When a mother feeds her puppy he receives the perfect mix of antibodies and nutrition to protect and develop his immature protective systems - the digestive system, the skin and coat, immune system, and also his brain. Once weaned, his antibody levels drop, leaving a gap in his immune protection.

On top of optimising immune function recent studies have proven that a puppy’s ability to learn and be trained is influenced by the nutrient DHA. To back this up we set up an puppy IQ test, developed in Australia by Dr Cam Day, honest, here in the clinic with a gang of our puppies.

Tip for scientists; 1/ there are too many distractions at an animal hospital to do this well and 2/scratching an itch half way through the test really wrecks a puppy’s chances of winning. Our favourite test was Toilet Roll Turmoil. Try this in your own home. You will need; at least one puppy (though it’s more fun with a full wolf-pack), a tape measure, some tape, three empty toilet roll centres, treats, a stopwatch and an assistant.   

Don't forget to use empty toilet rolls!

Choose a spot on the floor where you will place treats etc. Mark a line on the floor with some tape four times the body length of your puppy away from that zone. Have your assistant hold puppy at the line Let puppy smell treats then place them in the zone and let puppy go get it. Repeat a few times. Then place 3 rolls in the zone with a treat in the exact middle of one. Release pup and time how long it takes for them to retrieve the treat. Repeat 6 times, placing the treat in different rolls and average the three best times. 

Any times under 4 seconds means youv'e got a real braniac ...... or a food obsessed dod, hmmm i'm spotting a bias in this experiment. 

Vets and nutritionists have developed puppy formula foods with OptiStart, rich in colostrum with its natural antibodies and DHA, so a puppy can grow to his full potential. It’s what I feed my puppy, hope he doesn’t become smarter than me too quickly.... too late.