hello  I'm not sure and wonder if anyone can help me out.
what sort of  protein and fat percentage should I be looking for in a puppy food, adult weight will be about 32kg ish
so I believe he will need to grow slowly.

thank you

Hi belinda-jayne, you will probably find that your breeder will give you at least a few days suppy of the food they have raised the litter on. It would of course be worthwhile having a conversation with the breeder about what food they use or what the breed does well on in their experience. Another thing is you could speak to some other people that have the same breed and see what they feed to puppies.

As Nursey has said, speak to the breeder to find out what they are weaning the puppies on and what foods are good for the breed. Also what is a good food when they are younger puppies might not suit when they get into older puppyhood.
Your breeder should be very happy for you to ask these questions.
You've got plenty of time as noticed that the bitch isn't even in season yet let alone been mated lol.

Someone is very excited :-)

hi nursey thank you for your reply.
I know what the breeder uses but I wish to change I was thinking of skinners
but not sure which type the one thing I do know is I do not want a food filled with junk

suejaw
thank you yes just a little and I will have a word with the breeder
I know I have plenty of time yet just want to get myself sorted
all the way from a to z lol

It will be sensible to keep your puppy on the same food that the breeder has been using for a few weeks.
If as you have said, you don't want to feed any "Junk" then why consider Skinners! their products are full of various fillers;  maize, rice, beet pulp!
If you are looking for a better quality food for your puppy without any "junk" in it, you should be looking at some "Grain free" products and this includes rice which is also used as a filler.

There are a lot of good quality grain free products on the market, these may seem more expensive but as the quality is so much better and with no junk in them much less is needed at feed times.
Orijen, Acana, Applaws, (filler in Applaws is "beet" a root product, not a grain ) and especially Millies Wolfheart are fantastic products. ( all Millies Wolfheart product prices online include delivery )
Customer services at Millies are fantastic and will discuss your needs with you.

There are many more good quality grain free / junk free products that may be easier to obtain.

If you don't want to feed 'junk' food, research raw feeding.  But I would introduce this slowly and certainly stay on the same food as the breeder while pup settles in and over vaccination period to minimise changes

I also recommend raw feeding and researching it well - that will keep you occupied for a while ;) There's some great Facebook groups such as BARF UK & Raw Feeding UK - very friendly, informative and helpful.
There's no need to go slow, I've recently got a new pup, fed him what his breeder gave me the day I got him and straight onto raw the next day. He's flourishing.

If you're going to stick with kibble, then I also recommend going grain free. I use Simpsons, either their 80/20 range, or their 60/40, or their Sensitive range.

This is a really good site for comparing the brands of dog food available in the UK:

http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/

Generally speaking, it's usually best to be guided by a reputable, knowledgeable breeder - nobody knows better what works for their breed, and more specifically their bloodlines.   I'm all for not piling in a food that's high in protein - and that's often coupled with too much of virtually everything else.   Not all food suits all dogs so perhaps the best, initially, is to ask the breeder.   Having said that, my most recent bought-in Basset was on Royal Canin Junior which has a protein level WAY higher than anything we reared our puppies on.    And although it may have always be going to happen (not unknown in the breed) he went lame around 7 - 8 months which took me to Pano.   He had full front to back x-rays but it wasn't Pano but premature closure of the growth plates (I'd left it for a few more months before getting the x-rays done), ulna, both sides.   The result eventually was too much turn-out in front, even for the breed!   I was warned about the possibility of arthritis (we opted for no surgery and it would probably have meant more than the one in any case) but he's over 6 now, and fine.   We had him on antiinflammatories for the lameness initially and he has had a couple of 'episodes' since but not for over a good number of years now (watch, he'll go lame now I've written that!).   And actually the degree of turnout isn't as bad as I'd initially thought it would be.   I've seen worse in the ring!!

If you do switch, choose a product that's no higher than 26% protein and don't go for the 'breed-specific' food - this usually only means the size of the kibble is different.   And one that lists meat, or fish, as the first, main ingredient.    Don't go for a cereal-based food.

Add -   My Whippet came from somebody I'd class as a good breeder but she used Beta.   This I'd not normally touch so after almost finishing the bag she gave me, I switched her onto Burns Puppy at the time.   They are both now on Arden Grange Sensitive because in addition to his growth plate problems, my Basset had Giardia early on which left his digestive system 'sensitive'.   On AG Sensitive, for a number of years now, he's been fine other than a recent colitis episode following a routine dental  ...... (long story -  not for here now).  A repeat fecal re Giardia proved to be negative, for anything.

hi all thank you.
you have all given me lots of food for thought here
I will do a bit more digging around
my last dog had IBD and a lot of eating or should I say lack of it problems
and they say lab's are dustbin's not in my case
once again thank you all for your help and taking the time to reply

I feed raw too and my last puppy was changed over from a kibble to all raw within 2 days, no tummy troubles and started to blossom within days!
A raw diet is not high in protein, the product is extremely easy to digest and very good for our canine friends.
I just assumed that the first post was only wanting to feed a kibble, maybe I should have taken more time and read it more slowly!

Another one for 100 % raw feeding. I changed my last pup over immediately  with success. With pups u can add different proteins quicker than with adults. As debbo suggests there a number of good raw feeding groups on fb .I like the two she mentioned in particular but also Ann rid yards book the dogs dinner available on line is excellent and consist. She also started raw feeding UK and has a website if u arnt on fb  . With regard to kibble millies Eden and orijen are certainly considered some of better ones and arnt full of fillers but for me it will always be raw as first choice

When my bitch had one pup i only had her 4 weeks and she poped one pup out i never new she was in pup
i phoned breder that bred my liver n white pointer
she said to start of feeding wet down weetabex then start on puppy food i started on chudlays puppy mix its like working mix put finer and feed wet down then pup was put on chudlays puppy then junior bisc
best thing is to go what breder recomends
best of luck and have fun with new puppy