Dog feeding schedule and pooping early morning

[TakingTheLowRoad]

Just before Christmas we became the proud new owners of a 15 month old Parson Russell Terrier. He was previously a kennel dog and now is an indoor dog. As he had been crated at night we’ve continued to do this and he’s now happy enough going off to bed, initially he missed the company of his kennel mates.

We are feeding him a mixture of dry and wet food, twice a day. Once at 8am and again in the evening but I’m really struggling with the timing as whether I feed him at 6pm or 8pm he’s waking up at between 5 and 6am for a poo. He goes out in the evening at 10pm for a last poo/wee. Is it unrealistic that he waits until after 6am to be let out. He’s had no accidents in the crate. Last week my son was having online classes and had to be up for 730am so I was going down to settle the dog when he started barking at 5am. Have I now created this habit!?!?

I’m happy enough to leave him bark for a bit in the morning but is it unrealistic for me to expect him to hold his poo for an extra 45mins to an hour and would it be better to feed him later in the evening in the hope he last beyond 6am? The lady I got him from said to experiment with whatever works best for us and that he was being fed once in the morning but I’d prefer to give him two smaller meals, once every 24hours seems to long to wait as he’s very active.

All advice gratefully received.

I would try giving him a bigger breakfast and a small evening meal instead of half his food at each meal to see if it makes a difference.

Also could he be waking up cold at that time of the morning, if he might be try adding some extra bedding or have the heating set to start early.

Our Parsons wears pjs in bed and has a doggie shot water bottle. She really feels the cold especially when she used to share a crate with a lab!

My dog trainer said no food after 4pm

Watching with interest as we have the same problem. Sick of waking at 5.30am to let the dog out.

If you only got him just before Christmas that isn`t long at all, he will have been through huge stress and upheaval, only compounded by living inside now too.

I think you need to give him more time to settle in, many of my fosters have needed to be taken out in the middle of the night for a while. I take my own dogs out at midnight when I go to bed, and then again at 6am with a 3am pit stop for PolePup too as he`s still very young.

I dont think expecting a dog to go more than 6 hours without a pee is very realistic or fair to be honest. Could you try taking him out later? As PP said, do make sure hes warm enough too .

@Guineapigbridge sorry if I am confusing you with another poster, but isn`t your pup four months old? If so many, many puppies still need to go out in the middle of the night, and in the early morning too at that age, some until they are much older.

Yes he's four months old, and absolutely perfect so far. I'd just like him to wake a bit later. I know I should temper my expectations of him, he's been exceptionally easy compared to most puppies (breeder was a combination of very caring and very disciplined with crate training and socialisation).

"I'd just like him to wake a bit later. "

I am up through the night with pup, around 2am. She's up for the day just before 6am. My youngest DC wake between 5 and 6am every day so I have to get by on little sleep. Getting a dog is a big commitment and you have to accept your world will be turned upside down until they settle. My way to manage it is get to bed very early at start of the night.

You need to give him his second meal earlier and give him a late night walk. In addition, try a bigger breakfast and smaller second meal.

Yes like @Mumtothelittlefella said 70% of his daily allowance in the morning and 30% in the afternoon

"My dog trainer said no food after 4pm"

Best approach.

He's still settling in - and he's still young at 15 months :)

However, we don't feed after 3pm - last toilet break is at 10.30-11pm ish. He sleeps through until 9am quite happily!

Our 5 month old retriever is fed 3 times a day 0700/1200/1700 sleeps from 2200-0700 no mess and doesn’t wake to go outside at all. He ‘goes’ before bed and usually goes before his breakfast too. Then afterwards. Could you feed him at 4-5pm
6pm or 8 seems very late?

You also don’t need to feed him in a bowl for every meal. (Our boy gets 1/3 in a bowl) You can use his food allowance for training. Use a kong , lick mat, bottle, scatter feed etc that will keep him busy if you need to cook or spend time with kids or just give him something to do. Often meat makes them poo more, then e did mix some in our pups kibble as he wasn’t keen to begin with now he’s not fussed (can eat kibble on is own) and poo much less and not as big.

Another thought - what are you feeding him?

Cheap/poor quality food contains a lot of fillers and makes them poo more often, and there's often more of it. It may be worth looking on www.allaboutdogfood.com and seeing if you can find a good brand?

Sorry, that should be www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

My dog is fed at 9ish , small pouch of Applaws wet, and then has his main meal at 4.30 /5 , larger meal of Millie’s kibble and Applaws small tins and he has his last toilet break at 10 pm ( very rarely poos) and doesn’t go out in the garden until after breakfast . Surely the point is that dogs need to learn to hold on so unless they’ve actually got diarrhoea within reason they should just learn to wait until they are let out . I’m happy to be told I’m wrong but that’s the theory I work on otherwise surely they’d just be peeing and pooing whenever / wherever they fancy .

Our breeder recommended tripe so she gets that with kibble. Poo usually formed but sometimes soft. Lots of conflicting advice though - vet wasn't happy at puppy check up this morning after DH said what we have been recommended to feed pup😬

She is fed at 6am, 12noon and 4pm.

Also alternate the tripe with sardines.

Have you tried draping a blanket over the cage. This will not only keep him warm, but also shut out the light and any noise.

Dogs can usually hold it overnight while they're asleep just like humans can, and like us they'll often need to go soon after waking up. I wonder if something else is waking him up at that time and then once he's awake he realises he has to toilet? Noises outside, radiators coming on, too warm/cold etc? Our dog has a snack before bed (his last meal is at 6pm) or he sometimes wakes up grumpy in the early hours because he's hungry, and if he wakes up he needs the loo! Otherwise he'll happily sleep in past 9 if we let him.

Dogs take about 6-8 hours to process a meal, so if you're hoping to make sure he's all done at 10pm you'd need his final meal to be about 2pm or before.