Your puppy has been weaned to fresh water and raw food -- meat, bones, organs, and tripe. It is the healthiest way to feed a dog and a wonderful start for a new puppy.

The benefits of a raw fed dog are many including:

Smaller, firmer, less smelly poop
Strong white teeth
A tougher stomach (that can more easily handle the odd things that Labs will sometimes eat!)
Shiny coat
NO doggie odor -- you rarely need to bathe a raw fed dog
A sleeker, more ideal body weight
A slower, more steady puppy growth which helps avoid over stressing developing joints
An overall healthier dog requiring fewer trips to the vet!

While I believe raw feeding is the best way to feed your dog, I also realize that "raw" feeding is not for every family. Raw feeding takes more planning than feeding kibble/biscuits and can be less convenient for the dog/family on-the-go. Price-wise it is equal or less than a good quality kibble/biscuit.

So let’s take a look at the different feeding options.

We Want to Raw Feed

If you'd like to continue with raw feeding, GREAT! However, it is VERY important that you do it correctly or else you may jeopardize the health and growth of your new puppy.

There are very helpful Facebook groups devoted to raw feeding that I'd encourage you to join if you want to try raw feeding. The larger groups almost always have someone who will answer your question within minutes and they are very familiar in helping "newbies" learn the ropes. Join one or join them all:

The Raw Feeding Community
Raw Fed Dogs
Raw Fed Dogs -- A Learning and Sharing Group
Raw Feeding NZ

Another great resource is the Skylit Puppy Family group on Facebook. There are several puppy families that raw feed or do one meal biscuit feeding and one meal raw feeding. They are always happy to share tips and where they get their raw food.

If you are in the Auckland area you are blessed with an EXCELLENT resource — the store Raw Essentials. They can teach you all the ins and outs of raw feeding… as well as provide a lot of variety for your dog.

Raw feeding doesn’t have to be (and shouldn’t be) feeding slabs of meat. There are many “convenience” options on the market including some that mimic the ease of feeding biscuits! Of course you pay for that convenience but if you are worried about meeting the nutritional needs of your puppy, they can be a great solution. See K9 Natural, Ziwi Peak and Woof! below.

We Just Want to feed biscuits

If you should decide that raw feeding is NOT for you, I strongly encourage you to feed a very high quality kibble/biscuit.

These are the ones I recommend:

K9 Natural -- This is a great option as it is actually freeze dried raw. Because it is freeze dried it does not require refrigeration/freezing and is very much like biscuits (in that it is scoopable) but with all the nutritional benefits of raw feeding. Feeding K9 Natural will give you the confidence that you are meeting your pup’s nutritional needs.
Ziwi Peak -- Well known as a premier "biscuit". Unlike normal biscuits, Ziwi Peak is air dried raw food and very close to feeding your dog "raw" but without the concern for whether you are meeting all of their nutritional needs and without the mess. It differs slightly from freeze dried raw in that some nutrients are lost in the air drying process.
Woof! — This freeze-dried raw food is excellent! It is shelf stable (requires no refrigeration or freezing) and scoopable. I use Woof! with all of my litters to help ensure puppies are getting a balanced raw diet but it works equally well as a convenient biscuit-like feed. Super convenient and very well received by puppies. I find it not as rich as Ziwi Peak.
Orijen Large Breed Puppy -- Its ingredients are high quality, all natural, sourced from Canada. They have a sister brand (Acana) that is a little less protein (includes more fruits/veggies) and a bit less expensive but is still a good option.
Feed My Furbaby -- This is a home delivery service that is super convenient. Their biscuits are made in New Zealand in small batches and they are serious about reducing their environmental impact. This is an acceptable quality biscuit... especially if you choose to do one biscuit meal and one raw meal each day.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Iams, Royal Canin, Blackhawk, etc.

(typically found at vet clinics)

Families may be under the impression that because their vet sells certain foods in their clinic, or may even recommend those products, that those are the BEST available. Please note that it is to your vet clinic's advantage to encourage you to purchase those brands as they financially benefit from your purchase.

Those brands are mass produced and have the marketing capital to stay in the forefront of the public's eye. That does not make them high quality.

A great website you can check that provides independent information on the various biscuit brands out there is this one: https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ It is based in the USA but many of the kibble/biscuit brands we have available here in New Zealand are on the site.

When First Introducing Biscuits

The process is best done slowly... so as to not upset their young/sensitive digestive system. The same goes for when switching between different brands of biscuits.

Ideally, even if you decide to feed kibble/biscuits, you will still give your pup whole prey chunks/meaty bones as a snack.

can we feed both raw and biscuits?

You sure can! Oftentimes this is a GREAT option to choose. Be sure to read the Biscuit section above to find some of the best ones out there.

I recommend if you are going to go this route that you choose 1 meal to be biscuits and 1 meal to be raw. My personal experience with MIXING biscuits and raw food in the same meal has not been a good one... my dogs tend to vomit up the biscuits. Fed separately though works well.

If feeding one meal of biscuits and one meal of raw, feed the biscuit meal IN THE MORNING. The reason for this is that biscuits require large quantities of water in order for your Lab to digest them. Ideally you'd want them ingesting that water earlier in the day so that they have processed it and peed it out before bed time! Raw food contains all the moisture needed by your dog to digest so you will notice that raw fed dogs tend to drink far less water as a result.