# Feeding question



## cbull (Feb 14, 2011)

I'm getting an Olde English Bulldog puppy this weekend. I'm going to start her out on Acana Wild Prairie. Here's my question. The bag gives 2 feeding categories. Active and Less Active. Less Active being an 1 hr or less daily excercise. I'm assuming she'll meet this definition with our daily walks. The recommended feeding for that category and her weight range is 1 - 1 1/4 cups per day. Doesn't seem like a lot. Would a cup a day satisfy a pup nutritionally?


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

Make sure you are not going on daily walks for an hour (or anywhere close to that) with a puppy. She should be going on 5 minute walks and that's about it for a good while so as not to put stress on the skeletal system which is growing. Free play is fine, structured walks for too long isn't. A puppy is probably going to meet that, however every dog is an individual so you will just have to go by your pup. If they're growing well, skinny, pudgy, leaving food in the bowl, etc.

How old is the pup and what does he/she weigh? And yes for a good premium food that sounds like plenty. My 80 pound extremely active dog eats 3 cups daily, my 67 pound very active (other) dog eats 2 1/2 cups daily. So 1- 1 1/4 cup sounds like plenty if he/she is a puppy puppy. You do not feed as much with premium kibbles as you do with crummy ones.

Good luck!


----------



## cbull (Feb 14, 2011)

*thanks*

Thanks! She's 9 weeks. I don't plan on walking her till she has all of her shots. Nothing extreme.


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Don't wait for all her shots to take her out in public to meet people and other dogs. She should be experiencing life NOW. She needs to be completely socialized by 16 weeks and she shouldn't have her last shot until then either so if you are waiting for her last shot, you will be trying to socialize her after its too late.


----------



## cbull (Feb 14, 2011)

I don't want to take her out too early to prevent her from getting parvo. Not 100% sure how they get parvo. Just heard how bad it is and to keep her from other dogs.


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

cbull said:


> I don't want to take her out too early to prevent her from getting parvo. Not 100% sure how they get parvo. Just heard how bad it is and to keep her from other dogs.


Vets and trainers have always bickered about this. I used to have puppies as young as 8 weeks in my classes back in my training days and never had a one get sick. There is not nearly the danger that vets claim. I used to teach those puppy classes in the 2nd bussiest Petsmart in the country. There would be over 100 dogs in the store when I was teaching the Saturday morning classes and not one problem. 

Believe me, after 16 weeks of age, your puppy will be many times more difficult to socialize due to the psychological make up of puppies. You need to get as much socialization as possible before then or have a difficult time doing it.


----------



## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

The trainers that I know think its a bigger risk of having an undersocialized dog with behavioral problems than the risk of a puppy getting sick, which is rare if you careful and keep UTD on booster vaccines. There are plenty of safe socialization opportunities in most areas.


----------



## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Find a puppy playgroup or a puppy class where all puppies attending are healthy and UTD on puppy shots. Don't wait to long to get your puppy out and experiencing the world.


----------



## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Critical time periods for socialization with puppies are between 6 weeks and 16 weeks I believe. Anywhere past that and sometimes you get behavior problems up the wazoo. I can testify though that socialization does not always make a social dog for dogs who are genetically predisposed to fear...Get your pup out NOW, don't waste time. She should be meeting at least 10 different people and 5 different healthy dogs a week. More if you can manage. These need to be novel people and dogs.


----------



## Jack Monzon (Jul 25, 2010)

RawFedDogs said:


> Don't wait for all her shots to take her out in public to meet people and other dogs. She should be experiencing life NOW. She needs to be completely socialized by 16 weeks and she shouldn't have her last shot until then either so if you are waiting for her last shot, you will be trying to socialize her after its too late.


Just wanted to second this point. I adopted my dog at 7 months, and he's EXTREMELY shy with strange humans. The others from his litter all came from the same rescue, and they're not as shy as mine, but they still are skittish. (My dog takes days or weeks to warm up to a new human, the others take an hour or so.) Turns out, they weren't socialized with humans at all, other than the ones at the rescue. It's a crapshoot you don't want to play.


----------



## cbull (Feb 14, 2011)

Thanks for the feedback. I plan on having various adults and kids over everyday to get her used to people. And I plan on taking her to my parents house and friends house. Things like that. Is that what you mean? Her vet is actually located at Petsmart, so she'll see dogs there.


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Yes, she needs to see other dogs as well as people and interact with them in a positive manner. It would be a good idea to take her to friends house who have friendly dogs she can play with.


----------



## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Yes, take her anywhere you can. Crowded places where you can either carry her or walk her on the sidewalk are good too, just try to keep her from sniffing a random dogs poo until she has all her shots. When I was raising litters of puppies I was inviting people over everyday to see them, play with them, I did yard work in the front with them in an x-pen and when people walked by to get their mail (we live in front of the community mail box) and saw them they always wanted to stop and visit (it was my puppy trap >) I took them to friends houses all the time with their big crate, sometimes I took them one at a time, but when I was raising 7 at a time, it was sort of hard doing it separately so whatever friend would put up with a bunch of puppies, I took advantage of that.


----------

