Dog food recommendations please 7 month old Lab

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Hi all lab/dog owners.

I have a very strong sturdy 7 month old male golden lab. (30kg already . He came home on Royal Cannin XL which we kept him on for a few months. He is very keen on food (as all labs are) and used to wold his food down so quickly we had to buy a slow feeder which helped marginally, often had hiccups from wolfing food and water too quickly.
Suddenly at 5 months he went off his food completely, but was desperate for our food, took him to the vets in case he was ill, she said he was fine and we were to be firm. (we had been giving him small amounts of our dog suitable leftovers). No luck after being strict, so switched him to Canagan puppy (after lots of research). He was never keen on this but we finally got through a large bag.
More research and I tried Barking heads puppy, he loved it at first, much more than Canagan but now half way through a very large bag he is refusing it.
Discussed with a neighbour who adds nature diet feel good wet food to her dogs kibble. Tried some and he will now eat his kibble with this wet food mixed in but I have heard from lots of sources that wet food is bad for dogs teeth and gums, including the vet. Neighbour also gave us some raw chicken (she mixes raw food in her dogs diet, they love it) My lab loved to 'play' with his raw chicken wing, he didn't want to let it go of it but no signs of eating it so took it away.

Every night when we cook and every time we eat/snack he goes crazy for our food and looks so miserably at his offering. I don't blame him, kibble is boring and I would not want that for every meal, every day. I am told dogs don't mind this monotony but ours clearly does.

Neighbour has also given us some Dr John's, not as good nutritionally as other kibble I've bought but I'm desperate, lab is eating it a bit but I know as soon as I buy a large bag he will be bored.

Has anyone had a similar experience where their lab is happy with any food (no tummy issues ever) but very quickly gets bored. Ideally I would like to try a high nutritional kibble that comes in different flavours to relieve the boredom but most puppy food is only one type per brand. Any ideas?

I am almost considering just giving him what we eat every day (obviously dog suitable only) after all most 'top' dog kibbles (per all about dog food web site) seem to just be varying mixes of meat, brown rice, oats, sweet potato, fish, eggs, vegetables etc, nothing obscure. I can cook him this quite easily and it would be fresh and enjoyable and not boring and bland. Is there any reason why I shouldn't do this health wise.

The vet said no as he might not get all the nutrition he needs as there is in a factory product! However, I managed to feed 4 children perfectly well and I am not sure why this doesn't equally apply to dogs. (I whizzed up whatever food the family was eating for children 3 and 4, no jars as just as easy and cheaper to whizz up normal food.) I cook from scratch every night, is there any problem giving him the same? Obviously not pizza night!

My lab is on Real Nature Wilderness and seems to love it. We can even use it as treats on walks and he shows interest.

But what's also helping is we've ditched the bowl the last week or two. He gets all his food from playing games with us. 5 minutes three or four times a day.

Will look at chappies, butchers, markus mhule and butternut box.

Mille's has come up on other threads but mixed reviews, some recommending and some saying it made sloppy stools!

No luck with Ron's pets or Dr doolittle's, will investigate Chudleys. Such a mine field. It does seem that a few of you add wet food to dry and so I will stop fretting about this.

Has anyone found a dry food in different flavours for a puppy?

@CaffeineAndCrochet where do you buy that please, I have googled but no luck.

I have now resorted to leaving trails of kibble on the kitchen floor and he will walk behind and eat the trails. He just isn't interested in it from a bowl either. It's weird, he's gone from jumping up and knocking the bowl from my hand in his enthusiasm for food to just plain indifference. He does seem to prefer wet food!

Millie's Wolfheart has been great for my lab.

We moved onto Tails.com when my pup had a fussy phase, for the only reason that I could get a month's worth for pretty much nothing. I think it was about £2.50. He ended up liking it, so stayed with them. Dpup is only 5 months, so can only have the kibble, but there's wet food and also lots of flavours to pick from.

[quote scubadive]@LDpuppy do you give the other meat raw or cooked? Also I've been told wet diet is bad as it leaves residue on their teeth and so unless you brush their teeth all the time you can end up with large dental bills if you give them wet food. Seems a bit strict though.[/quote]
We give it cooked mostly, have heard its not good to mix raw with cooked food. Will need to start brushing her teeth I suppose.

I get it in MaxiZoo in Ireland - am not sure where in the UK stocks it, sorry.

We weren’t keen on only kibble, so we feed 50:50 James Wellbeloved puppy, and Pure pet food. It’s all natural meat and vegetables, dehydrated. You just add water to rehydrate it, and can make it any consistency that your dog likes.

It’s often called “raw without the thaw”. Our 5 month old puppy is thriving on it. Glossy coat, loves his meals, perfect poo etc.

They send it on subscription, and we’ve been really impressed so far. Seriously couldn’t recommend it enough!

www.purepetfood.com

Interesting as our cocker did much the same as yours at 5 months. I wonder if dog develop some taste buds at that age!

I really liked Pure pet food as per the last poster

However we really wanted to persist with kibble because it just suits us better - so we started mixing his kibble with boiled juice from a roast carcass. So we soaked his kibble (also royal canin puppy) and gave this to him and he loved it.

We did try Pure for a while - I really liked it but it wasn't great for his poos and it was quite expensive but if I ever changed his food, I would think of going for this again as it's really convenient

I think labs and cockers/spaniels are known for being greedy dogs. We can feed ours and he'll be sat next to us in 2 mins claiming he hasn't been fed. So I think as long as yours is a reasonable weight, I really wouldn't worry too much

Ours is fine on kibble now and we are back to just putting it in water! (He's 7.5 months now)

[quote scubadive]@Stickytreacle can I ask what made you add chappie on top? Would your labs not eat it without?[/quote]
Sorry, only just seen this. The only reason I add wet food is because one dog needs medication, it's easier to shove tablets in meat than lose them at the bottom of the dish, plus anthropomorphising slightlfy, it just seems nice to add. They'd be perfectly happy with all dried though!

Our poodle lived to be 16 on just wet food without any health problems (bar a few injuries). He wouldn't even sniff the dry food - just turned away in disgust.

I don't think mixing wet food with your dog's kibble is bad for him.

Millies wolfheart here too...you can call them and talk about your dog they will recommend what to try..

Hi our Lab puppy came on Royal Canin too. Was never too keen on it. Changed to James wellbeloved junior and love it.

Have you tried enrichment feeding rather than change the food? He might just enjoy working for his food! Scatter feed in the garden outside, use a snuffle mat or food maze, that kind of thing?

@scubadive I have an almost 3 year old Lab boy. Like yours was around 30kg by a year & also started on Royal Canin. When we moved him onto adult food he refused to eat, and also around the same time started having a dodgy tum, so we moved him onto tails grain free kibble. He loved it at forst then refused it, so added some wet food & then he would eat again. Anyway he started having allergies lately so we had to change food again & have struggled to find any he liked. We tried raw & it didn't agree with him, so we are finally settled on Butternut Box. He's still pretty fussy with food but with a tweak to feeding times & warming the food we have him eating again. Don't worry too much about teeth with wet food as kibble doesn't really clean their teeth anyway. We keep his teeth clean with dried natural treats, such as rabbit ears etc.