How Much and How Often Should I Feed My Toy Poodle?

Once you have decided what to feed your puppy, the next questions are usually: How often? How much? And what do I do if my puppy starts being fussy?

With Toy Poodles, it is very easy to overcomplicate feeding. They are small, ridiculously good at manipulating humans, and because every meal looks tiny to us, owners often assume it cannot possibly be enough.

It usually is

How often should you feed?

When our puppies first start eating solid food, they eat very small meals several times a day.

At around 6 weeks, this may still be 5–6 small meals.

By the time puppies leave us at around 8–9 weeks, they are generally eating 3 meals per day.

Most puppies can transition to 2 meals per day at around 4 months of age, and we normally continue with two meals per day into adulthood.

Very tiny puppies or individual dogs with particular needs may need a different schedule, but for the average healthy Toy Poodle there is no reason to continue feeding four or five times a day indefinitely.

So how much should you actually put in the bowl?

The feeding guide on the packet is a starting point, not a law.

Different dogs have different metabolisms and activity levels. Even two dogs of exactly the same weight may need different amounts of the same food.

Start with the manufacturer’s recommendation and then look at your dog.

If your puppy finishes the meal enthusiastically and is clearly still hungry, increase the portion slightly at the next meal.

Don’t immediately refill the bowl. If you keep adding food until the puppy walks away, you have no idea how much you actually fed.

If your puppy regularly leaves food behind, reduce the portion.

The aim is to find the amount your puppy comfortably finishes while maintaining good body condition.

And remember that everything counts. Training treats, chews, bits of cheese, food from your plate and all those tiny snacks handed out by different family members are still food. For a 3 kg dog, what looks like a tiny treat to a human can represent a significant part of the day’s calories.

The 15-minute rule

This is probably the simplest feeding rule I can give a new puppy owner.

Put the fresh meal down.

Give the puppy approximately 15 minutes to eat.

Then pick the bowl up.

If the puppy didn’t finish, offer a smaller portion at the next scheduled meal. If that smaller portion disappears and the puppy still seems hungry, don’t immediately add more — simply increase the following meal.

Within a surprisingly short time you will work out how much your particular puppy actually needs.

Every meal should be offered fresh. Don’t keep presenting the same half-eaten bowl throughout the day.

And then we come to the fussy Toy Poodle…

Toy Poodles are extremely good at training their owners.

The puppy doesn’t eat the kibble.

The worried owner adds chicken.

Tomorrow the puppy looks at the chicken and thinks perhaps cheese might be available.

Cheese appears.

Two weeks later the owner is hand-feeding roast beef while the poodle considers whether the presentation is acceptable

If you know your dog is healthy, don’t start negotiating over every meal.

Offer the food, give them 15 minutes and remove it. The next opportunity to eat is the next scheduled meal.

And while you are correcting fussy eating, stop the treats between meals. There is absolutely no point trying to teach a dog to eat dinner while supplying a continuous stream of better alternatives throughout the day.

A healthy dog will not voluntarily starve itself in front of available food. What many owners describe as a dog “not eating” is actually a dog eating quite a lot — just not from its bowl.

Sometimes refusing a meal simply means the schedule needs to change

This happens particularly as puppies grow.

A puppy who previously ate three meals enthusiastically may begin regularly refusing one of them. Before inventing seventeen new recipes, consider whether your puppy simply doesn’t need three meals anymore.

If they are the appropriate age, growing well and happily eating the other meals, it may simply be time to move from three meals to two.

Temperature matters

Fresh, canned, roll and home-prepared foods shouldn’t be served refrigerator-cold.

We offer food at approximately body temperature, around 35–37°C. Warming it releases the aroma and makes it much more appealing.

This is particularly important for tiny puppies in cooler weather. They have small stomachs and limited energy reserves, and giving them a refrigerator-cold meal means they also have to expend energy warming that food after eating it.

Warm — not hot. Always check before serving.

Keep feeding simple

Choose appropriate food. Establish regular meal times. Adjust the portion according to the dog in front of you. Count the treats. Don’t chase your puppy around the house with a spoon.

And most importantly, don’t turn every unfinished meal into an emergency or immediately offer something better.

Toy Poodles are extremely intelligent.

If refusing dinner results in an upgraded menu, they will learn that lesson much faster than you would lik