Feeding your Tiny Empress Shih-Tzu
The first rule in feeding your puppy is to chose a good quality dog food. There are two ways to go about feeding your puppy. One option is to "free feed" which means food is always available to him/her. The other is to use a feeding schedule, breaking his/her daily amount into several different feedings. Choose the feeding option that best fits your schedule. For people who stay at home and want to potty train their puppy the best choice is a feeding schedule. Take your puppy outside 15 minutes after each of his 3 or 4 daily feedings. Eventually this will become a learned habit and he will want to go outside regularly. As he grows older he will only require feeding once a day but will already understand that his potty place is outside. (Or on the paper if you go that route). For paper training we recommend puppy potty training pads. Placing him on the pad after each feeding. Once he's used to the pad you can make a slow conversion to paper by first covering the pad with the paper and eventually using paper only. It is a wise idea to make the puppy's last meal in the early evening to prevent any night time accidents. Also if your puppy gulps his food when you feed it (sometimes making himself sick) he's probably not getting enough food or not getting it often enough, making him think he has to hurry or it won't be there. For free feeding simply leave the puppy's food in an area readily available to him. If you find your puppy seems over weight cut back on the amount of food given each day. It is still a wise idea to take up the puppy's food in the early evening to avoid a night time accident. Puppies digestive systems were not designed for "people food". There are plenty of snacks and treats available to purchase that will make him happy and not hurt him in any way.
We feed and recommend: Diamond Naturals Small Breed Puppy food.