Last week on the way to pick up my son I saw a small dog sitting in the grass by the side of the road in the rain looking like a drowned rat.
I pulled off, and went toward him, he took one tentative step away and just sat down looking exhausted. I picked him up and put him into my truck. I keep a leash in the car for just such occasions, and slipped it on him, but it wasn't needed as he let me pick him up he was so exhausted.



Brought him home and made him comfy in the garage. I sat out with him until we went to bed picking burrs out of him and posting his pic to social media lost animal sites, local humane society, etc.

Here he is with his first bowl of food after finding him:



and crashed out after the food while I picked burrs out of him:



I've wanted a dog for years, but the timing just hasn't been right. About a week prior I had described the perfect dog for us to my wife. It was essentially this dog. I've always liked Aussie shepherds and given my wife's criteria of size and temperment I figured one would be perfect.

Given this I thought it weird that the stray I pick up just happens to be exactly what I'd described. I knew that this was someone's dog though so I knew we had to find his home, and spent the last week doing everything I could to do that.

Well a week later we have not had a single lead. Even his microchip was a dead end.

So after some discussion we decided to adopt him as our own.

Say hello to Buster as named by my 5 year old. These are after a bath, brushing and cutting out some matted fur.





with a toy I gave him





We went shopping today for supplies for him and I was a bit overwhelmed by the food options.

Anyone have recommendations for a good basic dry food to feed him? We were given some Diamond brand food from a neighbor and he seems to like that, not sure where it ranks in terms of price or quality though.

Thanks in advance.

Not sure why my pictures aren't showing. Are they showing for others?

I think Diamond Brand is a decent dog food but, in my opinion, Orijen is perhaps the best dry kibble.

Hopefully Jeff will be along shortly to advise and I would take any advice from him as gospel.

Edit to add:
- unable to see pictures - but would like to!
- a good site to review different brands of food, recalls, etc.
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

quote:

Originally posted by ubelongoutside:

Not sure why my pictures aren't showing. Are they showing for others?

I see blue squares with white question marks. If I right-click on those icons, I have the option of viewing the photos in another tab or window; that works for the first, third, and fourth photos, but the second one is a dead link.

He is a nice looking dog. How is his personality?

He cleaned up nice and does not appear to be a stray. Looks like great dog!

not sure what is going on, I got a pic to post, but it was HUGE!

Standby for pics.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by ubelongoutside:

Not sure why my pictures aren't showing. Are they showing for others?

I see blue squares with white question marks. If I right-click on those icons, I have the option of viewing the photos in another tab or window; that works for the first, third, and fourth photos, but the second one is a dead link.

He is a nice looking dog. How is his personality?

Personality is great. He is very sweet. He's become my shadow and won't leave my side if I'm in the house. We've left him with the babysitters last night and he whimpered at first but settled down.

He's great with the kids, and loves any attention he gets from the wife.

Need to get him to the vet to be checked out this week.

I was able to see first pic,he is a sweetie, them I clicked next pic and the shif started by knocking off the forum and that next pic was a big ass guy eating out of the frying pan on the stove
Damn that was gross.

Beautiful dog, congratulations!

I asked my vet, which food was best. I'm reading from my notes here - She said "Sorghum is bad".

She went on to say that anything that is Science Diet quality or above should be O.K.

Good luck with...what's his name?

There got the pics fixed.

Thanks PHPaul for fixing a couple too.

That is one happy looking pooch! Good on you for rescuing him! He will love you every day of his life.

Thank you for picking him up!

I’ve become a fan of Fromm dog food. For our dogs, no stomach issues and good coats.

Ah. Much better.

You have a friend for life!

Handsome pup, hard to believe somebody abandoned him.

That is a beautiful tri-colored Aussie. Incredibly intelligent. Loyal too. He will make a great life long companion. Congrats to you both.

Surprised no one is looking for him.

Wonderful! We are on our second rescue and, like his predecessor, he is a gift from heaven.

Have you taken Buster to the vet yet? He needs to be tested for heart worms.

Blue Buffalo and Taste of the Wild have been good to our Bichon...but she is prone to yeast infections. Our groomer (not our vet) suggested reading up on Yeast Starvation Diet to fight yeast infections.

Sure is a good looking dog you saved, happy trails to both of ya.

I like Victor for dog food. It's about $1 a pound at the loc feed store. We started with the Professional Formula, but switched to the Hi-Pro Plus while we where in Michigan for the summer because it's what the feed store up there had. It's almost the same, but has something that makes our dog's coat look fantastic, so we are sticking with it.

Victor strikes the balance between price and quality for me.

First off, that's a great looking hound. Thank you for being a good person and providing him with a good home.

For a good quality reasonably priced dry dog food, hit Chewy.com and look at their house brand, "American Journey". It rates very well, and my hound has does very well on it. Best of all, you have lots of choices of recipes.

And word to the wise, vets are not a great source of which food is 'best'. Your best source of info for that is your own research online and someone like member Jeff who owns his own pet store and has been into dog food forever.

When you do the vet check up have him tested for allergies. Yes it's a bit expensive, with the blood draws and lab work but you will know what he can and cannot eat. Believe me, this will save you and him a fair amount of frustration and pain.

Part of the lab work paperwork you get back should include foods he is allergic to outright, foods that he may show some reaction to, and a list of dog foods (both dry kibble and wet) that avoid the foods on the list.

Then it's just finding what he likes!

Great looking pup!

Hard to miss the huge smile on that dogs face.
Looks like he adopted you!