Big Paws Only Dog Forums

So i'm in the pet store tonight, and one of the staff people who come to find out trains dogs on the side came up to Kodiak thinking he was a Shar pei/sheppard mix ...  i myself came home and looked up a picture of a Shar pei, (which i have never seen one before)  and it got me to thinking, their posture is very much like an akita's and kodiak's,  the forward leaning body when standing, and the curly tail,  and the first picture i found had almost the exact same coloring as Kodiak, with that lighter strip of fur right behind the shoulders ... hmmm

Thanks for the assurance, i did notice that it looked like these better foods recommened less per day. That is nice.  Of the 3 I listed (Canidae, Natures Variey and Eagle Pack) Which order would you rank them nutritionally?  I'm stuck at work right now and all this stuff is just rambling through my head.  i think it's about to start spinning! haha

Do you think Kodiak isnt eating as much because of the lower quality food he's on right now?  Some days he eats his whole daily allowance, and somedays he eats 1/3 of it .. it's so random, and i dont feel like he's put on any weight since his last vet visit, over a month ago, at the same time i dont think he's lost any weight either.  I feel like at 12 months old he should still be putting on weight.  Thanks all for the great responses! 

I've been doing alot of reading on here the past couple of days about dog food, and it really has me questioning what i'm feeding.  Reading alot of posts, both old and new, i've learned alot about food.  I know that there is no "right" food, and every dog is different but after looking over the ingrediant list of Kodiak's current food, i know i can do much better by him by changing his food.  Right now i've been feeding him Science Diet Large Breed Lamb meal and Rice recepie, i guess more out of ignorance than anything.  Now that i feel more informed i feel guilty about making him eat this food any longer.  I noticed that his eating habits are "weird" to me.  I'll give him his whole daily allowance in the morning (8am?) and he doesnt usually touch it untill maybe around 5pm.  ANYWAY  ... Anyone feeding Natures Recepie Large Breed?  I was looking it up online and the ingredient list looks MUCH better then the SD that i'm currently feeding:

Ingredients: Chicken meal, oatmeal, pearled barley, brown rice, poultry fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), chicken, brewer's yeast, dicalcium phosphate, tomato pomace, salt, animal digest, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, chicory, alfalfa nutrient concentrage, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), inositol, niacin supplement, vitamin A supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, beta-carotene, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfate complex, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), minerals (zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, iron proteinate, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), L-carnitine, glucosamine hydrochloride, choline chloride, chondroitin sulfate, yucca schidgera, rosemary extract

Any Thoughts?  i just want to make sure i'm not feeding him the equivelant of McDonalds cheeseburgers everyday!

I usually do take him for about a 1/2 hour walk before i leave for work in the morning.  If he's not ready thats ok, like i said, i just felt bad about keeping him on lock down.  This is my first dog in many years so i'm still getting used to having him around, and dog proofing the house is the next step.  The big thing i'm worried about this the cupboard below the sink where the cleaning supplies are, he's only attempted to get into there that time i left him home alone, never when i'm there.  Going to have to find some kind of child proof lock or something. Great responses!  Thanks All

I feel horrible about leaving Kodiak in his crate when we are not at home.  About a month ago, I tried leaving him out of his crate since at that point he had gotten to the point where I was sure that he would not "go" in the apartment.  So I decided to let him roam free, but limited him to the Kitchen, (which happens to be the biggest room in the apartment, and has tile floor so messes would be easy).  Well there are 4 Doors in the kitchen, the outside door was obviously locked, the bathroom door was shut, the doorway to the living room (no door) and the door to the bedroom, (which doesnt latch, just friction shuts).  I put Kodiak's kennel in the doorway to the living room to block that off, but left the door open so he could enter his kennel, and put a couple of chairs in front of the bedroom door to discourage him from going into the bedroom.  The first couple of days went real well .. no problems, no trouble, he wasnt all riled up when we got home like he usually is when he's crated.  Then the trouble began.  The first time he got into the garbage ... probably my fault for not thinking to put that in the bathroom with the door closed, but there wasnt much in there so no biggie.  Second day,  the guys came to mow the yard, and Kodiak just HAD to see whatever that noise was that he was hearing, knocked the chairs to the bedroom over, got in and chomped the blinds about halfway up all the way down in half and had them all over the bedroom floor when i got home. My girlfriend said that it looked like an alligator chomped them right downt he middle.  Strike 3 was when he got into the cupboard below the sink, where he got into a box of 250 garbage bags, which were all over my kitchen floor ... luckily he didnt get into the cleaning supplies which are stored under there, i never would've forgiven myself. 

So after strike 3 he's back in the kennel and doing ok, but when it's time to go in, he mopes around and avoids the kennel, and i feel terrible about putting him in there.  Anybody have any suggestions about a way to let him run free when he's home alone and keep him occupied enough that he doesnt get bored and get into trouble?  Usually i leave a TV or radio on for him for some noise and obviously some lights if its going to be dark when i get home. Would he have gotten less bored if i would've left the whole apartment for him to roam around?  Obviously i'd have to leave the blinds up a little for him to look out so we dont loose anymore of those.  Thanks for any help!

Well finally got some other pictures resized so here they are 

Hi,  my name is Chris and i just stumbled upon this forum and thought i'd check it out a bit more.  Over the summer I adopted a "puppy" which we named Kodiak from the local humaine society, an Akita/Bullmastiff mix.  He's been great, and turns 1 year old this month.  We've had him for about 4 months now.  I really wanted an Akita for a while and did alot of research on them.  Then I saw Kodiak up for adoption right in my town, and a couple of days later I adopted him.   

I tried to put up a profile picture, but havent been successful at it yet but i'll keep trying.