When did you take your Ridgeback off puppy food?

Samson was 1 on 14th sept and i still have him on puppy food (eukanuba).

What age did you make the swap?

Hi, don't have a R.R. but take my Elkhounds off puppy at about 5 or 6 months so would think you should have the dog off puppy now. Are you still feeding 3 meals a day? If so I would drop it to 2 a day and feed either adult or junior.

Hi there, I don't have Ridgebacks either but I do own two large breeds. I take mine off puppy by 6 months old and move them onto Adult

by taking them off puppy food too early can it inhibit there growth a little?

I took Beau off his puppy food at 6 mnths and put him on jr. He also went down to 2 meals then.
For larger breeds you don't want them to grow too quickly so they don't need puppy food as long as a smaller breed.

Think 6 months is plenty long enough for large breeds, the worse example of steaming I ever saw had been fed puppy food to 18 months and supplemented with Calcium, to make matters worse he was also castrated. Finished up about 6 inches too tall and with very bad joints.

EDIT to say it was not a R. Ridgeback but a Gt Dane.

Hi, i had Noah off puppy at 6months ish. I dont think it inhibits the growth but slows it down so they take longer to mature, better for joints etc. The height and weight is down to the dogs genetics mainly

ok, thanks for replies all. I'll get him swapped to adult food asap. I just thought he had to stay on puppy food till 12 months after seeing it on the dog food itself.

just checked, the food he's on now is large breed puppy and junior, so thats not too bad.

No, it just means they grow at a more even rate. IMO keeping them on puppy/junior food makes them grow too quickly.

Think also with a larger breed to keep them on puppy means you finish up with the dog eating large amounts of high protein food and not enough of other food types. The dams milk if very high in protein and that level drops when the pup goes onto solids and it should drop again as the quantity of food increases although at the same time the food to body weight will decrease. All a bit complicated but not really something you need to think about too deeply.

Certainly it is not a thing to worry about, dogs manage with whatever we feed them but it is best practise to get the larger dogs onto adult by the time they are 12 months or you could finish up with a very hyper teenager.