Please help me with my puppies.... :(

patchwork_cat

Hi
He needs crating over night. We did this at night with our Golden Retriever and problem solved. Once she was a bit older we could stop, but a pup won't foul their bed.

WeirdoMagnet

patchwork_cat wrote: »

He needs crating over night. We did this at night with our Golden Retriever and problem solved. Once she was a bit older we could stop, but a pup won't foul their bed.

Whilst dogs will rarely soil their bed, and crate training can help with toilet training, I don't think it would help in this case. The pup is being fed at 12pm and 'rich' tinned food at 4pm, so it's understandable that he then needs to go overnight, when it's that close to his meals. If he's crated, he'll still need to go, and as pboae mention, he could still try to eat it. :eek:

dawnylou

Lolarentt - I will remove tinned food from the diet then - the only reason I was giving tinned food too was so they could have a more varied diet you see.

Georgina - Starting from today I have changed their meal times so they are now fed on a morning and then at tea time.

Pboae - :eek: I had no idea!! I thought Pedigree would be the healthiest option for them!!! I'm really quite upset to think I may have been feeding them junk food!!
I don't feed them filler, just complete dog food and then tinned - which like I say I am stopping the tins now.
He is definately not eating it because of being told off as we see him eating it in the garden and as part of the training process we make such a huge fuss of him when he does a poo outside and give him a choccy drop. So we are rewarding him.
If he does have an accident then it's pretty much 'oh who has done that? Is that you Odie? Bad boy' just in a stern voice - no shouting, smacking and DEFINATELY no rubbing of the nose! Afterall you wouldn't do that to your child would you??
But if we go out and clean we see him a bit later go back to where it was as if he may eat it if it were still there.
This habit is really concerning to me as I worry he is doing it because he is hungry still! But I feed him according to guidelines - however he will eat and eat and eat as if he does not realise when he has had enough! I don't know if this is something to do with being the only one in the litter? As even as a baby the previous owners made a joke of how much he fed from his Mummy and then once weaned they said he had a huge appetite too. And when he is finished eating, he sits and stares at Kiki until she is finished and then checks her bowl! Kiki is so different so slow and gentle when eating, whereas sometimes I wonder if he even chewed!!
I will get some pineapple tomorrow too - is tinned alright?? I never yet managed to work out how to chop a fresh one!!

Aspinallkate - I did not know that! I clean it so thoroughly so it smells fresh to us, but assumed the cleaning products were enough to take away the smell to a dog too.
I also had no idea about the ammonia either! Washing powder it is from now on!!!

God how bad do I sound as a puppy parent?? I just don't know anything!

Moneysavingstudent - As much as I would love to put him out later he already goes out every 15 minutes until between 12 and 1am (even if we have to wake him to put him out!) and then first thing the next morning between 5 and 7!

Patchwork cat - sorry but I simply can't crate him. I think he would see that as punishment as Kiki doesn't and never has been crated and he likes to sleep with her.
Never ever uses his own bed!! :rotfl:

And as mentioned I think that would be so much worse if he did HAVE to go.

Bromley86

Another vote for crating and dry food. Poppy never once peed or pooped in her crate. Possibly get up early the first few weeks though to get them out before it becomes distressing.

If you go with the Burns feeding guide, there's half as much going in as with other foods. Of course many argue that that's just a Burns marketing ploy .

supermezzo

Even a 'bad boy' and a stern voice can be enough to stress a dog out. My advice would be to ignore it completely when he has an accident.

DangerousDave_2

Complete dry foods are very convienient and easy for us but the must be pretty borring for the dogs.

dont get me wrong I use a complete dry food to feed my dog, but as a mixer with just about everything that can go in with it. Plenty of fresh veg peelings usually fried in oiive oil, table scraps of any sort. stale bread any old crap really just to vary my dogs diest a bit - and he loves every last bit. In fact sometimes when he gets just dog food he leaves it.



one thing I have never tried but always heard good reports about is the barf diet (Bones and Raw Food) its more natural for the dog but you need to balance the diet properly if you are feeding a home made food. by the way I read that dogs are emune to ecoli and the other bugs that would kill us if we ate raw chicken.



as for recall training - I always find shouting of the dog and then running away is enough to get him to come to me. Once he comes back regular then you dont always have to run away because he is in the habbit of comming but every now and again it makes a great game.

