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Feeding/Body Condition
What you feed and how often to feed your puppy are both very important topics to think about. It is also important to consider your dog's weight and body condition to ensure they are growing and maintaining properly.
What should I feed my puppy?
You can find more information about what food your puppy has been started on, what we feed/what supplements we use, and what we recommend on our Nutrition page. Growing puppies should be fed puppy food or a quality all life stages food, a diet specially formulated to meet the nutritional needs of puppies for normal development. Feeding your puppy with adult dog food or a low quality food will rob your puppy of important nutrients needed to grow appropriately. Regardless of what type of food you are feeding, dry, wet, raw, etc. make sure you are doing your research to ensure it is nutritionally correct to meet all of your dog's nutritional needs. Before making a major change in your puppy’s diet, consult with your veterinarian and, when possible, your breeder. Once your puppy’s food formula is chosen, stick with it. Sudden changes in food may cause digestion problems or diarrhea. Small portions of vegetables (carrots, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, cucumber, green beans, brussel sprouts, pumpkin, carrots, beetroot, zucchini, celery, sweet potatoes) and fruits ( apples, bananas, strawberries, watermelon, mangoes, blueberries) are healthy, low-calorie snacks that most puppies will try and can make great food toppers to mix things up. They should be given in small portions and sparingly. Fresh water should be available at all times. During the summer months, consider setting up multiple indoor/outdoor water stations. To avoid a buildup of bacteria and biofilm, wash your puppy’s water bowl daily.
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Feeding Frequency- How often should you feed your puppy?
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8 weeks - 12 months: Your puppy should be fed their daily recommended amount split in 2-4 meals per day. Most puppies are able to be fed unmoistened, dry puppy food by this time but there is nothing wrong with adding water for hydration. We personally "float" or add water to all of our dog's food so they are less thirsty after eating. If they seem like they are excessively hungry for their food, take a look at the portion size. If the portion size is appropriate (we do not want to over feed our puppies and cause excess weight to put pressure on growing joints), try to spread out their food into more meals per day in order to keep them feeling full longer. ​
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After age 1: Your dog can be taken off puppy food and given an adult food or continued on an all life stages food. You can typically move your dog to 1-2 meals per day. Research has proven that it is better for overall health to be fed once a day, however some dogs may do better with more meals.
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Feeding time tips;
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Feed at regular routine times each day and don’t leave food down for more than 15 minutes. If your puppy is becoming overly distracted and not focusing on eating, go ahead and feed your puppy in their crate or a secluded area with minimal distractions. After the 15 minutes, go ahead and pick up any left over food and offer it at the next meal time.
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I highly suggest feeding at least one meal by hand as a training session. This typically takes no more than 10-15 minutes and will help develop your respectful relationship and sets a specific time each day to focus on training.
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Do not stick your hands in your dog's food bowl, touch or handle your puppy while they are eating, take away food as punishment, or feed multiple dogs in too close of quarters. This can cause the puppy to feel the need to protect their food, thus leading to resource guarding behavior. Let your puppy eat its food in peace. If you want to interact with your puppy, either feed their meal by hand or try adding bits of food or treats into their bowl. This will create a positive association with you being around while they eat.
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Keep from exercising, running, or rough playing with other dogs for at least an hour after a meal to give time for digestion. The time to digest food is crucial to absorbing the vitamins and nutrients in the meal. Avoiding exercise, running, and rough play will allow help to prevent "bloat and twisted stomach" in dogs, know as a life-threatening condition called "gastric dilation volvulus (GDV)".
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How Much Food Should I Feed My Puppy?
There’s a saying among dog people: watch the dog, not the dish. Body condition, not the amount of food your puppy has eaten or left in the bowl, should determine your puppy’s portion sizes. Use the recommended feeding guide for the specific food if needed as a starting place and adjust to how the dog feels and looks. Portion sizes depend on individual metabolism and body type, and nutritional requirements vary from dog to dog. If your puppy occasionally skips a meal or picks at food, don’t worry. It could mean they are ready to eliminate a feeding or that you have given them too much, in which case you can simply reduce the quantity served at future meals.
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If you are using treats to work on training with your puppy, adjust the amount you feed at mealtime accordingly. Whenever training with treats, keep the treat as small as possible.
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Keep track of your puppy’s weight and body condition.
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As your puppy grows, you can track their progress in a simple notebook or a more sophisticated spreadsheet. Weigh the puppy regularly and record their progress.
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Weighing a dog, even a squirming puppy, is an important tool to track their growth. An easy way to weigh a squirmy puppy who hasn’t learned to stay still for a weigh-in yet is to first weigh yourself, then weigh yourself while you’re holding the puppy. Subtract the difference—that’s the puppy’s weight.
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Try not to get too focused on the specific weight; no two dogs, even within breeds, are built exactly alike. Focus more on how the puppy feels and their body condition.
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A young dog carrying too much weight has an increased risk of orthopedic problems, due to stress on immature joints. Obesity in dogs can also lead to diabetes, diseases of the heart and other organs, orthopedic issues, certain cancers, and general lethargy. Below is a visual representation of how to score your dog's body condition.
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If you feel that your dog is overweight, lower their daily portion size and prioritize exercise.
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If you feel that you dog is underweight, increase their daily portion size (slowly, you don't want to overwhelm their digestive system, which can cause diarrhea).
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Should I Feed My Puppy People Food or Table Scraps?
The simple answer is no. Your puppy will no doubt quickly learn just how effective their sweet puppy dog eyes can be. One little French fry will invariably lead to another, and another. Before long, too many French fries leads you to an overweight dog crowding you off the couch. Also, a steady diet of table scraps can create a nutritional imbalance, and certain ingredients in your favorite dishes can cause upset stomach, or worse, toxicity, in dogs. (Plus, begging at the table might be a behavior you don’t want to encourage.)
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The pleading gaze of a begging dog can be irresistible. This is no accident. During dogs’ long partnership with people, they have perfected cunning methods of exploiting the human habit of associating food with affection. In prehistoric times semi-domesticated canines first cultivated human beings as a food provider. As the two species grew closer, dogs modified begging behaviors to maximize results: The more pathetic a dog seemed, the more scraps were tossed his way. Dogs have since refined this approach into a low-risk, high-reward hunting technique. Pretty genius, right?
But don’t be fooled: Begging is not an emotional crisis or a test of your love. It’s what scientists might call an evolutionary survival strategy, or what the rest of us might call a scam. Allowing your dog to guilt you into overfeeding them, or serving them a steady diet of table scraps in a misguided show of affection, can harmful results in modern times. Your dog no longer needs to beg for table scraps to survive, so help them thrive by limiting their bonus portions to times when they are working for training rewards or as treats for other positive or welcome behaviors. If your dog begs while you are eating or steals food off of your kids plates/hands make sure to prioritize training against this behavior. You may even just simply put your dog in its crate during this time.
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​How to transition dog food;
When switching from puppy food to adult food, or transition food brands altogether, you should make the switch gradually over a period of a few days. A sudden change in your puppy’s diet may cause stomach upset and the dreaded puppy diarrhea. Even with a slow transition, an upset stomach can be very common with any sort of food change. I recommend adding pumpkin and probiotics/prebiotics to your dog's meal to help ease the upset digestive tract. The following is a visual guide to show an appropriate transition.
