Gift Your Puppy the Best Start in Life

Once you’ve decided to bring a puppy into your life, there’s nothing more exciting! After all, you’ve hopefully spent time choosing the right breed or mix that’s suits your accommodation, experience and lifestyle.

With that it goes without saying you may have waited some time by sourcing your pup from a reputable breeder, where you’ve met the Mum, and other relatives.

You’ve ensured that everything on the puppy’s shopping list is bought: bedding, a crate, collar, ID tag, harnesses, chew toys, enrichment toys, tug toys, balls, long lines, bowls, grooming accessories and puppy pads.

You’ve read up and prepared for the imminent puppy mayhem: the toilet training, obedience training, socialisation, desensitisation and you cannot wait to start building lots of fun memories.

Interestingly, the conversation about what you’re going to feed your puppy is often led by the breeder’s recommendation, or from friends and family.

Rarely are breeders asked ‘what have the pups been weaned to’?’ For me this is the most important question along with what have their doggy parents eaten!?

Very often breeders will wean to an ultra-processed brand unless they’re aware of the benefits of species appropriate fresh, functional whole foods.

Weaning is the transition from the mother’s milk to beginning to eat solid foods. Pups develop teeth around three to four weeks and suckling on their mother becomes painful. So, she will begin to move away from the pups for longer periods, understanding their need to eat solid foods.

It's in this weaning period that their learning and brain development soars and by eight weeks when they’re ready to go to their forever homes, puppies are in their imprinting stage. That’s when they’re life skills and learning is at its most impressionable stage, when their healthy behavioural development is a fundamental responsibility.

There’s a raft of science that concurs on the huge health benefits of feeding puppies between three to eight weeks and through their life stages on a species appropriate diet, which contains the ‘Three Keys’.

These are: a variety of meats, nutrient-density and whole-foods. As such your pup will benefit by fuelling its biological, cognitive, physiological and emotional development.

I believe that feeding a raw balanced and complete diet rather than an ultra-processed ‘kibble’ alternative is a ‘no brainer’! It makes sense not only nutritionally, but behaviourally too!

It’s an investment into the health, temperament and longevity to the new member of your family. It literally feeds the cellular energy and physiological development as the puppy grows. Bearing in mind puppies grow much faster than humans’, you have a limited window of opportunity that should be maximised!

One study (*) showed how proteins, enzymes and hormones help a dog’s brain be the central commander of all physical activities and the expression of emotions in dogs. The brain’s development and cognitive health critically depends on nourishing the neural network. This consists of neurons, non-neuronal cells, and neurotransmitters. These include proteinogenic amino acids, including: L-glutamate, L-aspartate, and glycine and their metabolites.

In addition, some non-neurotransmitter metabolites from proteins or amino acids, like taurine, creatine, and carnosine, are crucial in the brain development, cognitive health and behaviour. They also influence dog’s moods through their life stages, but not least in a puppy’s early development stages.

A raw balanced and complete diet, like Paleo Puppy – a new range from Paleoridge -offers all these vital nutrients, hormones, enzymes, proteins / amino acids and essential fatty acids that contribute to a puppy’s successful growth and development at a cellular level.

Puppies require the same nutrients as mature dogs. However, they require different amounts of these nutrients to support their optimum growth. They also require the correct balance of calcium and phosphorous, which is achieved naturally in the Paleoridge range by using ethically sourced meat on the bone – its nature’s way of providing the correct balance!

Not only that but every 500 -gram pack of Paleo Puppy range comes complete with a powerful 5% combination of superfoods, which combine to add vital support with additional minerals and vitamins.

In fact, Paleo Puppy is the first dog food to include reishi mushroom tincture as supplied by the Bristol Fungarium, known as the ‘Fountain of Youth’ for its age-defying and cellular health properties. Also in this potent superfood blend are Pumpkin Seeds, Wheatgrass, Nettles, Butternut Squash, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Blueberries, Carrots and Kale.

Every superfood ingredient plays a role in supporting your dog’s cellular function. The combination is an anti-inflammatory boost, packed with B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium, Iron, alpha and beta carotene, to name but a few.

As your eight-week pup will be eating three meals a day, this gives you the peace of mind in a dog bowl. Ensuring your puppy benefits from whole-food nutrients, and not inappropriate, synthesised or processed options.

• Choose a puppy that matches your lifestyle, accommodation and experience
• Never buy a puppy on the internet.
• Always meet the mother seen with the littermates and family members
• Choose a breeder who feeds a raw balanced and complete option and weans their pups on the same.
• Read up and be prepared for training, socialisation and desensitisation
• Feed your puppy for optimum health and this may differ from the food the breeder recommends
• Think about how food feeds the cells of all the organs not least the brain
• Opt for Variety, Nutrient Density and Wholefoods – the three Keys!

Anna Webb – as a Canine Nutrition and Behaviour expert, Anna combines her psychology degree, with study at the College of Integrated Veterinary Therapies (CIVT) and over 20 years of experience. Host of the award-nominated A DOG’S LIFE podcast, she lives in London and is owned by Prudence, a Miniature Bull Terrier, and Mr Binks, a re-homed English Toy Terrier.