Large Breed Puppy food over All life Stages

Anyone can get on the internet and say anything they want. Take it with a grade of slaw

Like you said, just make sure the calcium and phosphorous ratios are correct. I'm unaware of any reason to be feeding a lower-protein/fat food to a growing puppy, but maybe someone else can clear that up (or you can do your own research on that). I think those levels may be suggested in lieu of just controlling how much your dog eats. For example, people feel better feeding 4 cups a day of lower protein/fat/calorie food, versus feeding 2.5 cups of higher fat/protein food. For my dogs, the higher the protein and fat, the better. Better coats, better energy, better poops. But every dog (and puppy) is different.

Thank you for the verification that I am not nuts... lol I have heard and read so much about the nutritional needs of Large and Giant Breed dogs, and the fact that Puppy food (for the most part) is nothing more than a marketing gimmick that hearing someone actually promoting it threw me for a loop....

Actually, if I remember correctly, for a large breed puppy you don't want excessively high fat or protein, but the levels you listed are what I always found when I did some digging a couple of years ago when I got Quill (though I believe technically up to 30% protein has been shown to have no effect on development, so slightly higher than what you listed is still okay and above that I'm not sure has been researched, but it has been a couple years since I did my digging).

I did encounter people trying to tell me otherwise as well, trying to persuade me I needed large breed puppy food. But all stages checked all the boxes for us and my excessive new-dog-owner research told me it was okay, so we stuck with it!

The big thing with large-giant breed puppies is that they have to grow much faster than smaller puppies in a very similar amount of time to get to adult size. That fast growth can cause joint problems as the bones basically grow fast but not necessarily well. Limiting calories helps to limit the growth rate, and lower calorie (i.e., lower fat/protein) foods help to prevent over feeding.

They also need the proper amount of calcium: it should be between 0.8-1.1%. Too much calcium during puppyhood has been linked to skeletal disease later in life. (A lot of people talk about the P:Ca ratio but it's the total amount of Ca that appears to be the big problem, not necessarily it's ratio to P).