Our Large Breed & Large Breed Puppy Formula uses Grass Fed Lamb from Australia without added hormones or antibiotics, Wild Caught Herring, Anchovy, and Sardines and wholesome, digestible grains as healthy sources of protein.
The Grain Friendly™ category is free of corn, wheat, soy, potato, and peas.
Complete production control
Family Owned & Operated Since 1989
Potato and Pea Free
Veterinarian Formulated
Wild Caught Herring, Anchovy & Sardines
amy.warren (verified owner) –
Overall, I would say this is a great dog food. I absolutely LOVE the ingredients. I’m so happy it includes grains but isn’t loaded with grains like some other brands. I also love the number of calories and percentage of fiber. My 9-month-old Rottweiler used to drool over this food, however, now he tends to pick at it. Not sure if he’s being picky or maybe just needs a new flavor.
Paula Burns –
Just started our 3 1/2 month old German Shepherd on this food and she is absolutely loving it!! She literally picks it out of the food we are trying to wean her off of. She gallops to the bowl when she is hungry and I can barely get the bowl on the floor before she starts eating it. It is hard to find a puppy food that doesn’t have any legumes – peas, lentils, beans – as these should not be fed to growing puppies and FirstMate Large Breed & Large Breed Puppy Formula has none of these in it.
Kim –
Been feeding this for a couple of months! My danes love it! I switch because we had a litter of a dozen puppies and their bellies weren’t happy with the other option we’d been on. Puppies loved it and so did their bellies! The big dogs poops are half the size, because this food is quite dense so the feed volumes are about half of what they were with the other food. One bag goes a surprisingly long way!
Gayle –
When I brought my 3 month old Kangal mix LGD puppy home her coat was dull and scruffy. She also seemed underweight. The breeder had him on Iam’s puppy b/c “it was cheaper”. After doing research online re dog nutrition for large breeds I switched him to FM. His coat is now shiny and smooth and he has filled out nicely. Another reason I chose FM is the pricing. I had a heart attack when I saw the cost of the other high end brands. Plus they required a larger amount per feed. Customer service had also been excellent helping me to select the appropriate formula. Apparently I purchased a formula they did not recommend for my LGD pup and I was able to return it to the store in exchange for the right formula (Large Breed Puppy) . Finally, I love supporting a small Canadian company!
Susan C. –
I have a Saint Bernard puppy “Moose” who is 4.5 months old, I ‘ve had him since he was 8 weeks and he was on 2 different high end puppy foods. His fur was dull and he was very thin with constant diarrhea. Since I feed my other dogs Firstmate Lamb I decided to try Moose on the large breed puppy food. What a difference in a month, his fur is thicker and shinier, he has gained weight and finally his stools are solid not runny diarrhea. I highly recommend this for large breed puppies.
Christian Kelly –
High quality food that my puppy loves
She is a 5 month old Mastiff and is growing fast
Her coat is soft and shiny and I would recommend First Mate to my friends
Stef –
This food is so affordable, highly rated, and our guy seems to love it. My only suggestion to potential buyers is to find out what your puppies actual caloric needs are and adjust accordingly. We recently found out at our last vet appt. that we have been underfeeding our puppy. The caloric intake they require at certain stages of puppyhood compared to the suggested feeding charts (on the bag and on website) doesn’t necessarily match what their needs are. Example: our pup is 30 lbs. at just over 3 months old – he needs approximately 1500 calories/day which would be 2.9 cups/day – however, the feeding guide on the bag suggests 1.25 – 2 cups for puppies 30-50lbs. (637-1020 calories). The puppy feeding guide on the website is also off – not as bad – but still off.
Samantha –
This food caused major health problems for my dogs! We switched from Nutrience when they started adding chicken to their formula due to allergies with my dogs. Within a week, my seven year old shepherd became lethargic, he developed a hacking cough and was constantly burping, he also had bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. We took him to the vet and after several visits, I decided to look into GERD. Sure enough, this food caused my dog to have severe acid reflux. I stopped feeding this to him immediately, and switched to a homemade GERD diet, and within four days his symptoms completely subsided. I continued to feed this formula to my one year old staffy, as she seemed to be doing fine on it and I didn’t want to waste the bag. Within two weeks, she developed the same symptoms as my shepherd and her symptoms also subsided once we discontinued this food!
