Diet and Exercise tips for your dog or puppy from Brenda at Lancing Canine Obedience

 Here are Brenda dogs Lily, Zeta and Cody

 Tyto -   diary of a puppy

Now that you have got your puppy, it is time to think of what to feed and how much exercise to give it. Usually your breeder will have given you a diet sheet, but if you don’t have one it can be a minefield. Be sure that what you feed is of good quality - this does not mean that the most expensive is the best. Also, tinned and rolled meat is more water than meat so complete diets or fresh meat and biscuit are comparatively cheaper in the long run. A growing puppy needs to eat twice as much as an adult, but have small stomachs, which is why you feed three to four meals a day.

Next, be careful of the protein. Too much can make some puppies more hyperactive than others. Too little and they won’t grow as they should. If in doubt, ask a good nutritionist or, again, a good trainer or behaviourist.

Remember, the food that you feed, to a young puppy, is to make it grow properly, so this brings us on to exercise.

When you bring your puppy home, they won’t need lots and lots of exercise, even if they are of a large or active breed. To start with, just the garden and home is enough until they have had all their inoculations. Then, when your puppy can go out, only 10 minutes a day to start with. Gradually build up to 10 minutes three times a day at between 6 and 9 months of age. Then your puppy can have a little longer. None of this should be off lead until you have a very sound recall. All of his exercise, until adulthood, should be on fairly flat, even, terrain that will not be too strenuous for the pup or impact too heavily on his growing legs. So, no running about on stoney beaches or climbing up and down stairs!!