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Newbie with some questions.

Rubytoot

New member
Hi all!! We just got our first cavalier two weeks ago. She's almost 12 weeks old and her name is Ruby. Anyways, we've noticed she scoots her bum on the floor lots. We looked in her poo but don't see any worms...could it still be that? Or is there something else that causes them to do that?
Also, a few times we have caught her trying to eat her poo (yuck). Why would she do that and how do we stop her?
Im also looking at a general timeline in how long they usually take to house train? She seems to have no concept. We are previous Dane owners so the whole small dog thing is new to us.
Thanks you!!!
 
Hello and welcome! Cavaliers tend to scoot on their butts alot, sometimes due to anal gland issues. I add pumpkin to my dog's food once a week to add fiber in their diet. Poop eating is fairly normal for a dog but you don't want her doing it so clean up her poop as soon as she goes. I have a couple poop eaters here and I found it easiest to clean up than trying to train the dog. I do wonder if it is diet related as one of my dogs only does it in the winter.

Housetraining is a process, I like to say it takes 6 months but some pick it up faster. My young male cavalier came to me almost housebroke at 13 weeks, he rarely had an accident. My female puppy took a very long time. She hasn't had an accident in two months, she is 9 months now. She was sneaky and liked to potty in my son's room when no one was watching. When I get a new puppy I set a timer for 30 minutes and take the puppy out for potty breaks, as you learn your puppy's potty schedule you can adjust the time. Usually a puppy will have a bowel movement 10-40 minutes after a meal. They need to pee after sleeping, playing, eating, and cuddling. :)
 
First of all congratulations on Ruby. You are going to have so much fun with her. We also started out with a big dog - german shepherd - but came to love cavaliers and now have 4!!! I'll let others with younger dogs answer about the housebreaking issues - it seems like ages since I've dealt with it.

Regarding the butt scooting - sometimes it is not enough fiber in their diet, but sometimes some dogs just like to do it. Oliver has done it his entire life, since we got him at 14 weeks of age. Nothing has stopped it or even lessened it and he's 11+ years old now. We have his anal glands emptied periodically and have tried adding fiber to his food, but for him, I think he just likes the way it feels. He will scoot as much the day after he has his anal sacs emptied as when they were full. He even does it on my deck - I'm so worried that he'll get a splinter, but so far, so good.

Have fun with little Ruby!
 
My thoughts on the butt scooting have been share in the preceding messages.

Regarding the house-training, I've found using a crate or exercise pens or gates to be the best way. As the puppy gets better at the house training, you expand the area of the house she's allowed in. You definitely need to take her outside on a schedule for a few weeks, and after she eats or wakes up. If you search around on the internet, you'll find lots of information on crate training. Your dog won't need to use the crate for the rest of her life if you don't want her to--it's for training purposes mostly--but if trained properly they learn to love their crates and enjoy sleeping in them. My Tess (9.5 years), would rather sleep in her crate than anywhere else, even in my daughter's bed!

Welcome to the Forum. Hope you can post some pictures soon.
 
icon_welcome
looking forward to seeing some photo of ruby
my louie used to eat his poo when he was a puppy
it never harmed him so do'nt worry she will grow out of it
 
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