I switched my puppies food to Wainwrights Large Breed....?

You may overfeeding her. Many dogs will wolf down more than is good for them and look for more. Others refuse to eat more than than they need. Evaluate the dog as illustrated in this link, http://www.longliveyourdog.com/twoplus/RateYourDog... You may want the vet to confirm your judgment. Adjust the dogs food and exercise as needed to reach its ideal body condition. Some German Shepherds and other breeds may refuse to eat enough to completely hid their ribs. As long as you are feeding a concentrated, meat based chow, the best thing is to accept it.

The worst thing you can do is to bribe a dog with rich foods into eating more than it needs. Instead, Put down the dish with what the dog should eat, and give it 15 minutes to eat. Then take it up. Do not give it anything to eat until its next scheduled meal. In a few days, it should be eating what it needs. Continue to check its ribs and adjust the food as needed. This is not easy. I had a Shepherd go 3 days on a few nibbles. I was a wreck, but she was fine. It is almost unknown for a healthy dog not to eat what it needs. Unfortunately, in too many cases, it is less than the package says, and less than the owner thinks the dog should have. Many dogs are quite good at holding out for tastier chow. Like kids, sometimes it calls for tough love.

As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with Wainwrights, not that anybody can tell anything from an ingredients list. ALL the talk about ingredients is 100% marketing hype with no evidence they make any difference. If your puppy is doing well on it, I would stick with it or after 4-5 months, switch to an all life stages food. You may be making 2 mistakes, over feeding and feeding a puppy chow that promotes fast growth. Either results in more strain on developing joints. If you want a sturdy Dobe, keep her lean and avoid too rich of a diet.

Wainwrights Dog Food

At 12 months, it is fine to switch from Large Breed puppy food, to Large Breed food. Large Breed puppy food is supposed to slow down (!!!) the growth of the dog, so that it doesn't have growth spurts that will cause bone and joint problems. The dog still grows the same, just gradually and smoothly. After a year, most of the joints are about full sized, although the dog may look like a lean teenager. The dog can continue to grow and build muscle for another 18 months. And you can feed adult food. (yes, it is good to read the package.)

A Dobbie is not a large breed. A great dane is a large breed.

You need to get her on a regular puppy chow.

I don't like any of the brands that you mention. Before going raw a few months ago, I was feeding Diamond Naturals. It is grain free. They have it in a puppy chow.

When looking for a food, look at the ingredients label. The first ingredient should always be a meat. The junk foods usually have corn as the first ingredient. Corn is a known allergin. You may pay a little more for a good food, but you'll end up paying less to vets in the long run. Dogs are carnivores, not vegetarians!

First of all, I'd suggest 4 months is a tad young to be taking her off a complete puppy food much as some people suggest puppies don't NEED puppy food and can do well on adult food from the get-go. I always switched my puppies by 8 months, from puppy to a junior version, if available, but if not, then to adult, depending on how well they were doing. I've used Beta - my Whippet puppy had been reared on it by her breeder who swore by it, for her Whippets. Fact is, not all dog food suits all dogs, and in truth, my Whippet was doing fine on this product, much as it wasn't one I'd personally rear puppies on. And didn't!! I did switch her after the first bag, to Burns (UK).

Re Puppy food, I do stay away from feed that's higher than 28% protein, especially with a medium to large breed as for me, too much protein means too much growth, too fast. And that alone can lead to skeletal problems. Been there with another buy-in too.

Forget about the make up of a Doberman. Yes, the Great Dane was one of the breeds involved in the early development of this breed, but it was generations/decades ago, and isn't relevant now. The Doberman is a medium sized dog - NOT a large breed. Check it out! And as, unless your vet is a Doberman breeder, or deals with a significant number of this breed, via a local breeder whe's dogs he treats, it's highly unlikely he has sufficient first-hand knowledge of the breed. Vets can't possibly know all about every breed! Talk to the breeder of your b itch about what's going on - reputable breeders know their breed, and specifically their own bloodlines, and what works with them.

Add - Wainwrights looks fine to be although I can't find a list of ingredients (I always like to see meat listed first rather than cereals). I can recommend Burns, or Arden Grange, from first hand use however. The Burns people do suggest a puppy goes onto their Adult feed at 6 months. For me, that would always depend on whether the individual puppy is ready for that at 6 months. Some are better doers, than others.

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I switched my puppies food to Wainwrights Large Breed....?

I want to give my puppy a fairly decent food basically the best we can afford on our budget, she started on Wagg but thats just terrible we switched her to Beta Large Breed and she used to eat it all within seconds but then started to get bored, I wanted to switch her again because I heard bad...