Country Kibble Grain Free Puppy & Junior Large Breed review

This food takes its place in our Good band, ahead of the middle of the puppy dry field. Transparency reads Outstanding, nutritional balance Average, and protein and processing sits at Good alongside value.

The salmon share and the printed calcium figure are what lift it. The starch share runs well above the typical for a puppy dry food, and that is what holds it at this level. The trade is a deliberate one in a recipe built for slow, even growth.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon 60% (Freshly Prepared Salmon 38%, Dried Salmon 20%, Salmon Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (19%), Potato, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Minerals, Vitamins, Carrot, Peas (0.2%), Omega 3 Supplement, Vegetable Stock, Glucosamine (355 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (355 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (250 mg/kg), Nucleotides, FOS (96 mg/kg), MOS (24 mg/kg)

Salmon at 60% is split three ways with every part named: 38% freshly prepared salmon, 20% dried salmon, then salmon stock at 2%. Most of a fresh fish is water, so the dried 20% is where a large slice of the finished protein actually comes from. No other animal appears anywhere in the composition, which is both unusual and useful.

The one caveat is that the omega 3 supplement gives no source. Nothing suggests it is a problem, but a dog on a genuine exclusion trial needs every entry accounted for, so ring the maker and do not assume.

Calcium is the number large breed rearing lives by. Letting it run too high through the fast growth months is the classic error in bringing up a big dog. This label gives you the figure to check: 1.41% of dry matter, inside the range a large pup should be reared on. Ash converts to 7.6%, so the overall mineral load is moderate rather than heavy.

Sweet potato at 19% and potato behind it carry the starch with no cereal in the bag, and the share is a real one. Carbohydrate converts to 48.9% of dry matter where the typical puppy dry food runs at 39.0%, while protein converts to 27.2% and fat to 14.1%. That is a leaner mix than a small breed growth food would use, and it suits a dog you want growing evenly rather than quickly.

The joint supplements run at roughly double what the brand's all sizes puppy recipe carries, at 355 mg/kg each of glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane with chondroitin sulphate at 250 mg/kg. Given how much weight a large breed skeleton is asked to carry by its first birthday, that is a sensible place to put the effort.

The rest of the tail reads well. L-Carnitine at 480 mg has a role in turning fat into usable energy, with nucleotides behind it. Fructooligosaccharides at 96 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 24 mg/kg pair up to give the gut bacteria something to work on. The trace elements come with figures attached, including zinc at 85 mg, iron at 50 mg and manganese at 35 mg, and vitamin E is printed at 95 IU.

£4.40 a kilo, sold in a 15kg bag.

The feeding guide here is a good one, indexed by what your pup weighs today against the adult weight you expect them to reach, which is exactly how a growing portion should be worked out. Read it fresh at every weigh in, because both halves of that pairing keep moving.