Feeding a new puppy

Everything you need to know about bringing a puppy into your life starts here. How to find that Schnauzer puppy, what to look for in a breeder, early care, training and feeding are all covered. We even cover Schnauzer crocodile teeth.
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Sandie1
Puppy
Posts: 37
Joined: 16 Sep 2021, 20:23
First Name: Rachel

Feeding a new puppy

Post by Sandie1 »

Hi there everyone,

I'm new to the forum and am collecting my new puppy next weekend, when she will be eight weeks old. After doing much research on the forum, I've decided to feed (complete) raw, and decided on Nutriment Puppy, some of which is now in my freezer. According to a couple of puppy books, you should use a fair amount of the puppy's meals as treats. My question is, is this possible when feeding raw? Or should I get some kind of raw treats, or use something like cooked chicken? Absolutely any advice or tips would be most appreciated.
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zeta1454
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Re: Feeding a new puppy

Post by zeta1454 »

Hello Rachel and welcome to the Forum :)

We feed our dogs on raw food and it certainly would not be easy and would be messy to try and use some of the raw meal as a training treat. I am sure others on the Forum will have their own preferences when it comes to what to use for a puppy but we use tiny pieces of cooked chicken or cooked liver or cheese (really tiny pieces :) ) and in the early weeks with a new puppy I wouldn’t worry too much about reducing the meal size. Many recommendations in books and online about using part (or all) of the food ration as treats is because many people feed kibble which in most cases will be high in calories and carbohydrates and could result either in the puppy not eating her regular meals or putting on too much weight.

I would say that although we are very much believers in raw feeding, we do use some tiny puppy kibble as well, for treat purposes only, as it can be easier to handle in some training set-ups and helpful for making ‘sniffing trails’ in the house or garden for the puppy to enjoy. We use the Simpsons 80/20 grain free puppy kibble which has very tiny pieces:

https://www.simpsonspremium.com/dogs/pu ... sh-chicken

Look forward to seeing photos of your new puppy when she arrives :o3
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~Roger Caras

Magic - Silversocks Sharade at Darksprite
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Dawnspell
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Re: Feeding a new puppy

Post by Dawnspell »

Hi and welcome

There are freeze dried raw treats and freeze dried raw food made by Natures variety. Air dried food such as ziwipeak, it's expensive but each piece can be broken into at least 4 so it works out cheaper than bags of treats, semi moist food such as platinum, eden semi moist are all foods I know people feed along side raw. These are complete foods but my fussy boy accepts them as treats.
You can dehydrate some meat to make it easier to handle.
Our first family dog
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Sandie1
Puppy
Posts: 37
Joined: 16 Sep 2021, 20:23
First Name: Rachel

Re: Feeding a new puppy

Post by Sandie1 »

Great, thanks, I knew you would not let me down! This forum has been so helpful to me, even before I get my girl. I look forward to having so many experts to help and advise as I go along!
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