What would you reccomment for picky dogs

I'm going to be getting a keeshond puppy the end of April and another one the beginning of July. The breeder feeds her puppies iams puppy, so I'll have to start them off on that when I first get them, but I'm not wild about iams food and would like to change them over to something else. Both of my past keeshonds were extremely picky, and they're a breed known to have sensitive stomachs. Freddie liked kibble, and for the life of me I can't remember what food we finally found that he liked, Yogi liked the nutram kibble.
Questions, were the dogs pickier once away from their siblings because they no longer had to compete for food? Will I have less of a problem that way with 2 dogs? Which is better, moist or dry or a combination of both. Keeshonds aren't big eaters and neither of my past dogs had weight problems, so I used to free feed. There was kibble available in their dish all the time and they could eat when they liked. I wonder if I will have to have set feeding times when I have 2 instead of the free feeding.

Cindy

Some people believe that some dogs can get picky with free feeding. Honestly, I think you'll just have to wait and see what happens. If one of them is a wolfer, you won't be able to free feed anyway. :shrug:

As for puppy food, the best out there is probably Innova or if you want an all life stages one, then Canidae is good. Personally, I'd stick with kibble for the little buggers, so if you run out of options if they become picky, you always have that one and in the meantime, they might keep their teeth a bit cleaner (even though they say it's the quality not the texture that keeps the teeth clean...).

In the end, it's up to you.;)

Thanks Prin.

Sorry, one more question. Over the years I've heard you should stick with a puppy food for a year and to the contrary, go straight to a good adult formula, which do you think is best, does it matter if they have puppy food or not?

Cindy

I think for bigger dogs it matters more (i.e. no puppy food because they grow too quickly), but why should little dogs be any different? They might grow too quickly too but on a smaller scale, so it's less noticeable...

I think what really matters in the end is how well they do on the food. If they have great fur and skin, their energy is up, their stool is great, then no worries. But IMO, it's probably more important to have them on a super quality food in the beginning than at any other time in their lives. With all the developing going on, logically you'd want them to be getting everything they need. :shrug: