Help with Border terrier poo

ceewash

I know this isn't exactly Money saving , more sanity saving..
My 1 yr old Border terrier is doing a poo every night in the kitchen, well I suspect early morning actually. I have tried tweaking her routine and nothing is working. After she's done it she usually lets me know between 5-6 am.
This is her latest routine:
6am feed
10 am walk about an hour
Access to garden when needed
2pm feed
6-7pm feed
10pm walk
Bed
She is fed dried food and usually does poo on her evening walk.

Help please. :mad: Or advise of good website that can help.
I love her dearly but this is driving me mad.

JGB1955

Have you considered feeding her just twice a day? Apparently it takes between 6 and 8 hours for food to pass through a dog so maybe feeding times need to be adjusted to take that into account.

ceewash

I will try that. What time do you suggest last feed? She's a greedy dog and mithers for food during the day. Also thought that feeding later at night would stop her waking very early because she's hungry. As you can see in a complete muddle as what is best. Also she is going in kennels in a couple of weeks so whatever we do might be messed up then.

kazwookie

Have you taken the dog to the vet to get checked and to see what they suggest in way of feeding plan.?

ceewash

The vet suggested 3 meals with last one at 9pm. That didn’t work either.

sheramber

Are you feeding her a good quality food?

If she is always hungry then it may be that the food you are using is not satisfying her.

A good quality food that produces less waste would mean she needs to go less often.

elsien

^^^
This, plus potentially an earlier evening time for the last feed. How solid are the poos that she is doing?

ceewash

Recently changed variety of food so poo now quite solid. So that solved one problem. I think it's a good quality food, I buy it from local farmers market; Heights Farm salmon and potato. think it's more of a timing issue. Going to try 7 am and 5pm today with a dog biscuit before bed???

elsien

Is she mithering because she's hungry or it is an attention thing? Have you tried doing training or tricks with her to distract her. What's her weight/shape like at the moment - this is a labrador example but you get the gist:

https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/ideal-dog-weight-chart.22542/

You can also give her something like a carrot to chew on which will occupy her without giving her too many extra calories.

ceewash

Border terriers are greedy dogs so its hard to tell. Her weight is perfect for her age and breed according to the vet. She's on the small side for her breed. Not tried the carrot, i'll do that.

Katiehound

Just wondering if you bulk up her food with veggies etc which might fill the hunger pangs (if that's what they are!)
My dogs get the equivalent of an apple per day- grated carrot, shredded cabbage, broccoli stalks, sliced apple etc...