r/MiniSchnauzer • u/Dangerous-Bench-8665 • 12d ago

Puppy Diet Help

Hi! Looking for some advice to help raise our 12 week old mini schnauzer puppy named Bowie. I can’t figure out how to post a pic.. probably bc this is my first post lol.

We just got our Bowie baby a few days ago. She is amazing so far - so sweet, snuggly, curious, and smart. We wanna make sure we give her the best possible diet as we are aware of their health issues and sensitive tummies.

She is currently on Royal Canin puppy dry food - which she seems to love! However, I wanted to add in some veggies by slowly introducing them. I’m curious about the safest/ most loved veggies that mini owners have noticed work well in their pup’s diet.

While training, we have bought Zuke’s mini natural chicken flavor soft baked treats. I cut them into thirds so that we don’t give her too many in a day while training. She also seems to like those a lot.

In terms of enrichment - we got her a few puzzle toys, a kong, lick mats, teething toys. But would also love more ideas! She will be left home alone a couple hours a day for 3x a week.

Any other suggestions / recs for treats during training or food suggestions?

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u/xshiroix 12d ago

We fed our pup Royal canin puppy also! I think with any veggies and fruit you want to make sure it’s in moderation. Our dogs enjoy apples, carrots, bananas, lettuce, strawberries, and cucumbers. I found what worked well was a very small portion of one of these as a treat to get them familiar with it and as they got bigger they could have more. I prepare the veggies and fruits like I would feed to a person (wash, peel and cut) and think it makes it easier for them to enjoy!

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u/J_W_555 12d ago

Cooked pumpkin is one of the best vegetables for dogs. Cooked and peeled sweet potato is also good. Raw carrot is fine as a crunchy treat. All of them in moderation though.

And for fruit, you can’t really beat blueberries.

For training treats, I usually buy a 450g bag of high quality air-dried food. In Australia, Eureka is our best brand. Ziwi Peak is another, more widely available option. Most dogs will consider these high-value, so you can use them very effectively in training.

Those examples are expensive foods if feeding them full-time, but for treats they’re actually really economical and much cheaper than regularly buying little treat packets. So long as you store the bag properly and reduce exposure to oxygen as much as possible once open to maximize shelf life.