The amount you feed your dog all depends on your dog’s weight and body condition, activity level, age and breed.

For example; my dog is a 18kg Border Collie, non-working, fairly active, 5-year-old and he gets 180-200g of Skinner’s Muesli Mix every day at 5pm.

The size of your dog will determine how many times you need to feed him/her.

• Small breeds (non-working) need 2 meals a day, as they don’t eat a huge amount in one sitting. They should have a meal after their morning walk and then again in the evening.
• Medium Breeds (non-working) only need 1 meal a day, in the evening.
• Large/Giant breeds (non-working) need 2 meals a day as they find one large meal difficult to digest. Only feeding them 1 meal could cause bloating.
• Working dogs require 2 meals a day as they will be doing more throughout the day than an average pet dog would.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO PUT THEIR FOOD DOWN FOR A MAXIMUM OF 15 MINUTES THEN TAKE IT AWAY! You shouldn’t allow your dog to graze throughout the day unless they’re underweight and need to bulk up.

During hot weather don’t feed your dog until its cooler. Most dogs don’t want to eat when it’s hot. Move feeding time from 5pm to 7pm.

Your puppy should only have 5 minutes of exercise (walking) for every month of his life until he’s fully grown, twice a day. So, a 6-month-old puppy should be getting 30 minutes twice a day. Any more can damage his joints and cause problems later in life. After the walk is the best time to do some training and finish with play time.

The amount of exercise your dog needs depends on his breed, age and ability.

Remember until your dog is fully grown, he should only get 5 mins of exercise (walking) for every month of his life, twice a day.

Small breeds like Yorkshire Terriers only require 60-90 minutes a day (but can do more). A Labrador requires 2-3 hours a day.

A giant breed like a St Bernard requires 60-90 minutes a day, this should be moderate exercise; giant breeds shouldn’t overdo it with running as it can cause problems with their joints.

Brachycephalic breeds (short nosed breeds) only require 30-60 minutes. In hot weather they should only exercise in the early morning and late evenings when it’s cooler.

The extreme weather we’ve been having is dangerous to all dogs. They should be kept out of the heat during the hottest parts of the day 11am – 5pm.

Your puppy will come with food from the breeder or rescue group you get him from; it’s best to keep him on this until he’s settled in (they should give you enough food to last you a week or so). Then you can slowly change the food to what you’d like him to have, always keep an eye on if your puppy can’t handle the new food, some dogs are more sensitive to food than others, if your puppy has a runny bottom then the food you’ve got might not work for him. Make sure you don’t stop one food and go straight on to the new food; you need to mix it in to the current food and remove the old food gradually.

Puppies need specially formulated food to meet the nutritional requirements for a growing dog. Look for a food high in protein; look for one with 24-27% crude protein. I’d recommend Skinner’s Field and Trial puppy food. It comes in chicken/duck/lamb…yum!

There are cheap supermarket brands and some well-advertised brands which have no nutritional value for your puppy but are cheap to buy, it’s like feeding a child Haribos and expecting them to grow up with big strong bones and be super alert in school. It just isn’t going to happen! Pay a bit more and get a decent brand! (UK brands where possible).

From 8 weeks when you get him to 6 months, he will need 4 meals a day. 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm
From 6 to 9 months he needs to go down to 3 meals a day 8am, 1pm and 5pm.
9-12 months 2 meals a day 8am and 5pm then when he’s fully grown, he only needs one meal a day at 5pm*

*If you have a toy/small or giant breed they will need to stick to two meals a day.

You’re correct, don’t give your puppy any type of bone! They’re too rich for them and can be a choking hazard with small bits of bone splintering off. Bones are for adult dogs, not puppies. Although you still need to supervise your adult dog when he has a bone, it doesn’t take them long to grind down a bone to a small piece; small enough to choke on.

Don’t give your puppy sticks; there have been horrendous stories of dogs being impaled with sticks or have sticks stuck in their mouth/throat. Start your puppy off right and say no to sticks.

Don’t give your puppy any kind of human food, although cheese is a good training treat along with sausages and bits of bacon try to use actual puppy treats so that your puppy never sees human food as his food.

Don’t give your puppy any human things to play with. Yes, it’s cute that they play with your slippers and run off up the garden, but human things belong to the humans! Make sure he has lots of puppy toys to play with and keep your things out of reach.

Yes, you should get your dog spayed/neutered; it’s the most responsible thing to do! No, it won’t hurt, they won’t feel a thing. It won’t change your dog; you’ll still have the same loving friend that you had before the operation. Your dog goes into the vets for 1 day, has the operation and his home with you by teatime. They get to wear a lovely cone around their neck for 10 days or so just to stop them from licking the stitches and that’s it.

If you have a male dog, you’re stopping the urge to find a mate, dogs can smell a bitch is in heat from 5 miles away and will do all that they can to get to her. Most dogs go off their food when a local bitch is in heat. Your dog will be accepted by more dogs as he isn’t walking around with an attitude; an unneutered dog wants to be top dog so will start a fight if he comes across another male feeling the same way. Neutering your dog stops all that.

If you have a female dog you’re stopping her going into season, she will bleed when in season for the first week and won’t want any attention from the males, they will give her a lot of attention, however during the second week she will begin to allow the males to mate with her. She won’t stop them and once in the act it’s difficult to stop it. You’ll have to take her to the vets to get a pregnancy test done. This is when it becomes expensive!

If you can’t decide on what to do take yourself to a dog shelter and take a look at all the dogs looking for homes and then ask yourself should you bring more dogs into the world or prevent it? I believe that breeding a dog should be restricted to kennel club assured breeders then we don’t end up with unwanted puppies and shelters bursting with dogs. Getting your dog spayed/neutered is the most responsible thing you can do as a dog owner.

I get asked this question almost every day and my answer always begins with… It depends on your dog’s age, lifestyle and any health issues they might have. With that said I would always recommend Skinners Dog food every time.

There’s so much choice when it comes to dog food it’s easy to get lost and confused. I personally prefer dry dog food to the other options out there. Dry can be cheaper in the long run compared to the popular wet and raw options. A tin of wet food contains up to 75% water and raw contains up to 80% water, which means you’ll need to feed your dog more wet/raw food to match the nutritional value found in dry food. Most dogs fed on wet food have bad breath because the food doesn’t clean their teeth the way dry does. Raw food is expensive, as you need to buy human grade meat for it to be any good for your dog, if it’s not human grade it can contain preservatives, which are bad for dogs. You also need to be careful of food-borne bacteria like ‘Campylobacter’ and ‘Salmonella’.

Dry food can be a minefield as well, there are so many brands and many stores and supermarkets sell their own brand food, when you trust a brand, you trust that it will sell the best possible food, this isn’t always the case… do your research! Its doing research that I learned of Skinners Dog food. Skinners are the only dog food company in the UK who make their food in the UK in their own mill; they know what goes into their food and what doesn’t.

All other dog food comes in from other countries, sometimes not from countries with good animal welfare standards. There is now a feather meat dog food, that’s right… feather meat! So to answer your question “what should I be feeding my dog?” the choice is yours, but if you want a quality dog food that’s guaranteed to be loved by your dog and that will give them all the nutritional value they need then it has to be Skinners. It’s a UK based company using British produce, you can’t get any better than that in my eyes.

Raw bones are fine to give to your dog, as long as you supervise them, and when the bone is small enough that your dog could choke on it you throw it away. Don’t give your dog cooked bones, they can splinter and cause all sorts of problems for your dog.