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

Bromley86

What Zoot said - it never hurts to be cautious when you have to clean up the mess .

Leftovers are great, but you'll progress from there quickly. I started not wanting to feed ours anything other than complete (convenience and marketing, in that order), but it's got to the stage where I buy whole chickens for us rather than butchered meat just to get a carcass to boil for her .

We tend to feed her only 2/3rds of the Burns guide with leftovers or even just stock (boiled down to a jelly) with rice/veggies/etc. But, as you say, human food isn't better for them than the complete (or at least I've fallen for the marketing here ), so she only gets a couple of tablespoons of the extras for taste. That leaves enough slack for the (no doubt bad for her) gravy bones that we bribe her with on walks.

From our limited experience/knowledge, the thing about leftovers is to (a) avoid anything with onions and (b) stop feeding if you're not happy with the poos.

On the dental chew front we feed our one at 20:00 as the last thing she eats to clean her teeth before she goes to bed. I suspect she'd be happy to to clean her teeth three times a day .

ZootHornRollo

Bromley86 wrote: »

On the dental chew front we feed our one at 20:00 as the last thing she eats to clean her teeth before she goes to bed. I suspect she'd be happy to to clean her teeth three times a day .

i was amazed at what ours will do when the dental chews come out. if i had a ring of fire they would have jumped through twenty times to get one of those babies!!! must be made of fillet steak or sumthin!

beachbeth

dawnylou wrote: »

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:

You are wrong about this. Dogs do not see crates as a punishment - it is you that views it that way. Its only if you were to shout at him, tell him off and then bung him in it that he would see it as a punishment cell.

I have six dogs (Cavaliers and Pugs) and even though I have 2 crates, they are all squashed into one as I type. The doors to the crates are left open during the day and they are free to lie in there or not. They lie in there all time and absolutely love it. They see it as their personal space. They do not see it as a cage!

They are shut in there at night and its only if they are ill with diarrhoea that I get a mess. It is very unlikely your dog will mess in his bed.

I lock them in the crates at night and they are quite content. Whenever I have left the crate doors open at night they will bark at the door to tell me to come and shut the crates up!

I would give this a try. You will be surprised. Take up their usual beds and remove them and put a nice comfy cushion in the crate early in the day or put the cushions they usually lie on inside. Let them go in and out of the crate as they please all day and then shut them both in last thing at night, telling them what good dogs they are. They can both snuggle in together - you certainly don't put one dog in and one dog not.

foreign_correspondent

I agree with the advice given so far - tinned food tends to give dogs runny poo - swap to dried food, twice a day, morning and evening.

I sometimes add healthy table scraps to the evening feed (meat, veg, rice etc, but remember, no onions, limited garlic, not too much salt, and no chocolate) If the dog doesnt find the dried food too palatable at first, try ading a little hotwater and allowing it to soften a little.

I am not sure how necessary the dental chews are, lots I have looked at seem to be full of rubbish. Also, a friend gave me some commercial dog treats for my dog - she loved them, but gave her really stinky wind!!

I prefer to give my dog a nice natural raw beef bone from the butchers occassionally (perhaps once a week or so) - she loves it and it is the best thing for keeping their teeth clean and healthy. It also settles a runny tummy and makes the poo firmer and easier to clean up!

A good walk in the evening may also help as it will give the dog chance to have a good poo before bed time (the walking helps/encourages them to empty their bowels better)

dawnylou

Ok thanks everyone for the advice.
He is almost going right through the night now!! He cries to get up as early as 5 some days and then he goes out for a poo, but at least if he is not able to hold it he is lettin us know rather than leaving a surprise for us when we do get up!! lol

However the pineaple thing is not working, if we don't get there quick enough it coms out one end to go back in the other!!! Am I not using enough pineapple maybe?? Or is there something else I could try?

WeirdoMagnet

dawnylou wrote: »

Ok thanks everyone for the advice.
He is almost going right through the night now!! He cries to get up as early as 5 some days and then he goes out for a poo, but at least if he is not able to hold it he is lettin us know rather than leaving a surprise for us when we do get up!! lol

However the pineaple thing is not working, if we don't get there quick enough it coms out one end to go back in the other!!! Am I not using enough pineapple maybe?? Or is there something else I could try?

It's great that things are improving. Well done Odie! :T His pooing in the night might just be the routine that he's got into, and he's always done it, so now you've got to re-train him to go through the whole night IYSWIM. But it's great that he tells you that he needs to go - it's a good sign.

I've never had the need to use pineapple, so not sure what quantities to feed. I think I'd have a yummy biscuit with me (obviously this only works when you are supervising him outside), and be close to him, so as soon as he's finished you can lure him away from the poo and then give him the biscuit. In time he'll learn that it is far more rewarding to come to you than eating his own poo! You can then gradually start to withdraw the treat.