How To Get Your Dog Regular With Pooping

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

We've had Victoria since June 2012 and we've gone through 4 different bags of food *buying the small ones so we can find out if she likes it or not*. She will tear it up in the beginning then it fizzles out. We've noticed that she's become I guess you could say not regular where she used to be. She's pooped in the kitchen 3 days this month so far and thats not normal. It's solid so I'm not concerned there. We thought we had it figured ou as we would take her food up at 9pm and then the next day she would do her business around noon, but maybeth at's not just the problem, I think she's also go tummy issues as far as the food. So, actually I have to questions. #1=Is there a such thing as regular pooping time? #2- I've seen the list/grades for the bags of food and I'm now just kind of lost on what to even get. We've tried Eagle (2 different flavors), Professional (Lamb) & now on to Natural Balance (Sweet Potato & Chicken). We know when she can't have it anymore due to the gas starts up. However now I know I've got to stop it as she's eating clovers and her poop...yeah smells like clovers. As soon as I change the food out we start the process all over again. We used to crate her while we were gone but have made it where she has run of the kitchen and only the kitchen. Honestly I'd rather clean messes up off linoleum then blankets. It's almost as if she knows she's done wrong because we open the back door and she's darting out it without eye contact as quickly as you can say hi. So anyone else with maybe food ideas on what to buy?

 

Any suggestions are welcomed!

Edited December 12, 2012 by 18tjettagrl

[macoduck]

Are you changing from one type of food to another without a change-over period? I can't quite tell by your post.

Are you leaving food out all day? If so, have set feeding times. If it's not eaten within 10 minutes pick up the bowl. She'll get it after a while.

Regular meal times= more predictable poop times.

[Sambuca]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="macoduck" data-cid="5396842" data-time="1355359463"><p>

Are you leaving food out all day? If so, have set feeding times. If it's not eaten within 10 minutes pick up the bowl. She'll get it after a while.<br />

Regular meal times= more predictable poop times.</p></blockquote>

 

Yup.

[Guest june]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="macoduck" data-cid="5396842" data-time="1355359463"><p>

Are you leaving food out all day? If so, have set feeding times. If it's not eaten within 10 minutes pick up the bowl. She'll get it after a while.<br />

Regular meal times= more predictable poop times.</p></blockquote>

 

Yup.

This

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

We feed her in the morning but we leave the bowl down as she will graze as we both leave at 6:30am for work. Mom and dad come let her out noonish. Usually when we get home though she hasnt touched her food really. At night if its not eaten by 9 it goes up.

She's become almost where she doesn't want anything to do with food in the morning. Usually she will eat by 7pm and be done. However I guess if I need to get up earlier and see if she will eat I will do so. If not take it up and let them try again mid day. We normally are home from work 3:30 him and 5 me. Last resort is crating her again. I hate that as she has had the run of the kitchen for a few months now. But she did it once again today. It's been normal solid good color poop so I'm not concerned there, just trying to get her on a normal schedule.

The food I mix so it's not just going straight from one to another. But eventually make the old one less and less in the mix.

Edited December 13, 2012 by 18tjettagrl

[a_daerr]

My thought is that you're changing food too frequently. Four different kinds of food in 6 months is a lot, and it doesn't allow you to get an accurate picture of whether or not the food is working. It takes at least a month to be able to see the full effects. I'm not sure if you're doing a gradual switch or switching cold turkey, but that could also be your problem. It's probably not the food at all, but the frequent diet changes that are causing her to be irregular and have gas. Also, it's going to be hard to get her on a consistent bathroom schedule if you're free feeding (i.e. leaving the food out and letting her graze). Because she's having accidents in the house at this point, I would feed her at set times during the day, give her 15 minutes to eat, then take the bowl away. There may be a few meals where she doesn't understand and won't eat. That's okay- after a few days, she'll catch on that her food is only being given at mealtime.

 

 

You'll get a lot of opinions here on what kind of food is best, and that's really going to depend on a few things (i.e. what protein source she is used to, how much you want to spend, what grade of food you want, and on and on). We use Iams green bag because it's the only food that has given us everything we were looking for in terms of non-diarrhea poops, no gas, shiny coats, and good teeth. Whatever food you choose, buy the big bag and stick with it for awhile. Buying the small bags and going back and forth is counteractive. If it's been more than a month and you're still not happy with the food, gradually switch on a 25%-50%-75% transition.

