I am trying out some new diets on my Pyrenean Mastiff pups, instead of bringing them onto the solid food with only wet kibble and milk replacer, Gerber's baby food (rice) and eggs, I'm branching out and adding mashed yam, a tad of cooked barley, rice, pasta and raw hamburger. They all slop it up. I plan to add bits of lightly cooked spinach as well. Trying to vary their diet more so they get started being used to more veggies.

What does everyone else here do?

The first foods I always introduced were whole chickens, and tripe with yogurt, knawing on bones I think is important
for their jaw and teeth development ( I weaned my own kids onto chicken or rib bones, great for teething).
If you can get the green/unwashed tripe there is still lots of vegetation left in/on it. Another good method is if you can get a hold of gut full animals like rabbits or chicken, give them that. It's when the animal is fed a few hrs prior to butchering, the stomach is still full of the grain or vegetable matter plus the enzymes and juices a great way to infuse pre-digested stuff and enzymes. Like mom regurgitating food for them.
A barley mash with yogurt is good, grated raw apple is a really easy and cheap way of adding enzymes.
I am always cautious to do only 3 ingredients at once, like try barley, yogurt and apple together, then later add the meat and omit the yogurt so it is barley,apple and meat.
Thing's like pumpkin or yam are amazing for an ailing dog, or a dog with a sensitive stomach and awesome for recovering from diarrhea. So I am sure it would be great for pups as well, they are a very hypo allergenic good base for a diet and easy to digest. As far as gaining weight the yam is better, a dog wont gain much weight on pumpkin but it is high in electrolytes, and fiber.
I am also a big believer in whey protein, even a few tbsp in a meal is good. good for the muscle and tendon/ligament growth which is important in big dog's.
I save all my egg shells and every 2 weeks or so run them through a coffee grinder, the cheapest way to add calcium. Make them very fine powder better for digestion.

Well ... at 3 weeks old my Pyrs puppies already eat dry kibble and if available some goat milk that's it! Kibble are the same for all my big dogs (25 % protein and 15 % fat) and that works very well. See below the result with ESTAT du Hogan des Vents 2 years old (not finished of course, will take another 2 years). My Pyrs bitches nurse their puppies between 3 weeks and 8 weeks. I give them some whole eggs too. I do not want my puppies to grow to fast, not good for their bones, they have time to do it (4 years actually).

We too fed only adult dog food to puppies, too much junk and rapid growth feed in puppy foods. Fed goat's mild when we could get it and supplemented with raw lamb and lamb fat. Eggs and raw for the bitch to keep her milk up and rich....
And I too agree, the big breed dogs mature and gain muscle and weight until 4 years so yes, plenty of time......

Berger04 wrote:Well ... at 3 weeks old my Pyrs puppies already eat dry kibble and if available some goat milk that's it! Kibble are the same for all my big dogs (25 % protein and 15 % fat) and that works very well. See below the result with ESTAT du Hogan des Vents 2 years old (not finished of course, will take another 2 years). My Pyrs bitches nurse their puppies between 3 weeks and 8 weeks. I give them some whole eggs too. I do not want my puppies to grow to fast, not good for their bones, they have time to do it (4 years actually).

A very sound system, excellant info here, keep the growth slow so their bones and joints are healthy as they mature. Accelerated growth for large breeds especially is a killer, causes lots of problems.

I have only fed the adult food too on this litter right now.