Chow newbie-What's a good regular diet for chows?

[Shan&Kayla]

I adopted our 4 year old red female Kayla from the local shelter back in January and it's been great! She has fit into our family perfectly! She is soooo even tempered, laid back, well behaved-she even learned to "shake paw" afew days ago VERY quickly She gets along with everyone that comes over, and is even buddies with my two cats and my 3 year old (I never leave her alone with my daughter, because kids will be kids...). She is super patient and tolerant I brush her a couple times a week and try to get a good brush out done on her regularly too. She HATES having her tail and all that thick fluff on her rear and the back of her rear legs brushed so Sometimes I end up chasing her rear in circles lol! I try to be gentle and at least get it brushed once in a while so it wont get matted. She gets bathed about once a month unless she gets really dirty playing in the yard. I have a few questions that I hope you all can help me with. Am I doing the right thing as far as caring for all that fur? I have tried to read stuff online, and I hope I am doing well with the bathing/brushing etc. She is on a good commercial dog food right now, and gets a spoonful of peanut butter maybe twice a week for a treat, but I was wondering if there is anything special I should give her besides that. I saw a post with something about eggs and milk? I can't go nuts on anything expensive, but do want to take good care of her Also...the weather started changing for spring and she started to blow her coat a bit, and seems pretty itchy. I had her vet check that out since I had her in for her rabies shot anyway, and he said her coat and skin look fabulous, and it's probably itchy from her shedding, or maybe a touch of seasonal allergies. I have heard it's ok to give your dog Benadryl to help with this...What would you reccomend? Thanks!
-Shann

[jen fortunes mom]

fortune eat a good quality dog food that is lamb and rice. i had my other chow on it as well before she passed away and i get nothing but compliments about her coat. for treats i sometimes give her a small bit of cheese or when she was in classes we would use hotdog as per the lady there. generally she doesnt like alot of treats and she didnt like those greenies when she had one of those i gave it away she just used it like a toy not something to eat. she just rolled on it and flung it around. i have tried other things but she doesnt touch them. so cheese is the treat in our house and thats about it besides her food. oh one time my daughter dropped a piece of steak on the ground and she was into that as well

[Jeff&Peks]

Anytime someone says their Chow has itchy skin problems I take it for granted they are feeding them imnes. Pekoes Vet says a cup of imnes is like giving a Chow 5 chocolate bars, if you look at the grooming topic I mention what Pekoe went through with her skin. I feed Pekoe Nutro lamb and rice for skin, we havn't had a problem in 6 years except for a few hot spots. I think with a Chow just stay away from anything with wheat or corn fillers in it and you should be OK. Almost all the others in here have had skin problems at one time or another so will recommend other foods but Nutro worked for us.

[Shan&Kayla]

Thanks! I figured I should switch to a lamb and rice formula. The shelter had her on iams dental, so I will finish this bag up (it's almost gone anyway) and get some lamb and rice!
-Shann

[kingalls]

Like Pekoe, my two Chows are fed Nutro products. Although it costs a bit more, I offset it by not having the vet bills for skin problems. Whatever food you choose, you need to do the expansion test. If you put the kibble in water and it swells twice it size – don’t feed it to your Chow! This can become a bloat problem – another vet bill you want to avoid - but more over, it can be a life/death problem for your beloved Chow. I also have heard that food products with wheat can cause problems.
I find that our Chows don’t really eat that much. Their morning breakfast consists of one can of Nutro food mixed with the meat of 2-3 chicken thighs (no bones!!!). I buy the chicken thighs at Costco for 99 cents a pound – costs me about $20 a month. For the rest of the day they have their dry Nutro food. We put out one bowl which we refill about twice a week.
As for treats, they like their Baa-Baa’s (lamb livers) or Dingo Chicken Jerky. Of course, they also make out in the mornings while we are making our lunches – they wait for things to fall off the counter – ham slices, egg yolks, carrots…. Try the baby carrots!
Just curious….it’s just amazing how gentle they are about taking food from our hands – they are so careful to just take enough without touching too much of our fingers…does anyone else notice that?

[Shan&Kayla]

I have noticed that Kayla is always very careful when eating out of our hands she never gets slobber on me unless she is giving kisses of course
-Shann

[Guest]

A Chow must be the true definition of don't bite the hand that feeds you, Pekoe is extremely gentle when taking food from our hands.

Nutro sells a dental food also I've been thinking about trying it, I give her a dental biscuit every mourning.