Few questions about my puppy

Leah · Sep 20, 2016

Hello, so we have had our girl for about a week now. She's 3 months old. She is amazing and so sweet and loveable! She is always hungry though. Like whenever we eat she is trying so hard to get all the food lol. It is subsiding a bit now that we have been training her. But is this normal? I feel like I'm feeeding her so much even though I'm feeding her a bit less than the suggested amount. I give her Merrick backcountry puppy protein formula 1/3 cup 3 times a day with a few treats in between. The suggested amount is 2 cups a day for 10lb puppy and she's a little over 9lbs. The Calories in 2 cups a day in that formula is about 900. but I feel like that is so much food! Should I be giving her more? Also whenever we go outside to potty I feel like I have to watch her like a hawk bc she is picking up any little tiny pebble or grass or whatever may be out in the grass. I'm so paranoid she will eat something and get an obstruction or get sick. . How do I make her stop? Is it just a phase like teething? Please help!

davidh · Sep 20, 2016

I would give her a little more food, I like to give pups plenty to eat as they are growing and developing. Just watch her weight and don't let her get too fat, but pups usually will work it off playing. You can gauge it by their poop. Too much food and they have soft poop, not enough food and it is hard, so give her a little more food and if she has soft poop then back down just a little bit. I would rather over feed a growing pup, than not feed them enough. Plus they are little Hoovers, they will pick up anything and everything. We have to take stuff out of our Frenchies mouths all the time, and they are adults.

Squishy Walnuts · Sep 21, 2016

^ Good advice! I also have to be careful with Wally and putting anything in his mouth.

Leah · Sep 23, 2016

Thank you! I have started giving her about 1 1/2 cups now a day. Her poops seem to be just the right consistency, so I will continue doing so! now I guess I should start sectioning off the backyard and pick up all the rocks/dry grass/tree bark/twigs... pray for me lol &#55357;&#56877;

WeeDex · Sep 23, 2016

This is probably Dexter's favourite time of the year - leaves everywhere, twigs, apples and chestnuts that have fallen from the trees - I'm on mouth watch 24/7 haha!!!

GreatWhite · Sep 23, 2016

Leah said:
Hello, so we have had our girl for about a week now. She's 3 months old. She is amazing and so sweet and loveable! She is always hungry though. Like whenever we eat she is trying so hard to get all the food lol. It is subsiding a bit now that we have been training her. But is this normal? I feel like I'm feeeding her so much even though I'm feeding her a bit less than the suggested amount. I give her Merrick backcountry puppy protein formula 1/3 cup 3 times a day with a few treats in between. The suggested amount is 2 cups a day for 10lb puppy and she's a little over 9lbs. The Calories in 2 cups a day in that formula is about 900. but I feel like that is so much food! Should I be giving her more? Also whenever we go outside to potty I feel like I have to watch her like a hawk bc she is picking up any little tiny pebble or grass or whatever may be out in the grass. I'm so paranoid she will eat something and get an obstruction or get sick. . How do I make her stop? Is it just a phase like teething? Please help!

I feel you on this, I really do. Ever since we got our pup "Truman", he eats absolutely EVERYTHING he can get into his mouth. He was eating wood chips, pieces of toys, grass, plants, rocks, even POOP! He would constantly beg for food even though he had been fed 15 minutes prior. Being on High Alert like that 24/7 is exhausting. He has almost completely stopped this behavior, here is what we did:

1. He is on a leash every single time we go outside (Doing it this way made it so I can keep him away from anything he shouldn't be putting in his mouth, and BONUS: He gets extra leash training time)
2. We really doubled down on our "Drop It" command for when he had something already in his mouth and a "Leave It" command for when he was snooping in something he shouldn't be.
3. I went outside and picked up every single little morsel I thought he might be able to get his mouth on. I even used my shop vac to suck up an area where we had stray wood chips. This wasn't fun and took quite awhile because we have a pretty good sized yard, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
4. I changed his food. We had him eating a freeze dried raw alternative called "Grandma Lucy's" that my other 2 dogs had been on for YEARS. During the entire time he was going through his "hoover" phase his poop was very grainy and there were whole pieces of food, and it just didn't look like he was properly digesting it. We switched to Orijen & added a Multi-vitamin. This made a HUGE difference, some food works for some and not others I guess. Puppies eat an insane amount of food, hard to believe. He's currently eating 1 1/2 cups a day plus snacks.

He is still a puppy so he is still curious and puts stuff in his mouth on occasion, but he has stopped consuming it entirely, and usually chews it for a minute and drops it and moves on.

Hope this helps

Leah · Sep 23, 2016

[MENTION=2072]GreatWhite[/MENTION] thank you so much for the advice! I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought about taking the shop vac out to the yard... pretty sure I'm going to do it today. Yes it is exhausting keeping watch on her 24/7 when she's out doing her business. I'm just following her around the whole time saying "drop it" "No Günda" etc lol. I look like a helicopter mom haha. I just don't want to risk it! I'll work on the commands more to get her to not do it so much... thank you again!

GreatWhite · Sep 23, 2016

Leah said:
[MENTION=2072]GreatWhite[/MENTION] thank you so much for the advice! I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought about taking the shop vac out to the yard... pretty sure I'm going to do it today. Yes it is exhausting keeping watch on her 24/7 when she's out doing her business. I'm just following her around the whole time saying "drop it" "No Günda" etc lol. I look like a helicopter mom haha. I just don't want to risk it! I'll work on the commands more to get her to not do it so much... thank you again!

Don't worry about being a helicopter mom, I think most of us on here are helicopter moms/dads. I'm sure my neighbors all think I'm insane running around the yard chasing after Truman, yelling "GET THAT POOP OUT OF YOUR MOUTH RIGHT NOW!", vacuuming the grass...you know....normal dog ownership stuff LOL! Puppyhood makes even the most stable person a little bonkers lol! Hang in there it'll be over before you know it, and you'll be reminiscing about what a sweet puppy he was (Until of course you remember that one time he pooped on the couch and then ate it)

Good luck with your baby! (And post some pics!)