Since the day we had we have been using a crate. It is a large crate, ample room for him, and we have a really comfortable fleece blanket and pillow in there to sleep. There is no food / water and little space for toiletting due to the pillow size.
It's important for him to have water available - you can get a small bolt-on water bowl which fixes to the side of the crate. I have a little 4" bowl for Alfie's crate.
Routine wise he is currently on 3 meals a day. 0700-0800 brekkie, 1230-1300 lunch and about 1730 for dinner. We were feeding him 20grams of Purina Beta per sitting which we have increased to 30grams per sitting.
I'd suggest you change him to a better food as soon as possible. Beta has some nasties and is not very nutritious (I can give you more specific info if you like).
'Nacho' is getting 3 walks a day of approx' 30mins a go.
That's a bit too much for a puppy of his age. The general rule of thumb is 5 mins per month of age, 2-3 times a day, until they are a year old. So therefore Nacho's walks should be no more than 15-20 mins, 2-3 times a day.
1.) As mentioned we are using a crate as described above. Currently when we put him to bed sometime between 2200 - 0000hrs, he sleeps in 2 to 3hr blocks before crying and howling. I get up, go downstairs and let him out around the house which results in a either a wee or poop. We use puppy pads which 75% of toiletting is done on these but there are obviously times when he doesn't. The problem I have here is that he doesn't like to pee or poop outside at the moment. If i get up and let him out, he will literally pine at the door the whole time then come back inside and do whatever on the floor. If i go outside with him, he usually chews some stones, runs around like a mad head then the minute i let him in, he finds a spot and goes for gold. Are there any suggestions or tips for promoting even going outside in the first place??!!
Yes, stay out with him longer (until he does something), using whatever "cue word" you have chosen, and praise him like mad when he does something. At night, I would recommend keeping the lights as low as possible, making as little fuss of him as possible, and only taking him outside to toilet, not letting him do it in the house.
As you're using a crate, personally I would remove the pads because I think they can confuse the pup and make them think it's fine to go inside.
During the day, I'd recommend taking him outside every 20-30 minutes (except when he's asleep), and after every meal, every nap and every game. Every dog is different, but my pup was housetrained by the time he was 4 months old (but I never used pads).
2.) We are feeding him 3 x 30grams of Purina Beta. Is that too much or too little? The brand was used by the breeder and the amount I got off the side of the bag. One thing I have noticed is that when we first got him, his stools were very dark brown and very solid. Now they are much lighter and a lot wetter, verging on cow-pat style. Is he having too much food which in turn is leading to the poo's being like they are ?? Whats the brand like reputation wise?? I have a bag of 'Science Plan' off the vet which looks pretty as well mind..
Hills is a much better brand, though there are others I'd recommend above it, mostly for ethical reasons but also for reasons of content (I prefer human-grade meat to be used and as few extras added as possible).
If you change him over, do it gradually, not suddenly, to minimise the risk of an upset tum. It can be done in 4 days minimum, but I'd recommend taking 7-10 days to do it.
3.) In terms of development, what sort of milestones should I be looking at?? Nacho is 3.5 months old exactly - is the mentioned behaviour par for the course or should we be a little more advanced ??
He sounds fine to me, totally normal for his age.
Amanda
