[Snuggles]

Our Pomeranian is now about four and a half months old. I would say 90% of the time she goes to the potty outside. Last couple days she missed. Anyway, she wakes up at 4:30 or 5:30 a.m. and goes to bed around tenish. I was wondering when can they last longer? I feel like we have a new baby in the house (real baby).

Also, I noticed that when we go on a walk, she walks funny. The back part of her goes at a angle. Usually more to one side and then occasionally to the other side. Not sure if that is just the way she thinks you are suppose to walk on walk or what. I haven't noticed it in her training class yet though (only two classes so far). Anyone else experience this?

 

[Love's_Sophie]

The walking thing...as far as I have noticed with Poms, that can be pretty common; as long as she doesn't seem to be actually limping, I wouldn't be too concerned about that right now. They are a spritely breed, and love to prance about!

As far as the potty issue, maybe just wake up in the middle of the night for a while again; she is real young yet, and some puppies just can't wait that long; some nights they might be fine, and other nights...not so much! I'd just go back to getting up once in the night for awhile.

 

[Dogstar]

On the potty issue, I would NOT knock what you've got. If you've got her 90% of the way there at 4-5 months, you are doing FANTASTIC. Poms are NOT easy to housebreak as a rule (there are exceptions.) I would try two things. Firstly, try waking her up EARLIER (say, 3AM) and taking her out and seeing if she'll potty then. If she will, you'll know she's just got to go more often (Conversely, you could also try waking her up for one last potty break around midnight.) If this isn't successful, I would try taking her out about 10 minutes later each day and seeing if she can hold it just a litle longer. Overall though, I would tend to just let her continue on the current schedule for now though, until she got a bit older and her bladder control stronger.

The back end going at an angle to the front is called crabbing and it can be caused by a variety of thing. Most are not big deal - just conformation faults. (It's caused when the front and rear angulation doesn't match up.) It can also be a symptom of luxating patella though, or other joint disease because the dog doesn't want to put full weight on their rear and instead tends to carry their weight on their front legs. In a growing puppy, though, I wouldn't worry about it. It's not a breed thing, though.

 

[Snuggles]

Crabbing is exactly the word my husband used. Like I said during our walks at puppy class, she walks on the side of me but when we walk the neighborhood, it is just easier for two dogs to walk in front of us. Anyhow, walking on the side, maybe I just don't see her from the right angle. I just threw a ball and she seems to run okay but maybe that is different.

Our deceased dog had hip displasia but we didn't know that until six months before she died and they were taking x-rays for something. Of course I probably wouldn't do anything now to her but it is at the back of my mind if she has the same thing. She is kind of a prissy walker. LOL

We were up at 4:30 again last night. Then at 6:00 (regular wakeup during the week time).