I'm sure this has been beaten to death....
but I have an excuse now, since the Board Crash of 2006 :)

I'm wondering what the consences is on when to switch from puppy to adult food. And are there any signs you should look for in your puppy?

Charlie is 8 months now. hmmmm Maybe i should do a poll. Those are always fun.

I don't plan to switch for another couple of months. Bo is already 75 pounds at 8 months, and I still want to control his growth as long as possible.

I switched Darwin and Piper at 9 months. I'm feeding Puzzle an all age food now.

It was recommended to me to start switching Kirby pretty soon from puppy to adult. I am gonna start pretty soon, like 2 weeksish :)

I just switched Cali last month (at ~7 months). But we're having troubles (and need help!!)....see my post for the nitty-gritty.

I'm not sure when I will switch Luc...he is still growing like a weed and I'm trying to control his growth as much as possible. I wonder the same thing though...everyone says different things. Maybe when I find a vet I trust, I will listen to them lol.

We switched Toby to adult food at 5 months old at the recommendation of our Vet...he did just great...with no problems at all.

As per Jax's Breeder, I switched him at 4 months old.

I think I switched somewhere around a year old. My vet did say they could be switched sooner and it wouldn't hurt them, that it depends on their weight etc.

I've done research on this matter, because my lab is almost 8 months old too. I have asked around and I would recommend to switch from LBP food to adult food when the large breed puppy is full grown (for most labs, that would be between 12 and 18 months). But every dog is different, you can always ask your vet or breeder.

Annie switched at 7 months and did fantastic. :)

I had a conversation with my vet about this very topic. Old school thought was to wait until ~ a year old, but recent research shows that 8 months is ideal. The puppy food apparently has a higher fat content to help add additional calories for growing. In dogs that are prone for hip displacia, putting on lots of weight too fast can increase the odds of getting HD. The vet said that we should do puppy food until 8 months and then switch to regular food so the puppy doesn't continue to pack on the pounds so fast and stress the hip joints. Soo... that's our plan... hope that helps!!

My vet recommends 12 months. I started the transition close to the 11 month mark, so by 12 months, they were 100% adult food.

Thank you everyone for your help!

couldnt vote on the poll.... as per our breeder's advice, we switched homer to adult food at 4 months.

so, anywhere from 4-18 months, that sure narrows it down, there doesnt really seem to be a consensus as to a best time, oh well, its nice to get alot of opinions though

My one vet recommended about 12 months, give or take a few months either way. He said It depended on the dog's growth - some are basically done growing in length and height around 10 months although usually they still add girth and some aren't done growing until 14 - 18 months. The puppy food they have today is much different than it was 10 - 15 years ago, more balanced, less calcium (my first lab 20 years ago was given calcium pills by our vet who was also a lab breeder, now they have done a complete turn around) and as long as you are not overfeeding, it should not make a dog overweight. He noticed that the puppies that were still on the puppy food and were starting to get overweight were those dogs that were just about full grown. I myself am in the process of switching Kira who just turned 1 yesterday to adult food. It would have been sooner but I decided on the Kirkland food and had only just recently got to Costco.