Best puppeh food?

Subject: Dog food

We have been using Blue Buffalo (http://www.bluebuff.com/) for years and my guys love it. They also have puppy food for large dogs. Whatever you decide to get make sure that the first ingredient is a real protein - no chicken meal, etc... The food may be more expensive, but you will end up saving a ton of money in vet bills. Good luck with the new puppy.

Pictures or a link to the pup?

Specially formulated puppy food is sold primarily for the human buyer, not the dog. Too much protein encourages long bone growth which is not in the dog's best interest. This is especially inportant for the larger and/or heavier breeds including labs, mastiffs, Danes & others. Many serious (show, performance, etc.) breeders feed their puppies adult food. Any good food (look at the first 4 ingredients on the label) should suffice. Individual dogs, like individual people, prefer one food to another. Feed you pup what it likes and thrives on.

I'm a believer in high-protein grain-free food for dogs. I'm not psycho about it; my girl gets some treats and human food with grain from time to time, but my personal belief is that it doesn't need to be as large a part of her diet as many traditional pet foods have it. Some have corn or wheat as one of the top three ingredients - unacceptable, imo. Most of the foods I go with use potato or sweet potato to provide carbs.

I only buy food that is at least 30% protein. I think the highest I've seen is 42, but I usually aim for the low-mid 30s. I also rotate my dog through different foods. Right now I'm feeding (and very happy with) Orijen Adult; here is their puppy product: http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/puppy.aspx

Re the "meal" (e.g., turkey meal, chicken meal, etc.) - I'm actually okay with the presence of "meal" an in ingredient list. Meat = just meat, while "meal" = meat, bones, skin, etc. I think it is perfectly fine for canines to eat bone and skin and organs... The other thing about "fresh meat" vs. "meal" is that fresh meat has a lot of water weight in it that dehydrated meal just doesn't have, so in the end the pup is getting more "animal" per ounce with meal. So since ingredients are listed by weight, a food that lists a "meat" before a "meal" will often in the end have a higher representative amount of the meal than the meat (because the meat gets dehydrated in the kibble production).

Aaaand let me close all this by saying I'm a vegetarian who doesn't even wear leather but respect my dog's need for an appropriate diet. I just find it funny that I'm meat free but she eats the meatiest kibbles possible. But I digress.

Whatever you do don't buy Beneful or anything else with artificial colors in it. So unnecessary and unhealthy.

The above posters also recommended good foods, imo. If you go the Wellness route, I'd switch to the CORE line once pup is an adult.

And puppeh is adorable!

Such a sweet face - congrats again!