Puppy - diarrhea/food/crate training

Question
QUESTION: We brought home our new addition on April 28th. She was 7-1/2 weeks old at that time (a beautiful black lab). We have a crate and tried using it from day one. However, she would poop in it and potty in it. I work at home during the day, so I leave her out of the crate and she naps by my feet and then when she is awake we play and go outside and she eats, etc. She does really well with this all day. At first I wasn't getting up with her very much at night because I had been told that she needed to learn to "hold it." However, I soon realized this wasn't right and was getting up with her a few times during the night and she would potty every time. The first couple nights she pooped in it so we had wonderful messes to clean up but then seemed to do better when I got up with her a few times. She still cried an awful lot, though, and I wasn't sure if I was just reinforcing her crying/barking or not because she would actually go potty when I would take her out. Anyway, we found out last week that she had hookworms after she was getting diarrhea, so she was given a dewormer and a shot of Imervectin (for mites). Her diarrhea got much worse so I put her on a bland diet of hamburger and rice and the vet gave me Endosorb (sp?) which she has finished and Metronidazole which she is still taking. She did very well over the weekend on the hamburger and rice and her stools became formed so I started giving her a little dry food (Nutro Ultra) mixed with brown rice on Monday. Yesterday I think I might have started giving her a little too much of the dry food, though, because now her stools are pretty loose again. She was on Beneful original from the breeder and I just refuse to give her that. I know the Nutro Ultra probably isn't the "best" but I know it's better than what she was getting. Any advice on the loose stools? Should I just stick with it a while yet and hopefully it's just the change in food? Is plain yogurt okay to give her every now and then? She loves it! I love our little girl, but I am going on hardly any sleep since we got her and now I'm afraid to put her in her crate because I'm afraid I will be cleaning up diarrhea all the time....I have started sleeping with her (out of the crate) and she has been doing really well with that but realize this probably isn't a good thing?? I put her in her crate during the day only when I have to leave for short times (2-3 hours) or if it is nice out we have an outdoor area for her....she still pees in her crate even if I'm only gone for that amount of time.....very frustrating.
ANSWER: The worms and dewormer probably have a lot to do with her loose stools, because her body is flushing itself, as well as the switch from Beneful (yuck!) to Nutro Ultra. Kudos to you for refusing to feed Beneful, by the way! You can give her a tablespoon of plain, canned pumpkin to help with the loose stools. Pumpkin is good for both loose stools AND constipation, so it's good to keep a can on hand just in case. Make sure it's the plain pumpkin, though, and NOT pumpkin pie filling.

A spoonful of plain yogurt isn't going to hurt her, and if it has active cultures, it is actually good for her.

Ok, about the housebreaking issues; remember, she is still very much a baby, and does not yet have control over her bladder and bowels, so there are going to be accidents. You are right to take her out one or two times during the night right now, because at her age, she simply isn't going to be able to hold it. Generally, puppies can hold it all night by the time they are 16 weeks of age, but some puppies still can't, so you may still have to take her out once during the night for a while even then. The important thing to remember is that you don't want to get up and take her out when she starts crying or barking, because that will reinforce the noise; you want to try and set your alarm to get up *before* she starts barking. Also, try not to feed her or give her access to water within 2 hours of bedtime, so that you can give her a couple of opportunities to empty her bladder and bowels before going to bed. I would continue to crate her at night, but it's up to you. I don't believe in letting dogs sleep in the bed with you. I wonder if her crate is the right size? It should be just large enough to allow her to stand, turn around, and lie down in. If it's too big, you can buy crate separators, or perhaps think of some way to shrink it down some so you don't have to buy another crate.

During the day, she should be able to hold it for about as many hours as she is old in months. So, for example, she's nearly 10 weeks old now, or about 3.5 months. That means she *should* be able to go 3-4 hours between potty breaks. Of course, every puppy is different. If you're able to stay home with her all day, though, getting her housebroken should go more smoothly because you can keep an eye on her and take her out as soon as she starts showing signs of needing to potty. Use baby gates to keep her confined to the room you're in, so she can't sneak off and potty out of sight.

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QUESTION: Thanks so much for your quick response!! Do I give her the pumpkin each time she eats or just once a day? I have lots of that in my cupboard.
About the housebreaking, I do realize she is going to have accidents and I'm prepared for that. I was just gun shy about putting her back in the kennel after having to clean up so much poop in the middle of the night. I was just so exhausted, I needed to sleep :) The crate is 18 x 24 x 21. She is approximately 17 pounds. We do have a larger crate that can be sectioned off if you think this would be better. She really can't move around a whole lot in it and actually when we first brought her home we had this small crate sectioned off so she didn't have the entire area but now she is really stretching out so we took out the divider. I guess we were concerned because "everybody" told us they shouldn't potty where they sleep (although I realize when they are little they are still learning). I guess we just thought maybe she wasn't "getting it" that that was her bed. Thanks again!
ANSWER: I would start out just once a day with the pumpkin, and increase/decrease the amount as necessary. Too much can make her stools stay loose. I think the loose stools should begin to firm up, as her body gets used to the new food and gets rid of the dead worms. Why did your vet prescribe the Metronidazole, and give her a shot of Ivermectin, just out of curiosity?

Believe me, I can relate to not wanting to clean up diarrhea out of the crate every day. My German shepherd female who will be a year old June 6th had a horrible time with her bowels during her first heat cycle a few months ago, and had explosive diarrhea for several days. She's never been one to soil her crate, and she would try to wake us up if she was going to be sick during the night, but there were a few times I just couldn't get her out in time, and a couple of days where I came home to a nasty mess (and the smell! Oh Lord! LoL), with her huddled in a far corner of the crate in an attempt to stay as far away from 'it' as possible. Poor girl.

However, simply putting the puppy in the crate is not going to cause her diarrhea to become worse. Crating does not equal diarrhea. LoL ;^) And if you don't have a problem with letting her sleep with you, or whatever, then I'm not here to tell you that you absolutely MUST crate her at night. That decision is yours! Of course, if you don't want to get her into the habit of sleeping in the bed, you may want to consider getting an exercise pen to keep her in during the night. You can put her crate in there, but leave the door open, so she has the option of going in and out. Put it in your bedroom so that you can hear her if she starts to get sick. If you're worried about your floor, and a small child's plastic pool will fit in your bedroom, you can use that, and put the X-pen around it so she isn't actually ON the floor. I think the crate you are using (the one you gave the dimensions for) is probably small enough.

"Everybody" is right when they say that [usually] dogs do not potty where they sleep, but again, puppies are still learning to control themselves. As long as she is not made to stay in a dirty crate, she will figure it out! She doesn't want to sleep in her excrement any more than you want to clean it up, but it will take some time for her to figure out how to control her bladder and bowels. A lot of times, if puppies are kept in an unclean environment, they 'get used to' the idea of being in that kind of environment, and are often very difficult to crate train and housebreak even as adults. This often happens with puppymill dogs, backyard breeders, and pet store puppies.

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QUESTION: The vet had given her the shot of Ivermectin because she found mites in her stool (I know, very strange) and the Metronidazole for the diarrhea along with the Endozorb. Thanks again for your response!!

Answer
Mites in the stool?? That IS very strange. I did assume the metronidazole and endozorb was for the diarrhea, however, one of the side effects of metronidazole IS diarrhea. Isn't that funny? Ok, maybe not so much, right? *laugh*  

Please let me know if the problem doesn't clear up in a few days.