I spent a great deal of time researching this topic as I had a EM puppy with bowed legs when I got him. Most foods over the counter come with by-product as a main ingredient. You want beef "meal" or chicken "meal" as the main ingredient...n
ot byproduct. Surpising..but check out science diet and iams and you will find by-product.
Anyway, to the point.... calcium/phosphorous balance is the main issue. Nutro's Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy food is the best overall. You can get chicken or lamb flavors. Our pups like the lamb better and it is also lower on protein, which is said by some to be good. I found the debate over protein to have 2 camps. One saying low protein, one saying high needed. What I learned from reading vet's takes on this was the cal/phos issue is what matters...this is what causes bone growth problems when feeding the wrong ratios, not protein. Most dog foods have alot of bone meal as filler in them and this is what throws off this balance. I believe by researching, that the people at nutro are of the few that have created a dog food to deal with this issue. It's not the protein...pups need protein to grow. It's not about slowing growth, it's about growing correctly. Anyway, royal canine is the only other food I would recommend, however, for much less money, the nutro is the obvious winner. Hope this helps.