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Originally Posted by mikecoscia  Well so far so good since I last posted. I kind of went back to square one and made sure he was contained in the kitchen whenever we could not watch him every second. As the days go buy and if he continues to have no accidents I will start giving him a little more freedom.
On a side note also started taking his food away during the day to move away from free feeding at the vet and trainers recommendations. Says it will help with potty training and with him waking up so early (5am). So I have his food down between 6:30-7:30, 3:30-4:30, and 7:30-8:30. Water also comes up at 8:30, and he is usually fast asleep by 10. I have only been doing this since Monday. However yesterday and today he did not eat or poop in the morning. He only pooped and ate yesterday when I got home from work. Only ate about a 1/4 of cup too, and a few pieces before he went to bed. He is 4.5 pounds.
Is this normal when you try and put them on a feeding schedule? I feel like he should be eating more than that, and def more than once a day! I never really had issues with him free-feeding. He would just eat when he was hungry, he never went overboard. Should I just go back to it or is it a good idea to start regulating him? |
Relative to potty training, if you want him to be an outdoor only dog, you have to give him plenty of opportunity to go outdoors. In you earlier post, you indicated that you took him out in the morning and the evening. He will need to go out many more times than twice a day (my apologies if I am misunderstanding).
I agree with YorkieUSA, consistency is key. Choose one method and stick to it. I believe putting the pad out inside the house only part of the day is confusing. My boys are both pad and outdoor trained, but they have their pad accessible 24 hours a day. They know not to go indoors at other people's homes or in public places, but at home, they always have a pad if they need it.
For food, I would say stick to a sort of free-feeding schedule up to 1 year of age. Max is a good eater but during his first year he didn't always eat at meal time. We had to play games with his kibble, but he always ended up eating his 3/4 cup over the course of the day. Just don't exceed a set amount for the day.