Housebreaking problems- in new puppies

I have two ShihTzu puppies, one is 9 weeks the other 12 weeks. We are crate training and keep them right with us when we are in the house. They have had very few accidents in the house. The problem is they have so many bms a day we cannot keep up especially at night. We feed them twice day and the last feeding is early in the evening. They go outside and have a bm before we go to bed but the older one has a bm in his crate almost every night. The younger one has only had one once, which was our fault. We are feeding Science Diet, is there anything else we can do? Is this something they will outgrow?

 

Just curious, have they had stool samples checked at the vets? Its common in pups to have intestinal parasites so a basic check up and sample is always recommended for any new pups. Different food can make a difference too but if they are happy on the current food I wouldnt rush to change it, diet change has to be done gradually too or it can (often does) cause diarrhea.

 

They have been to the vet and have been wormed and checked. They have firm stools just very frequent. We have had the older one for about 6 weeks and the younger one for 3 weeks. I changed them to Science Diet last week but so far it hasn't helped in the frequency.....

 

Pups do tend to go a little more often than juveniles and adult dogs, usually they are fed 3 or 4 times a day, generally they will need to go shortly after eating, as they get older we cut the feeding times down to 2 or 3 times daily (depending on breed and size). There are some good foods around that can cut down the amount of stool, I personally always preferred APD by Breeders Choice, although I dont see it around that much where I am. I know that there have been quite a few posts on this subject so Im sure somone else if they see this will be able to advise on the foods that they have had success with in reducing the amount of stool or maybe you could add a new thread, like "Best food for Shih Tzu's"...sorry I cant help you much more with this, like I said I use either APD or Pedigree or Purina and have been happy with them.
Just a couple of thoughts though, are they in seperate crates? and are the crates the appropriate size (not too big).?

 

We have tried purina than switched to pedigree which only made the problem worse. Than the end of last week I switched to Science Diet. I use to be a Vet Tech bebore staying home with the kids, and Science Diet is suppose to cut down on the bms.

They are in seperate crates and they are the correct sizes. I am worried that the older one will get use to going in his crate and never be housebroken. I can take them out enough in the day but it is the night time that is the problem. How long should I have to take them out in the nightime? I take them out before bed about 11:00 and than again about 3:00am, but he still has accidents some nights and it is getting more frequent.

I don't think changing their food has made the difference, I am just at a loss.....

 

Heres two good websites with some info on housetraining. In all the training Ive done most dogs will 'figure out' the house training within a week, maybe 2 but Ive had some in that even with great diligence have taken longer, it can be frustrating and worrying but as youve already ruled out any health problems the next step is to go back to basics (and Ive had to do that with countless adult dogs).

http://www.poochschool.com/house.htm

http://www.perfectpaws.com/htrp.html

Good luck.

 

The high amount of corn in the science diet may be contributing to your bm problem. Science diet is considered in the lower grade foods. In switching to a higher grade food you may find your dogs producing less waste in a day. I did.

Possible suggestions would include nutro, wellness, chicken soup, flint river, kirkland, solidgold, etc there are others I'm sure people could suggest.

 

If the ouos are 9 & 12 wks old, i don't thik you should worry too much. I thin k they will grow out of that. It is just theyare little babies still. Just like if you potty train a 1.5 or 2 yr old baby, than can be succesful at potty training, but they might have accidents. I wouldn't worry too much, they are still really young. Some dogs don't catch on til they are much older! But pick one food and stick to it, don't switch around until they are comfortable. Science diet isn't terrible, but I have heard that vets promote it bc they sell it. there is a website where you can check the ingredients of dog foods and compare for wht is best. But don't switch, stick with one thing! these people have a dog food omparison chart, i know there are other places that list all the ingreients, but I can't find it right now.
Good Luck!!

 

When my girl was first here, I could not ever tell when she would go. She was a poop manufacturing machine. LOL. Now by 6 months she pretty much had the potty training down, rings the bell to be let out. Poops getting up in the morning, after breakfast lunch and dinner. If you give lots of snacks it makes it harder to gauge too. Take them out after each meal. Shouldn;t pups that age be getting three meals a day.. I've read that many a times before. Thats what I did.

 

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=comp-wiz