I'm going round and round about this.

We keep talking about doing RAW, but just can't find the space to have a good freezer and our setup is not the best. But it might happen down the road.

Orijen and Acana...I've been feeling rather ambivilent about them lately. Between the price increases and availability issues...ehh not feeling it. Orijen is probably more expensive than feeding RAW now. And if I'm going to pay that much for dog food, then I might as well just suck it up and do RAW rather than anything processed.

So bring the suggestions on! Elsa gets Natural Balance and EVO Red (we just started adding the EVO back in after a break because I thught it might be causing an ear infection, but so far so good). I don't want to feed either to a puppy. I like the idea of a single-source protein for puppies, but I don't think the LID foods quite pull it off to feed if you don't have to. NB has been a god-send for Elsa, though.

Oh, and I'm trying to avoid chicken. Elsa is allergic to it and so many dogs have chicken issues I don't really want it in the house or to bother with it.

I fed Natural Balance to Havoc and it was recommended by the breeder if we did not do raw. I had him on the Venison and then switched to Duck and then Fish.

I have Cooper on Fromm puppy gold

I have finally decided to listen to my dog food guy and start baby puppies on limited ingredient diets (even with <gasp> grains) because it seems like when I do that, there are great results. He said it's similar to the idea that we don't feed babies a full Thanksgiving meal, but start with giving them one thing, then after a while, another.

I like to keep that calcium/phosphorus thing in mind, I try not to give a fancy protein, but do something like chicken/rice, lamb/rice. I have done the California Naturals and liked the way that worked a lot. Then I work into something like GO! Salmon/Oats or the Pinnacle foods with lesser ingredients, and then let them eat the bajillion ingredients in other foods as they hit 8-10 months.

With that, or actually now that I have learned from diarrhea, and then going backwards, then forwards, I have dogs that can rotate without issue every two months (KW).

I have Riva on Canidae Chicken and Rice. It's an all-life stages formula and it has the appropriate calcium and phosphorus levels. I prefer adult food over puppy formulas and her breeder also starts his puppies on adult food. In a few weeks I'll be changing to another protein and carb formula, haven't decided which one yet. I like to change protein and carb sources every 3-4 months as was recommended by Dr. Karen Becker at a food summit. She says that's a way to prevent food allergies from developing.

See, that was kind of my thought with those foods. They are just so "blah" as far as nutritional oompf. I just feel like dogfood as so much carp in it sometimes that an 8 week old puppy doesn't need and less can be more. Maybe I will just start off with and LID food and see how it goes. I've had SUCH good luck with NB. The foster I've had have all ended up on it eventually when other foods don't work out well. It is definitely not a 6 star food, but they do what they do darn well.

I think that this is an important article:
http://www.dogcathomeprepareddiet.com/adaptation_to_the_diet.html

This talks of very young pups, but I think the process is important as they age, much to what you allude to:

Age for Development of Oral Tolerance
Animals must be able to develop oral tolerance when they are weaned and begin eating new foods. It is unknown when a puppy or kitten has the maturity to develop oral tolerance. It is estimated that they must be older than six weeks. If new foods are consumed before that age, it is likely that oral tolerance will not develop. Feeding a new food to which an animal has no oral tolerance is likely to result in allergy to that food.

Lots more good stuff in that article by Strombeck.

I feed all my dogs an LID (California Natural, usually the Lamb and Rice). Nikon, Anna, and Pan were all switched to this as little puppies and did/are doing great. Nikon was weaned to Nature's Variety, Anna to Wellness Core, and Pan to Fromm Gold. In each case I got some of their food and switched over to Cal Nat.

I've wondered about the food being palatable and the dogs getting sick of it over time but of all the foods I've tried over the years everyone LOVES the Cal Nat LIDs. Pan will do obedience for it the same as a high value treat and Nikon used to get it on his tracks.

Sometimes I wonder about variety so occasionally I toss the dogs raw beef marrow bones, raw venison, raw eggs, and other table scraps but certainly not at the volume of actually feeding raw/homecooked. If I'm running low on kibble and trying to make it to a Sunday (when I see my friend who supplies me), I often feed the dogs meals of raw meat, raw eggs, cottage cheese, salmon oil, and random leftovers we probably won't eat but aren't necessarily bad yet.

All my dogs have been very healthy, no allergies or digestive problems. They have clean, healthy coats and eyes. Kenya and Coke have awesome poops on the LID, they are small and firm and basically break down within a day or two like raw poops. Nikon and Pan's aren't quite as firm but they are both still growing and eating a lot (Coke and Kenya only need 2 cups of food total each day).

I am still doing Orijen LBP but at some point would like to switch to a less expensive food, maybe even one I don't have to drive to another town to get. Even the adult Orijen is cheaper and it says it has about the same calcium levels as puppy. I also like the idea of the California Natural Lamb & Rice, not sure how the price compares. I am going to take a look at it. I know it is sold in the local "nicer" pet store.