As the title says, I was just wondering if the hype is true about small breed dogs needing a special type of food? I feed my pug the same as I do my Siberian, and have lately been seeing commercials that are stating small dogs should be on a food specially designed for them. Any thoughts?

It is true. Large breed helps the dogs from growing to fast to save there hips and joints. Also a BIG thing when people are looking at dog food is the calcium. dogs need calcium for proper joint and bone development. If they do not have enought calcium they are pron to hip and bone problems. There is a reason that they have small, med, and large breed dog food. There is so many puppy foods on the market that DO NOT have any calcium in the food. We feed Euckanuba. It has the highest % that we have found on the market.So far, We have NEVER had any hip or bone problems. Great coats and no helath issues. Great for there teeth etc. , I know is is pricey but, well worth the bucks!

So your saying it is best for a growing puppy, but what about a full grown dog? Is there a difference in the nutritional need of a full grown large breed versus a small breed?

You have to make sure you are not giving your dog too much calcium as that can also cause problems. What is important is the ratio of calcium to phosphorus. You don't want it too high. It is true that with large breed puppies, they run the risk of accelerated growth which then can cause musculoskeletal problems such as hip dysplasia. There is the theory that too high protein foods will cause accelerated growth. Anything I have read has suggested overfeeding a puppy during its growth period will cause him to grow at a faster rate thus adding unnecessary pressure on a growing body and an immature bone structure. In my opinion, I don't think the nutritional needs of a small, medium or large breed differ; they just require different amounts and maybe the size of the kibble should be different (if you choose to feed kibble). The main thing is to feed your puppy good healthy food without any by-products, chemicals, wheat, corn or soy. Choose foods that have good sources of protein in the first five ingredients. I have a colleague atwork who says that she can see dog hair in her dogs' food if she looks at it closely. Yet she still feeds her dogs this food! Anyway, as a puppy, make sure he gets adequate exercise as well but don't let him go crazy jumping and bouncing because it can affect his bone structure in the future.

I have 3 small breed dogs. Bentley is 2 yrs and Daisy is just over a year and a few months and then Louie is 10 months old.
I do feed small breed dog food, well puppy food,
When i lastly got Louie from my aunt, she had him on royal canine- mini for small puppys.
My other 2 dogs really liked the food which i had a problem trying to find ANY hard food they would eat so when they started eating Louies puppy food i have just fed all of them this.
and have for gosh 6+ months.
Im starting to wonder tho if feeding them all puppy food isnt good ? my hubby thinks we need to swtich them to adult food.
I did try awhile ago but they woudlnt eat it, the peices are bigger and they like the tiny bite sized peices i think.
Does any one know if feeding them puppy food isnt good?
should i switch them all over to adult?

Puppies need the protein and fat to help them digest the nutrients. They don't process protein as efficiently as adult dogs do so they need a higher amount. Many adult foods have a lot of starch which puppies, or dogs in general are unable to digest. If I were you, however, I would opt for an all life stages food. I think creating a food for the size of dog is a gimmick - they all need good quality food. I feed Canine Life which is a mix to which I add meat, eggs, blueberries, sweet potato, apple and green beans and bake into muffins. I like the fact that it's fresh food, I know what's in it and I can use different kinds of meat and veggies as long as there is a green and an orange one. They're convenient in the muffin form and my dog loves it. Her coat is amazingly soft.