Our Favorite Things tried and true

Learning to manage a Golden from diet to coat for overall health is something that comes with experience.  At Hornish Golden's, we have spent many years trying different products and routines to find the ones that actually work best for the breed.  We want to share what we have learned and what products work for us to hopefully help you in your journey. 

We have provided links to each of these products.   

We start all puppies on the Pro Plan large breed formula. We send a small bag home with every puppy in case you choose to switch the puppy over to another brand. We do not recommend switching food for the first week until the puppy adjusts to the new home but then after a week we have instructions for switching their food in the "Puppy Manual" we send home with you.

No matter the brand you choose,  it is vital for hip and elbow development to feed the puppy a "large breed formula" the first year. We also do not recommend grain free.

The largest growth period is from birth to around 6-7 months old. You may see your puppy back off of food around 6-7 months old as their growth slows down. DO NOT PANIC and start putting things on their food to get them to eat. Goldens are smart and this will start a bad habit of them waiting you out for goodies instead of eating kibble. Kibble is the best diet! Offer food 2 times and day and pick up what they don't finish after about 15 minutes and you shouldn't have any issues.

Store all food in the original bag and place the whole bag into a container if you choose to use one. Do not empty food directly into plastic containers this will cause issues with the food.

We love Purina food and have all of our dogs on the Purina brand. Our adult dogs eat the Purina Sport 30/20, this is a high protein/fat nutrient dense food for active dogs or dogs we are asking a little more from like breeding. You feed less food and ultimately have less stools in the yard to clean! That's a win-win! Our dogs stay on this formula year round and mommas maintain their weight during nursing even the largest litters and never lose coat. We would suggest this food after the pups are a year old OR the Purina Pro Plan Large breed adult food.

Our dogs are on vitamins year round.  We ask a little more from them as breeding dogs so a high quality food and a vitamin supplement works well to keep them in the best shape.  

NuVet is a wonderful vitamin and if you choose to supplement with vitamins for any reason these would be our recommendation.  We send all our puppies home with samples and started on the NuVet Plus Wafers.