[Boxer_Bruce]

we have a 4-month old Boxer & I was looking for some advice.

Here is our normal routine:

He sleeps in a gated-off kitchen.
He eats Eukanuba Chicken for Puppies

6:00am: When I go the kitchen & he usually already pooped & pee'd
6:15am: Water & little food (about 1/3 cup)
6:45am: He goes out & always pees & usually poops
7:30am: Back in Kitchen w/praise & treat.
11:30am- 12:15pm Wife come home, lets him out. When she comes home, he usually already pee'd and pooped. Back in Kitchen w/praise & treat. Wife takes him out & he pees.
5:30pm: Come home & he usually already pee'd and pooped. He goes out & always pees & usually poops. Water & eats more food (2 1/3 cups). He goes out & always pees & usually poops.
8:30pm: Back in Kitchen w/praise & treat.
12mid: When I go into kitchen, he usually accident-free. He goes out & always pees & usually poops.

He seems very content on the kitchen, loads of chew toys, big bed which he loves!!!

---Is he pooping too much? Poop is rarely soft, mostly cigar shaped, and solid...4-6xs/day.
---If he is pooping too much, any food recommendations?
---Also, on the weekends when we are home, we are taking him out a little more often, is this confusing him because we may be taking him out too much?
---Should we try pads in kitchen? The 2 times we tried pads...he ripped them apart and played with them

Thanks alot

[blackgavotte]

It sounds like you are not doing anything wrong. A Boxer pup needs his food to grow on, and the fact that he is pooping 4-6x a day is not necessarily too much for him. Are you starting the crate training yet? Are you going to do that or not? Some people overuse the crates for potty training but at 4 months you may soon want to consider it, if only for overnight, it will save you the morning cleanup at least, first off. I also would say you are right to take him out as much as possible on the weekends, you do want to get him used to pooping and peeing outside as soon as you can, especially since he is a Boxer and this is valuable socialization time and just plain explore-the-world time. I assume you have your own backyard? Its good that you are not keeping this baby in a crate all day just to try to save some of this cleanup. This is still a puppy, and the fact that the stools are not soft would indicate its just normal waste. It may be that a different food will make less stools but I'm not sure that's necessary or wise anyway. A lot of these foods, especially Eukanuba, used to be marketed as the " less clean up " foods anyway, don't know what will make much difference. This will change anyway as he matures. Is he in good weight and energy on the amount of food he is getting?

[Curbside Prophet]

When I look at my dog's schedule, I like to think of it in terms of what she would be doing if left alone in the wild. So Elsa's schedule begins with a walk and or run when we wake up in the morning...usually anywhere from 30-90 minutes. I do this because dogs by nature are travelers, and they can travel over many miles looking for their next meal. During the walk, she takes in all the smells and is stimulated to eliminate...so on our walks she takes care of business. Upon returning home, I lay her down in a long down stay while I prepare my morning meal. I eat, and then she's allowed to eat. After we eat, we play!...to celebrate the meal we just caught out of the fridge! Then, she rests, and I'll usually leave her a stuffed Kong for her entertainment. I repeat the process again when I arrive home after work. Now Elsa's a little older than your dog, but you should begin to think about adding exercise to your dog's routine...that's the first thing that caught my eye reading through it. My only other suggestion would be to balance the portion of food between the two meals. I read somewhere, and the source is slipping my mind at the moment, but I read that it's better for a dog to have a fuller tummy at meal time for their metabolism. Finally, remember to give tons of praise to your dog for going potty outside...at the moment it happens. Don't wait for the return home to give treats, have them available when he eliminates. Good luck!

[Doglistener]

This Pup should be fed three times a day.

It also cannot control itself for the length of time you are leaving it alone. This is an overview of puppy care:

Puppy Care Overview


Feeding
Puppies 6 - 12 weeks (3 months) to be fed four (4) times a day.
Puppies 3 - 6 months need to be fed three (3) times a day.
Puppies 6 - 12 months need to be fed two (2) times a day.


Toileting
Puppies need to "go to the bathroom" after each meal.
They should be taught where to go (on paper, in garden, etc.).
They should be brought there with lead and collar on so they get there quickly with no side trips en route.
They should get praise each and every time they toilet in the right place.

Training
Puppies under 7 weeks of age are unable to learn. They cannot carry memory from one day to the next. New owners and breeders should be aware of this fact and not attempt to teach the puppy specific tasks and then discipline the pup when it fails.

Puppies between the ages of 7 to 14 weeks are in a specific developmental stage. This period of socialisation is critical in the formation of the pup’s personality. It is imperative that the pup not be left for long periods of time and isolated from the family (stuck down in a crate or behind closed doors).
If a puppy has the constant companionship of another dog during this stage, it will become "dog oriented" rather than people centred, which can make training quite difficult.

When a dog under 5 months of age is left alone for long periods of time (over 5 hours) with a bowl of food and water, chances are that the pup will have to go to the bathroom. Unless he is housed in such a way that he cannot make a mistake, the puppy will "go" wherever he pleases and get neither praise nor a reprimand when he does. Isolation in a non-responsive environment (no immediate feedback) makes it difficult for a pup to learn right from wrong and prolongs house soiling and promotes destructive chewing.

Dogs under 3 months should be considered infants; and as with all infants, they need tremendous amounts of care and attention. Dogs between 3 and 6 months are juveniles and need constant supervision. Left to themselves, dogs will be dogs, and in most instances this is less than desirable (house soiling, destructive chewing, over barking, biting) when the dog is living in close quarters with humans in an urban environment.

Stan

[blackgavotte]

I just want to add a bit more, acknowledging Curbside's recommendation for more exercise. I don't know if you are into fitness or not, but a bit to be aware of when increasing exercise in this pup. Don't overexercise. Large breed puppies are often overexercised by their fitness-oriented owners, and while those bones are growing, they can be injured easily. Don't have a growing puppy running beside a bike or jogging excessively. Increase the exercise when he is fully grown, but do it gradually for now. The other concern I have just now is that he is brachycephalic. These breeds are
" chesty " in cold weather, and overheat very quickly in the warmer weather. I'm sure you know this but maybe you don't.