What To Feed Puppy And What Are Best Treats For Training?

[kiwi73]

Hi there

I am the proud owner of a Golden Retriever puppy as of yesterday. He is 8 weeks old and seems to be settling as well as can be expected. I have a few questions regarding his food.

He has been raised on Iam's puppy food and I am wondering what your thoughts are on this brand? I have been told that Royal Canin for Retrievers is good. Do you recommend this and if so, can I slowly introduce Royal Canin as of now, or is it best to stick to Iams for a while. He is also on goats milk twice a day.

Also what you do use as training rewards for a puppy of 8 weeks? I would just like to start training him the basics and believe some type of food would help.

Many thanks

Michelle

[Sarah L]

Hi Kiwi73,

Any of the two brands of dry dog food will be good for your puppy, it is up to your personal choice which one you use. If you are going to swap to Royal Canin then you will have to do this gradually and not just swap over from one to the other in one day.

For training treats for a young 8 week old pup I would use some boiled chicken breast, chopped up into little bits to reward the pup for good behaviour. this is tasty to the pup but not to strong to upset his stomach.

I am not sure about the goats milk, puppies do not need milk at this age although alot of people like to give there dogs milk it can give them the runs or even make them vomit. Maybe check this out with your vet to see what they say.

Congratulations on your new pup have lots of fun and enjoy.

[Over It]

Hi Kiwi73

Congrats on the new puppy

If you think your pup is lacking calcium and the likes you can buy special Puppy Milk or Porridge. They usually have little to no lactose, are easily digestible and are high in calcium and protein.

Whatever food you decide on for your pup - make the change gradually by mixing some of the old food with the new food. This will reduce the chances of an upset tummy (and the runny poos that come with it!)

For treats for my young pups I love to use fruit (dried apricots, pitted dates, apple etc) chopped up into small bits. Another alternative is the homebrand sausage meat (like Devon) cut into small bits. You can also use cat biscuits, however I am not a fan (but know many people who happily use it and many many doggies that love cat food!)

There are many different things to use, however I just recommend you don't use the same stuff as he is fed at meal times... it will soon become boring and he won't want to focus or do anything for the treat if it is the same old dry kibble he gets with dinner.

Remember if you are going to be doing lots of treating when training to take this into account at meal times (otherwise you will have one chubby puppy on your hands!)

GOOD LUCK

[anthony mazzeri]

Hi Michelle, I've just found the clicker training books' tip of using party frankfurt sausages cut into small bits make good food treats for training for my little 8 week old puppy. The pieces hold their shape and don't stick together so they're easily dispensed, and they're soft enough for the pup to wolf down quickly without distracting from the training.

If he eventually gets bored of frankfurt pieces, I'll try their other suggestions of small pieces of chicken breast and even cheese.

[Mystiqview]

What ever you use for treats.. They need to be easily chewed and gone, and something preferably smelly as compared to dry kibble which has very low smell.

I use cabana.. it is smelly...easy gone..dogs dont waste time chewing.. while a dog chews.. time is spent away from focussing on you.

[stormie]

Hi Kiwi73

Congratulations on your new puppy! Golden puppies are the cutest things!

With regards to feeding pup, I'd recommend looking for a good quality food that is made for large breed puppies. Large breed pups have different requirements to other pups, because if they grow too fast, they can encounter skeletal problems later on. I'd also be careful with adding the goats milk with the puppy food, as this may be giving too much calcium for a large breed pup. The dry kibble has all the ratio's balanced of the vitamins and minerals, so adding anything extra can throw these ratio's out of whack.

As with whats been said above, make sure any changes you make, are done gradually. Maybe on pups next vacc visit at the vet, you could run some of these questions past them.

Don't forget to post pics!!!!