My 11 week old GS puppy has been having Pro Plan lamb & rice  and was fine, I recently got a large sack of the chicken variety (on special offer ), and have been mixing it to gradually change him over, but by the end of the day his poo becomes very runny. First one of the day is normal and firm, then his next one ( usually after tea ) is runny, as is the one after his supper. I know I'm not feeding him too much as he is barely having more than he was at 8 weeks, the only difference is that I have been adding a bit of the chicken variety. He is happy, full of energy and growing well, but it isnt so easy, or nice cleaning up minature "cow-pats" !!! It would appear to be the easy option to go back to the lamb variety, but its a 15kg bag I have!!! Also, people seem to have such a wide range of advice re which brand is best, what do you all suggest in this instance???
One other thing, should he be classed as "large breed"?? his adult approx weight is 29kg, which puts him borderline, in his puppypack from the breeder she says to feed large breed puppy variety, yet she supplied me with the normal puppy variety! At 11 weeks he weighs 9kg and is growing rapidly - should I go onto a large breed food??

Chicken

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (Min) 28.0%
Crude Fat (Min) 18.0%
Crude Fiber (Max) 3.0%
Moisture (Max) 12.0%
Linoleic Acid (Min) 1.6%
Calcium (Ca) (Min) 1.1%
Phosphorus (P) (Min) 0.8%
Vitamin A (Min) 15,000 IU/kg

Ingredients:
Chicken, brewers rice, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), whole grain corn, corn bran, natural flavors, egg product, hydrolyzed sunflower oil, dicalcium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, choline chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), riboflavin supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite. O-4458

Lamb

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (Min) 28.0%
Crude Fat (Min) 18.0%
Crude Fiber (Max) 3.0%
Moisture (Max) 12.0%
Linoleic Acid (Min) 1.6%
Calcium (Ca) (Min) 1.1%
Phosphorus (P) (Min) 0.8%
Vitamin A (Min) 15,000 IU/kg
Vitamin E (Min) 100 IU/kg

Ingredients:
Lamb, brewers rice, chicken meal, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), whole grain corn, corn bran, egg product, natural flavors, dicalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, salt, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, riboflavin supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite. E-4472

It may not be the "flavour" itself that your dog has reacted to but as it is only 11 weeks old a reaction to the formula in genera.

Personally looking at the corn gluten, wheat, corn, corn bran not to mention the rice I would say that is a lot of different cereals to include; would not be happy feeding beef tallow which is essentially rendered beef fat to my dog either.

Just a thought.

wow! detailed reply, Thanks alot - what would you suggest as a better alternative? Want to give him the best, would you recommend normal puppy size, or large breed?

I don't have a Gordon but I do have Weimaraners which are a similar size dog.  I do not feed commercial dog food to my dogs any more but when I did, I did not class them as Large Breed however those who have Gordons on the site are obviously more familiar with your breed than I.

If I was going to feed a commercial dog food I would choose to use one as "simple" and "natural" as possible.  A lot of people have had a great deal of success with Burns if you prefer to feed a dry kibble or alternatively Naturediet if you prefer a "wet" food.  Both of these only contain meat, rice and veggies.

However this is just my personal point of view.  Not ALL dogs do well on ALL foods; a bit like us :D (I function best on a diet of Thorntons Chocolate and cappucino) :D

I just take the view that "less is more" when looking at ingredients.  And corn, wheat, soya are prime factors in allergies/upsets etc.

HTH

I would treat them as large breed.  I know Gordon a Gordon breeder, and they are one of the breeds whose Hip status is not as good as some, and they go through some very ungainly difficult growth stages, so best to bring them on slow but sure.

As far as foods go I have found Arden Grange Lamb and Rice excellent for delicate tummies, but it only comes in the adult version which I think is around 26% Protein, so would be OK to bring a Gordon puppy on more slowly.

Type the name into a search engine, and you will notice they do not hafve soya in their formula, and use more meat in their formula than most.