New puppy arriving - Hand Feeding with Raw food
Discussion
Hello,
We have a new Irish doodle puppy arriving in a three weeks time (Pictures to follow in the forum!) it's all very exciting and a bit overwhelming as this is our first puppy
All the advise I've seen so far seems to be that hand feeding is a great way to bond in the first few weeks and a great way to get them to concentrate through their training programme but I'm a bit unsure how to do this with our intended raw diet
Does anyone have any experience with hand feeding raw, wet foods? Or should I start with kibble and move to raw when they're a bit older?
We have a new Irish doodle puppy arriving in a three weeks time (Pictures to follow in the forum!) it's all very exciting and a bit overwhelming as this is our first puppy
All the advise I've seen so far seems to be that hand feeding is a great way to bond in the first few weeks and a great way to get them to concentrate through their training programme but I'm a bit unsure how to do this with our intended raw diet
Does anyone have any experience with hand feeding raw, wet foods? Or should I start with kibble and move to raw when they're a bit older?
J8 SVG said:
From the experience of our family always having Red Setters and having issues with eating and stomach problems and my sister and dad using raw with great results for their lurcher and dashchund
I'm open to all advise and recommendations though - not totally closed minded on it
Only asking as we were set on a raw diet for our cocker spaniel but decided that with the right brand kibble (decent nutrition, content etc) life would just be much easier. I'm open to all advise and recommendations though - not totally closed minded on it
It was the extra prep, cleaning, thinking ahead that stopped us going down this route.
As an aside, for training/bonding, kibble will be fine
Never heard of hand feeding a dog - with our 2 pups I would occasionally put my hand in their bowl as they were eating to discourage them from getting overly possessive over food etc, and it seems to have worked well. We just fed them kibble as pups, AVA stuff. They've not had any digestive issues other than the usual upset stomachs that all puppies get from eating absolutely anything and everything they encounter on a walk. Raw food just seems like a faff in all honesty.
I've always fed my Great Danes and GSD's raw food. Mainly chunks of beef, tripe or chicken but also chicken carcasses and wings. Never really made any point of hand feeding them tho. However by coincidence one of my GSD's didn't eat any food this evening (beef chunks) so after picking up his bowl and chatting to him (as you do) I did pick out a chunk and offered him it, which he scoffed. I put his bowl down and he ignored it. I repeated the exercise and he scoffed every chunk I offered.
It's not something I'm going to make a habit of tho but I can see how you could do a bit of bonding and training (no biting, no snatching) in the early days as long as you don't end up training the pup to be a bit of a diva.
It's not something I'm going to make a habit of tho but I can see how you could do a bit of bonding and training (no biting, no snatching) in the early days as long as you don't end up training the pup to be a bit of a diva.
Chester draws said:
We never "hand-fed" either of our puppies... But we did take around a third to a half of their dry food to use as training rewards in the early weeks.
I imagine it's a lot easier to keep a handful of biscuits in your pocket than it would be to carry around a pocketful of mince!!
Pocket full of mince was the image I had in my head!I imagine it's a lot easier to keep a handful of biscuits in your pocket than it would be to carry around a pocketful of mince!!
Think I'm going to keep them on the kibble the breeder has been using for at least a few weeks and see how we get on
Seeing my friend's new puppy this weekend with very questionable deposits vs my family's dogs who lay perfect dog eggs every time was a very good argument for raw!
We pick ours up in just over a week (Lab) i have been visiting on a regular basis and he has no idea about food other than the kibble he is now on , tried him with some cooked chicken and he wasnt interested
I have read that its a good idea to hand feed the same stuff as he is used to for a couple of weeks , helps create the bond and puppies have sensitive stomachs so stick to what they are used to
I have read that its a good idea to hand feed the same stuff as he is used to for a couple of weeks , helps create the bond and puppies have sensitive stomachs so stick to what they are used to
I'd suggest speaking to the breeder and see what they recommend, but initially stick with what the dog is used to before switching to something new.
Never heard of hand feeding to be honest, but used to take the bowl away while she was eating, quick fuss then put the bowl back so she didn't get food possesive.
Good luck and put pictures in the dog picture thread!
Never heard of hand feeding to be honest, but used to take the bowl away while she was eating, quick fuss then put the bowl back so she didn't get food possesive.
Good luck and put pictures in the dog picture thread!
Nothing wrong with Kibble..... you can get it in all sizes and for all requirements, Puppy, Small Breed, Large Breed, Light, Senior, sensitive, grain free etc.
Just make sure it's full of proteins and not cheap carbs to bloat it all out. I look at some of the mainstream rubbish and the protein %'s are low and they're not very good sources.... search the internet for some of the smaller / more specialist brands and compare the contents? 30% meat vs 60% meat for example, fresh prime cut's vs scrap ends....
All of our doodles and doodle puppies are fed on our own brand of kibble and quite honestly, it makes some of the leading varieties look very poor.... Our latest pups are scoffing a Salmon, Whiting and Blue Haddock with Sweet Potato and Asparagus puppy food. Our bigger dogs vary between Venison, Duck & Lamb.
Just make sure it's full of proteins and not cheap carbs to bloat it all out. I look at some of the mainstream rubbish and the protein %'s are low and they're not very good sources.... search the internet for some of the smaller / more specialist brands and compare the contents? 30% meat vs 60% meat for example, fresh prime cut's vs scrap ends....
All of our doodles and doodle puppies are fed on our own brand of kibble and quite honestly, it makes some of the leading varieties look very poor.... Our latest pups are scoffing a Salmon, Whiting and Blue Haddock with Sweet Potato and Asparagus puppy food. Our bigger dogs vary between Venison, Duck & Lamb.
super7 said:
Nothing wrong with Kibble..... you can get it in all sizes and for all requirements, Puppy, Small Breed, Large Breed, Light, Senior, sensitive, grain free etc.
Just make sure it's full of proteins and not cheap carbs to bloat it all out. I look at some of the mainstream rubbish and the protein %'s are low and they're not very good sources.... search the internet for some of the smaller / more specialist brands and compare the contents? 30% meat vs 60% meat for example, fresh prime cut's vs scrap ends....
All of our doodles and doodle puppies are fed on our own brand of kibble and quite honestly, it makes some of the leading varieties look very poor.... Our latest pups are scoffing a Salmon, Whiting and Blue Haddock with Sweet Potato and Asparagus puppy food. Our bigger dogs vary between Venison, Duck & Lamb.
Bookmarked Just make sure it's full of proteins and not cheap carbs to bloat it all out. I look at some of the mainstream rubbish and the protein %'s are low and they're not very good sources.... search the internet for some of the smaller / more specialist brands and compare the contents? 30% meat vs 60% meat for example, fresh prime cut's vs scrap ends....
All of our doodles and doodle puppies are fed on our own brand of kibble and quite honestly, it makes some of the leading varieties look very poor.... Our latest pups are scoffing a Salmon, Whiting and Blue Haddock with Sweet Potato and Asparagus puppy food. Our bigger dogs vary between Venison, Duck & Lamb.
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