A few thoughts about health considerations for your big dog puppy:

First thing, big dog breeds grow fast! This is important to keep in mind when considering general care of a giant breed or large cross breed.

Feeding: Generally opinion seems to be that protein in large pups should be kept down to 20% I know of some IW owners who feed their pups adult food from day one, some who move to adult food at 4-6 months. If you make your own food or feed a raw diet keep this in mind.

Soft bones:  Large breed puppies grow longer than smaller breeds, a chihuaha for example will be full mature in 6 months, an Irish Wolfhounds puppyhood lasts 2 years! So for at least the first 6 months of a large breeds life you need to be very careful about stressing the bones, this can lead to problems later in the dogs life. Special care should be taken of the front legs when getting in and out of cars or going up and down stairs. I still carry Jaks upstairs, he is nearly 6 months and ways 50 kilos! He hops in and out of the car on his own... well he would but I catch him under the chest and take most of the weight.  

Growing pains: I have not experienced this first hand as most of my dogs, especially the bigger breeds, were rescues and past their puppyhood. That said I will tell you what I know.  Growing pains are generally reffered to as Pano in the dog world, pano is a painful bone disease / condition called panosteitis which usually strikes dogs of 6-18 months. Interestingly the statistics show that it is 4 times more likely to appear in dogs rather than bitches. The symptoms are classic lameness and discomfort in the dog, oftenit will switch from one leg to another.

the worst thing about pano (other than the pain it presents to young dogs), is that it is not fully understood. The current studies seem to rule out a bacterial infection as it does not respond well to antibiotics. It is thought to perhaps be a viral infection but this is not proven. Others tend to think it is genetic. The long and the short of it is that this conditionhas to be managed rather than being cured. A reduction in the protein and fat in a dogs diet has reportedly shown good results and the pain needs to be managed usually  buffered aspirin or carprofen (Rimadyl).

If your big dog puppy presents the symptoms of Pano do NOT assume that because he is young it is Pano..... Get it diagnosed by a good vet with experience with Large breed dogs, if you assume and try to manage this yourself it may turn out to be a symptom of something much worse!

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