[Bonnee H]

...What's the best food for them? Thank you all for all your answers, I have researched my female for over 2 yrs before I bred her. I have always been with german shepherds and I know how important it is to due research in backgrounds for traits to improve the breed. My female was a virgin till this year and I bred her to another amazing male, the sire of her upcoming litter. With all the reports on dog foods lately I wanted to be sure I was up todate on best left on the market now. Sorry if some of you just thought of me as another PUPPY FARM!!! NOT ME but so glad to hear all the heads ups and advise. TKU

[Ivey]

Having GSD's myself and new puppies as well as working at an animal clinic - I recommend Purina Pro Plan. The dogs can be fed adult food - though you might consider feeding the mother puppy food while she is pregnant and nursing so she can intake the calories she will need. There is also a Large Breed formula of Pro Plan that would be great to give your puppies the first 6 to 8 weeks of life. After that I would recommend feeding normal puppy food and not the growth because larger breed dogs can develop panosteitis which is a rapid growing of the bones as puppies and can lead to issues a little further down the road and contribute to issues such as hip dysplasia. Basically it causes the bones to grow too fast for the dog and can lead to them becoming lame and having a limp as well. But Pro Plan is an excellent food and will not in any way be affected by the recall. Plus the chicken and rice flavor is generally loved by all! Have fun!

[Bruce O]

I respect you for at least doing your research, but let me inform you of something that not many people know. Germany has a very strick process for the breeding of German Shepherds. Males can not be bred to females till the have received their SCHUTZHUND 3 title, and females can not be bred till they receive the SCHUTZHUND 1. Also, they will not breed until the heart, hips and elbows of both parents are certified. This helps to cut down in puppies being born and then growing up later to have these problems. Males and females can only be bred so many times total in their life, not in a year, but in their entire life.Now for the bad part. Germany has an orginaztion similar to AKC but they are devoted to SCHUTZHUND (sorry I do not know the name of the orginization). When the litter is Whelped, they come to the location. Of course any white puppies are destroyed without question, but what some people do not know is that they have a set number of those puppies that are allowed to survive. For example, if the litter has 12 puppies, 8 of them are selected and the other 4 are destroyed. They care not about the temperment or anything else, just the control of the population. I use to work for a German Shepherd Rescue and in the 2 years that I worked with them, we had over 200 dogs come through our orginization. That is the ones we could help. I would go to the local shelter every week, and sometimes there were 3-4 dogs in the shelter. The point is, there are too many dogs, especially German Shepherds that you should really consider not breeding them. However, if you do, get them some titles first. Even if it is just AKC show ring titles, at least a best in breed or 2.