Just got a new dog, first time owner

[Guest Anonymous]

Hello our family just adoped a new dog, lab mix about a year old.
Can you please give your advice on how often i should feed him? We have him crated up while at work and for the first week he did great but yesterday he pooped and pee'd .....what if he keeps doing it? what should we change? how should we handle it? Please advise.

Thanks

[yellowlabsrule]

Congrats!
There should be feeding instructions on the side of the dog food bag. How long are you at work? Do you have him crate trained? Did you change anything since last week like the food, period of time, etc?

[Guest Anonymous]

As for feeding, I would say twice a day, Get the dog on a schedule and it will know when the times are. Its not a good idea to juggle feeding times.. :-)..

As for the pooping and peeing. The dog is probabally still adjusting. They are very scared as this is a new environment to them. The way we crate trained is everytime you let them out of the crate immediately take them outside and as they are running for the door say potty, and this will associate going outside with Potty.. :-)..

There will still be accidents occasionally however if you and your dog work on a behavioral pattern you can usually correct it. Ususally animals won't go in the cage, simply because they have to lay in it, however its very suprising that yours did.

Anywho.. Just my 4 Cents :-)

[DogPaddle]

What size is your dog crate?

We crate train our dogs and this is the information we recieved from our trainer.
The crate should be large enough for the dog to stand, lie down, turn around and that is it, no bigger. This will stop the pup from messing in the crate but a pup should not be left in the crate for too long. General rule is no more than 1 hour per one month of age, maximum of 6 hours if possible. (puppy will sleep in the crate while your away and at night so it can't be left too long) Its also good to leave A chew toy, but no food or water.

If your using an xpen the rules are different.

Best of luck.

[yellowlabsrule]

Puppy Chow has a GREAT FREE puppy care kit. It comes with a booklet, choice of video or cd and great tips. It really helped me. Also the website has really great stuff to.
To get it go to www.puppychow.com under offers and promotions then puppy care kit. Just follow the directions from there! Hope it helps! :D

[yellowlabsrule]

Oh and even if you don't have a puppy you should be able to get it. That's what I did! Now it's here so if I get a puppy (hopefully this spring) and if someone needs help I can loan it to them.