# 8 week old Standard is STARVING!!!



## Sookster (Apr 11, 2011)

I would guess it's from the transition from free feeding to schedule feeding, but be GLAD he has an appetite. Too many poodles are finicky eaters! If you feel he needs more food, increase it slightly. Just make sure you monitor his weight (as in body condition, the actual number doesn't matter, it's what he looks and feels like), and not his appetite. If you want to help him feel fuller, try soaking his kibble in water before feeding. This actually kills two birds with one stone, because then you know when he has last had fluid and it can help tremendously with house training.


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## cindyreef (Sep 28, 2012)

I have found that if you feed on a schedule the dog learns quickly he has to eat when its there, and eat it all because it will be gone. So you may think he is hungry because he doesnt know what to do when the food is gone. Or he may very well be hungry because he is used to eating a little at a time whenever he wants. 
That being said, when they are a little older (4 months or so), I have always free fed my dogs. They learned that since the food is always there they dont have to gobble it all down. Not one has ever been a glutton and they have always had a good body weight. One exception was my older Golden. He was not active in his later years so I free fed him a low calorie kibble. I would ask your breeder for advice. JMHO


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## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

It might be worth asking the vet to run a stool sample and check for worms. plenty of puppies are born with them, or somehow manage to get them in the first few months, I think. Plenty of dogs pick one up somewhere and end up wormy. Gross as it seems (okay, really is) it's no reflection on you as an owner, or on your breeder - one sniff of deer poop is all it takes - sometimes just walking in previously contaminated soil (You cannot test and treat the world...)

sarah


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

My puppy was a bottomless pit, too. I just kept increasing his food three meals a day until he stopped eating it all. Then he started growing so fast the vet had me stop puppy food at 4 months old. At around then I switched to two meals. At 7 months mine eats whatever is set in front of him- no question he has a healthy appetite! I keep track of his weight and adjust a little up or down depending on his ribs. I am afraid if I free fed him he would get really fat! You probably have a puppy with a good appetite, too.


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