I have a dally, who turned 1 last week.

When do I start weaning him off of 2 meals a day? or leave it be?

He does have digestion troubles and has done since he was a tiny puppy. When we first got him we fed him James Wellbeloved puppy food and his poos were fine. He then had steroids for a skin condition at about 4 and a half months and we founds his poos became a bit more sloppy. He was in control, but they were not as firm as they used to be and were yellow. We left it alone for a week to see how it would develope as he seemed to be ok but then he ate a punnet of grapes!
Cue much trauma and drama. After being in the wets over the weekend and having sickness induced, fed charcol etc they put him on Hills Science plan OD (?) tinned food. He was on this for a few days as we then gradually went back to the James Welbeloved puppy food. It was at this point that his poo was dreadful - more liquid than anything and would try to do at least 4/5 poos everytime we went for a walk. Was a nightmare to clean up. Went to the vets and over a 3 month period we tried a variety of different things. He had loads of different meds, sensitive foods, probiotics, you name it - we tried it.  He was ok in himself, if a little skinnier than we would like but was growing well and was a happy chap. In the end the vet said to us "can we cope with it? as the next step is to operate to see if they could see anything internally" We thought no sense operating if they didn't know what they were looking for. So we said we would cope.

We kept him on the Science plan sensitive dried food and everything was still very squitty.

We then tried an experiment and put him on Bakers sensitive dried (adult) and actually progress has been made. Generally number 1 poo is hard and dark brown, number 2 is like angel delight and a light brown/yellow colour, and poo number 3 onwards is just water.

Now firstly please don't shout at me - I am sure that there are "better" brands on the market than Bakers but so far this is what is working where others have failed. We also don't have a massive budget to spend on food for him.

I have come around to the opinion that he doesn't actually "need" to go 3 times in 1 walk - as the 3rd time is a dribble and he always strains for it to come out. He gets walked at 7.30am, then fed at about 8.30am.  He can then be taken out at least twice during the day where he will strain to poo, and then dinner is anywhere between 7 and 8.30 depending on what time his last walk was. So I think that the fact his first couple of poos of the day are harder are simply due to the fact he has had it in his system longer. Does that make sense?

We also are proud of the fact that he has a weewee patch in the garden - a seperate area where he toilets but he has not poo'd here for about 4 months as he does it plenty when he goes out. So does he feel that he can't go here? we have never told him off for that - in fact if he is playing in the garden and runs to the patch for a weewee we still treat that and make a fuss as we want to keep that going.

Any ideas? He is a healthy weight we are told and is a VERY active dog whilst out or in the garden so I don't feel he is suffering - more us as clearing up his mess is very hard work, and can be embarassing as have to carry tissues and water as well as bags to make sure we leave the area cleanish.

Sorry this was a bit longer than I planned!

Hi

Type of food:  kibble will always produce larger volumes of poo than a raw diet.  My youngest will, on kibble, produce 2 or 3 poos on a walk.  They get progressively runnier too whereas his raw food poos are much smaller and firmer. 

Number of meals:  I prefer two meals, it suits me and the dogs.  One of mine will bring up bile if I feed too late in the morning or the gap between meals is too long so 2 meals are certainly best for him.  Additionally I would have to feed so much kibble in one meal that I dread to think how that would come out at the other end.  As he prefers to eat it completely dry I don't like the idea of that much dry fodder in one go either.

My sister in law only feeds one raw meal per day and it works very well for her dog.

Oh that is interesting to know Kibble has the same effect on other dogs.

We do add water, and always have done. 

On my 3rd GSD now, with the first one my vet years back advised to get pup down to 2 meals and keep to that as
a) bigger dogs stomachs will tend to be overloaded with whole days food in one lump and therefore more risk of bloat
b) it breaks the day up for the dog, would you fancy nothing to eat all day till teatime then another 24 hrs before the next meal :-)
I agree 1st poo on walk is solid any others are squittier,
Chris

Having had a similar problem with a large breed dog, I wouldn't go down to one meal a day.  I think their digestive system does far better on two.  And mine do tend to bring up bile if hungry.  I would continue as you are.

I always thought that on the right kibble you'll get less poo and more solid ones??
It's trial and error as to what works.

My friend said that when she picked up her puppy last year her poo's were very squity and said from that the food didn't agree with the pup. She moved the pup onto AG and very rarely gets a squity poo.

My adult is on a mainly Barf diet and its all solid and smaller amounts of poo. Its much cheaper to feed Barf than most high end kibble.
My pup is on RC and is doing well on it along with tripe and goats milk.

Would adding a bit of tripe to the dinner's firm up the stools?

We tried tripe during the trial periods but didn't seem to do anything.

What is Barf?

Its a raw food diet or you can do raw meaty bones which is similar.
I'm still learning about it and purchased books on it and read online before making the plunge. Should of done it sooner, my older boy is thriving on it.

Just have to ask was that you at rc the other night in Cuckfield? The one with young Dally who Mark was helping?

Yes that was us. ****hangs head in shame****

Have been practising every morning turning and walking and he is getting better. Not doing so well with stand, although this is probably down to us not him!

Did you have the pup? I wondered if it was you but was too shy to come over. I am much braver on a forum! My other half declared as we were on our way home that he wanted to steal the pup as it just spent the whole evening laughing at him bashing the poor greyhound. I would have prefered he was watching me to give support but hey ho!

Yep that was us.. Lol..

Actually when your Dally was being handled by Mark he moved very well. It is practice and glad that you are getting there, its not easy, especially with your first show dog i can assure you. When you then gave it a go after Mark had handled him you did very well.
He is very strong though i can see that..
He will get there, just keep going and soak yourself in all the advice you can and work out whats working for you and what isn't.

There is something about a Berner pup which catches the attention of most people, don't worry as he get that bit bigger not too many people will be watching him, not sooo cute then.

If you need a hand at all on going over your Dally then we can get a few of us together during the week sometime to go over each others dogs if this will help? My friend with the Grey i don't believe lives that far away from you either as Horam is her closest rc.

p.s. you did really well by the end with you dally - lovely lad he is - when I saw you - I think I said to you as you left a couple of weeks ago?  its only now that it twigged it was you :)

Oh thanks! Yes when Someone has told him what to do he can behave! He is VERY strong and VERY wilful.

Would love to get some help, only trouble is times that I am free. Stoolball is taking up so much time at the moment. 4 eve's this week plus a tournament on Sunday.
I am Eastbourne but can come anywhere. Am free Saturday if that works? Although I am actually able to come to cuckfield on Monday.

That will be the test of our practicing!

Where were you on monday?? You never turned up to rc!!! Bad girl!!! lol..

did you say you could do tues or wed?

Sorry - NEXT week I can come to Cuckfield. Not free anytime this week except Saturday.

Next week, planning on coming to Cuckfield on Monday, and then am free on Wednesday and Friday

I personally would never feed a dog one meal a day, and never have, neither have my parents or grandparents. It can cause the dog to get over hungry and gobble there food which will cause many problems, one being bloat. As you would know if your dog gets blout it can be dead in 2hours.

Denese