Immediately after birth, the puppy seeks out its mother’s teats to suckle. Within the first 24 hours after birth, the mother has a special milk, the so-called colostrum. This milk contains an extremely high level of antibodies, which can be absorbed by the puppy. If the puppy receives this milk after the first day, it will only be used as food, as after 24 hours there is an intestinal blockage for these antibodies.

In the first 2 weeks, the puppy’s eyes and ears are closed and it can only smell its mother and, above all, feel the warmth of her teats. This is how he orients himself. At about 2 weeks, the eyes open and about 3 days later the ear canal also opens.

At the age of 3 weeks, puppies start to eat for the first time. Although the puppy does not yet have any teeth, it begins to suck the smallest kibbles of dry food.

In order to get the puppy used to the smell of the food, we put the dry food, which at this point consists of only one type, in the run from about the 2nd week of his life, where he also comes with his eyes open from the 2nd week onwards.

When the mother eats the food, the puppy smells the food in its mother’s mouth and begins to associate food with this smell and will also pick up this smell as a trail to the food.

In the first 2 to 3 weeks, the mother stimulates the excretion of feces and urine by licking the belly and the excretory openings. In order to keep the den clean in nature, the mother absorbs these excretions. The puppy thus learns that the ingestion of urine and feces is a completely normal natural process and that the dog may continue to ingest feces later in life. It is the task of training the dog to avoid this. This ingestion has nothing to do with a lack of minerals etc. and is also not unnatural behavior.

At around 6 weeks of age, the mother stops eating faeces and urine and only cleans the puppy. At the beginning of the puppy’s dry food intake, there is often some abdominal pain, as the stool is now somewhat firmer and the puppy has to move a little more to stimulate the intestines. They also learn to eat the right amount of dry food. After a few days (2 to 3), however, this phase is already complete. This is because many things happen at the same time during a dog’s development: they become more mobile, their little teeth appear, they play with their siblings or the big dogs.

After the 3rd week, we start to add more and more different types of dry food with increasingly larger kibbles to the food. A new variety will be added approximately every 5 days, so that by the time the dog leaves us at 9 weeks at the earliest, the puppy will be used to around 8 to 10 different types of dry food. Every food manufacturer claims to have the best food and everyone uses different additives. In the way we practice, we try to get the puppy used to a lot of substances in the food, so that later a reduction in the varieties or a changeover will be less problematic.

In general, a change of food is stressful for a dog (no matter how old) and can lead to digestive problems. Diarrhea or constipation can occur and cause corresponding difficulties.

We will give you about 4 kg of the food mixture when the dog moves out and would also ask you to give this mixture, which will last for about 3 to 5 months, in full. In this way, we spare the puppy, who is already under a lot of stress from moving to you, further stress from the change of food. In the varieties of dry food we give, you will receive a list of the companies included when you hand over the puppy, there are some varieties that you can buy almost anywhere in the world.

Contrary to some recommendations on dog training, we recommend always giving your dog dry food, as the Bolonka is a rather picky eater and rarely tends to overeat. In addition, you should give 4 to 5 portions a day at the beginning.

To check what the dog is eating, it is possible to weigh the bowl or, better still, to check the dog’s weight regularly. We weigh the dog on delivery and recommend weighing the dog with your own scales at home to have a starting point. It may well be that the dog loses weight for the first 1 – 2 days, but after about 3 days the weight should increase again. During the move there is enough distraction and excitement, combined with uncertainty about the new place, which can have an effect on eating.

The puppy eats about 15 – 30 g a day, but the rule here is only as much as he wants. Of course, water is always available and is essential. To be on the safe side, we also give them a tube of Calopet. This paste contains calories as well as minerals and vitamins. This paste is intended for when the dog is feeling a little worse and you think he may need some food support. Calopet is very popular with most dogs. However, it may be that the dog does not want to eat it, in which case you take some on a finger and smear it in the mouth. He will then eat it and not spit it out. Please be careful not to give too much Calopet, as it can also cause diarrhea under certain circumstances, as it has a relatively high fat content. A pea-sized amount 3 times a day is completely sufficient. One teaspoon throughout the day is enough to provide an adult dog with calories. This product is also used by vets and clinics to provide food for dogs that cannot or should not yet eat. Alternative products such as Nutrical have not been as convincing as Calopet.

We recommend that you continue to give your dog puppy food when it is an adult, of normal weight and healthy. This usually contains everything necessary, only more calories than adult food. With the Bolonka you can easily check in 2 places whether it is too well fed. Firstly, you can feel on the hind legs whether you can still feel the iliac crest bones. If these are well “padded” you won’t feel much there. The 2nd area is on the ribs, here too you can no longer feel the ribs well due to stronger “padding”. From then on we would recommend changing the lining.

If you have the feeling that the dog is not drinking enough, you can add some instant vegetables, poultry or other broth to the drinking water. Alternatively, a “shot” of broth from a sausage jar can be added to the drinking water. This stimulates drinking behavior in many dogs.

We have had the best experiences with dry food. Our oldest dogs to date are 14 and 15 years old and are still in good, age-appropriate health.

If you want, you can add a little water to the dry food beforehand and allow it to swell a little. There are also dog food varieties that have a so-called gravy effect (e.g. Belcando), i.e. a gravy-like consistency is created on the kibble.

Wet food has the disadvantage that if the dog doesn’t eat it, you quickly have problems with the food spoiling, at least in summer, and the alternative of barfing poses special challenges when it comes to the composition of the food and it is no longer very natural due to the various necessary additives. Dry food varieties are balanced and it is usually not possible to promote illnesses by overdosing certain things, because the food can have a great influence on the dog’s state of health. You should therefore make sure that the dog food is always declared as a complete food, which ensures that the dog receives a balanced diet.

We recommend simply giving a different puppy food as a treat. Many of these snacks contain a lot of fat and you have to be careful not to give too much as this can cause diarrhea. It is also difficult to reward the dog with treats during training if they are used excessively.

After some time, we always receive questions about the dog’s eating behavior. It usually turns out that the dog hasn’t eaten anything for a few days, then we have made “light food” for the dog, i.e. chicken and rice cooked without spices, and after a few days he hasn’t eaten that either.

It usually turns out that the dog is going through puberty and, in addition to forgetting what it has already learned, also tends to refuse food.

Due to its extremely good sense of smell, the dog is already aware of what the human is eating and it speculates here on another food and tries to improve its position as a sexually mature dog. In nature, the boss eats first and only when he is full and releases the food can the next in the hierarchy eat.

The permanent availability of food can lead to a misinterpretation of the dog’s position in the pack. If the dog is too dominant, we would then recommend that you no longer leave the food out, but only feed the dog at irregular times. In addition to the sense of smell, the dog occasionally gets food from humans, which is another reason why it knows that other food is available. Please note that if the dog sees food left behind by the “boss” and is available, i.e. it can reach it, then it will take the food and will not have a guilty conscience.

A dog cannot have a guilty conscience, if it looks like this it is nothing more than a submissive reaction to its master’s “state of aggression”. In addition, a dog can only recognize and learn contexts such as “punishments” immediately after the act. In case of doubt, the dog has forgotten what happened more than 2 seconds ago.

As everywhere else, corporal punishment is taboo!