Hi, Some General Advice Please.

[Tia]

Hi all,

It's been about 4.6yrs since I've owned a dog. It's taken over 4yrs just to get over the upset and then a couple more months of throwing around the idea of was I ready yet. I guess like a baby sometimes things happen and it mightn't be the right time but I'm so happy we have Honey.

She'll be 9weeks on Friday and as you'll see by the picture she's a golden retriever with a colour fault down her hind left leg which just makes her more unique to me. :D

Even though I've had dogs most of my life. It has always been in a pack/ outdoor setting so the new pup would follow the lead of the older dog/s.

Honey is different she's our only dog and will be an indoor dog so we have a baby play pen for sleeping and when no one can watch her. We picked her up on Sunday and except for an accident today which was caused by human error (having to rush to organise emergency medical tests as I just had surgery) I wasn't really focusing on her though when I think back she did give the warning signs she wanted to go outside to toilet but basically she's been great.

I'm confused by night toileting though. If I place puppy pads in the pen just in case she thinks they're a chew toy and has never used them except to rip up. I normally do a 2am toilet and she goes through and waits till someone then takes her out at 7am. I or my 17 yr old son are still up at 2 so it's not a problem what is, is that Honey thinks it's time for zoomies and a good play as well. You can spend an hour up with her and considering I'm ready to collapse playtime at that time of night isn't welcome, any ideas here?

Secondly feeding, I'm changing her diet slightly to include more dry food but when I picked her up she was on 5 feeds a day at 8 weeks. Most were wasted 2 mouthfuls only taken. I did 2 days of 4 feeds and today will be my first try at 3 feeds only. We are also starting some light training sit etc so she gets small pieces of smackos for that. What amount is normal for a pup of her age? She weighs 6.1kgs? I'm currently giving her a handful of puppy biscuits softened with warm rice and some tin puppy food to give it a more tempting flavour. Does this sound about right as she leaves about half of it? Maybe after today getting 3 meals only she may eat more.

Finally Honey has settled in beautifully, she starts puppy pre-school in early July. She tolerates all the noise from our hectic household her only worry seems to be our 2 rescue cats, they just won't play zoomies with her like her siblings did (she was the dominant pup). Our male cat will tolerate her sniffing him then run off while our part bengel hisses and runs. I'm just trying to let them settle it themselves for now, I read the thread about the Lab pup and cats and don't want the cats still worried about her by then. They are indoor only cats as we live in the mountains but have access to plenty of safe quiet areas. It's funny when she's in her pen asleep both cats will go up and stick their noses as close as possible trying to work just what she is.

Anyway sorry for so much detail but I'm hoping to get some advice to help and of course here's the picture of her. :)

[RubyBlue]

She's gorgeous!

I kept my pup in a small crate in my room, when he stirred at night I took him outside on a lead (I have a large garden) and gave him a few minutes to toilet then back in the crate and lights out. If he didn't toilet then I tried again 5-10min later. It didn't take long for him to get in a routine.

As far as food goes, mine was initially on 4 meals I can't remember how much per meal but certainly finished it all. If she is otherwise healthy and leaving food it may be she is getting too much. You could also try feeding it to her in other forms such as in kongs or as training treats.

[Tia]

Thanks for the advice. We keep her pen in the family room, I know the loudest room but with 2 kids with ADHD it was important that we picked a pup with the right temperament to handle the noise and movement and she's fine.Being the dominant pup meant she was naturally the most out going and she has been really good for my 11 year old her behaviour has calmed down a lot already she was given the rules before Honey came home about controlling herself more so she wouldn't upset the pup and they interact so well together. :D

My bedroom is the only room in the house that is a no pets allowed area, otherwise the cats have free range and we have started introducing Honey into the adult lounge room after toileting (carpeted). Where her pen is it's on tiles but I also have tarp under the sheets and bedding.

Honey does at least 3 poops a day sometimes 4 so it is making me question if she is getting too much food, while it looks like not much to me, being a baby she probably doesn't need as much as I give her. I brought some raw hide chews today so I was going to lay one of her spare blankets in the adult part of the house and give her one on it when she's awake. Once she's fully house trained I'd like her to spend more time in this area as Jax my male cat will spend all day in this room with me, though of course it'll be up to her where she wants to go and she'll also have free access to the kids rooms and beds then as well.

[dancinbcs]

8 week old puppies need to be on 3-4 meals a day. If you feed at say 8am, 1pm, 5pm and 10pm the puppy should poop after each meal and first thing in the morning. I give a main meal at either breakfast or lunch depending on when the puppy is most hungry and at the last meal at night. Small meals of something to chew on are given at the other meals. The food takes approx 9 hours to pass through before they need to poop so work your times around that. If the puppy is still not hungry enough to eat 4 meals cut it back to 3 with the middle meal half way between the morning and late night.

Food wise the dry food should not need softening at all by this age and get rid of the rice. If you really want to you can use a little canned food for flavour but the you would be better feeding something like raw chicken wings alternately with the dry food to give her something to chew on and adding snall amount of canned fish or cottage cheese to flavour the dry food. At 8 weeks she needs food to chew, not mush. A hard dog biscuit can be good for one meal for a puppy and for training treats try to use some more natural ones like cheese, cooked meat or chicken or dried liver rather than just the commercial ones all the time, that are basically junk food for dogs.

Puppies grow at different rates on different days and the appetite can vary from day to day. If she is wolfing food down she probably needs more food but if she is hesitant cut the amount down. 6.1kgs is on the smaller side for a Goldie that age but still quite normal. Feel her ribs every day to determine if she is feeling thin or fat and adjust the food accordingly.

I would let her have a good run around and toilet time for about half an hour after her last feed then if you are still up at 2am take her out to wee on a lead, then straight back to bed with no fuss.

BTW she looks gorgeous.