The 5 Best Dog Food Brands for Puggles

This post may contain affiliate links.

November 6, 2022 / Dog Food / By: Krystine Therriault

Puggle Diet and Nutrition

Let’s face it, despite their quirks, these cute dogs with Pug face wrinkles and Beagle features have wriggled their way into our hearts.

But to ensure your puggle stays healthy and happy for years to come, you’ll need to feed your puggle a high-quality dog food.

Puggles have higher metabolic rates and require higher calories per pound compared to larger breeds. So what are the best foods for Puggle? 

This article will explore this breeds' nutritional needs as well as some of our favorite food options currently on the market and what distinguishes them over others. 

Our Top Picks


Best overall dog food for Puggles

Merrick Grain-Free Duck + Sweet Potato Recipe Dry Dog Food


Best Dog Food for Puggles

Best Premium Fresh Food For Puggles

Ollie Slow Cooked Lamb Dish with Cranberries


Cooked refrigerated dog food

Best affordable Food for Puggles

American Journey


Grain-free dry dog food

Best hypoallergenic dog food for Puggles

Canidae Grain Free Pure LID


Best hypoallergenic dog food for Puggles

Great Sized Kibble for Puggles

Blue Buffalo Life Protection Recipe


Great Sized Kibble for Puggles

Puggle breed traits

A Puggle is an adorable cross between a Pug and a Beagle that makes a great family pet. This breed is friendly towards children, strangers, and other dogs which can be a big bonus for busy families or active singles.

Puggles are also known for being super cuddly and enjoying a short nap on their owners when the opportunity presents itself! Since this is an energetic and healthy breed, you will be happy to hear that they don’t suffer from as many health issues as many pure-bred dogs do.

A Happy Puggle puppy

A versatile breed, Puggles do well in apartments and in rural areas but you should make sure that they are getting enough stimulation and activity either way. 

Puggles are known for barking and howling at times and they love to dig, so stick to to training them if you want to discourage your pet from these bad habits. 

This breed inherits the Pug’s and Beagle’s stubbornness, but with positive reinforcement and engaging training, you CAN have a happy and obedient Puggle.

  • Height: 10 to 15 inches
  • Weight: 10 to 30 pounds
  • Temperament: Fun, playful, loving, energetic
  • Lifespan: 10 - 15 years
  • Unique traits: Known for loud howling if they don't get enough exercise or are left alone for too long.
  • Health issuesHip dysplasia, patellar luxation, epilepsy, hyporthyroidism, cherry eye, stenotic nares

What to feed and how much to feed a Puggle?

It’s no secret that Puggles love to eat, but they should never have food out all day.

This breed isn’t very picky about what they eat and will eat a lot, until they get overweight and unhealthy if you're not measuring out his food. Puggles should be fed high-quality dry dog food only, since more common brands often have corn, wheat, and other ingredients many dogs are sensitive to.

Trusted brands like Merrick, Canidae and Blue Buffalo are a few of QUALITY grain-free adult dry dog food options that are available. These brands priorities dogs’ overall health and contain great whole ingredients like meat, fruits, and vegetables so that dogs get a balanced diet.

As mentioned before, Puggles should not have food available to them always.

Be particularly careful to measure out their Puggle’s food and avoid overfeeding them, because this breed will easily become overweight - so they should be put on a low-fat dog diet.

Spread your dog’s meals to two or three times a day. They should always have a bowl of fresh, clean water available.

When deciding how much to feed their Puggle, start with the directions on the dog food packaging. Factoring in your dog’s weight, age, and activity levels, you should determine how much your dog should get for each meal and stick to it. It’s okay to make small adjustments if needed, and you can always consult their vet if they have any questions.

The main thing is to monitor a Puggle’s weight and make sure they get out of their comfy dog bed and get their daily dose of exercise.

This breed may always seem like they are hungry, but it is important not to give in to them!

Common health issues and dietary fixes

Hip Dysplasia

Hip Dysplasia is an inheritable disease that causes a malformation of the hip joints, where the ball and socket don’t fit properly. Some symptoms of Hip Dysplasia include difficulty standing, reduced activity, and avoiding stairs or jumping.

To prevent Hip Dysplasia can look for ingredients like glucosamine and chondroitin in their dog’s food, since these are included in many premium blends to help support dogs’ joint health. 

Unsure how to recognize if your Puggle suffers from this condition, watch this quick video for helpful tips on how to spot it!

Patellar Luxation

Patellar luxation is essentially kneecap dislocation and is one of the most common joint problems in dogs. It is also more common in female dogs. A dog with a dislocated kneecap will start skipping or lifting their hind legs, move their hind legs in a strange way, or can’t walk on one or both legs.

Watching a Puggle’s weight and feeding them a healthy diet can help prevent these types of joint problems. 

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is a common disease in dogs that often affects them between 4 and 10 years of age. The underlying causes of this disease involves irregular thyroid hormones and some of the symptoms are hair loss, weight gain, excessive shedding, and lethargy.

Diet may not be enough to stop a dog from developing hypothyroidism, but premium dog food does have better ingredients for managing a dog’s weight, for their skin and coat health, and for increased immune support. 

The best dog foods for Puggles

Best Overall Dog Food for Puggles : Merrick Grain Free Duck & Sweet Potato

Best Rated Food for Puggles

We have recommended this brand before for other dog breeds and for good reason. This food is rich in protein with almost 43% derived from turkey, duck and salmon meals. Not to mention this product line is grain-free.

According to Dog Food Advisor, Merrick’s product line offer a 3.9% fiber content , 38% protein, 17% fat and 25% carbs, which provides for a very balanced diet.

