Hi everyone! Ok WE need some suggestions. I have few things that I am hoping if I explain it correctly I can get some advice. Please note these are 3 month old Yorkies and we KNOW they are not going to do well overnight. I just think maybe we could be doing things better
:
1. Pee Pads: Background info: When we got them, they were trained to go on shreeded paper. So as soon as they were done going potty, the soiled paper was picked up and new paper layed out. So the paper was a place to potty slash something to play with.
Current info: During the first four days we have had them they did really good about going on the pads, very minimal accidents. We did positive reinforcement with treats and with lots of verbal and physical praise. Well on Sunday I needed to go to the city and left them home alone. They stayed in there Crate-XPen area for about 3.5 hours (see pic attached). I came home and they had shredded their Pad.
So I cleaned the pad remains up and any accident areas of pee and poop and they stayed with me the rest of the day upstairs in our living room with pads and did well going on them. So Monday morning, yesterday, I woke-up to start their new schedule of being alone during the day. I came downstairs and they had shredded their two pads!!! I mean it was every where! So I cleaned up the mess, gave them fresh pads (2) with the sticky stuff on the bottom and left for work. (In their crate/x-pen area there are chew bones, plush small toys, 2 chew ropes, and 2 cow hooves which seems plenty to play with and 9x out of 10 they want to play with whatever the other one has). I came home from work to find they had done it again. So hubby suggested I tape the pads down, so while they were upstairs with my mom, and not getting in my way, I used painting tape and taped down the pads and disinfected the area and even sprayed bitter apple spray on the pads. Well this morning when I checked in on them, they tore it up through the middle of the pad. The edges were all stuck as I left them with no signs of tampering. They just went in the middle to get it up! UGH!!!
Question:
I know it has only been 7 days, I just want to know are we doing the right thing? Is there anythign we should be doing differently??? 2. Feeding Schedule Background info: They were fed 3x a day. A mix of dry and wet.
Current info: We are on a 2x a day schedule of dry and wet mix that we cleared with the breeder. Once in the morning and once in the evening. We were told to give them a cup of food at each meal. However, since we got them, they have never once finished a cup of food together or seperate in an hour. That is how long we have been leaving the food down for. It appears they finish together, about 1/4 of a cup of food. That makes me feel like giving them 1 hour is not enough time and we are starving them.
That means that that eat 1/2 cup each instead of the 1-2 cups they are supposed to eat a day!
Questions:
A. When we feed them, should we leave the food down and just give fresh food at each meal time?
B. If you say to give it to them and take up the food, how long should it stay out for them to eat it?
C. Should we leave water out all day considering how they are not doing so well with the whole pee-pad thing and only serve water during mealtimes and after play?
Thanks to any and everyone for your replies!!!
We are being patient and expect no miracles overnight just want to make sure we are doing the right thing for our babes!!!