Best dry food option for medium Australian labradoodle puppy?

[James Donovan]

We started off feeding him a dry food with duck as the protein made by Canidae, as recommended by the breeder, but that food is listed as being for adults. Our breeder said that it was just recently changed from "all life stages" to "adults" and that it would be a suitable option for our pup his entire life.

We just had his puppy check up with the vet today, and she said that was absolutely false, and that adult food is lacking in certain things that puppies need. With that said, I am hoping for some help in choosing a good puppy food option. We were given a sample bag of Hills Ideal Balance puppy food

http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/ib-canine-puppy-chicken-and-...

Any thoughts? Our breeder said duck was a better protein than chicken. True? We just want to make sure that we choose something that will get our little pup everything he needs, while keeping his coat nice and his poops as solid as possible!

Thanks so much for the advice.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

James, please join The Food Group here on DK. We have lots and lots of well-researched information as well as a list of recommended food brands. Hills Science Diet is not on it. :)
It's a well-documented fact that there is no nutrition curriculum in veterinary school, and that what information vets do have on foods comes straight from the sales reps at Hills and Purina. They study medicine, not nutrition or food. This is not much different from our own doctors, with one big exception: I doctors don't recommend foods or brands, and they certainly don't sell it to us.

Your breeder gave you the better advice in this case. There is nothing lacking in the Canidae food, but there is a puppy version, and puppy formula would be a better choice than the adult formula.  If the pup likes the food and his digestion is good, there is absolutely no reason to change. And if you do want to change, there are much better choices than Hill's. 

[Sam&Bella]

For Bella's whole life, we have been using Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice Formula both puppy and adult. The breeder has always fed her dogs that. No one really knows about it and you can't find it in most pet stores. We were thinking about switching to Eucanuba, but when we took the bag home and did research, it wasn't as good as we thought and it had a lot of preservatives. So we returned it  and got more Diamond.  The only place we have been able to find it, is at  Tractor Supply and Pet Supply Plus.

Hope that helps!