Newfoundland Food, the essential food for your Newfoundland Dog or Puppy

Newfoundland food must be the right sort for a giant dog. His health depends upon the quality of the food he eats.

A friend of mine has a newfie which she got from rescue at two years old. Sadly, he did not have a good start in life, especially when it came to food, and it shows.

First of all it shows in his size; he is not as big as a normal sized male newfoundland dog and is never going to be.

Secondly it shows in his coat, which is always dull and lifeless, no matter what she does.

A poor start foodwise can affect your newfie for life.

A newfoundland is a special breed. You cannot expect to feed him on something cheap from the supermarket. Although these sort of foods will do in an emergency, it is very important that he has a large or giant breed food from the beginning.

There are many good foods on the market, but it is really up to you to read the ingredients carefully and decide what is best.

It is never a good idea to take the advice of anyone when it comes to your newfie's diet, not even a vet. Whilst I have nothing against vets stocking dog food, they do not always know what is best themselves and they are, after all, making a profit on their stock, just like a pet store.

So, how do you decide which is the best Newfoundland food? Look at the ingredients; the first ingredient on the list will be the fish or meat content and that should constitute almost half of the ingredients listed.

You do not want it to contain any cereals or fillers, which a dog cannot digest. For large or giant breed foods, it should contain a percentage of glucosomine and chondroitin to aid the joints. If it also contains Omega 3 fish oil, so much the better.

Let's start with the best large breed puppy foods, in order to give your puppy the very best start in life.

Once your newfie is full grown, he will still need a high quality large breed dog food. But please remember, what suits some dogs may not suit others. You may have to test a few to see what works best.

My own dogs, for instance, do not do well on meat based kibble. It has to be fish based or they will get upset tummies. Thankfully, they are both the same in this respect or I would have trouble trying to separate them at dinner time!

Whilst I have always preferred to feed my dogs on tinned meat, Newfoundlands are just too big to feed that way, so I do mix a little tinned food in with their kibble.