Edited December 13, 2012 by a_daerr

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

Yes I wasn't thinking how stupid it was to be buying small bags I just didn't want to be stuck with a big bag and her just refuse to eat at all. I think we maybe will stick with what we have for now. I guess even though we've had her 6 months I'm still learning. She's an awesome girl and just want to get things right so she will be even happier. I always am open to opinions & options. It's just nice to know the level of support and help I can get here in this forum.

[PrairieProf]

I walk my dog on a regular schedule, she poops on her walks, she has never had a poop accident in the house. Give your dog a good walk in the morning and it should get her "emptied out" so she doesn't have an accident in the day. The food may be part of the issue but getting her on a regular eating and pooping schedule will help. I don't wait for my dog to decide when she has to go; we are out early every morning, and she goes then, at least once and sometimes twice. And if she hasn't gone twice in the early morning I make sure we walk far enough at midday that she has a chance to poop if she needs to. And if I don't think she's pooped enough on our late afternoon walk I make sure I walk her far enough for "last call" at night that she's really emptied out before we go to bed.

[Brandiandwe]

Yup. My pooches are fed twice a day. Morning after an hour + walk when they really empty out (two or three times), and again 12 hours later after we've eaten and after another half hour walk. They empty out then too, but are fed more in the evening with a bikkie before bed, so have 'more' in the morning than later on. Schedule is everything.

[Feisty49]

My advice is to feed her at a set time in the morning and in the evening and if she's not done with her food within 30 minutes, take it up. She won't go hungry by missing out on part of one meal and will make it up the next meal.

 

My girl eats about 6:30 in the morning and about 4 PM in the afternoon. She gets treats during the day. She is so regular with pooing I could almost set a clock. She does both P&P at 6 AM when we get up. She pees and poos again on our morning walk that starts about 8:30 this time of year. She pees and poos again about 2:30 when we take our second walk. She'll poo at these times even if for some reason we can't get out for both walks but she has to back in the woods behind my house.

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

Well today started the new tactic. I put her food down at 5am and took it up at 6am as she hadn't touched it. I believe I have a stomach virus so I didn't try to walk her this morning before work. I came home and well yeah poop. However she's eating those stupid cloves in the back because it smelled exactly like it. Cleaned it up and didn't make a fuss to much as she tried to bolt out the backdoor before I could get in and see it. Left her out and sometimes I just watch to see what she will do. Nothing of course. If I tell her 60 billion times to go pee she eventually does it, which is normally more at night so we can go on to bed. However on with my progress, I put her food down at 3:30pm as on Fridays I only work 4 hours (7am-11am) so that is wonderful. I took the food up at 5pm as she had eaten the majority of it. I've given her 2 biscuits and put a tad bit of peanut butter in her kong and she worked on that for about an hour. I took her to the school yard at 10:30pm and walked her due to it's dark out and with safety in mind I stay close to home. She did P & P which I was thrilled. So I will have to get up at 5am tomorrow and walk her in the school yard again then come back and sit her food down and take it up at 6am anyway because I already know she's not going to touch it. I think if I get this schedule going, I might be ok. It's so hard for me though because I work 9 hours M-T (7am-4:30pm) and his work hours can very from 8 hour days up to 12 hour days to even think about walking her in the afternoon. My parents are my saving grace they come over around noon and let her out and play with her for a few before going home. Neither of them can walk her though as they are terrified of thinking she might get lose from them since they are used to little dogs and the way they walk. I laugh and tell them she's an excellent walker but, not going to make them do that. So lets see how this works out and hope for the best. I will keep her on this food though I think becauseI added plain yogurt it seemed to help make her less gassy and she ate it right away when I mixed it up with the food. But I'm hoping for the best and if this plan doesn't work, it's back to the drawing board. Fingers crossed!!

