THANK YOU Mary! Ok.... I'll go along with the fact that commercial dog food is not all that it could be. Some are dangerous...some are extremely dangerous.... and others are just a little dangerous. But unless we are nutritionists with a specialty in canine feeding our best bet is a good commercial dog food (one that is just a little dangerous). When I was a child we had German Shepherds live 12 years on table scraps and Kennel Ration my parents bought at the grocery store. We never had dogs with "food allergies". And never had one bloat or torsion until the early '70's. The fact is: most of the health problems in the breed have been because some of us want to excuse known problems in our breeding stock to get a show winner. And when a show winner is produced from those dogs they are bred to with no regard for the possible problem. Before you know it there are dogs everywhere with that problem... EPI, heart problems, spinal problems (dead tails and dragging toes). Thanks again for the voice of reason. Gary Lewis **************Stay up-to-date on the latest news - from fashion trends to celebrity break-ups and everything in between. (http://www.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000024) ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2008. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================