When It Sh*ts, It Diarrheas

Oh so much going on at the Fullone household!  Happy to report that Hurley's temper tantrums seem to be quickly subsiding.  Methinks the issue was mostly the bad advice we got from the vet - to hold him when he's squirmy/bitey until he quiets down.  This practice was leading to panic attacks/temper tantrums, which culminated in me holding him for 20 minutes on Saturday night while he flailed, growled and tried to bite his way out of my arms.  When it was over, I simply looked at my husband and said "This can't be right.  I feel like I'm torturing my baby."  So off we went on our research on alternative methods of calming him down and so far, we've had to do a few walkaway timeouts but have not resorted to putting him in a timeout area, aka the bathroom.  The bonus?  He's finally starting to want to cuddle with his parents now that we aren't scary people who won't let him down. 

And while that's improving, we are tackling several minor digestive issues with the girls.  Maggie has been on a once-a-week puking stretch for several weeks and over the last couple months, the regularity with which she upchucks increased regularly.  Dogs puke.  It's just a fact of life for us dog owners but when it starts happening pretty frequently, you start to worry.   This time of year, she does eat tons of grass and I think this is one of the main causes.  She's also thrown up soon after eating so we've employed the muffin pan feeding method to slow her down while she's eating.  And to not leave anyone out, Sadie gets the muffin pan method as well.  It's kinda funny to see your two dogs just going to town on mini-muffin pans filled with their kibble.  We're also trying to keep a close watch on her while in the backyard to curb grass eating as much as we can.  So far, it's been about a week since her last incident.  However, the hubster discovered her eating poo the other day.  Awesome!  Sadie has always been a poo-eater but I counted on Maggie to have better taste.  Now, I've got to figure out if this is a habit she has learned from Sadie, a reaction to the addition of Hurley or a nutritional deficiency.  A customer recently turned me on to Solid Gold's SEP (Stop Eating Poop) supplement, which I am picking up today.  So we're tackling the puking problem on 3 fronts:  limit grass eating, get her to stop eating poo and slow feeding.  Hopefully that'll do the trick!  If not, it's off to the vet we go.

And if that wasn't enough, Sadie has had accidents in the basement (aka our family room) the past 2 nights.  This happened occasionally with previous foster puppies - I think the fact that they were having accidents led to her thinking it was OK to do her business downstairs.  But this morning, it wasn't just a pile o' poo, it was a puddle o' diarrhea.  My poor gal!  This one is 100% completely and totally my fault.  Hurley had ripped a hole in a bag o' food at the store and rather than toss it, I took it home.  It seems Iron-Stomach Sadie does not have such an iron stomach at all and is feeling the pains of an abrupt change in food.  I feel just awful for not transitioning their food as I should have.  Hopefully, it'll clear up soon.  I'm going to add some white rice to her meals to see if that will help.

My poor babies! 

PS - Sorry this post is mostly poo-related.  However, I know I'm not the only dog owner in the world who feels like they talk about poop entirely too much.  Thanks for listening!