# new puppy questions



## brianstr_22 (Jul 22, 2010)

Hey everyone. couple of questions about my new puppy. she is 8 weeks old and ive had her for 1 week. she is a great puppy. crate training has been going very well no fussing out of her and i have only had one accident in the house which was my fault. the question i have is how much should she be eating. I feed her 1/2 cups 3 times per day and she maybe eats a total of 1 cup a day. she plays hard and sleeps alot. also tryin to learn stop and come comands. she comes most of the time but the stop comand just isnt sticking with her is she too young and im pushing to hard any suggestions would be appreciated


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## lovemyava (Mar 19, 2010)

We have a very picky eater at our house, she is 10 months old and we just now are getting her to eat 4 cups a day plus a can of wet dog food. We put half a can mixed with two cups dry and she loves it, but without the wet food she will go days with just nibbling at the dry food and barley eating anything. She is healthy, the vet says she is at a good size and weight for her age. I have found through this site that some Vizsla's are just picky eaters.


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## Shivangi (Jan 19, 2010)

Congratulations on the new pup! 

Have you tried giving her more food? One of the ways we learnt portion sizes appropriate for our pup was by giving her a little extra. She usually didn't want to eat beyond a specific amount. Plus-minus a couple of spoons and you'll get a good estimate of her diet. But from what you describe, it seems like you've got the portions right. 

When we got our V home, she was exactly the same age as yours. We started training her almost immediately, because a). we weren't sure if should wait for her to grow up (you know how training books suggest you start early as pups learn best when they're young) and b). we were so darn excited for her to pick up neat new tricks! Now that she's almost 1.5 yrs old, I often regret having missed her puppy-hood. We were nervous and unsure and we ended up trying to discipline our V because we couldn't deal with the uncertainties and challenges that come with owning a pup. 

She's grown up fine, very affectionate and naughty as ****. But I'd suggest you sit back and relax and have fun with your V. She will jump up, she will run around the house, she is likely to tear your cushions, chew on the furniture, and there will almost undoubtedly, be days when you will just want to give up and cry (I know I did) but understand this, no amount of training will help sort those issues at this young an age. It will take time for 'commands' to become habit. This is the time to play and bond. Enjoy your pup!


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Pudgy, not fat, puppies are healthy puppies. There should be a chart on the food bag to aporximate how much you should be feeding.
Have fun with the "come" and stop, or whoa commands. Just have no expectations at this point. MAke it a big game with lots of positive energy, affection and attention. The "whoa/stay" comes much later. Do everything you can to imprint the "come" command on her as being just the best thing in the world, but keep the lessons very short ,a few minutes at a time, a few times a day. Having a dog that's reliable to the "come" command will save you a lot of headaches later.
Combining the "come" with the "fetch" at this age is perfect, but only toss the object a few feet. Have lots of fun. Don't make her stay on the fetch though. Get that retrieve drive kicked into high gear early, and much later work the stay in with the fetch.


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## brianstr_22 (Jul 22, 2010)

thanks for the quick responses. we certainly are enjoy her and have been workin on the fetch and come only for about 5 minutes at a time, thats all her attention span holds out but she has been doing great and seems to enjoy that. thanks again for the responses i am sure i will have alot more questions for you guys and have already learned alot from this site.


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