Feeding Times for Pups

When someone rings up at 7.30pm and when I say Jack has gone to bed people think how strange. So here is a run down on what a typical day is at this time of year when Jack is working on the shoots. To go through his whole day would make for far too long a blog so we will take this a bit at a time. So this is all about Feeding Pups No excuses Jack has always got up early when he used to ride the horses as he would go out before the traffic got busy on the roads, but in the shooting season he still gets up early as it isnt just turning up at a shoot with some dogs. There is work to be done before he goes and when he comes back. Anything in between Anna is responsible for at home, even though as many of you know her preference is to her beloved Duchess who is her cat who is tottering up to 20 years old. She has had experience with dogs for over 60 years . She will be the first to say she isnt a dog person -meaning she will never have the expertise that Jack has as he works effortly with 12-14 out on a shoot or having the whole kennel under control at home. But how many people can say that in any case, she is able to look after dogs as well as the next person and probalby doesnt take credit for what she knows and does. We start weaning pups gradually from their mothers on small feeds 4-5 feeds a day until they are fully weaned to 3 times a day by the time they leave us. We feed them Skinners Chicken Field & Trial Puppy And as the company says ....is a complete dry puppy food, specially developed and formulated to support the early growth and development of puppies. Generations of puppies have been reared on Skinner's Field & Trial Puppy and it remains a favourite with breeders. Skinner’s Puppy is carefully formulated to ensure the correct level of key nutrients are provided in a highly digestible form and the kibble is of a size and shape to suit puppies of different ages, shapes and sizes! It is ideal for weaning puppies onto from approximately three weeks of age. Field & Trial Puppy is also a suitable food for pregnant and lactating bitches, to support the growth and development of puppies, before and after birth. We always soak feed and would always recommend that you do the same. For a puppy to gobble dry feed down and then when it mixes with stomach juices we dont not feel is a very good way . To begin with the biscuits are soaked in dry milk powder and as they get older introduce the water we boil our own vegetable in ...vegetables are not just good for humans but for animals too just not onion water. Back to feeding times again Jack likes to feed them regualrly so within 24 hours in a day he likes to do it as near to an 8 hour cycle as he can . This is why his first job in the morning is to feed any pups we have around 4am or just after . Then it is 11.30am feed and their last feed is at 7.15-30pm in the evenings before he goes to bed. When new owners take their pups home we encourage the spacing out of feed times, but this may be on a different scale of time say 8am 3pm and then later in the evening. This should fit in with the owners daily life but what we are saying is spread it out as evenly as you can . When puppies leave for their new homes we do not like them to leave within 2 hours of being fed as they would probably not have digested their last feed and consequently sick it up. This is not something we like to think the pup has to do through. When a time is arranged to pick your puppy up and the arrival time has been delayed we would like to think you bare this in mind so we can work around it so all the litter is kept happy. When puppies leave at 8 weeks old they are quite capable of waiting for a feed and it does not have any determent effect to their well being. We would recommend you do not feed a pup immendiatly on your journey home but wait 30 minutes to an hour to give it time to settle in and also for the kibble to be soaked. If we have a newborn puppy -and up to 3 weeks old and feel it needs supplimental feed this is done every 2 hours whether it be day or night. When this occurs we share the feeding. Jack starting at 4am and 6am and sometimes even 8am then Anna takes over for the rest of the day and probably cat naps between the 2pm and 4pm feed and tries to go to bed at 12 midnight but has to set an alarm to get up at 2am. And so the cycle starts again. Over the years we have both had sheep and done lambing times on both our farms so know what is entailed when your have animals and they need to be looked after. There was certainly a different in flock size as Jack would be lambing around 2000 sheep with Anna a mere 400 at their peak. This has put us both in good stead of how to look after animals.We use Tommie Tippie bottles as they have a little air vent in them and mum usually finished the milk off as we make new batches each time.