Your puppy has been eating Purina Pro Plan Small Breed Chicken and Rice Dry-Adult. Offer food 3 times per day for the first week while he/she learns to eat in meals.  Your puppy has been on free choice, with dry food available all day for grazing, but you will want to start providing meals to make house breaking easier. So, put down a bowl of dry food and leave it for 15 minutes.  Then remove it. Initially, the pup may eat very little.  First, he/she must acclimate to the new surroundings and second, the pup must learn that the food will not always be there.  Do not worry if your Russell pup eats very little for the first 24 to 36 hours. Some will eat right away and never miss a step, but others are more nervous about being away from their littermates and in new surroundings.  In terms of the amount to give, put down a bowl with 1 cup of dry. As time goes on, give a little more the next day if it all got cleaned up or decrease it the next day if it was not all eaten.  Feeding in the crate is a good idea, both to help with housebreaking and to ensure that food aggression does not develop if you have other pets around. You can add a couple tablespoons of Purina Pro Plan canned food to their evening meal for a treat to encourage them to want to enter the crate. In general, stick with adult, not puppy, food for this breed.

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Try not to get pulled in by the marketing of gourmet pet food companies (e.g., ‘human-grade’,  holistic,‘ organic’, ‘all meat’, ‘all natural’, ‘grain-free’). These companies tend to put more of their emphasis on marketing ‘buzz words” than on long-term nutritional studies. Video of wolves morphing into dogs imply that your pet needs to eat similar to a wolf, but this is inaccurate. Wolves are obligate carnivores, because they do not make the enzyme amylase that is needed to metabolize carbohydrates. Dogs, however, DO have this enzyme and get energy from grains.The most commonly recommended pet food brands by veterinarians are, in no particular order: Royal Canin, Purina Pro Plan, Hill’s, and Eukanuba. These companies go above and beyond the  minimum threshold of nutrition research required in regard to bioavailability of nutrients and ensuring that the diets are balanced  for long term health. They employ PhD board-certified veterinary nutritionists and conduct long-term studies. It is a myth to claim that veterinarians get free food or expensive gifts from these companies in exchange for carrying their line.
 

In terms of homemade diets, the main concern is the difficulty in maintaining a correct balance in the nutrients. A splash of supplements added here and there will not do it. Too much of something is just as dangerous as too little.  If a homemade diet is needed for some reason, be sure to work with a veterinary nutritionist and be prepared to periodically submit a sample for analysis.

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With regard to raw food diets, there is no scientific evidence that feeding a raw vs. a conventional diet is any more beneficial to an animal’s health. Moreover, these diets also have generated controversy due to their increased risk for microbial and parasitic contamination. One study analyzed 35 commercial frozen raw diets from 8 different brands. Escherichia coli (serotype O157:H7) was isolated from 23%, and extended-spectrum beta-lactamases-producing E coli was found in 80%. Listeria was present in 54% and Salmonella species in 20%. Concerning parasites, 11% contained Sarcocystis cruzi and 6% contained Toxoplasma gondii. There is also risk of gastrointestinal problems and/or injury from bones in the diet, and the possibility of an unbalanced raw diet causing nutritional deficiencies. Raw food diets generally are more bioavailable, however, and dogs on them will create less fecal matter, but be sure to carefully research before use, and owners must be comfortable with safe handling procedures for raw foods.