need opinions...

Got my puppy, Miley, yesterday and she's just perfect!

Anyway, the breeder was feeding her Nutro Natural Choice chicken meal, rice and oatmeal formula and gave me a small bag. Should I just keep her on this food or switch to something better?

Sorry, didn't mean to start a new thread when started one a few days ago. I wasn't thinking:yikes:

Nutro Natural Choice isn't that good of a food at all, especially not for the price. There are far better foods available.

Then again, the health of your puppy obviously isn't at the top of your list of priorities...

I would just go ahead and switch her to Canidae all life stages. Congratulations on your new baby!

The new baby that was bought from a BYB. Herschel, save those posts you made and copy them into word... they will be useful in the future, even if they obviously didn't help here.

You don't have proof. Show me proof from what he said you can not tell if it is a BYB. When I got my latest Golden the father was not on the premises. What does that mean to you? The father was a stud from another breeder I only saw the mother and I saw pictures of the father. I guess none of us can say for sure unless dogsbestfriend posts where he went so I guess their is no use talking about it.

There were a few key words in the original post that just scream backyard breeder. "AKC registered" "health checked" "both parents on premises" "going to see"

With reputable breeders, I don't think they would ever say "AKC registered" as a positive attribute about their dogs. It is just a sheet of paper. Health checked by a vet doesn't tell anything about hereditary diseases, etc. In a lot (most?) of cases, reputable breeders don't have the father on premises. They're trying to mix their lines with other highly proven lines. As far as I understand, people don't usually "go to see" puppies when they're buying from a reputable breeder. They get in line, put down a (significant) deposit, and wait until the breeder finds a puppy to match the homes interests. Then, the breeder invites the family to see/adopt the puppy.

Well I don't know maybe they just fell in love with the dog and that was it. I know I waited a year on a waiting list for my boy and he was well worth it. I just can't bring myself to bash dogsbestfriend maybe as they do more research they will see. It's not going to matter because they are going to love the dog just like I loved my first 2 BYB dogs

Dogsbestfriend........I would switch to Canidae All Life Stages and see how he does with that one. It's a pretty good food for the price, and if by chance he doesn't do well with it there are other foods better than Nutro you can try.

Not everyone is born with the knowledge of how/why to go to a good breeder or rescue...........we should do our best to help out and if they stick around long enough they will learn the hows and whys

First of all, congratulations on the new puppy, regardless of where you got her from. She's yours now, you love her, and that's all that matters at this point. Good luck with her!


Nutro is not really that great of a food (it isn't awful, but there are much better) and I'd definitely switch her to something else. We feed two of our dogs Canidae (except for the puppy, she eats raw). As Acooper said above, it's an All Life Stages food and they (even my Doberman with an extremely sensitive stomach) are doing extremely well on it. Better than they ever have on anything else. It's very good quality and not quite as expensive as other foods. However, other good foods include:

Orijen (if it's available in your area - chances are it won't be though)
Natura products (California Natural, Innova - not EVO as she's too young)
Eagle Pack (Holistic only)
Solid Gold
TimberWolf Organics

I'm sure there are probably more that I'm forgetting, but if I were you, I'd try that Canidae first. None of these will be available in any large, chain pestores (ex. PetsMart) I'm sure. They aren't where I live anyway. You'll have to find a smaller, privately owned petstore. Most, if not all of those foods have store locators on their websites.

See the thread titled "Golden Retriever help...", where I gave 2 pages of information before she even saw the puppy.

I'm really not liking the Nutro as her poops are a little softer than I'd like.
I will be in search of Canidae tomorrow. I will probably have to end up ordering online 'cause I don't think I'll find it around here.
Thanks for the food suggestions.

Hershel: Can you get over it already and move on????? I did.
What's done is done and there is nothing you can do about it,anyway. I think everyone's heard enough of it.
I don't see why it's bothering you so much. I hope that you can sleep tonight. I know I will.

Canidae is a far better food and will most likely firm her stool...in time.

Puppies typically have soft stools right after coming home for a variety of reasons. You should make sure she doesn't have worms. (This says nothing about your breeder, don't take it as an insult, a lot of puppies have worms) If she's all clear, then give her some time to adjust to the stress of being with a family in an new environment.

Good luck, and I hope you use the advice on this forum wisely. It may appear otherwise, but we're trying to help you.

You asked questions, I spent a lot of time responding. Did you even take my advice into account when you visited the breeder or did you just gush over the cute puppy?

If you don't want advice next time, don't ask.

Yes, I did ask questions. And I very much appreciated the advice everyone gave. And in the end, I made my own decision. A good decision. And it should have ended there. But it didn't and that's why I got upset. And all I did was defend myself, because I felt I had reason to. I happen to be a grown woman and don't need anyone telling me what to do. LIke I said, I appreciated everyone's output and advice, but in the end, I'll make the choice that I feel is right for me, not anyone else.

You seem very defensive for someone who went to a good breeder!

Whatever you say, Fran27. Can you get over it and move on as well? I will not be replying to this thread again.