I have a georgous 16 week old samoyed puppy. We started feeding her on beta puppy food, but were told at obediance classes that she needed a low protein diet. I have bought nutro and James Wellbeloved food. Can anybody out there help me to choose the correct food - I would like to stick to the dried variety. Does it make a difference that she is a sam, do they need a special diet.

Love from Paula - the user name is my husbands !

As your puppy is still very young I wouldnt worry about all this talk until she is older. The best thing is to find a good quality puppy food and stick to it. Try talking to her breeder she is porbably the best one to give you advice on the matter not her trainer.

Hi there. I read your post with interest as I was told
the same when I started my Golden at puppy classes.
Apparently a low protein diet would make her less
boisterous and easier to train. Both my breeder and
my vet said the same thing. New puppies have always
been boisterous and thats what the training is for.
I kept to the high protein quality food as advised and
found a different trainer.

I thought my experience was a one off but obviously
a new training fad is creeping in.

Enjoy your puppy. JAQ

JAQ, thanks for your interesting reply. Which quality high protein puppy food do or did you use?

Paula

It's not a fad. I work, obedience and water train my dogs so they have enough exercise etc. I would not feed my dogs anything above 19% protein. I have fed them the high quality high protein diets and they've been up the wall. Let's face it, like everything else in life what suits one doesn't suit(sure I've spelt this wrong) the other. Try different things (gradually of course) and see what suits your puppy best.

I too feed my adult dogs a low protein diet, because that is what suits them and keeps them in the best condition for work and for showing, but I would never recommend any breed of puppy of 16 weeks to be fed low protein, what about their growth pattern, you are risking stunting their natural growth. Sorry but anyone who has got to resort to reducing protein content in order to teach obedience, needs to re-learn the art of training a puppy.

All of my puppies stay on high protein ( I feed Omega Puppy) until they are a minimum of 8 months and longer if they have not reached their adult size and maturity.

Good god, can you imagine the outcry if in order to have well behaved children we limited their protein content as babies!!!

Well said Daz !!

Yes I agree too much protein can be a bad thing froma behavioural point of view. There's much debate about complete meals - different size/types/ages of dogs need different percentages of protein, minerals etc - so not sure how this guaged in complete food. I tend to feed the barf diet, although because sometimes I can't always get mince with bones and all, ( I went off giving whole chicken wings as having multiple dogs, even if fed in seperate rooms, they tend to bolt them and not chew them properly ), then I supplement with, actually, as recommended by an expert, a low quality complete food. Another additive in complete food is calcium, which in too large doses can exacerbate things like HD in such breeds as GSDs, ( so I read ), so I was very dubious about feeding my GSD puppy solely on this and worried that some people even supplement calcium on top of complete meals - which apparantly is not a good idea.

After having kept dogs for 17 years....I have always really fed them 70% tripe or mince with veg and good quality scraps ( ie not Korma Curry and chips !)and always found my dogs to be lean and healthy and bouncy, but not excessively so.

Just, my opinion and personal preference by the way ! Not a criticism of how others do it ! I'm not interested in converting anyone to this diet - nor would I feed any other way now ........ but I do find the issue of what's in complete meals and how it affects dogs, both in the long and short term, an interesting one.....just as I am equally concerned that I probably eat way too much processed food - so no wonder I'm a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde !....I'm sure some of you will agree.....he he.

Hi Paula
I kept my Golden on eukanuba puppy and then
junior dried food. I know that not all dogs are the
same but I do believe that for the first year or so
while their bones are growing and developing
they need a good diet such as above.

Mine is two years old now,healthy with a lovely
coat and obedient(in spite of her diet).

Happy days JAQ

My clumber is 18 months old and eats Eukanuba Puppy and Junior for Large Breeds. She was picky and we went through Salters Puppy Food and James Wellbeloved before she decided she liked the Eukanuba.

I know that it's in their interests to sell you something, but their puppy advice line was very good.

I'm no expert here but I have heard many people say that certain brands do make their dogs or pups very over the top - not in a normal boisterous way, but in a crazy way. Makes sense?

I have been seeing a lady whose JRT x Bc is crazy on several different varieties of food including Hills, Eukanuba and Padigree Chum, but is great on good old Chappie - full of energy but not climbing the walls..

I really think we all have ot be sensible here and just feed our dogs what suits them, and if they do seem as if they are clinbing the walls then ask ourselves why, is it just normal or is it a problem?

Some dogs do respond better to lower protein diets - it may not even be the protein content but just because it is a differnt food perhpas? differetn additives etc? - but one must be so careful with puppies. INcidentally don't forget that the amount of protein on the canned food does need ot be calculated and may not be what is stated on the can, because of water content etc etc. The dietary analysis can be horribly misleading!!! :(

Euk puppy used to send my young Cocker up the wall - changed him to Nutro and he's still very lively but much better.

Pam n the boys

I have to say that I totally agree with Lady Dazzle, a high protein diet for PUPPYS is essential for a growing dog, I have a 7 month old GSD who I had on Beta puppy till a month ago, he is now on Beta Junior and will remain on that until he is fully grown at 18 months. He is wonderfully calm and placid, more so than my two year old collie boy!
High protein diets are important for proper bone growth and muscle development, especially I think, in large dogs. If a pup is too hyper, this could be a hereditary thing depending on his bloodlines, rather than his food.
Training is very important, I agree, but with hyper pups you just have to be calm and relaxed, please don't risk their health just so you can have an easier time of it!

Hi, the trouble is people have their own ideas as to what is high protein. Complete puppy diets range from about 26% to nearly 40%. I would have thought that a well grown and well covered 16 week old med breed puppy would need around 28%-30% complete, which some may consider "high protein", which it may be for an adult, but not IMO for a puppy. I sometimes feed my Westie puppies higher protein than that if they are not coming on well enough, but they are a very quick maturing breed, unlike the med-larger breeds, and you only have 9 months or so to get them to their adult frame, though they keep on maturing for several months, they have oiften made their max hight by then.

the other thing that confuses people is that they think the wet foods are lower in protein, which in fact they are not. You have to compare the dry weight of the two types of food. a tinned food say that is 8% protein and 82% moisture is actually over 40% protein by dry weight. A dry food of 25% protein and 8% moisture is about 27% protein by dry weight.

Feeding the meat with biscuit reduces the protein level, but I know lots of people with pet dogs that stop giving the biscuit as the dog leaves it (probably giving too much so dog has the chice to eat just the meat!)