Changing to scheduled feeding
 

Hi All, Mia is 3 1/2 months old and we are having zero luck potty training her so it's time to try a different approach. We started off wrong from the beginning giving her free run of most of the house and crate her when we were gone, at night, when she would nap or when we had had enough. We have now moved her to the small gated laundry room, with her bed, food and water some toy's and potty pad she will go there when we can't give her our full attention, we also moved the cat's food dish to the basement so Mia would stop eating it.
Now my question we have been free feeding her since we got her at 8 weeks we are going to try putting her on a feeding schedule. What is the best way to do this and do I feed her while she is locked in the kennel area or put the food in there with the gate open or put it out in the kitchen and leave her out for a certain amount of time, then back to the kennel. It's been over 16 years since we've raised a puppy and seem to have forgotten a lot. Thanks

I forgot to ask this!!
Do you prefer free feeding or Scheduled feeding?

I prefer scheduled feedings She should be old enough to go to 2x per day.

Measure the daily food allowance and divide in in half.

I have to politely disagree with my friend Gail...I think cutting a 14 week old baby down to twice a day feedings is way to severe a cut....I can only GUESS what kind of a feeding schedule I would be restricting a baby that age to.....I can not get it past my lips to restrict feeding a 12-14 week old baby to twice a day feedings! I personally free feed until they are AT LEAST 8 months old, depending on the size of the dog....a 6 month old yorkie that is weighing 6 lbs could be given 3-4 scheduled meals a day....and then as baby gets older cut down to twice a day....you have NO idea how hard it was for me to throw those words out of my mouth!.....

I free feed until 1 year old, then feed dog food twice a day, with a healthy snack of cooked veggies mid day, and I am talking about 1/2 cup of veggies not just 3 string beans!..... I dont feed according to what is on the bag, I look at the dog and determine if they need more or less to eat. I have to be more careful with weight issues with my "pets" than I am with the "breeders"...the "breeders" are all on well determined schedules and amounts that are individually tailored for what is going on with each dog at that given time. Activity levels of the dogs also determines how much they get at each feeding....as it get over 100* here, activity is shortened, but still include water sports and so there is only minimal diet adjustments made.....again, I watch my dogs and feed them individually, by looking at each dog and determining what adjustments to make.

My friend Judy brings up good points. That being what does she weigh now? If she is under 2lbs I would still be at 3 meals a day.

And again Judy is correct I look at the body condition of the pup and their activity level. All my pups are trained 2-3x daily and apart from their formal meals they get up to 1/2 cup of training treats daily. But they have the exercise to burn up those extra calories and I mix up the training treats with meat cheese and veges. Now when I say trained 2-3x daily it is for short bursts of time. They start around 5 minutes at most each training session and each training session is structured differently. A training session for example might be find a toy in the backyard which is fenced in and the next one might be sit and stay. Another one might be retreive a toy - starting with follow that toy around me when I sit on the ground. Once they have their full shots - we might actually visit a pet store. Another might be drive around in the car for 5 minutes. Another might be visit a park. Visit a friends home. Go to the bank with me.

When we swim and dock dive all my dogs get a lunch time meal or mid afternoon meal. So for my Blackies that is an additional 1lb and for my Yorkie at least 1/2 cup of his normal full meal.

I am a performance working dog breeder and as such my dogs are well muscled and conditioned to peak condition. But they are kept lean as adults and their weight gain as it is very necessary to control with large to giant breeds is very carefully monitored. Too fast a weight gain is closely co-related to joint problems in the large breeds.

Judy is an incredibly knowledgeable Yorkie breeder that I respect and we always can bring differing points of honest views to any question asked.

I think the problem your having isn't the feeding but giving your Yorkie water. If your Yorkie is eating a healthy diet, their stool should be hard enough to just pick up. It shouldn't stain. Now urine on the other hand is a whole new story. I have to schedule giving my Yorkie water. It's usually 3x per day. Once in the morning before I go to work. Once when I get home from work and once at night before bed time. Every time I give them water, i'll have them go into their crate and wait it out for 30min to 1hour and We'll go walking. Once they're finish with their business, it's free roaming in the house.

It was only when I had Lola that I had to do this schedule. My boy Coco would always tap me on my feet or leg that he want to do his business. Lola likes to run into corner and hide her pee. Pee pad just didn't work with her because she likes to just shred it. I started Lola on this when she was around 6 month of age. She's fine and healthy.