Some people really spoil their dogs.

Instead of buying food specially formulated for larger breeds, a friend of mine actually buys ground beef and cooks this along with the family's food, serving it to her Berner in a bowl.

The dog doesn't eat at the kitchen table, but eats his ground beef in a bowl on the floor while the family eats.

Wouldn't dog food for large breeds be better?

I thought something like Science Diet or Iams would be better than ground beef!

Many Bernese love a variety fresh food - small additions of yogurt, cooked or lean raw meat or fresh fruits, like banana, apple or pear and vegetables like carrots, broccoli, squash, cooked pumpkin or yams can also be added.

I think it depends on the brand of dog food. There are some who think Iams is far on the list of acceptable dog foods, as is Science Diet. Nature's Variety came with a high recommendation.

A very good site on the different types of dog food and ways to feed your bernese is at sagekeep.com

Find out what your dog's breeder recommends you feed your bernese. After all, they do have a little experience in the matter!

I'd ask the vet what they recommend and keep in mind that there are different nutritional requirements as any dog goes from a puppy to an adult. I'm against table feeding dogs and giving them 'human food' regularly. Kibble and treats now and then are enough to keep a dog happy and healthy in my experience.

In my experience, dogs that don't get table scraps live a much longer healthier life. I usually buy the premium dog food such as Iams and supplement it with Ribs and vegetable soup from the store.

While it may be true that Berners do enjoy a variety of foods, it is important to give them specially formulated dog food for larger breeds. Well, I've read it somewhere. The reason given was that such will give them the right mix of protein, fat and minerals for proper development.

We just recently started Riley on new food. It's called Blue. He Loves it!!!!!! Has anyone ever used it before?

We've been feeding Kaleva Innova Evo large breed food. At first we got her some puppy treats by Nutro but I read horrible things about that brand making dogs sick. We have since switched to Blue Buffalo treats. She gets whole carrots and peanut butter as treats in her Kongs.

I have never heard of that food I will have to look it up, but just the name sounds healthy. Riley likes carrots too. Also I make him frozen treats with lowfat yogurt and apple / pear baby food. I mix it together and then freeze it in ice cubes trays. He loves it! But it starts to thaw our really fast and makes a mess, so I just give them to him outside.

Ollie is fed mostly raw, poultry necks beef or tripe chunks beef mince or tripe mix, with yoghurt (natural) raw egg couple of times a week crushed clove of garlic, tsp honey, mix veg and fruit if not included in the food, salmon oil, joint formula and he is also getting a small amount of Orijen kibble as this is meant to be very good.