Matt Wilson –
Hello Samantha,
We are sorry to learn about your experience, and we hope you can provide us with some additional information.
As a family-owned and operated manufacturer, we take a great deal of pride in the quality, safety, and performance of our products. Each FirstMate bag is coded with a lot number on the bag panel. Can you provide the batch information and the purchase location? The information will enable our team to complete a detailed batch audit, which includes reviewing our ingredient and manufacturing records, quality control checkpoints, and any physical samples retained from the same batch.
We do not have additional complaints and currently suspect an ingredient sensitivity or perhaps overfeeding, which can occur on our product as we are typically more nutrient-dense than other brands. Can you let us know the ideal weight of your dog and the amount you were feeding daily of Nutrience and then FirstMate?
Can you confirm that you were able to return the bag as part of our satisfaction guarantee?
We look forward to hearing from you.
– FM Customer Service.
E. L. –
We love FirstMate!
I used to feed my shepherd mix the high performance formula. She had a pea/legume allergy and the only kibble she didn’t have a reaction to was the FirstMate
I recently brought home a puppy, she’s on this large breed formula and doing fantastic!
I highly recommend the grain friendly line by FirstMate to anyone who asks me about dog food recommendations
Don –
I’ve had my (almost) five month old GSD pup on the large breed puppy kibble. I transitioned him from the Royal Canine GSD kibble which came recommended by the breeder but he refused to eat it. He tucks into the First Mate and after transitioning him over about a week, his stools are quite watery and loose with a couple of bouts of diarrhea. It’s now been a couple of weeks of just First Mate and his stools are still soft and watery. Any recommendations or is this fairly common? He does like the food.
Matt Wilson –
Hello Don,
Thank you for contacting us and for selecting our Large Breed Puppy formula.
Watery or loose stool is often associated with overfeeding. FirstMate is typically more nutrient-dense and physically dense than many other brands. The previous formula appears to be 315 kcals/cup, whereas our diet is 510 kcals/cup. Please email us with the quantity being fed daily, ideal weight, current age, and body condition. We will determine if the daily quantity should be scaled back.
Email: customerservice@firstmate.com
We look forward to hearing from you.
– FM
GH –
We are very happy with this food for our 10 month old Golden Retriever puppy, who has been eating it for 5 months now. She loves it and is very healthy. We supplement her food a bit with fresh food and freeze dried meal toppers, but this large breed first mate food is her main staple. The price is very good for the high quality and we support our local small feed stores at the same time as they carry this food.
Mrs. Lizard –
I feed my adult giant schnauzer and puppy great pyrenees this food. They are healthy, have shiny coats, and love it!
Morgan –
My puppy was having some problems and could not lock down what it was. Tried writing this company to ask whats in the fish meal and did not get a clear response. Asked for a final analysis for the batch of food we had and no response. Found out after doing a $400 test that our dog is allergic to salmon and Mackerel. I feel like a POS for feeding my dog a slew of few meal and not putting it together. I think its worth asking why they don’t post batch data when they say they test every batch of food. And, asking whats in this fish meal?
Rae –
We switched our huge 5-month old lab/poodle x after another major brand gave him really bad soft stool. Not only is his tummy doing great, but his coat is way shinier… he eats almost half as much and the food is almost half the cost for a big bag. We give him the Firstmate salmon wet food as a topper at night. So happy to support a BC/Canadian company. (We feed our small dog the salmon formula cans, too!)
Chris –
I have been feeding my mastiff x puppy this food since I brought him home . He is now 1 year old and doing great with no issues. He has grow to an astonishing weight of 130 lbs in 1 year with no joint problems as of yet. I also have a 6 year old staffy that I never fed this food to until I got the mastiff puppy.. she always had bad allergies to almost everything we fed her witch is common for that breed but now no more allergies and both are doing great… highly recommended this food