Dog and Puppy Dietary Advice

I would strongly recommend continuing your new puppy with the food that it received at the breeders kennelling. This will avoid any possible tummy upsets and provide familiar continuity to your puppy. See the Puppy Care page for more information about feeding your puppy.















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An adult diet can be fed to a dog from 12 months old. Dog food comes in three types - dried, semi-moist and canned and each has their own advantages. Dried is easily stored and can be bought cheaply in bulk. Semi-moist is loved by most dogs, though it can be high in sugar content. Tinned is moisture rich and equally loved by most dogs, but can be heavy to take home, though some shops like Pet Planet or Pets At Home will deliver pet food direct to your door, with free delivery available. Most dog food can be purchased for the specific age of your dog, for example an ageing dog who exercises less and has a slower metabolism will require a special feed to prevent obesity





Finding out which type of food your dog prefers is simply a matter of trial and error. Once found it is a good idea to stick with a specific brand to avoid tummy upsets, though flavours can be varied.


Dried food should be kept in an airtight container once opened and used within 90 days. Any longer and they could start losing their vitamin quality and there is increased risk of exposure to vermin or mould spores.


When feeding your dog it is advisable to set feeding time regimes so that you dictate to the dog when he or she gets fed and not the other way round which can lead to dominant behaviour. Food should be placed in front of the dog for about ten minutes to give him or her enough time to eat it. Food should not be left all day for the dog to eat as and when he or she wants. A healthy and normal dog should eat the food presented at the time of set mealtimes. The book 100 Ways to Train the Perfect Dog by Sarah Fisher and Marie Miller suggests this is a good regime for one's dog for many reasons such as being alerted to any signs of illness if your dog is off its food. If the dog does not eat its food within this ten minutes then take it away and do not give any more food until the next set mealtime. Your dog will soon learn when it should eat.

For reasons of hygiene please do not be tempted to feed your dog from your own plates or lick out pots and pans. To prevent begging or snatching of food from plates, including those of future guests which can be embarrassing, please do not feed your dog titbits from your own meals. They will see this as acceptable behaviour and could sit by the eaters side waiting to be fed and drooling or could even snatch food of the plate. Leftovers should be scrapped into their dog bowl.

Do train your dog to wait for you to place its food or water bowl on the floor before eating to avoid any spills, accidents or nasty snatching at food. Clicker Training is a useful way to teach the dog to wait at the sit position and to respond to your command that it can eat.

A dog will naturally want to guard its food once it has taken possession of the food bowl so please do not take this away from the dog. Even the most good natured dog will be tempted to snarl or bite the hand that tries to take away its breakfast or dinner. Some dog owners will deliberately take away a dog's food bowl mid meal to teach the dog that it is dominant or the boss. This is not advised by most dog trainers. Though if you want to be able to access the dog's bowl and to teach it not to snarl or snap when a bowl is taken away then positive and rewarding training such as adding really tasty titbits to the bowl in mid meal would encourage the dog to allow you to take their bowl away and they will come to recognise this as a rewarding time.

100 Ways to Train the Perfect Dog by Sarah Fisher and Marie Miller has training exercises regarding eating and mealtimes. For example they suggest using an open palm and tucking a treat under your thumb when teaching a puppy or dog to get a treat from a hand. This teaches them not to snatch and to take the treat gently and when offered.

Read advice about preventing your dog from becoming overweight and read the water guide.







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