[a_daerr]

Progress! Try giving her 30 minutes tops to eat. The goal is to have her eat as soon as you put it down. An hour/hour and a half still gives her time to fart around (no pun intended )

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

I just wanted to give an update as I'm so excited!! We have been poopy free for a week now!! The first couple days were hard as getting up and adjusting to walking her early before I have to be at work I feel I'm virtually sleep walking. I put her food down as soon as we get back at 6am and the first couple days she wouldn't touch it so 10 mins of her not touching it, I put it up. Mom or dad would come over at 12 and let her out. They would call to let me know no poop and each of us would jump for joy (so sad lol). We'd get home around 4:30 and put her food down what she didn't eat and add another cup to it as well as add a spoonful of plain greek yogurt. She would eat it like there was no tomorrow because if it wasn't gone in 1 hour I'd pick it back up and we'd start again in the morning. I would then walk her around 9:30pm and she would piddle around and finally do her business! Finally now when mom and or dad come over she does what she needs to do because she's eating in the morning as she's learned it's going up if she doesn't touch it. I'm not going to lie it's been hard doing this as I'm a very light sleeper so most anything wakes me up. Her turning around on her pillow, the cat snoring, husband snoring or moving. I on the norm am looking at 3 maybe 4 hours a night of sleep. So zombie is what I've been. However if this is what it takes for her to realize that she is going to do this as we say, then so be it. Im just happy to have her back on schedule!! It sounded so harsh at first but I figured she's going to figure out she's hungry and she better eat. So hearing her crunch away at the food in the morning makes me happy to hear. Ahhh the little sounds in life.

[Brandiandwe]

I looked for a 'like' button, but couldn't find it!

 

Nice work. Now you can think about playing around a bit. I hate getting up early, but I'm up early for the girls. This means I got to bed early too, but I've come to enjoy it. A walk in the morning before I start the day has become one of my favourite things to do, and the girls adore their morning walks!

 

Merry Christmas.

[a_daerr]

You do feel like a crappy parent for "starving" them, but it only takes a few meals before they get the point. Good work!

[Guest blueberri]

It's not starving them... it's kinda like not giving your child a large snack right before dinner. Let them get hungry, and eat! Our boy gets fed 3 x day (was up to 5 when he had gastritis to reduce the strain on his tummy... sloooowly cutting down), and each time he is waiting, trembling and keen. He finishes his meal within 2 minutes, comes and gives me thank you smooches before going about his doggy business. He will poop when given access to the yard, but prefers to save it up for walks, I think for scent-marking. He could literally be in the yard an hour, but poop 30 seconds into the walk.

[Guest june]

Congratulations! It is hard at first but once you see results . . . I dog sit for a friend frequently. Her grey is an only so she free feeds. She complains that her dog won't eat. When the dog comes here she is ready to chow down the same as my girls because she knows food gets picked up after 15 minutes or if she walks away and doesn't go right back. She is a good eater. Her owner is astonished when I tell her how good she eats. She actually gained a bit of weight one time while staying with us. She has her owner well trained.

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

Now...I need to get her boots for the cold. She is not liking this weather one bit! We go for her walk and she won't walk with a coat, (she does the whole hey who is following me act because it touches her butt) so we now try to be in and out within 20 mins. It's actually comedy! Still no mess on floor. Go Victoria!!

[Guest mowreyAZ]

It is wonderful when it all turns out Right I'm going through something similar with my amber her sporadic tummy issues have returned.

[Guest imonlyme07]

hey! if you still have a bunch of little bags with food left in them that you are not using you could try returning them. my dog is a very picky eater and we had to switch from free feeding to schedule feeding bc she just wouldn't eat otherwise. (she still wont eat if its raining outside though) and we did not like the food she was on when we rescued her so we switched. but before we actually switched i did so much research and had so many bags of food! i have been to two stores now that told me that even if i had opened the bags and my dog didn't like them or couldn't digest them i could return them as long as they weren't empty. so that is an idea for you also, boots can be a life saver! greyhounds have very thin skin which you may know and 2 weeks ago my girl cut her foot on the ice by running bc the boots we ordered her hadn't come in yet. we have been to the vet twice already and have to go back again this week. we got off luck though bc she said that the cut was just shy of needing surgery! there are some websites that have boots just for greyhounds too. you can google bc there are a few different ones.