How much puppy food to give?

[DaisymooSteiner]

The first few weeks of having our 12 week old puppy we just gave him a handful of food at each meatime, which is what the breeder had been doing, and he often left a bit so we assumed he was getting about the right amount. Recently though he seems to have become ravenous and was polishing the whole lot off and waiting for more. We then started weighing it out according to the guidelines and he will happily polish off all that we give him in about 5 minutes and still seems really hungry. He also gets quite grumpy and obviously hungry a couple of hours before a meal (we're feeding him 3 times a day which is what he was on when we got him).

I know dogs are prone to guzzling everything they can get their paws on so I don't want to overfeed him, but does this apply to puppies or can you give them as much as they will eat?

PS Toilet training still going well - dh has started a 'poo chart' which is helping to identify his regular times and we're starting to recognise the signs of him needing to go. He will also wee on command when we use the special word we've adopted

Glad to hear toilet training still going well

Check the guide on the food pack - often the recommended amount increases around this age. Otherwise you can try increasing his portions slightly, but I'd only do that if I was 100% sure the pup wasn't overweight. If you overfeed then you risk sloppy poos and will also put unnecessary strain on their joints.

Polishing everything off in 5 mins and looking for more is what you would want pup to be doing anyway. Plus some dogs are much more food motivated than others - my pup is a perfect weight but acts like a thing possessed at meal times, while my lab appears pretty much uninterested.

HTH

He wasn't overweight when he went to the vet's for his injections a couple of weeks ago. Am trying to go by the guide on the pack, but he still seems quite peckish. TBH it's the biting when he's hungry that's the real problem - I've got a really sore nip on my leg where he bit me earlier just before he was due to be fed, and he only gets really bitey and hour or two before he's due for a meal. I wondered about giving him the same amount spread over 4 meals instead to try and stop him getting quite so ravenous, but that seems like a bit of a regression?

No, not a regression at all. Putting 2 or 3 bowls of food down in front of a dog is a very artificial situation for them. I'm feeding all my dogs 4 times a day at present, all from Kongs so they need tk work to get the food out. Helps keep their minds occupied.
You need to nip the biting in the bud. What breed is he, and what do you do when he nips you?

Thanks for your reply. He's a West Highland White x Miniature Schnauzer. When he nips when I'm playing with him I yelp and stand up and turn away from him. If he's jumping up and nipping my leg as happened earlier then I say 'Off' and he usually stops - when he's hungry like earlier though he either carries on jumping and nipping or stops then starts again a moment or two later. The kids keep out of his way totally when he's like this as he just won't stop nipping them and follows them round chasing their legs and I have to physically remove him as no amount of yelping makes any difference!

Once he's been fed he's a different dog and doesn't nip at all or if he does then he will stop easily when we yelp/say 'off'.

Interesting thought about putting all their food in kongs, might try that.