At what age do your litters start eating dry kibble? I have a litter now that is 3 and a half weeks. They were going Absolutely Crazy with the soaked kibble, eating like they were in a race against time, so I started putting down dry kibble and they eat much calmer and seem to be doing fine with it. It's a starter food so small kibbles. I'm just not used to giving a dry food this young so want to make sure it is OK on their little digestive systems. They have plenty of water accessible and drink it. Also still nursing on mom of course.
I like to add water to the kibble, even if not soaked, the water helps slow them down and decreases the chance of choking. I even add water to dry kibble for many of my adult dogs who are gobblers, so they won't choke on their kibble.
My last litter tore through their meals of mush but I found when they were antsy, they were a bit hungry. THEN I would toss in a handful of dry kibble and let them forage for pieces. They thought it was fun and they got used to a little crunchy snack.
I was feeding my Havanese mom a mix of canned and dry (no water) because she was a bit picky... I was surprised to see young pups joining her at the food bowl, crunching away. That's when I decided that if Havanese can eat dry kibble at 3-4 weeks, why am I doing all this work to make mush for Labrador puppies? I feed them kibble mixed with canned to start, then all kibble (dry) shortly thereafter.
Thank you for the responses everyone. They have been eating the dry kibble just fine. No choking, and it's really small since it is a starter food. We've also had some poop issues so I felt like added water to the food might not help there either. Just so used to feeding soaked food to young pups that I wanted to make sure they could digest the dry with no problems. Thanks!
