Sweet potato or regular potato?

 I do not use flour ( wheat , rice, soy or corn) in any of my dog's foods or treats. They are considered "Hot" carbs , ones that feed tumors and cancers.  So I buy Potatoes like you would not believe. When baking cookies I use mashed potatoes as the binder along with egg. when I make the Turkey  Wild Salmon treats I use Sweet potato.

My Big Brother is the Kennel Manager for an Irish Wolfhound / Border Terrier kennel. He keepd a baked sweet potato around ALL the time.  Cutting off a slice they love it.  ( But only when My Home Made, Bwana Bar cookies are gone)  ... I tend to serve them only cooked , no real reason my pack simply prefers it !

Bonita of Bwana

They are both nice for different things.  I use white potatoes for some of the dogs and sweet potatoes for some of the other dogs.  White potatoes are particularly easy to digest and if given with peel, are rich in potassium, vitamin C, and a few other things.  Sweet potatoes provide a nice fiber source and of course have huge amounts of vitamin A (in beta carotene form), and most dogs love the sweet flavor.

When you add starchy foods (plaintain and jicama are a couple other starchy veggies dogs seem to like), remember that they pack a big calorie punch.  That may be fine, actually - but make sure Lillie is getting suitable levels of minerals that are lacking in the veggies, like iron, zinc, and copper (vital to keep the color in that pretty coat!).  Probably it will be fine because the nutrients in kibbles are more likely to be too MUCH than too little, because nutrient requirements per pound level off as the size of the dog goes up.

Most of my bigger dogs or the ones who need a lot of calories get potato to increase calories without increasing those minerals (Ca/Ph in particular), so it isn't a bad thing necessarily. 

Right now I am feeding Lillie TOTW. I just got a bag of Eagle Pack Power Formula. Havent decided to use that or not.

Is corn a bad thing?!! I hear it's not but then I hear it is. I am so confused.

I think I will give Lillie a mixture of regular and sweet potatoes since she likes both. I thought that she could use the extra calories considering we're doing agility now.

I got her some Zinpro chewable tablets but she hates them. Should I even worry about giving her supplements since she does eat kibble?
 

A kibble diet shouldn't need regular vitamins and minerals added.  In fact, you can throw off the balance if you mis-handle extra supplements.  The only exception is omega-3s, which are super low in kibble because they are highly unstable.   So I always add fish body oil, plus vitamin E to help process the oil, no matter what kind of diet I'm feeding.

Extra supplements are sometimes used for particular reasons.  Vitamin C has been shown to help joint health.  Vitamin B complex is good for senior dogs.  I stay away from adding extra of anything else because I don't like messing with minerals and fat-soluble vitamins (other than E).  My dogs do get a supplement mix that includes those, but it's because they are required to provide correct levels of micronutrients not available in the diet I prepare every week. 

- Wash potato with veggie scrubber

- Dry w/paper towel

- Poke several holes all over w/sharp knife

- Place on paper towel in microwave on power level 6 for 5 minutes, leave in oven for several minutes after to continue cooking

- Test w/knife thru middle to see if done. I try to keep ours cooked, but on the firmer side otherwise they get mushy and I like to make small cubes with the skin on

- If necessary, microwave a couple of minutes more, depending on size of potato

- I slice them and let partially cool before making cubes

They love these, but I'm careful not to overdo it. We do them maybe once per week. :)

Further comments --

They are TOTALLY different.  White potato is good bulk, -- a bit fibery, but it's filling.  Just make sure the skin has no 'green' on it -- that's toxic (to humans and dogs actually). 

Sweet potato is almost a squash (except it is a root veg).  High in anti-oxidants - I actually use it as a 'base' for my homecooked food.

Why not white?  I do occasionally BUT white potato is pretty high in oxalic acid which is tough on arthritis -- so *that* is the sole reason why I minimize my use of white potato -- because Billy and Kee both have significant arthritis.

If you are going to add a veg - don't use the same *one* over and over -- nothing is 'safe' when used to excess (absolutelyt NOTHING in this world is 'safe' when used to excess).  Vary it -- Add white potato this week, sweet next, green beans another, etc.  In variety you will help balance and you will minimize risk.  make sense?

Make perfect sense. Now should I give them the extras everyday or just a couple times a week?

I will be so glad for next summer. We will have our own garden growing!!! Im gonna plant a little one for the dogs. Hehe. 

 NEVER feed raw potatos to dogs!  I'm pretty sure they are poisonous.  Not sure about sweet potatoes tho.  Sorry if anyones already covered that.

Edit - I think it's the green parts that a toxic but I will look it up and check. When I say "poisonous" I don't mean fatal... just likely to cause stomach upsets.   

I don't really understand why people add carbs and vegetables to kibble when kibble is so unneccessarily high in carbs as it is.  It's feeding them as if they were human children, not dogs. I'd rather see kibble supplemented with egg or fish or raw meat.   I can understand using potato as a base for home-prepared food, or even as an occasional training treat, but supplementing kibble?  It doesn't do much other than come out the other end.   Same with the veggies, dogs can't even digest them unless they're cooked and mashed into oblivion.

Most of kibble's carbs are from grain and I think the point is to replace part of that with something fresh nutritionally -- and I *think* the OP does add fish/meat as well

I homecook - haven't done kibble in years.  I use veggies as the bulky part of their diet and yes, I do cook/mash them but I use almost no grain and adjust the protein to each dog's needs.

Some folks use kibble out of necessity and sometimes adding veggies may be a good first step towards better diet.  You may want to refer to my post above about not adding just carbs but a wider range of stuff for variety and balance.

 Lillie gets chicken legs/thighs and an egg everyday.

I just noticed that she seems to enjoy potatoes and likes treats containing sweet potatoes more than other treats. Plus I was wondering what benefits they gave dogs.