Grain-free "all life stages" food for 20 week old puppy?

[Pam & Frankie]

Frankie is 20 weeks and until now, we have been feeding her Eukanuba Puppy Growth (which is what the breeder has been feeding her).  We haven't had any digestive issues with this brand (her poop is regular and well-formed), but we don't think she likes it.  Because she isn't a big eater, we try and leave it out so that she can go to it when she wants, but she almost never eats even close to the recommended amount for her age/weight.  But we know that she's hungry because she will be climbing all over us when we are eating to try and get at our people food.  We guess she doesn't like her puppy food.  More problematically, we noticed that she only seems to want her food when she is ravenously hungry and then will slam it all in one sitting without even chewing...  only to barf it up 20 minutes later.

Given that we were hoping to switch to a higher quality brand of puppy food anyway, we think it's time to make a change.  Because she is such a picky eater, we were thinking about shifting to a higher protein variety.  The DogFoodAdvisor.com recommended a bunch of brands of "5 star" dry food for puppies, but I noticed that many of the names were not geared toward puppies but rather "all life stages".  I am particularly interested in Earthborn Holistic Grain Free and Dr. Tim's Grain-Free (due to price and availability) which are recommended for "all life stages" but are listed as puppy food in DogFoodAdvisor.com.  I've always heard that puppies should be on special puppy food because it is developed for growth.  I've also heard that grain-free could be problematic for large breed puppies because there might be excess calcium.  Does anyone know anything about whether grain free is OK for puppies?  Anything about these particular brands of grain-free?  What other high quality but not super expensive brands can we try that aren't grain free but might be tastier for our pup?

Here is the full list:  http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/best-puppy-foods/best-...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I know we have the critter cabana chart in one of the discussions I linked, have to see if the other one is there. These are good resources.

[Stephanie and Ragley]

I can't tell you how many people I have sent those links plus a link to our recommended food list to! hah

Charts like that are so helpful when trying to explain to people that you can't just look at the cost of food by the price per bag

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Higher protein, calorie dense foods like Orijen are also a great choice for picky eaters, because they don't have to eat as much to get the nutrients they need. :) 

[Pam & Frankie]

Wow, thanks for all of the helpful responses!

So it sounds like everyone agrees that "all life stages" food is fine for puppies.  I will look into Orijen or Earthborn holistic.

Has anyone found that grain-free diets cause their pups to have soft stool?  A coworker said that she found that to be the case and suggested a puppy variety (e.g., Earthborn Holistic Puppy Vantage rather than the Primitive line of grain-free).

Also, to clarify so that you don't think we're bad parents - we don't free feed Frankie all day - she is "fed" in the morning before we leave for work, and then once around 11 am and once around 3 pm by her dog walker (though the reality is she only eats about a 1/2 cup at most in the aggregate during this time).  At night, she rarely eats when we put it in front of her, and since we don't want her going hungry, we leave it out.  Maybe if we find a kibble that she actually likes, we can put her on a more regular schedule.  We also definitely do not let her eat any of our people food and have been working on training her to stay down when we eat.

Frankie is also not motivated by food rewards in general, which makes us think she might just be one of those small eaters.  Fortunately, the vet said her weight gain has been totally in line with what is expected, so hopefully she hasn't been negatively affected by the Eukanuba.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I have never heard of soft-stool being caused by switching to a high quality grain-free food. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Many people have switched to grain-free in order to firm up their dogs' stool, and it almost always works. Grain-free foods have less fillers and therefore less waste material, so you usually get firmer stool and lower stool volume, too. I disagree very strongly with your co-worker. 

Regardless of whether your pup likes her food or not, I would stop offering her food 4 times a day, and all evening. The dog walker can offer food either at 11 or at 3, whichever is furthest from one of the meals you give her, but not both. The frequent feedings may be contributing to her lack of interest in her food. Perhaps if that 3 pm feeding is eliminated, she will eat more of her dinner. I would also stick to your guns and not leave the dinner out more than 30 minutes. 

Please read that discussion I linked for you. You will see that no matter how much a dog likes a new food, eventually they become bored with it and stop eating it eagerly. So no matter what you switch her to,and no matter how much she likes it, in a couple of months you are going to be right back where you are now with her eating habits, unless you make other changes than just the food. 

[Pam & Frankie]

What if she refuses to eat during the day?  Do we still only "feed" her once in the evening?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You "feed" her 2 or 3 times a day, in the morning, the evening, and if you want to, the middle of the day, but you give her 20 minutes to eat and then you pick up the bowl, period. Unless she has an actual medical condition, I promise you she will not starve herself. She will start to eat more of her food when she has the chance. 

[Pam & Frankie]

Just as an update, we just switched Frankie to Earthborn Holistic Grain Free "Meadow" flavor and she LOVES it.  We tested it out by mixing a few pieces of each on the floor and she literally ONLY ate the Earthborn and NONE of the Eukanuba.  I think now that she doesn't hate her kibble, we can actually feel OK about feeding her 3x a day since she will actually eat during her feeding times!  So happy!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Glad to hear it. I hope she continues to do well.