I have a westie pup and have been feeding him puppy pouches and cesar he enjoys cesar the best and i put in some mixer but is the dry food better for them this is my first dog so i'm not sure plus when you look at the feeding guide on the food it says to give a lot more than i give (is this to make you buy more) plus is it safe to give him bones from butcher he is 9mths? I have also been told by people not to give him chocolate as it is really bad for them ( I have a 2 year old who shares everything with him) is this true?

chocolate is poisonious so your child should be taught not to give him anything.

As for feeding amounts you should give what it says on the bag and as for dry or meaty then its up to you. personally i prefer to give my dogs dried food because it is easier and comes out the other end better but i do give it to them with water or diluted milk

and as for the bones. YES buchers raw bones are great for dogs (tho they do smell abit) but i wouldnt get them for him untill he is about a year and his teeth are stronger

I have to disagree slightly here with the Ice Queen.

I too have a westie pup although she is a bit younger than yours. I found the feeding guides on dog food to be way too high and spent ages worrying about her not eating enough. Some cheaper brands do seem to show too much. I noticed when I changed to more expensive high quality foods that the feeding guide was much more accurate. Had I fed the amount shown on the tin/bag as the other poster suggests I would have had a huge amount of food left over.

As for meat or dry I would say go with what you and your pup are happy with. I tried all sorts before settling on naturediet which we both agree with. It's meat made from human grade food so the dog isn't getting any rubbish. The only thing to remember is that if you can afford to spend a bit extra on food and buy a high quality brand you will see the benefits.

As for the bone, I asked the same question and was told that it is ok for pups to have them (Molly is only 6 months so yours should be fine). you could do a search, I think my post was called 'Bones for Puppy' and see what the other posters thought.

HTH

Claire.