My bitch is about to have her first (and my first) litter and I'd like some opinions on food please.  I am trying to decide between AG and RC, and would very much like to hear your experiences of these two foods for weaning puppies, specifically AG. 

All my adult dogs are fed and look well on AG (all were fed on different foods when I brought them from their respective breeders and I moved them over at about 6-8 months).  My bitch was on RC until about 8 months and was then moved onto AG.  I have never had any problems with AG or RC and my decision to feed AG is simply monetary, its approx £8-10 cheaper per 15kg. depending on the 'variety'.

Both my boys were weaned on RC but I have changed both o them onto AG and now added in raw.
A friend had a litter on AG and they did very well on it.

I have used RC because I won a lot of it at shows (they are kind enough to sponsor oru breed club shows), but my pups and dogs get loose on it, and I cannot feed more than 25% of it without it causing looseness.

Never had any issue with AG Puppy Junior or Prestige for my puppies.  Have never used the weaning puppy (as it is on.y meant for use up to 8 weeks) as I use puppy milk mixed with the puppy/Junior or Prestige.

I used RC for years, and raised all my litters on it.  More than happy with results too.  But back at the beginning of 2010 I ordered a couple of sacks of RC mini junior, and paid over £83 for the 2 sacks.  That was at breeders prices too.  They have just outpriced me.

So, yes, great results weaning pups on it, but the price factor is getting to be very important for a lot of us.

My last litter I actually tried the new RC Mousse, which the pups loved, then onto Starter and 2 weeks before leaving onto the Medium Junior range, have used Burns in the past but always had skinny pups, but with RC always have lovely solid pups.

I used AG with my summer litter, they had mainly Puppy/Junior but sometimes Prestige (using up a bag). We didn't bother with the weaning. They all did extremely well on it and 6 months later 4 out of 6 are still doing extremely well on it. Beautiful poos throughout their puppy-hood with me :-)

Are you in the AG breeder club? If not it would be worth enquiring as there are more savings over retail prices.

I use AG and litters raised on it have always done well. I recently looked into RC as so many people use it. Requested info from them on their diets including starter mousse and could not belief what I was reading. The ingredients in my opinion is awful, AG is far superior.

The litters I have raised  on AG have been a lovely size grown evenly and had lovely bone. Also their stomachs were very settled.

We weaned our recent litter onto the Puppy/Junior and didn't have any problems at all with it. All pups were bursting with health, good bone, great coats, and no upset tums at all! Even the one we kept has got to 18 weeks without having one upset tum. I even made porridge by soaking the food & whizzing it up, so didn't need to buy any other foods apart from the odd raw tripe, raw beef mince etc, which was added occasionally. What I like about the AG is that the ingredients are totally natural, unlike many other foods out there, including RC.

All our pups were sent away with a complimentary sack of the food, paid for by myself but with money off coupons, and also cheaper to buy from AG direct. As far as I know, all our litter is still being fed the food, as most people were happy it is a quality premium food & the pups were obviously doing so well on it.

The breeder club is great and AG in general is a really good company to deal with. They are always quick to respond for advice and have in the past sent complimentary food when one didn't suit.

All my adult dogs have been fed this for the past 2 years and by far is the best complete food I've fed them. My boy who has always had a sensitive tum, has the best solid poo's for the longest time since going on their Lamb & Rice. As long as I can afford to feed it, I will.

We are currently rasing our litter on arden grange weaning puppy. I know it says to fed the weaning food until 8 weeks and the puppy junior from 8 weeks. I just wondered at what age you change them to the puppy junior arden grange?

Thanks

I too am interested in this question because you don't want to be changing foods just when they go to their new homes, right?  If I can piggy-back a couple more questions onto it...

Our litter is a far-off planned one for next year, but our dogs are currently fed AG and do well on it. 

I was going to feed the weaning food at first - but I am a bit concerned about then jumping straight to Large breed Puppy, as the kibble is so big for an 8 wk old pup.  I wondered if it would be best to move to Puppy/Junior (not large breed).  And, yes, the same question as the previous poster - when to do this, without changing food just when they move homes.

I also feed AG & generally with litters I start gradually mixing the Junior with the Weaning food at 7 weeks so by 8 weeks pups are totally on the Junior and can be sent to their new homes with a supply of it. Never had any problems doing it this way.

Thank you JaneS we will do the same, so we know the pups are settled on the puppy junior before they go.

That is great JaneS, I will try to do the same.

> I just wondered at what age you change them to the puppy junior arden grange?
>
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I start them off on it right away as Mum will be having it for the duration.  I don't use the weaning stuff as I mix the other with goats milk based puppy milk (Nutrolac) to start with.

All this information is great - Thanks guys... it's covering things that I hadn't even thought of at this stage and would have probably asked later on! ;-)

JaneS - is it large breed puppy/junior that you start to mix in with the weaning or the smaller kibble puppy/junior?

Ditto to the above question!

I use the weaning food for 1 week from 3 weeks of age and then mix with normal puppy /junior. By 5 weeks they are on puppy / junior only

Which one do you feed your bitch on? I assume its the weaning puppy?

> JaneS - is it large breed puppy/junior that you start to mix in with the weaning or the smaller kibble puppy/junior?

Smaller kibble - I have a fairly small breed :-)

Which one do you feed your bitch on? I assume its the weaning puppy? .

I don't I feed my girls on the AG Prestige for the last 2 weeks of pregnancy and for the time they are feeding. The rest of their pregnancy they are on normal AG adult chicken food.

Ah right, ok. Thanks.

> I use the weaning food for 1 week from 3 weeks of age and then mix with normal puppy /junior. By 5 weeks they are on puppy / junior only .

Thanks for this it has helped me decide that is what i will do.

Note on RC - thought to be a superior food i was shocked at the ingredients and protein level (adult food) and when feeding it my Flatcoat was a nightmare - i know flatcoats are hyper but this was rediculous.

As per Brainless, I don't bother with the Weaning, they're straight onto the Puppy/Junior. Obviously initially soaked so they're having a 'porridge' type meal. I was also advised to feed the Puppy/Junior right away from Ness, the nutritionist at AG.

Mum was fed Prestige in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy because I was also feeding this to one of my lads for a little while, so Mum had that too. If I'd not already had Prestige on the go then I would have started Mum on the Puppy/Junior in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy. I did feed her the Chicken Adult previously so that I didn't have to worry too much about a a change in ingredient during pregnancy (she'd been on the lamb and rice before mating), though I don't think there would have been a problem.