My Puppy Eats His Stool

QMy puppy eats his poop!

AThis can be normal to some degree, but at 3 mo. it shouldn’t be. What are you feeding him? How often? There might be a problem in his diet. If he is getting too much protein this can happen.

A good diet is using ProPlan and mixing it with a tsp. of can meat and some rice. The rice will help his digestive track. You can also scramble an egg once in a while into his meal. He should only be fed twice a day, morning and evening, giving him two cups a meal. This will keep him on a good diet.

Chows do not need high protein in their diet, since they are non-sporting dogs. The eating of his poop is probably something he picked up from his mother, mothers do this to keep their puppies clean and the whelping box. He might be doing it out of hunger as well. When you catch him doing this let him know that it is wrong by saying NO firmly, but not to scare him. Also distract him from it as well. If he persists, I would take him to your vet. to see if he has any internal problems.

QI hope you can help me with some tips with regards to his training him to become house broken. He is now five months old and has grown into a beautiful dog. Three weeks ago, I removed the newspaper from the kitchen floor. It is seldom that he’s done anything during the night; however during the course of the day, he occasionally will pee. If I am with him in the kitchen (I have installed baby gates to confine him to this area until he is totally clean) I can sometimes guess he is about to pee because he gets restless and turns in circles. Since I live in a condo apartment, it is not that easy to be on the go for his needs. I would like to be able to follow a time schedule, which will be reasonable to both of us. Right now, I take him out at am before his meal; by 11am I feel he is ready to go out again. The next trip is at 3pm, then 6-6:30pm and finally at 10 or 11pm. I think that I am totally bound to this puppy and there should be a more reasonable schedule. Please advise me how to go about training him successfully as well as reducing my slave time to this pet. He is a beautiful dog and I love him very much.

AI am assuming that you work from your home since you are able to take him out every 4 hours or so. To start with take him out first thing in the morning. (get on a regular time consistently so he can get in the habit of this) when you get back feed him within an hour and a half. After he is done eating and drinking, pick up his water bowl till a few hours before his next meal. (If the weather is very hot then you will need to keep it down longer) this span should be about 4-6 hours. Then after feeding dinner take him out fairly soon for a lengthy walk. This should be enough till the a.m. let him have a fair amount of water and then pick it up for the night. You might need to take him out an extra time once in a while. Once he gets used to this as he grows up he will learn that these are the times when he gets to go out. He is still a pup, so it will take him some time to get used to it. As Chows get to be fully grown they only need to go two or three times a day.

QIn June I will have a knee surgery and am worried about caring for him since I’ll be on crutches for six weeks. I would really appreciate your advice and help.

ADo you have neighbors that you are close with? If so, talk with them and let them know of your situation and maybe they can help you. Also if there is family close by let them know and maybe they can help you. IF these are out of the question then you can contact some dog housing places. Sometime they have or know of people that will come over and get to know your dog and then they can come and take him for a walk as needed. This option will cost some money but it is worth a look. You can also check the yellow pages and see what you find. I know there are some business’s that are home groomers and pet care. This should help you go in the right direction.

Reader response: A while ago I consulted you about my chow that used to eat his poop. Your advice was great and he doesn’t anymore.

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