depends on the breed and whether you’re able to keep her away from dogs.

larger breeds mature later, and it’s suggested to wait until AT LEAST their first heat to ensure their bodies develop fully…if not until they are fully grown.  for example, if i were not actively showing my doberman, i would be spaying her around her second birthday in July.

Our guidelines in Col. Potter Cairn Rescue is for females to be spayed at 6 months, same for males to be neutered.  In the past 20 years of owning dogs I have gone from fixing them at 1 year old to this 6 month age recommendation and I see big differences in how my dogs respond.  And I am liking the results of altering them at 6 months.

When we crate our puppy we actually don’t put pee pads in there — take him out at night and in the morning and do it consistently and it teaches them when to go to the bathroom

We were told not to put pee pads in the crate as they should not be encouraged to go to the bathroom in their den. It takes a little while to get used to but we found getting rid of pee pads altogether was the best thing ever. We had our months of accidents but now our guy never goes to the bathroom inside.

I found pee pads increased his incontinence

Give him some space and toys and stuff and reinforce him for going in the den and just making sure he doesn’t have water before bed and is taken outside

Also make sure his kennel doesn’t smell like urine or feces — he may not realize he isn’t suppose to go to the bathroom in there and he may be playing or destroying the pee pads because he is teething — there are awesome rubber toys you can get and we just popped out the squeek mechanism in them so ours could chew on them all night and also make sure he gets a long walk and lots of exercise before he goes in so he isn’t full of energy!!

if he’s urinating constantly could be a UTI  so many get checked for that!

Yep, you are training your sweet puppy to pee and poop in your house when you use pee pads.  Follow the directions below to house train your pup, and sleep in sweats or something like that so you can pop up in the middle of the night and take that puppy outside if he starts indicating he needs to pee (he should be sleeping in a crate that is small enough that he does not want to pee in it).  I sleep in sweats with slip on shoes beside the door for all my dogs until they are 6 months old.  

I have a 11 year old Scottie that was taught to pee on pads in the bathroom when he was a puppy, (before I got him at 6 months old) and to this day when it is cold or rainy at night he will go into the bathroom and use the bath mat instead of going out the doggie door which is 4 feet away.  If you teach them to use a pee pad you will struggle with the results the rest of his life.

Fight the good fight!

we feed green beans as treats quite frequently.  dogs don’t really need additional vegetables, though, and whole earth is a good food.  what makes you want to supplement?

I use fruit for treats (no raisins!), and if I am chopping vegetables for myself I offer pieces as treats while we are in the kitchen.  Other than that, I don’t routinely add fruits and vegetables to the raw diet I feed my boys.  They are allowed to graze my yard and they eat dandelions (greens & flowers), some flowers (quince most often when it is in bloom), and most anything they can get in the vegetable garden including tomatoes, squash, raspberries, and blueberries. 

I do add raw meat & raw bones to my foster’s diet — they get a grain-free kibble with raw meat and raw bones added to help keep teeth clean (raw bones) and add top quality protein.  For example, they get their kibble and a duck wing, or an organically raised chicken wing (no hormones) or ribs/frames.  Some times I add some canned Jack Mackerel to the kibble for Omegas, or a poached egg – about once per week. 

As your pup gets older you can use things with larger bones (hormone free chicken legs, backs, etc.) but I would wait until he is over a year old before I start feeding these larger bones.   

Thanks Krista, I will get her to the vet’s.

His xrays showed hip dysplasia but told to rest him (very hard when he is an excitable crazy pup). But reading on treatment options there’s a number that can only be done before arthritic changes begin to show or under 1 year of age…..by time he goes for next xrays he will be over a year!! I feel like will be offending the vet if I ask for a referral

Amy, this is resource guarding and it is a strong instinct in some dogs — and has nothing to do with the amount of food or water the dog receives.  You MUST go find a trainer (or 2, 3, 4).  Yes, start with your vet’s recommendations, but don’t stop there.  Find a local dog club and ask them for recommendations for a trainer that uses “positive reinforcement” techniques only.  Any other kind of training will lead to more problems as the dog gets older.  And the first trainer you try may not be the right trainer for your family, and your dog — so that is why you need to keep on going until you find the trainer that will really work for you, your son, and your dog.

Be sure your children are involved in the training of the dog.  Find a trainer that will also work with your son.  A 6 year old will not be responsible for training the dog, but he has to understand what not to do, and how to behave with the pup.

In the mean time – LEAVE NOTHING IN THE DOG’S REACH THAT CAN BE GUARDED!  This means no food left around.  Your son can not walk around with a cookie, a juice box, etc.  No bags of chips left on coffee tables.  If he has nothing to hoard/guard, he won’t be biting.  In all likelihood if you don’t learn how to work with your puppy to reverse this behavior now he will start guarding other things — toys, his bed, his favorite place on the sofa, etc.  And be sure to have him neutered when he turns 6 months old – you will avoid another whole set of problems if you do this.

