Your new puppy will need feeding up to 4 times a day depending on the age you get him. Your breeder will tell you what they have been feeding him. It is best to continue if you can with the same feed both in brand, quantity and number of feeds per day. This will make the puppy's transition from life at the breeder's to his life in his new home easier. As discussed earlier there will be enough going on in the young puppy's life without changing his food drastically too.
There are a lot of different foods out there and what you feed your puppy is what suits your puppy best. Before going too much into dry foods it is very important that plenty of fresh water is made available to your dog all day and I will probably repeat this later as it is so important. Personally I prefer feeding them a good quality 'complete' food as this will give them everything they need for a healthy life. I say 'good quality' in that I check how much meat content is in the product and by 'meat' content I mean how much meat is in NOT meat meal - chicken meat is not the same as chicken meal. For example, the latter contains all parts of the chicken including feet, head and any other part of the bird. The best products will say made with xx% fresh chicken meat for example and the higher the percentage the better. The complete food I use - Kirklands (Costco) Adult Chicken, Rice and Vegetables - boasts '26% fresh chicken'; it is this meat content that gives the required protein content. Other excellent brands are Nutro Maintenance (purple pack) and Royal Canin. Also, the better the food, more is digested and less comes out the other end and what does come out is firmer and therefore easier to pick up. Having said earlier that I prefer these foods as they have everything your dog will need I 'liven' it up with either a little canned food or fresh cooked mince (beef or lamb, lamb is better for the digestion). Be careful not to get the 'economy' minces as they can contain a high percentage of pork meat which is not good a dog's digestion. I get the canned foods that are in jelly as they tend not to mess up your dog's beard as much as the canned foods in gravy which are 'wetter'.
Now the 'norm' is to keep puppies on the 'puppy' food until about 12 months and then graduate to the 'adult' variety of the same brand. Personally I moved to the adult variety sooner as it had a reasonably high protein level (>26%) and is a small kibble - important for small puppy mouths.
As indicated earlier your puppy will need feeding up to 4 times a day. Your breeder will tell you how many times they are being fed when you pick up your puppy and when to drop to three. In addition to these meals you can give your puppy occasional treats especially when he does something good - like coming when you call him or he goes to the door when he wants to go out for a pee. BUT do not get him dependant on treats for every little thing he does - a lot of times petting him, telling him how good he is or giving him a toy to play with is enough.
As a puppy you can feed him as much good quality food as you can get into them as at this important growing stage they need it. Having a slightly 'overweight' puppy is not a problem. You can suppliment the feeds with some goats milk, not too much maybe when they get up and go to bed. Dog's do not digest cow milk too well so try and avoid this if possible - maybe a little added to water if you want.
Some dogs will prefer smaller kibble (the size of the dry food pieces) so try this if your dog struggles with larger kibble.
