Food for my puppy

[Loviedovie]

Questions about raising a puppy

Hi, I'm a new "mommy" to a Shih Tzu that was born on 3/28th. I've had her since June 8th and we are finally getting into the drill at the house. I did start puppy classes at Petsmart every sunday for 8 weeks but I had a few outside concerns that I wanted to get opionions from everyone on..

1. Food- Lovie is on Nutro Max Puppy 2 times a day (1/4 cup dry x 2 a day) with a little wet Nutro pack puppy to add some taste to it only in the morning though. She wasn't eating very well so I started the wet food deal, but wanted to know does everyone feed their puppy's dry only nowadays? I was told to stop the wet and add rice if she wasn't eating.

2. Bitting- She is bitting and nipping on everything from your pants leg as you walk away from her as well as hands, nose etc. Any suggestions? The bitter apple doesn't seem to phase her. I know this is temporary but I need some assistance on it now while she's teething.

3. Poop- She has had dirrhea for the last 24 hours (in her crate while I was at work on Tuesday) and then again at 3am when I took her outside this am b/c I heard her in her crate moving around. I didn't feed her much this am, just some rice and a few bites of hard food to hopefully dry her up. I gave her a "KONG" filled with peanut butter yesterday morning in her crate. However this would be the first time she had it but the pet nanny said all was well around lunch. So the incident had to be between 12-4 yesterday.
Any suggestions on this as well.

Thanks.
Proud mommy, Natalie

 

[julieandchili]

Hi Natalie.
Im no expert here, but I sure am catching on quick, having a new puppy of my own.

Food: I feed dry kibble only. I do softyen it a little with water, simply because the vet told me its a little easier for them to digest and get the nutrients out of.

Biting: LOL.....I think they all do that at some point! Try offering pooch his own toys instead. If he's biting you, yelp like he's mortally wounded you and slink away...ignoring him. Eventually he'll realize this is NOT fun play and when he engages in it, he gets ignored. NOT what he wants. Offer teething toys to help....kongs filled with treats and frozen. My pup likes a frozen washcloth. Just soak a cloth and freeze it...let it thaw a touch when uyou give it to him, or it just seems like a rock hard, uninteresting mass.

Poop: New stuff added to their diet can cause runny poop. So can stress. So can any number of things. My pup had nit for a bit when we brought him home....so I only gave his kibble for treats, instead of all the fun cool treats I had bought. His system needed some time to get used to those.

Im sure many on here have great advice, far superior to mine....but thats my 2 cents.

 

[julieandchili]

One more thing to add:
Ive been working on the word "OFF" with my pup, so he'll learn that when I say "OFF" it means dont touch.
At one of his mealtimes, I put his bowl away and grab a handful of food. I open my hand to him and in a nice sweet voice say, "Take one". After he does, I close my hand around the rest of the food. He goes bonkers, trying to get at it! In the same sweet voice, I just keep repeating "OFF". When he's stayed away from my hand for 5 seconds or so, I again open my hand and say "Take one". As we play this game more and more, Im increasing that 5 second wait time to a longer period. (YAY! Yesterday he sat in anticipation with no niping or clawing at my hand for about 8-9 seconds).
Im also working the word "OFF" into other times as well....like playing ball.
I sure hope it works like I have planned, cuz the word "OFF" is a good one for them to know!