PICKING UP YOUR PUP :

When you come to pick up your puppy, it will have a suitcase packed with the following items for its journey home:

• A collar and leash
• Food and water
• Travel bowls
• Puppy cookies and treats
• Puppy toys
• Paper towls
• A week's supply of dry and canned food so you will have time to find a source for the brands I recommend

The dry food  is IAMS LARGE BREED PUPPY. The canned food they will be eating is MERRICK's all natural food.  They particularly like the "Grammy's Pot Pie" and "Thanksgiving Day Dinner," but "Smothered Comfort" and "Mediterranean Banquet" work too. This food has REAL meat - chicken, duck, lamb, turkey,  buffalo and lots of veggies like carrots, chick peas, sweet potatoes, spinach, apples, blueberries and brown rice. (It looks and smells so good when you open the can you might be tempted to taste it!) And the dogs LOVE it. Just a few tablespoons mixed in with their dry food is more than enough to have them dive in and gobble up their food.

Puppies are fed 3 times a day now.  Individually they receive between 1/2 and 3/4  cup of dry mixed with 2-3 TBS canned meat. The amount should be enough that the pup looks full but does not come away with a bloated stuffed belly!  We try to establish a set schedule with the pups, and we want them to eat all their food within a few minutes - not wander around and come back to the bowl between mouthfulls. It is good practice to get your pup in the habit of eating as soon as you put the food down, and finishing the meal. This way you can predict the pup will need to go outside within a few minutes after the meal to go potty. It really helps the pup regulate it's potty time as it gets older.

As you pup grows increase the amount of food so that the pup still eats the entire meal without leaving the bowl, but does not act as if it is still hungry or searching for food.