Adopted a 4mo lab mix from a rescue over the weekend. Great dog so far and he seems very healthy. Question is that he obviously didn't have the best start in life so I want to ensure I'm meeting all his dietary needs. He came with a bag of puppy chow and just looking at the ingredients I think I'd like to transition him on something better. What's your recommendation? Had to put our old dog of 16,5 years down about a week ago and he was eating Simply Nourish from Petsmart, but they didn't have any of that for puppies when I checked last night. Just looking to get him a more premium high quality food.

Mine was on science diet with the rescue. She had bad dandruff and hot spots. I switched he to Canidae and it got much better. I later switched her to Taste of the Wild. The ingredients were a little better and it was a little easier to get at the feed store. There are better foods but these are some I would call mid-range wheat free. (You can subscribe on Amazon if you are into that kind of thing.)

There are others and some people believe in cooking for their dogs. I am not going that far.

Premium dog food cost more but you also feed less so it brings things much closer.

Also be sure to transfer dog foods slowly. I mix in a little extra every couple days until she is completely off the old food. Switching all at once can upset their stomachs.

HEB has come out with their own private labeled meat-centric, grain free dog food if you want local.

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ is a good place to get background info an meat based foods and ratings based on ingredient content.

Amazon carries a lot of the primo dog foods. I used petflow.com for a while as well but you have to set up recurring shipments to get the really good deals.

http://drtims.com/

Ships for free from Chewy.com. I feed pursuit when my boy is at the trainer and kinesis when he is at home. I don't get much pacing on the 26/16 like I do 30/20 when he's home. Kinesis is all life stages. I have fed victor and pro plan performance 30/20 blends but I like dr tims better.

We feed our two Golden retrievers the Nutro in the purple bag (Venison and brown rice). We tried to give them Blue Buffalo but the gas was awful.

By all means, use dogfoodadvisor if you believe in marketing and gimmicks. For example, grains/veggies/fruits make up about 30% of food allergies in dogs, while meat and dairy are the other 70%. But that site would have you believe grains are the devil.

OP - a high quality commercial dog food is the key place to start. Then don't overdo it, do NOT feed free choice, but as directed by your dvm feed 1-2 meals a day increasing calories over time to reach skeletal maturity at a year of age. His hips knees and elbows will thank you. Trust me on this.

Thanks y'all.