RooBee

Some good advice so far.

Tinned food like Pedigree is basically all filler & water with very little substance. Like others have suggested, drop it. You don't say what brand of dry complete you feed (or I missed it, in which case apologies) but some are also little more than filler (undigestible grains wheich serve no purpose other than to fill the dog up). Such foods come out pretty much like they went in and are therefore appetising to the dog which could account for the poop eating. A change of diet may cure the problem. Naturediet/Nature's Harvest are excellent wet complete foods available in a variety of flavours...very natural, very nutritious, very digestable & very little 'output'

Also agree with using bio washing powder to clean up and changing feeding times.

A late evening walk would probably be very helpful in your situation but if you really can't manage it, set your alarm for, say, 2AM, get up and take him out. Tomorrow night, set the alarm for 2.15AM, the night after that 2.30AM. If at any point you come down to find he has already 'been', go back to the time of the night before for a few days and then increase the time again incrementally. It will take time but you will get him to the stage that he can go right through the night.

ZootHornRollo

defo change the feeding times to breakfast and dinner. a dental chew is not a meal - its a treat with a purpose. if giving treats you should reduce the amount fed at meal times to compencate - i don't do this but most books will tell you to do this

going down to one type of food will help as some dogs have sensitive guts. This may contribute to the toilet problems. but also, if food is being passed too quickly (forced through by the next meal so soon) it may still contain undigested food which a dog will naturally eat to get the nutrients.

our dogs get only one type of dry food (autarky) and are perfectly happy to eat it twice a day, the eldest one has been eating the same thing every day for nearly a year and a half and still wolves it down. if you are worried about them getting bored with the food, choose a brand of dry complete that is available in different flavours.

can you let the dogs out later to relieve themselves in the garden maybe?

dawnylou

Thanks everyone for suggestions.
Bromley - we have stopped the pedigree now so complete dry food will be all he will be fed at meal times - but I will add vegetables etc, maybe even some meat from our mals if everyone feels that will be suitable for him? I always thought 'human' food was bad for dogs?
Supermezzo - I will remember that in future!
DangerousDave - As I said above the diet has been reviewed! Is it healthy to fry foods for dogs? I know! I'm a novice!! Stale bread goes out with the home made fat balls for the birds though! lol. We never had these problems with Kiki and she pretty much would only eat Pedigree!! Oh not any more though! They will be treated the same!!
Very handy tips about recall training!!! Will definately start doing that!
Robee - I have dropped the likes of Pedigree now.
I will try that with the popping down at different times like that, previously it has been pot luck - one night I might go down at 4 - too late, so next night half 2 - too late. But your suggestion sounds really good!!!
I feel sorry for poor Kiki being woken up all the time too!! lol No wonder she is grumpy on a morning and goes back to bed for a few hours!!!
ZootHornRollo - Meal times have been changed now - I knew a dental chew didn't class as a meal but liked to give those on a morning so teeth were being looked after. They still get full meals even if given treats UNLESS they gt a really big treat of some sort from one of their Nanas!! lol
I don't want to be staying up any later especially as the only proper sleep I tend to get is the first couple of hours in bed!! After that I am up and down all night long.

Anyway like I said - diet changed. Tomorrow ALL floors will be cleaned with washing powder - even where he hasn't been!!
And I will give it maybe a week and then let you all know how itgoes!!

Thanks again!

ZootHornRollo

dawn,

if you are going to change their diet/brand of food it is best to do it gradually - over the course of a week or two. for example if you change from one brand of dry food to another you should start of with maybe 25% new/75% old brand, then over the week or two get to 100% new one.