Small dogs

Built for a dog who fits on your lap.

Loyal Saints exists because of a toy poodle. King was the reason Kristina started reading ingredient panels properly, and he is the reason the first bag was ever made. Everything here is written for dogs his size — and none of it stops being true for a Labrador.

Start here, because it will save you money today

If your dog is small, buy the big bag.

Almost everyone with a small dog reaches for the 5 oz. It looks like the sensible size for a small animal. It is the more expensive way to feed them, by a wide margin.

5 oz bag $5.37/day 3.7 days for a 6 lb dog
14 oz bag $3.46/day 10.4 days for the same dog

About 36% cheaper per day, for exactly the same food. A small dog takes ten days to get through a 14 oz bag, which is well inside the window where it stays fresh — sealed and dry, it keeps for weeks.

The 5 oz has a real job: trying a protein before committing, and travel. It is just not the one to feed from.

What it actually costs

The numbers, including the ones that are not flattering.

Fed as the complete diet, on the 14 oz bag at Halo Club pricing. These are computed from the printed serving panel, not estimated:

Complete-diet cost by weight — Beef
DogCups/dayPer dayPer yearBag lasts
4 lb 0.6 $2.77 $1010 13.0 days
6 lb 0.75 $3.46 $1262 10.4 days
10 lb 1.1 $5.07 $1851 7.1 days
12 lb 1.25 $5.76 $2103 6.2 days
15 lb 1.45 $6.68 $2440 5.4 days
18 lb 1.667 $7.69 $2805 4.7 days
20 lb 1.78 $8.21 $2995 4.4 days

A four-pound dog is about $2.77 a day. A twenty-pound dog is nearer $8.21. We would rather you saw that spread now than discovered it in week three.

If the complete-diet number is more than you want to spend, feed it as a quarter of the bowl instead. Your dog still gets real freeze-dried raw in every meal, at a quarter of the cost above.

Why this food suits a small dog particularly

Small dogs have almost no margin for error

A 6 lb dog eats around 172 calories a day. One extra tablespoon of something dense is a meaningful fraction of that, which is why small dogs become overweight on portions that look trivially small. Knowing exactly what is in a cup matters more here than anywhere.

Small mouths, and what they can manage

Freeze-dried pieces break apart under light pressure and rehydrate to a soft texture in a few minutes. For a small jaw, an older dog, or one who has already lost teeth, that is the difference between a meal and a struggle.

Picky is disproportionately a small-dog problem

Partly biology, mostly household: a small dog is easier to hand-feed, easier to indulge, and quicker to learn that refusing produces something better. Food that smells like food rather than like coating helps — and so does not negotiating.

One protein, when the dog is the sensitive kind

Small breeds are well represented among dogs with skin and digestive sensitivities. A single named animal protein means you can actually run an elimination trial at home instead of guessing across nine of them.

Why a toy poodle

This started with one small dog who was not thriving.

Kristina did not set out to build a dog food company. She set out to fix what was in King's bowl, could not find anything she was willing to feed him, and ended up making it. He is the reason the ingredient list is short enough to read aloud, and the reason there is one named protein in every bag.

Small dogs are where this food came from. They are not the limit of who it is for — if yours is a Great Dane, the large-breed guide is written for you.

Kristina and King, founder of Loyal Saints

Serving figures transcribed from the printed Daily Serving Guidelines panel; costs computed from the live product price at Halo Club rates, so they move when it does. Complete-diet figures assume an adult dog at typical activity — puppies need considerably more. Last reviewed September 2026. Nothing here is veterinary advice.

She never asks for much. This is the part we get to choose.

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What Dog Moms Are Saying

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We sell on Chewy too, and those reviews belong to the people who wrote them — so we won’t reprint them here as if they were ours. Here is what all three formulas is rated there, and a link to read every word of it.

Rated on Chewy 4.7/ 5 79 ratings Read them on Chewy →
Also stocked on amazon Same food, same bag

As shown on Chewy’s listing, September 2026. We don’t control those reviews, edit them, or choose which ones you see — including the ones that aren’t five stars.