three meals a day .He poos at least 5 times a day large amounts. Another problem is he eats his poos and I have to follow him around to pick it up reaaly fast. I was recommended to try CSJ glutten free lamb and rice ,it is a good bit firmmer but still large frequent stools. His coat is shiny so dont think it is his pancreas?? he is also full of energy but still skinny, everyone recommends different foods  Help...Carol

Answer
I would put him on a bland diet for a week and see if his stools firm up.  

If a dog is having trouble keeping anything down or continuing diarrhea try this out of the manual I have from a large, knowledgeable dog guide school.

Bland recovery diet for dogs.

3 parts cooked rice, one part boiled hamburger or chicken, or cottage cheese. I think you can substitute boiled potatoes for the rice. Once in an emergency, we bought a plain baked potato from Wendy's.

This is meant for short time settling a dog's digestive tract. It is not the complete and balanced diet they need long term. I have seen it work.

Some German Shepherds and other breeds may refuse to eat enough to completely hide their ribs. As long as you are feeding a concentrated, meat based chow, the best thing is to accept it.  Everybody recommends different things because many people are selling this, that, and the other thing.  There is very little published on the results of studies of how dogs do on different diets.  I trust the dog guide schools because they are giving away dogs that will cost a fortune to replace when they can't work any more.  They are mostly feeding common chows such as Pro Plan and Iams, and most of their Shepherds do fine on them.  Another source of info that seems to be objective is http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/images/nutrition-off.jpg  It presents a number of different viewpoints some of which I disagree with and have no hard data to back up their opinions.

Try him on the above bland diet.  If after a week, he is still too loose, try hamburger and potatoes.  Once you have him firmed up, make a slow switch to a dry kibble.  I would start with one of the common ones.  Give it time.  I have a year old Lab I am raising for a service dog school.  They recently changed from Iams to Purina one.  Even though I made the switch over about week, it took a month for Holly's stools to firm up.  They are still larger and firmer than with the Iams, but still easy to cleanup.  

I think some dogs process food less efficiently than others.  Several year ago, I had a Lab that I had to feed about twice as much as other Labs, and larger softer stools.  I didn't see it as a problem, and never tried different chows.  If you find a chow that produces well formed stools, but not urgent bowel movements, you might stick with it.  I certainly wouldn't experiment with him on the home made diets many suggest or sell recipes for.