The sweet potato offers good carbohydrates composite but also contains white potatoes also (so beware- in case your Puggle is allergic).

In addition to being packed with protein and carbohydrates, there are also apples, blueberries and whole peas in this recipe adding to its overall nutritional value.

Overall, we stand by this grain-free formula from Merrick and is a regular on our pup's daily intake and often find it's all he wants to eat.

Best Fresh Food for Puggles: Ollie Slow Cooked Lamb Dish with Cranberries

MyOllie Lamb and Organic Butternut Squash

The Lamb Recipe is one of several Ollie's dog food varieties designed to offer dogs of all breeds and sizes food that is as close to human grade as possible.

This recipe has the wow-factor right from the start, their first five listed ingredients is something you'd see fit for human consumption. They are: lamb, butternut squash, lamb liver, kale, rice.

By providing pups with lamb as their primary source of protein, this dog food offers a high quality single meat protein that is a fantastic source of numerous nutrients, including iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. As a result, a regular intake of lamb may enhance organ function, muscle tissue regeneration, muscle growth, and optimal coat maintenance.

The addition of butternut squash - as well as cranberries, chia seeds and chickpeas - adds even more natural vitamins and minerals as well as additional taste! The Ollie's dog food formulas are all grain free and no soy is used in its creation either and are also fortified with iron, folic acid and taurine to provide optimal nutrition for small dogs like pugs.

Ollie's Lamb formula dog food also offers lots of naturally sourced Omega fatty acids - chia seeds are one of the best natural sources of all, for both dogs and humans - which helps promote joint, brain and muscle health in dogs of all ages.

Most Affordable Food For Puggles: American Journey Salmon & Sweet Potato

Grain-free dry dog food

A grain-free fish diet like the American Journey Salmon & Sweet Potato recipe is a great choice of food to feed Puggles with allergies. This high protein kibble is grain-free and has deboned salmon as it's first ingredient. This is a great source of protein, rich in omega fatty acids and glucosamine and chondroitin to foster joint health.

It's also supplemented with flaxseed and canola oil which support healthy skin and coat. Other notable ingredients include chicken meal, turkey meal, sweet potatoes, chickpeas as well as wholesome fruits and veggies like carrots, dried kelp and blueberries. 

This affordable food is for all life stages and for dogs of all breeds so a great choice if you have multiple dogs. Dogs on this dry kibble have benefited from firmer stools, shinier coats and increased energy levels. It has only 390 kcal/cup so good for overweight Puggles who need to lose some weight but not sacrifice on nutrition. It is one of our best value foods, made in California, USA and is Chewy's own in-house brand. Currently running a special promotion of - buy 1 get 1 free

Hypoallergenic Dog Food For Puggles: Canidae Grain Free Pure LID Lamb & Pea

Best Dry Food for a Puggle

The CANIDAE Grain-Free PURE Elements with Lamb Limited Ingredient Diet Adult Dry Dog Food is an affordable and quality formula suitable for pups, adults, seniors. It is widely acknowledged as a great food product and is rich in protein. It is a very close competitor to Merrick albeit a smaller company too. Its composite provides a protein-to-fat ratio of 52% which is excellent and both the protein and fat content are above average when to other dry dog food.

Similar to Merrick its carbohydrates come from sweet potatoes and vegetables and its protein from chicken meal, turkey meal and lamb. This recipe is particularly suitable for dogs with sensitive digestion since it uses just 10 key ingredients and is free from grain, corn, wheat, soy and gluten, with 509 kcal/cup. 

Canidae Grain Free Pure is top rated product and your Puggle will thrive on it as have many other dogs.

Best Size Kibble Food For Puggles: Blue Buffalo Chicken & Brown Rice

Best Size Kibble Food For Puggles:

A great choice for picky eaters and for those who prefer a smaller sized kibble than the chunks of other brands.

Like Merrick, Blue Buffalo similarly sees the added benefit of both high-quality protein and vegetable-based food products. Their Life Protection Formula of Chicken and Brown Rice for adult dogs contains real de-boned chicken, whole grains, peas, whole potatoes, fish, carrots, sweet potato and fruits (Blueberries, Cranberries) along with flaxseed.

Flaxseed is natural source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids and this is vital to your Puggle's health concerns regarding Hip Dysplasia and Hypothyroidism which it will help prevent. Another benefit is that this recipe contains a precise blend of calcium and phosphorus to promote strong bones and to protect your Puggle's teeth. 

This recipe contains 24% protein and 14% crude fats, with 378 kcal/cup. Overall Blue Buffalo is a good quality brand which I have used for many years for my own dogs and comes highly recommended by other pet parents and their dogs.

Final word

While all of the listed dog food brands in this are perfectly great solutions for your Puggle, the overall higher quality of its product makes Ollie (it's a little pricey though) followed closely by Merrick - the clear winners in this particular match-up.

Remember though: only feed your dog high-quality dog food and avoid feeding him food scraps.  

Just compare the potential options and try to make the best decision for your pooch.

WRITTEN BY

Krystine Therriault

Krystine Therriault is an accomplished writer. With a passion for all creatures cute and furry, Krystine's life has been touched by many beloved dogs over the years. She is also a loving mother of two boys and an avid yogi.

Leave a Reply

Sabine F Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

MORE GREAT READS

A skinny and malnourished boxer dog sitting on the grass outdoors

Best Foods to Help a Dog Gain Weight Fast: High Calorie Canine Eats!

Dog Eating Boiled Eggs, Broccoli and White Meat From a Dog Bowl

Are Eggs Good for Dogs? Can Dogs Eat Eggs?

Global Site Tag