So, I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but I think it is.
I picked Faroh up almost a week ago. He had pudding poops at the time, which I attributed to stress, etc. Not for sure which kibble he was on at the breeder, but I believe it was Canidae. She sent a bag with him, so I switched him over to Orijen large breed puppy*, over the first day and a half and for the first full day on the new food, his poops were totally normal.
Now, I am a little puzzled because everyday, his first poop of the day is perfect. Normal size, normal consistency, perfect - in my opinion.
However, as the day goes on, his poops gets looser, and looser, until the last one is pudding. This has gone on for 3 days in a row now. After the first day, I thought maybe it was the high value treats that were upsetting his stomach, so I cut those out. After the second day, I cut out all treats, and used kibble for marker training (although it doesn't work as well). However, on the third day, still the same thing. Today is the fourth day, he has has one very good poop this morning.
For a little for info regarding hydration, he has free access to water until about 1/2 hour before bed. He sleeps through the night, and is good about holding it. So, with a kibble diet, and being that many domestic dogs (and cats) are chronically dehydrated, I let him have the water.
He has been dewormed twice, the last time was about 8 or 9 days ago, I plan to deworm once more.
I am a little stumped here, because although I have a lot of experience with dogs (and poop :crazy, I have never run up against this problem. Faroh is also the first dog I have had younger than about 5 or 6 months old. So, I thought I would pose the question to all of you highly knowledgeable folks!

*I am aware of the benefits of raw feeding vs. kibble. However, due to my location (lack of supply & cost) and several other factors, I have opted to keep him on Orijen, at least for now. This way I can ensure that he is getting all the nutrients required, and I believe that it is a very good food.

Any chance that he is getting too much food?

Maybe it's just the transition from Canidae to Orijen, but at any rate, you could try cutting back a little bit and maybe adding a teaspoonful of pumpkin to each meal.
(BTW, great sig pic. )

PS. I would continue with no treats until he's back to normal...

Thanks. I am actually going to pick up some pumpkin when I go into town today. As for the quantity, he's not a huge eater... though I have sort of been feeding him when he digs at the bowl, as opposed to on a set schedule/amount. He weighs about 13 pounds I would guess, any estimates on how many calories he should be getting?

That pic was taken in really low light with my phone, so not great quality, but really captures his 'essence'

What is his exercise routine like? Do you notice that his stool is looser after a big bout of free run?

Is there any way that he is eating something you are not seeing? Ie: his own poop? Dead critters? Dirt? The usual puppy stuff...

First, I would figure out how much food you are feeding him.

Then I would start looking at the time you feed. Maybe some are closer together than the others.

I don't think dogs, or puppies, have to be fed 2.8 times per day exactly 5.3 hours between meals, but some kind of measures here could help pinpoint a problem.

With poop starting good and deteriorating by the end of the day, I suspect food amount or frequency as the culprit.

Well, I thought perhaps it was the general movement throughout the day that was causing the looser stools. I'm actually home off work this first week, so we are going outside a decent amount. But, actually he tends to eat, then nap a tiny bit, then out to poop, then exercise.
As for eating stuff, he is always on a long line outside, an I do watching him very closely. He doesn't have interest in eating poop (yet), and actually seemed a little disturbed when he got some on his nose by mistake. He does of course like to try and eat leaves, dirt, pebbles, etc. I don't think there is anything he could have consistently been ingesting without me knowing though.

I will start to pay closer attention to the amount. I have been feeding him pretty much 3 times a day with maybe a few extra half-handfuls here and there.

Too much food would be my first guess, also. Free feeding is not what I would do. Have set feeding times...3 - 4 times a day for a young pup. I feed 4 for the first month or so & then switch to 3x until 6 months or so old. Then 2x the rest of their lives.

Is it possible to go back to the original food for a couple of weeks....maybe too many changes at one time. (shipping, new homes, new food etc) and see what happens. Then wait a couple of weeks or so & then switch him over to the new food very slowly...taking 10- 14 days to change over completely. Add a little new food each day (the same for all 3-4 meals)& decrease the old. Continue adding more new each day & less old, until you are feeding all new food after 10-14 days.

Have you added any suppliments or anything else to his food other than the kibble? If so, I'd stop that, too for the time being. Keep the treats simple & continue to use the old kibble for the trainng for now...when changed to new food then use that for a week or 2 then try some new ones if all is ok.

I would also feed him a bit less then the package states for now also. Once you get his gut settled you can add some extra food or treats to bring him back up to weight if he loose a bit. I would be more concerned with getting his gut on track first & formost.

I feed raw & all my pups seem to go a bit on the soft side as very young pups & then start to firm up & all my pups were weaned onto raw at breeders so I don't have much experience with kibble. But overfeeding can be a key to raw fed pups with pudding poop.

Also take a sample to vet to ckeck. But I would most likely be reworming him anyway at that age one more time. Just some thoughts. Good luck. He is a cute little bugger.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find his original food in my town, and only had enough for a few day taper/switch over.
I don't think he has worms, but I am going to bring a sample to work with me (at a vet) and deworm again next week.
Do you think
i should switch from 3 to 4 times feeding per day? I use a lot of his food for training...
No extras or supplements added. It says on the bag to feed 2.5 - 3 cups for his age and expected adult size. I know they always over estimate those numbers, so maybe I will make sure to feed no more than 2 cups per day, which would be 900 calories.

I would pour out the total amount of food per day that you are going to feed & then use some of that amount to use for training. Don't add additional food for training. At least not until you see the proper consistancy poop for a week or so.

Orijin is a high quality protein no grain food...so it is somewhat concentrated compared to what he may have been used to. I think Canidae has grains in it. So that may make some difference also. I'm not sure. Like I said I never fed kibble. So maybe it is a less is more kind of thing with the higher protein no grain food. I would just deside what amount total & divide it into 3x a day. You can see if 3 works better, obviously you don't want to be feeding after 6 pm if possible. You don't want to start having him not make it thru the night & create another problem. I feed & pick up water by 6 pm with young pups.

It's the same way that many people that do SchH tracking do it for dogs with lower food drive...feed the meal on the track.

I personally usually worm pups again around 12 weeks old. (breeder usually dones 1 or 2x) Then only if needed after that...but I will do several fecals after that for the first 6 months or so. Just what I do.

I would offer smaller more frequent meals too.

I would probably do a partial fast for a day, too, just to see if less food eliminated the pudding.

As we all know here, one of the two most frequent pudding-triggers we read about is too much food.


(The other one, of course, is deviating from this protocol: "fed 2.8 times per day exactly 5.3 hours between meals." LOL )

Oh .... and organ meat added too much, too fast.