Finding the right dog food for my dog

I'm getting my puppy in six weeks, so I've started investigating what kind of dog food I'm going to feed it. Since I'm getting a Golden Retriever, a breed that quite commonly suffers from skin conditions that sometimes could be caused by food allergies, I only want to feed my dog top quality dog food. As I am also a physiologist and very interested in paleo food ("stone age food"), I know a thing or two about "natural food", in other words what we (and dogs) were adapted to eating over the course of evolution. This does not include cereals at all really, but among the dog foods sold at veterinarians, all contain some type of cereal. The one cereal most commonly the cause of allergies in dogs is wheat, which is why it is not among the ingredients of low allergen dog foods. So wheat is one of the things I's like to avoid.
The second thing that is really important (if you ask me), is the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. In humans the optimal ratio is somewhere between, 4:1 (that is four times as much omega-6 fatty acids compared to omega-3) and 1:4 (that is four times as much omega-3 fatty acids compared to omega-6). What is known is that we need more omega-3 than omega-6, and that the metabolites of omega-3 reduces inflammation in the body while the metabolites of omega-6 increases the general inflammation of the body. There is no real reason to think that dogs are not similar to us in this respect, so I will look for a food with the most optimal omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.
The third important thing is that I don't want there to be too much carbohydrate in the food. Golden Retrievers have a tendency to easily get overweight, and a food rich in carbohydrates, especially sugar, will only increase the risk of this happening. 

Out of the dog food brands we sell where I work, only two have puppy food that doesn't contain wheat, so I will start by comparing them. The first one is Eukanuba Lamb and Rice Puppy All Breed.

 Ingredients: Dried Chicken and Turkey, lamb (>14%), rice (>14%), maize, sorghum, dried whole egg, fish meal, dried beet pulp (>2.5%), animal fat, chicken digest, brewer's dried yeast, fish oil, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, fructooligosaccharides (0.15%), calcium carbonate, marigold extract.

The second one is Hill's Science Plan VetEssentials Puppy Large Breed.

Ingredients: Maize, poultry meat meal (chicken min. 30%), animal fat, digest, maize gluten meal, dried beet pulp, cellulose, fish oil, salt, vegetable oil, potassium chloride.

	Hill's	Eukanuba

Protein	27.8 %	28 %
Fat	15.6 %	16 %
Carbohydrate(NFE)	37.6 %	n/a
Fibre(crude)	5.2 %	2 %
Moisture	7.5 %	n/a
Calcium	1 %	1.2 %
Phosphorus	0.8 %	0.9 %
Sodium	0.5 %	n/a
Potassium	0.8 %	n/a
Omega ratio	4,2:1	5:1
Omega-3 fatty acids	0.71 %	0.4 %
Omega-6 fatty acids	2.99 %	2.00 %
DHA	0.17 %	0.10 %
Vitamin A	20000 IU/kg	15000 IU/kg
Vitamin D	1175 IU/kg	750 IU/kg
Vitamin E	668 mg/kg	200 mg/kg
Vitamin C	90 mg/kg	n/a
Beta-carotene	1.5 mg/kg	1 mg/kg

 Now, just so that it's said, it does say on the package of the Eukanuba Lamb and Rice Puppy All Breed that dogs with an adult weight of more than 25 kg are recommended to eat their normal puppy food for large breeds. So that can explain why there are less vitamins and more calcium and phosphorus in their puppy food than in the one from Hill's. I do think they should stop labeling it "all breed" though, since it clearly is only meant to be fed to small and medium sized breeds, and the recommendation to use the other puppy food is only written in very small letters on the package. It should also be said that when it comes to vitamins and minerals, more is not always better. The dog should have just the right amount of these, in balanced proportions.

Still, all that being said, it is not even a hard choice for me. The puppy food from Hill's is the far better choice in all respects, for my dog. First of all, it is made especially to meet the needs of pups of large breeds. This means, to the best of my knowledge, that the levels of vitamins and minerals are optimized for the larger breeds. It also doesn't contain any extra added sugar, like the Eukanuba food (fructooligosaccharides is a long and complicated word, but still means sugar). It has the best (even if not optimal) omega-6 to omega-3 ratio (4,2:1 compared to 5:1 in Eukanuba), although I will probably still add extra fish oil to the food to increase the omega-3 portion. If you do this, make sure that the there isn't any vitamins added to the fish oil, since the food already has all the vitamins the dog needs and as I already mentioned, more is not better. Some vitamins can actually be poisonous in large amounts. All of these factors put together makes me certain that Hill's Science Plan VetEssentials Puppy Large Breed is the food I will choose for my dog.

Remember, it is not only humans that are what they eat, so are dogs. It is important to find a food that keeps your dog as healthy as possible, and which is specially made for your type of dog. Ask your veterinarian for advice if you are uncertain of what to look for in a dog food and what your dog needs. No two dogs are exactly alike, you have to find the food that works for you and your dog.

Sources:
http://www.eukanuba.com/en-UK/product/puppy-all-breeds-rich-in-lamb-rice.jspx
http://www.hillsproducts.com/General.aspx/en-GB/SP/vetessentials-puppy-large-breed/original/bag
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid#The_omega.E2.88.926_to_omega.E2.88.923_ratio