I Had the Perfect Puppy Feeding Plan. Then I Got a Puppy.
By Kelley Marian
You know when you have an idea of how something’s going to go, and then it doesn’t go that way at all?
I had a lot of ideas about exactly how and what I was going to feed my new Lab puppy, Brody, when I brought him home. Raw diet. Lots of veggies. All the fun things I hadn't been able to feed some of my super-sensitive dogs before. Bring on the goat's milk, the sardines, and all the proteins in rotation!
Turns out my puppy's body had its own ideas about what worked, and what he wasn’t into. And after owning a pet food company for over a decade I was humbled, to say the least.
Luckily, we were able to agree on a few things.
Start With the Foundations
With a growing large-breed puppy, the first thing I wanted was a fresh, raw diet that was appropriate for his growth and development.
I went on a good deep dive to make sure our Green Juju recipes met the criteria I wanted for a large-breed puppy. Our Lamb recipe is the one exception that wasn’t a fit for me, so it wasn't part of Brody's puppy rotation.
From there, I kept his foundation pretty simple:
Fresh Food First - Green Juju Frozen Raw or Freeze-Dried Raw recipes
Rotate Multiple Proteins Seasonally - A rotation of 2-3 neutral and cooling proteins in summer, and 2-3 neutral and warming proteins in winter added diversity to his diet, without throwing everything at him at once.
Pile on the Plants - A few heaping scoops of our Vegetable Blends, rotating Just Greens and Vitality Blend (my favorites)
Add Whole Sardines - My treat, a few times each week for whole-food omega-3s
Rotate Whole-Food Probiotics - Our Farm, Leaf, and Soil Probiotics were my go-to’s right away to bring microbial diversity into the bowl
That's where I'd start with any puppy. Build a solid foundation, introduce variety thoughtfully, and then start paying attention.
Because that's when your puppy gets a vote.
Support as They Grow
Watching a Lab puppy grow sometimes feels like you can actually see their legs getting longer while they're sleeping.
With all that growth happening, joint support was something I thought about from the beginning.
One of the most important things I wanted to do was build Brody's diet around nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory whole foods. Our raw recipes and Vegetable Blends have been the backbone of my approach for him, providing the balance of Omega’s for healthy cartilage development I wanted this quickly growing boy to have.
I also slipped him some of our Bone Broth and blue-lipped mussels as treats, which naturally contain chondroitin and glucosamine. Functional food disguised as a treat is always a win in my book.
The part I wasn't expecting…
Brody was a perfectly healthy, second-generation Green Juju-fed puppy with a healthy microbiome. I felt like I had done everything "right."
But his body still wasn't happy eating everything I wanted to feed him.
Last summer, I got a crash course in Brody's individual energetics. As a young, intact male, he's a HOT dog. He's also a little damp, so when we had him on proteins that weren't the right fit for his body, it started showing up through his skin and digestion.
Thankfully, I have wonderful resources in my life, including Dr. Keith Weingardt and Rita Hogan, who helped me step back and recognize what Brody was telling me. It's funny how you can know all of this and still get completely blinded when it's your own dog!
We stayed open minded and adjusted, and that's really the lesson.
If something isn't working, it doesn't mean you need to throw out your entire approach. Look at what your puppy is telling you. Their skin, digestion, stool, energy, and overall vitality can all give you clues about whether their current diet is working for them.
Find Their Magic Formula
After some experimenting and adjusting, we found Brody's sweet spot.
Rabbit, a cooling protein, makes up the majority of his protein rotation. He LOVES our Duck + Sardine Extras (this boy loves his fish!), and we rotate in Pork during the summer and Goat during the fall and winter.
We still rotate his veggies and add fresh scraps from whatever we're cooking for even more diversity. Salmon skin from dinner? Brody will happily take care of that.
He's 18 months old now, and I finally feel like we're in a really good groove. I know his body better, what foods work for him, and what signs to watch for when something doesn't.
That's ultimately how I'd approach feeding any puppy.
Start with a strong fresh-food foundation. Add variety slowly and intentionally. Support their growing body. Then watch the puppy in front of you and let what you observe guide the little adjustments along the way.
You don't need to figure out their perfect bowl on day one. Your puppy is going to teach you some of it as you go. Be open to the lesson, it’s a gift!
Turns out even owning a pet food company doesn't mean your puppy reads your feeding plan!
Kelley 💚
