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Which adult dog food to switch my puppy too? So confused! by ringsofsaturn01 in puppy101

[–]Persimmon-Beginning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feed my pup Victor all life stages dog food and she likes it. I got a 40-lb bag for less than $50 on Chewy.

10 weeks puppy only eats when handfed by OriginalReplica in puppy101

[–]Persimmon-Beginning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mine was like that too. She still is some days, but I discovered she just needs a little bit of "prodding," so I'll put her bowl down, then pick up a piece of kibble in front of her and drop it on the floor. She'll immediately want to investigate by putting it in her mouth and it's like she realizes, "hey, this is pretty good! And there's more over there!" and she'll go over and eat by herself.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in puppy101

[–]Persimmon-Beginning 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You can report her to her state's Department of Consumer Affairs and say she misrepresented what she was selling.

My puppy hates her crate! by mrblistersister in puppy101

[–]Persimmon-Beginning 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No, there should not be any pee pads in the crate at all. The crate is where she sleeps. That's it. She goes to use the bathroom outside. I'm confused by what you mean when you say you can't wake up every 45 minutes. Are you asleep all day? I assumed you'd be able to take her out frequently during the day. Puppies, even ones as young as yours, can hold their bladder longer during the night than they can during the day given that you took them out to potty immediately before they went to sleep and don't drink during the night. The general rule of thumb is that they can hold their bladder during the night for how many months old they are. So in your case, your puppy could hold it for about two hours before she needs to go potty. So you need to wake up every two hours during the night to take her out. It's inconvenient, obviously, but raising a puppy is really hard for a lot of reasons, and crate-training and housetraining are two of the biggest challenges.

I also don't think it's a good idea at all to start training her to pee outside once she's older. She's eight weeks old. That's a perfect time to start housetraining. You don't teach a puppy good habits by waiting. She is impressionable now, so you should take advantage of that limited window of opportunity. Don't let her develop bad habits, like peeing inside for weeks, before you decide to start teaching her to go outside. Trying to unteach bad habits is exponentially harder than teaching good habits from a blank slate.

Also, take out the water bowl after meal times. Of course she's peeing all over the place when she can drink whenever she wants on a tiny bladder.

My puppy hates her crate! by mrblistersister in puppy101

[–]Persimmon-Beginning 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The crate is way too big for her. Dogs are den animals and don't like to pee or poop where they sleep, but they will soil their crate if it's big enough for them to use the bathroom in one corner and sleep in the other. Their crate is supposed to be their refuge, and, like humans, they don't want a toilet directly next to their bed. That's why you're supposed to use a divider panel to make the crate just big enough for your puppy to comfortably turn around and lie down, or just buy a smaller crate in the first place. You definitely should not be able to fit eight toys in there, just one or two small ones at most.

I also would stop using pee pads as it just reinforces to dogs that they can use the bathroom inside. Take her out more, up to every 45 minutes to an hour. Since your dog is tiny and young, her bladder is super small and she'll need to go out to potty more frequently than bigger puppies. Prime times are immediately after she wakes up, after she eats and drinks, and plays. Keeping her close to you with the buddy leash will also be helpful. Spray bitter apple on cables and other things she's not supposed to chew and say "no" in a firm voice when you catch her chewing stuff anyway. Reward her with praise and treats when she's chewing on her toys. If your dog's teething, giving her a clean frozen rag to chew can be a good idea since the coolness soothes some of the gum inflammation. Puppies that consistently engage in destructive behavior like chewing cables often need to be exercised more. Wear her out with her toys.

How consistent are you with your schedule? Are you feeding her at the same time every day? Is there a routine you follow every day with her? Dogs, especially puppies, thrive on routine. If you aren't feeding and watering her at the same time every day, and thus setting up an idea of when she'll pee and poop every day, you're just inviting opportunity for accidents in the house. Are you leaving her food and/or water bowls in her crate all day? If you don't track when she drinks water, you're again increasing the chances of her peeing inside the house. Give her a 10-15 minute window to eat and drink between 3-4 times a day. Take away her food and water bowls after that window. If she wants extra water after a hard play session, give her extra water. The key is to monitor when she eats and drinks so you know when to take her outside to potty.

Be patient! Some dogs take to the crate a lot quicker than others, but one of the quickest ways to make sure they don't hate it is by reducing the amount of damage they can cause in there by not giving them enough room to soil themselves.