Odds and Ends

Food - There are a variety of good dog foods and diets available. Many breeders, dog enthusiasts, and veterinarians have strong opinions about the food(s) that are best to use. It is true that the better food you use, the less your dog needs to eat, and therefore the less it poops. We recommend you use Purina One, Purina Pro Plan, Iams, Eukanuba or Science Diet. If you choose another brand, look at the Nutrition Content section of the bag and compare it to one of the listed brands and make sure it is comparable. Also, NuVet makes a great vitamin that we recommend. Although we don't have a strong opinion on a one-and-only dog food that is appropriate, we do firmly feel that you should feed your dog DRY dog food. As a puppy, you may need to moisten the dry food, and that is fine. But after this, there is no need. The dry food helps to clean your dogs teeth, does not "rot" if it sits unfinished, and is much less expensive than pre-prepared partially or fully moist dog foods.

Feeding - As long as your puppy or dog is relatively normal and healthy, we recommend puppy food for the first 6 months, and then adult dog food. You should feed two times per day, allowing the dog time to eat and then removing the left-over food.

We do NOT recommend free-feeding (leaving a large amount of dog food out and letting the puppy/dog eat whenever it wants to). Feeding your dog on a schedule has many benefits. It helps your dog understand that it is dependent upon you to be fed, and you have an opportunity to have it 'sit' before you feed it. It allows you to very quickly and easily note any change in eating habits, in case your dog becomes ill. Providing the dog an eating schedule, naturally also assists in providing your dog an elimination schedule - making it much easier for you to housebreak your dog when it is a puppy.

Note: We work primarily with medium-large to large breeds of dogs, where hip dysplasia is common, and growth patterns are important to long-term health of the dog. If you want feeding recommendations for smaller dogs, this is not the place to get it as we do not have experience with that!