High fat kibble

[Dog]

Is there any other kibble I could consider, to put some weight on my 20 month old French Shepherd.
I intended using https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-reviews/1368/millies-wolfheart-peak-performance which is quite high in fat and I can't find anything which comes even close to that product.
Thanks.

[Red_Akita]

It depends, is it fat that you want your dog to build, or muscle?
Anyway I have tried Millies Wolfheart (turkey and veg) a few months ago, my dog went really really well on it, which is surprising as foods with such high protein levels tend to give her soft stool. The packaging is poor, basically a transparent plastic bag with a sticker on it, but that's really the only bad thing that I can say about it; everything else was excellent.

[Dog]

He does need to fill out a bit Red_Akita, his hips and ribs stick out and people actually pass remarks about it on walkies.
Maybe he needs some Bakers 
I'm not overly-concerned about him at the moment really as he is healthy enough in all other ways.
I give him 200g of 'Barking Heads Big Foot's Bad Hair Day' twice a day + a LARGE handful of Markus Muhle Black Angus at lunchtime, so I couldn't feed him any more without making him soft at the other end.
I might add that he is a very active dog, which can be a PITA when I'm trying to watch TV in the evening

[Red_Akita]

Some dogs are skinny by nature and, as you pointed out, feeding them more will only complicate picking up after them during the walks
As I said, Millies Wolfheart scores pretty high in the database and I have personally tried it and think it is a good food; I doubt that trying it will hurt your dog in any way.
As your dog sounds very active, you may also want to try replacing intense activity with obedience training (or even show ring training, if you and him are into it): a good session requiring a lot of focus will wear him out (preventing destructive behaviours) without making him burn as many calories as a wild run in a field. Perhaps you could add some fatty treats as reward too.

[Dottie]

Recently I have been reading blogs etc by behaviourists that discuss the issue of over exercising dogs. They believe that by doing this, the owner is actually increasing the dog's stamina and making it a super athlete so it gets to need more and more activity. There was a prime example of this on the Crufts coverage; the owner of one of the agility dogs said something to the effect that her dog did not have an 'off button'.

These behaviourists feel that calmness sometimes needs to be taught, especially if it does not come naturally to the dog. I know that this is controversial but I wonder if putting more and more food into a dog in order to put weight on it is the answer. Maybe it would be worth looking at the issue from another angle.

[Red_Akita]

Thanks Dottie, that was exactly my point... just you expressed it much better 
Obedience and ring craft are two great tools to teach a dog to stay quiet and relax. The surprising thing is that this type of activity really wears them out, particularly if they are "high octane" dogs, who need to apply themselves very hard in order to stay still.

[Dog]

Great replies Red-Akita and Dottie.

I’ve got the Millies Peak Performance arriving today, so I’ll see how he gets on with that.
He is a ‘working type’, so I presume he’s programmed to work ... calm he isn’t !!
When he isn’t wanting chucky he is manically gnawing his Nylabone.
My English Pointer who is 26 months old is a ‘show type’ , very calm, and quite content to lay on the sofa showing off 

Anyway, thanks for your excellent advice. he is a very intelligent breed of dog, as this video shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLsiBOfcIRU&t=2s
So I intend to do some more work with him regarding obedience rather than just wear him out physically.

[Meg]

I wonder if he might benefit with gnawing on a large raw knuckle bone to satisfy his enjoyment of feeding and working at it too!

 This should also help to prevent him from becoming 'loose' if you decide to increase his food, and also during his changeover to another food.

[Dog]

Yup, good point, Thanks Meg. My neighbour, a 78 year-old Cornish farmer has often said the same thing.
Cody the Pointer would have to have one too of course - not much gets past his eyes ... or nose 

[Dog]

I've ordered 14 frozen raw beef knuckle bones from Pets at Home to be delivered on Monday.
They are coming from Natures Menu so maybe I should have ordered from them in the first place
I ordered 14 so as to get free delivery, and will make sure I give Cody & Beau their bones seperately
or there may be fisticuffs  although they get on OK normally, being they are of similar age and both
brought home at 8 weeks old. Raw bones is different though, and might bring out their inner wolf

[Meg]

They're gonna be 2 lucky pooches . Hopefully an added bonus will be if both dogs take their time and settle to thoroughly enjoy those bones ... I've had a dog that could happily gnaw on a large bone for the best part of an hour, bliss...

[Dog]

Nature's Menu delivered 14 raw beef knuckle bones this morning at 8:45am coming all the way from Bristol to Cornwall!

I've kept 2 bones out for the monsters and the remainder just about fitted in my mini 32 litre freezer.

Exemplary service from Nature's Menu.