It took me 18 months and 4 trainers to finally have a dog that wasn’t biting me or my husband when he disagreed about who should be on the bed at night.  But once we understood each other, I had 12 years with the best dog in the world.  Truly.  

Your puppy is just being a ……puppy!  Sometimes the art of pet parenting is like the TV show Survivor–Outwit, Outsmart, Outlast.  

Be diligent in cleaning up after your puppy poo’s. Do not give him the chance to play with or eat poo. Try placing the puppy on a leash when you take him outside to relieve himself, and do not allow him to inspect his poo. Distract him from by calling him to you, and when he responds appropriately, reward him with a treat and verbal encouragement (go crazy and act like he is the BEST PUPPY ON THE PLANET!) and then take him inside before you go back to pick it up.

If he hates poo’ing on the leash this is where the “Outlast” portion of the program comes into play. You just have to wander around the yard with him until he does it.  

Some have found that adding meat tenderizer or natural additives to the puppy’s food makes a big difference, since these additives cause the stool to have a particularly unappealing smell that will discourage him from eating it. If you cannot immediately clean up the stool, or if there are some old stool piles in your yard, you can spray it with hot pepper sauce or mouth wash. It is  more effective to just clean up after the puppy.

A good resource for puppy training is The Complete Idiots Guide to Dog Training.  You can check it out of your local library.  Good luck!!

Hello Jennifer. My Great Dane did this and then my Golden Retriever starting doing it. Learned behavior? I agree with Dr. Mag’s suggestions. I taught the leave it command and do not leave them unattended when it is ‘potty time.’ I tried to read a lot of remedies for this issue. What I found was mixed reviews on the food additives to deter the poop eating. I read about nutritional deficits and remedies. What I read and think was going on with mine was most dogs like to keep their play and living areas clean. Sometimes when a mother has a new litter, she will demonstrate this issue to keep the area clean for her pups. I too have a fenced in back yard which doubles as their play area when I cannot take them out in the unfenced area. I taught the leave it command and keep the area clean of feces. Somehow, imo, your dog has associated the crate pooping as safe but then cleans the area since it is his ‘safe spot.’ It took a few weeks to dissuade my dogs from doing this. Still, if I am not diligent about watching over them and keeping the area clean, the issue will persist. Your reaction whether positive or negative outside, may be influencing what the dog believes to be ok so he returns to his ‘safe’ area and only poops when he thinks you are not paying attention (because of your reactoin?) then gobbles the tasty morsel up for maybe cleaning? I found with my dogs when there is an unwanted behavior/issue the best reaction is no reaction. Remember, running to the crate to stop him may be interpreted as him doing something wrong so he tries to ‘destroy’ the evidence. It is learned somehow.

An anecdote. My very sensitive Great Dane when she was young had what I perceived to be separation anxiety when my wife and I would leave. We would come home and rugs would be chewed, pillows destroyed, etc. I would come in and immediately react, negatively. I posted on here and in short, the response was it was my fault. I was at first offended thinking I was a great doggy parent, but then I thought about it. My Dane associated our leaving with her getting negatively in trouble when we came home. This caused her great stress and her acting out was a reaction to fear and anticipation. I quickly changed my behavior. When I came home I would simply clean up what was destroyed and before leaving I would remove anything I could. I did not react. She would cower in her chair while I cleaned. I simply went about my business without noticing her. When I was done, once she came out of her chair, I acknowledged her and said hello. It was my responsibility to break the association, not the behavior. It took a little time, but we became successful. Now when we leave, we make it no big deal. When we come home, it is not a big deal. She isn’t afraid of us leaving and her ‘just’ getting in trouble when we come home. We no longer come home to destroyed items or a fearful dog. I personified her hiding in her chair with her knowing she did something wrong. Nope. I taught her that when we come home I would yell at her so she anticipated that with great stress and fear.

Maybe, without knowing it, we teach our dogs to do negative things. The hard part is realizing and accepting it then correcting OUR behavior.

Good Luck!!!

I read your blog on Beau. It’s just a frustrating illness, because results take awhile. Ozzie is only our Veterinarians 2nd case of puppy strangles in her 30+Yr career. Her first case was just 6 mos. ago on an imported pup. Last night marked 1 wk. on prednisone & antibiotics, we 2 or those days being the double dose increase. Marked improvement over night last night! So thankful. His chops and eye area, have gone way down. And the fever has finally broke! I am thankful for your site Krista.