I see mixed opinions???

[The Food Group]

 I will be feeding my puppy Taste of the Wild puppy formula and I've seen scattered around this forum others opinions on if a puppy needs a puppy formula or an adult formula and How would I know if she needs a giant breed puppy formula? She is a standard F1 Goldendoodle. She will be around 7 weeks when i bring her home.  I have also seen that someone switched their Doodle over to adult formula at 3/4 months of age? I am confused. I just want to make sure I start off going in the right direction

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

Most people start their dogs on whatever the breeder has been feeding, even if it's (pardon my expression) crap. After a week or two when your pup settles in, start transitioning over to the TOTW.  I would feed a puppy, puppy food for the first 6-9 months.  Your girl is probably going to be big 70-80 lbs (but you have to look at the parents to be sure), so I would say leave her on the puppy food even 9-12 months and then transition her to adult food.  I think the giant breeds are the danes and the mastiffs and the bernese so most doodles aren't that big, but again, how big are the parents?  Karen from the food group can give you great advice if you need it going forward (she's the expert).  This is just my 2 cents.

BTW, welcome to the doodle world, pictures please, when you get her....

[Meghan & Buster]

Busters parents were 45 and 50 lbs.  I was told he would be no larger than that.  Well...at his last weighin 2 weeks ago, he was 65lbs at 8 1/2 months.  Someone told don't go by the parents weight, but the weight of their parents.  Buster is still growing!!  A breeder told me about a puppy weight estimator website that can give you a round a bout figure on how big he would be at adult.  I hope it is off, because it estimated 97 lbs!!!  Either way, you will love your doodle...no matter how big he gets:)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Many if not most doodles end up bigger than either parent. As you know just from observing humans, an individual's height isn't usually the average of the two parents, lol. With mixed breed dogs, the variations can be much greater than with purebreds. Females are usually smaller than males in any breed or mix, but I would not be at all surprised if you puppy ended up bigger than her father. It does happen. 

Even so, she doesn't need a large breed formula.

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

It is good you know the size of the parents because then you can estimate the size of your pup. Probably your dog will be 50 lbs max so definitely not a giant so relax and feed her the normal puppy and normal adult food.  I was assuming (always a bad idea) that because there was a golden in there , she might be bigger but that is because my golden was 85 lbs.  That's what I get for assuming....

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

First, I hope that "around" 7 weeks means at least 7 weeks and maybe a few days more, because no puppy should ever leave the litter before the 49th day of life, and in fact, that's a law in many states.

At 7 weeks, a puppy has only been eating solid foods for 3 weeks at the most, and their digestive systems are very immature. You must continue whatever the breeder has been feeding for at least two weeks, even (as Jeanne says) it's absolute crap. There are many reasons for this. If you click "Back to Food Group Discussions" right under your name above, then click "View All" in the FG discussion section, you will be able to search past discussions for info on this. Do not change or add anything about the puppy's diet for at least 10-14 days, including treats and chews.

There is very little difference between large breed, small breed, puppy, adult, etc. formulas. Most of that is marketing gimmicks. Although the large breed formulas say they are for dogs over 50 lbs, in reality, they are really only necessary for giant breeds like Irish Wolfhounds and Great Danes that are expected to go over 100 lbs and take 2 years to reach full maturity. You do not need a large breed formula. You will have more options if you stick with ALS or adult formulas. Plain old puppy formulas are fine too. The TOTW puppy formulas are relatively new, they all used to be ALS foods. The TOTW puppy formula should be just fine. There really are no hard and fast rules for feeding, and every dog is different; what works best for one won't work for another, so a lot of it is trial and error. A lot of foods are ALS, and meant for all ages. Switching from puppy to adult is kind of arbitrary, bnut is usually done when the dog reaches full skeletal growth, which is around 9-10 months for standards and earlier for minis.

The most important thing is to make changes slowly, and never add or change more than one thing at a time.

 

[BG and Gavin]

Hi Laurie.  What Karen said about feeding :).  Just to add though, please keep you puppy at the breeders until it is a least 8 weeks old.  Alot of learning takes place from their peers in those last two weeks, including bite inhibition.  Let your puppy have the full benefit of that learning.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree strongly, particularly when there are young children in the home. In some states, it's against the law to sell a puppy before 8 weeks. There are only two states that have age laws that allow a puppy to be sold at 7 weeks; most require them to be 8 weeks old.

Table of state laws on minimum age a puppy can be sold:

http://www.animallaw.info/articles/ovuspuppysaletable.htm

[BG and Gavin]

Laurie, not questioning your love or capabilities at all!  It is just conventional wisdom and research that sets the mark at 8 weeks.  Can you pose this question to your breeder?  Eg. "All my research says that puppies should stay with their litter until 8 weeks of age.  Why do you let them go at 7 weeks?"  Heck even if you look up a puppy on kijiji it warns you that the dog should not be rehomed until 8 weeks of age.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Like BG says, it's not about your capabilities as an owner, it's about puppy stages and bite inhibition.

The doodle breeders for the most part are different than the purebred breeders with whom I had experience all my life, because with doodles, it's strictly breeding for profit. I dealt with breeders who did not have more than one litter a year and were breeding for show, agility, or obedience  prospects, and didn't really care if they sold the puppies or not. With doodles, there are issues I had never run across before, including wanting the puppies gone ASAP. Not meaning to criticize anyone's breeder, but this has been my experience. The DRC has had several doodles relinquished who were taken from the litters too soon, and by 18 months old were unmanageable with kids, visitors, etc.

I also never heard of giardia before the doodle forums, and I've had my own dogs for 35 years and lived with them for 54. So there are some things about buying a doodle puppy that I think may be new even to seasoned dog owners.

[Carolyn Shusterman]

Nancy, you are right on about the AKC  breeders of the past and the doodle breeders.  I am so dissapointed to see the breeders aren't getting the OFA tests after the age of two and not getting them every two years if they are using them as breeders.  Many doodle breeders are missing the PRA, CERF and  vWD testing.  Then what's really sad is the continuing to use dogs that have known genetic defects.  I thought the idea was to build a genetic sound dog with no shedding.  Sorry about this non FOOD comment but you hit a sore spot with me.

[Adina P]

Isn't pick of the litter determined by 1st deposit, 1st serve?  Or do you choose her the day you pick her up?  Typically, temperament testing is done at 49 days to help breeders determine which pups might be best matched with which person/family.  But the testing, if a breeder tests temperament, is supposed to be done by a person the pups aren't familiar with.  I really appreciated seeing the results of temperament testing and it really was accurate for the most part.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Adding my 2 cents about a puppy leaving their momma and littermates too early. My Charli was taken from her Mom when she was under a month old - a.puppy mill surrendered her to a rescue because her umbilical cord hernia made her damaged goods. She is now 3 years old and is very immature when it comes to interactions with our other 2 doodles. She never learned appropriate greeting behaviors which cannot be taught by humans, only by her.mom and her littermates.
If.you have the opportunity to get your Doodle when she is past 8 weeks old it will be the best for all of you for a lifetime.