Ideas on how to train puppy when I can only currently give him wet food?

[monkeywithacowface]

15 week old pup has had a very sensitive tummy since we bought him home 4 weeks ago. We did chicken and rice but are now on Hills i/d food from the vet. I was still using chicken as a training treat but have stopped as he was still getting some runny poo's. Since stopping the chicken his poo is now solid.

figured it might be better not to add anything new to eat for a week or two and just let his tummy settle on the Hills. He's also looking very underweight at the minute so really want to be careful.

Question is I'm at a loss how to keep up training when I only have wet food. Can muddle through at home by letting him have a lick of the spoon but it's not ideal when out and about. He's such a nervous pup that I really need a way to treat him whilst on walks etc. Someone suggested poached white fish?

Also am at a loss as to where to go long term with food, which ones to try and wean him on too. Bit overwhelmed by it all if I'm being honest!

Hi monkey, our pup never had solid poo whilst she was still settling in to her new home and then not reliably after that until I took her off her middle of the road kibble and started on Gentle which is a cold pressed kibble high in fish and specially for sensitive tums. There are quite a lot of good quality fish based ones out there. Because she is not a big drinker and can get constipated I then introduced a quality wet food for her morning feed and carried on with the Gentle in the evening. It works for us. If chicken is the problem I would avoid it and stick with fish, turkey or duck based meals. That doesn't answer your treat question but if you got a sample pack of fish based kibble you could use them for treats and see if they suited him and if no problems then move him onto that as food and introduce some treats that are also fish based, Fish sticks from Alpha Spirit are good. I only used kibble for training in the early days and reserved the big guns for the teenage selective hearing phase. By the time recall had me on my knees only sausage and cheese would cut it , sensitive tum being the least of my worries😁

Thanks that is really helpful I'll aim to get some samples of kibble and aim to avoid chicken altogether. I think I'll have to bring out the "big guns" for training outside the house too as when I was using chicken he wouldn't touch it out and about as he is so nervous of everything going on around him. Trainer suggested letting him be off lead from the start as he will always want to stay close as a puppy and just have lots of treats. That worked until we crossed paths with a horse and he bolted in the opposite direction, swear I heard him shout "F**k you and your chicken" as he headed over the horizon!

We use Arden Grange Liver paste to train our stinky crew. They will literally do anything for it so is excellent for training.

If he's fine on the wet food is there any reason you need to try other foods? As long as it's a complete food there's no need for him to have anything else with it.

As for treats, I'd try meats matching whatever protein sources he's doing fine with in his wet food. So if he's ok on beef-based wet food then try cooked beef as a treat for him.

I'd be careful trying anything liver (or other offal) based treats as it can be quite rich and may cause stomach upsets if you give too much.

Could it be the rice that is causing the upset tummy?

My old dog was intolerant to rice and would have explosive diarrhoea if he ate.

Lexa (the dog we now have) seems to be the same so she's on a grain free diet and has been lovely and solid since

We stopped the rice about a week ago and it definitely improved so will avoid rice in future.

I don't want to keep him on the Hills stuff forever as it's prescription and expensive, plus the faff of remembering to order it from the vet and then trek across town to pick it up.

Didn't think about trying beef will give it a go. If I'm being honest it would just be handy to have a kibble he could tolerate too.

There are some rice free dry food

Fish4dogs is one of them

I feed mine piccolo which is from the same company as canagen and that's rice free too

1. You can bake the wet HIlls ID on a very low heat in the oven it then becomes like biscuits which you can use when out and about.

It then can be broken up into small pieces. Apparently (I am not a dog and have not eaten it!) it tastes sweeter when baked and dogs seem to love it.

2.Alternatively if you can not be faffed with all that just try the Hills ii/d kibble as training treats

1. Y ou can put the wet food into squeezy jars and squeeze it out for them to lick when training out and about here

You can order the Hills online and possibly cheaper than your vets.

40% off at Zoopla

Another site that often does special offers is vetuk

We put our dog on Millies- it's an online company and he's never been so healthy. His coat is glossy and he's stopped scratching but better still he's stopped being sick.

It's called Millie's Wolfheart

Thanks usainbolt those ideas are genius!! Will look at the online hills too.

Woofsaysthecat, thank you I have emailed Millies Wolfheart for advice and they just sent me a really detailed and helpful reply so have order a sample to try (it's rice and chicken free and is fish based so fingers crossed)

Love mumsnetters!!

Gosh that online price is much cheaper than what I paid from the vets!

If you go into Pets at Home and say Golden Paws they are giving new puppies lots of free treats including a nutrition appointment and free food recommended during the consultation. You get other things such as a free groom and money off purchases but it expires at the end of the month. The nutrition consultantion should be useful, it was for our pup.

I'm pretty sure the Hills i/d wet food has both chicken and rice in so you may not need to religiously avoid both.

Forthglade and Natures Menu (the Country Hunter range) do some good wet foods which have a single protein source and not many other ingredients. A shorter ingredient list is useful when you have a sensitive dog as it's then easier to pinpoint what does and doesn't agree with them than if a food has multiple protein sources and loads of other stuff in. Both those brands also do some foods which have more unusual protein sources (like wild boar or rabbit) which can be good options for dogs who don't get on with more common ones. Natures Menu are particularly good for those as their wild boar/rabbit/venison Country Hunter tins don't have any other meat in. Some brands top up their more unusual flavours with stuff like chicken, beef or pork.

Millies Wolfheart do a couple of mixes which have only a single protein source, the Turkey & Veg and Salmon & Veg. I think all the others have multiple meats in, though could be wrong. That's not to say they wouldn't be fine for your dog but if they're not it could be any one of the ingredients which isn't agreeing with him. MWH also do some single protein source wet foods.

Acana is very good food and the varieties in their Singles range are each based on one meat.

With the high meat content foods I'd be tempted to go back to feeding four meals a day rather than three. It's quite easy to overfeed them in a single sitting which can result in them being a bit loose.

Thanks cornflake the millies wolfheart they recommended has just fish and veg so have ordered a sample and will see how we get on.

I currently give him his daily amount split into three small meals and 3 stuffed kongs a day in between, which has helped slow him down a bit.

Out of all the prep and pre reading I did about getting a puppy sensitive tummy and finding the right food totally passed me by!

Don't worry. It took me months to sort out Nero

Back and forth to the vets, various medications, numerous food trials before finally settling on Fish4dogs and having solid poo.

Took me about a year to sort it. So you've done well to discover allergies in a matter of weeks

Thanks now I've stopped panicking about training quite so much and prioritised sorting his food it has been a bit easier to try and figure it out. I should have cut out giving him chicken sooner but was fixated on the idea that I would miss some crucial training window! Obviously training is important but food and healthy weight is top priority.

Yep.

Look it at this way. People get elderly rescue dogs and train them just as easy as they do young pups.

Training can wait. Getting his diet sorted is more important

If you don't have any, invest in some pro-kaolin. It's a probiotic for the gut and good for dogs with dicky tums

We feed millies too. Unfortunately the fish ones (seems to be trout) don't agree with him but the salmon one is okay (too rich alone but good mixed with another) and he can handle any other protein other than chicken, so there is lots of choice.

Brilliant idea Usainbolt to bake the wet food to make treats.

My dog is on a 'sensitive' Royal Cannin diet. I give her the wet food for most of her meals and use the dry kibble for treats and just include it in her daily allowance.

I also have to be careful with chicken with her as it can upset her stomach, oddly enough her food is supposed to be chicken based. Makes me wonder exactly how much chicken is in it.