GSD puppys food

Question
Hi,
I have purchased a GSD puppy from a breeder and will be picking her up in 2 1/2 weeks (she is currently 6 weeks old).  The breeder just sent me a packet of information regarding food, care etc.  Regarding the food--she recommends a combination of dry kibble (Purina ONE chicken and rice) and raw meat.  (the kibble 3x a day in the beginning, and then eventually kibble in the morning and no lunch and then raw meat for dinner) The raw meat can be hamburger, in addition to cooked eggs and cottage cheese.  This will be my first GSD and I have never heard of giving them raw meat.  I would appreciate your opinion!

Answer
I am sure you are aware of the controversies regarding human diets, people wanting a more natural diet.  The same arguments are carried over to dog diets.  If you have visited a pet supply store recently, you may have seen a freezer in the dog food section for raw food.  I am not sure how common such diets are.  Browse the dog forums on the internet.  They are dominated by raw, home cooked, and premium dog food advocates.  I am out in public constantly with my dog, and people ask many questions, but seldom any about diet.  I think the great majority of people are feeding common kibbles with no problems.  

I consider raw feeding all a bunch of non sense based on junk science.  Even politics is involved.  How can large, nasty corporations such as Nestle and Proctor and Gamble be trusted to provide your precious pet a healthy diet?  If your world view includes suspicion of large corporations and a distrust of your food supply, then listen to your breeder.   If you believe in science and controlled testing, you will want to feed your dog a kibble and nothing else.  Canine nutrition is complex, but well known.  All the commercial dog foods are carefully formulated to contain all the nutrients dogs need and more.  

The one place I differ with the dog food companies is on puppy chow.  The same science that puts an abundance of affordable meat on our tables goes into maximizing the growth rate of puppies.  This results in faster growth than is best for large breed puppies' joints.  It also makes for fat profits, especially for large breed puppy chow that is little different from the all life stages stages food often labeled adult.  

Sudden changes in diet can upset any dog's digestion.  What I would do is carefully follow the breeder's diet for a week or 2, and then phase out everything but the Purina 1 over a week or 2.  Then at 4 months, phase in Purina 1 adult food, again over a week.  There are no studies comparing how well dogs do on different diets available to the general public.  The strong opinions about dog diets are based on  anecdotes and speculation.  I have seen excellent results from feeding Purina 1.  Likely it is as good as anything.  When you switch foods, it would be a good time to switch to something else if you want to.  I would stick to a chicken and rice kibble.  Just make sure it has less than 1.5% calcium.  The fewer sources of protein a dog eats when young, the easier it is to work around it if the dog ever does develop food allergies.  

Excess weight is a problem too, but often with Shepherds it is a fight to keep their ribs from showing.  Don't worry if your GSD puppy is on the thin side of http://www.longliveyourdog.com/twoplus/RateYourDog.aspx ideal