Country Dog Premium Puppy review

This food sits in our Good band, and the typical puppy dry food sits there with it. Transparency reads Outstanding, nutritional balance Excellent and protein and processing Average, which tells you where the recipe puts its effort. It earns its place with a high meat inclusion for its class, one named species throughout and figures printed where plenty of makers settle for names.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 37% (Chicken Meal 27%, Freshly Prepared Chicken 10%), Rice (15%), Pea Protein, Barley, Chicken Fat, Flaxseed (2.5%), Potato Starch, Beet Pulp, Brewers Yeast, Chicken Gravy, Minerals, Seaweed, Prebiotic Mannan Oligosaccharide (0.05%), Yucca Extract (0.05%), Glucosamine (0.04%), Chondroitin (0.03%), Cranberry (0.01%).

Chicken accounts for 37% of the recipe, split 27% chicken meal and 10% freshly prepared. The species-keeping runs right down the label, since the fat is chicken fat and the gravy is chicken gravy, so no second animal slips in lower down. The water is already out of the meal, so it contributes more protein than a fresh-first label would suggest. The analysis bears that out, with protein converting to 39.0% of dry matter, a genuinely strong figure for a growth food.

Rice at 15% leads the starch, with barley and potato starch in support and pea protein topping up the amino acids from the plant side. On our estimate the carbohydrate converts to 46.8% of dry matter, a step above the 39.0% typical for a puppy dry food. The starch works a little harder here than the meat headline might imply. The protein figure shows the meat is still doing its share.

The fat line is the most distinctive thing on the label. Chicken fat is the named source, and flaxseed at 2.5% brings plant omega 3 for the skin and coat. The total converts to 9.8% of dry matter, with energy around 314 kcal per 100g on our estimate. That is lean for a puppy food, which is why this recipe makes sense for pups that run to roundness; a very active pup simply eats from further up the feeding guide.

There is one quirk to understand, and nothing in it to worry about. Moisture is declared at 18%, roughly double what most kibbles carry, which makes the as-fed numbers look softer than the food really is. The dry-matter column is the fair way to read this recipe, and on that basis it stands up well.

The tail of the label is short and honestly dosed. Beet pulp brings gentle fibre for firm stools, brewers yeast adds B vitamins, and seaweed covers trace minerals. Mannan oligosaccharide at 0.05% is a prebiotic for the gut, yucca at the same level is a long-standing trick for stool odour, and the joint pair is printed at 0.04% glucosamine and 0.03% chondroitin. Cranberry closes the list at 0.01%, a garnish, and printing the figure is the label's way of admitting it.

Calcium is the figure the label leaves out, and in a food listed for every breed size that gap is worth noticing. For toy, small and medium pups it is unlikely to matter. In a large or giant breed the calcium level does real work during growth, so put the question to the maker before the bowl goes down.

Country Dog Premium Puppy is sold in 2kg and 10kg bags.

As a guide from our energy estimate, a 10kg pup aged four to twelve months needs roughly 225 to 275 grams a day. A growing pup's needs change quickly with age and expected adult size, so let the growth chart and your pup's shape set the portion.