Hi Lauren,

Thanks for your compliments on my two fur kids Baxter and Daisy! They are so much fun and I love them to pieces.

I would recommend feeding an all natural, holistic food that does not contain ANY corn or wheat (cereals) to Ellie as they are just fillers and Dachshunds can have food allergies more than other breeds, so it is best to stay clear of these ingredients that can cause allergies.

I feed Baxter and Daisy, Fromm Holistic Dog Food, which is all natural, human grade holistic food that all of the ingredients are made in the US and it is also manufactured in the US. They make a puppy formula, which you would want to keep Ellie on until she is 11-12 months of age.

Other good human grade, holistic foods besides Fromm are: Orijen, Taste of the Wild, Solid Gold, Wellness and Infinia.

If you decide to change Ellie's food, make sure you gradually make the change over a 7-10 day period, and even longer if you see signs of tummy upset, i.e. diarrhea, loose stools.

I have potty trained my two doxies and found that having them on a routine: feed at the same time each day, than out to potty, play time, out to potty, potty just before bedtime, etc, and giving them enough time outside to do their business with lots of praise and a treat while training, has made a big difference.

Daisy was 90% potty trained at 6 months.
She goes on wee pads in the house when she needs besides going outside, so I can use them when the weather is inclement.

Good luck, and post pictures of Ellie when you get a chance as we would love to see her!

Bette, Baxter and Daisy

Thank you so much for your response!!!!

I didn't know about feeding three times a day, we will certainly start to incorporate that right away.

I thought all of my family was doing such a good job of praising her and giving her treats when she pottied outside. Maybe it will just take more time and unfortunately more patience! I must say, I work with preschool aged children at a week day school. This year, I am with 2yr. olds. I find I have much more patience than I thought possible! If I can aide in potty training children, I know we will conquer potty training our little Ellie.

Have you ever heard about the corn in the ingredient list in their dog food? I must admit, when I started reading, it is hard to find "corn" not listed as the very first.

Your Baxter and Daisy are very cute. I will try my best to carry on. I hope I can report good news in the next few weeks! Thanks again! Lauren

So we took Herbie, Slinky and S'mores to the Wiener races in San Diego again this year. Last year we just raced Herbie as S'mores was a puppy. This year they both raced and Slinky watched as he does not have all his puppy shots yet.
It was so much fun and always so neat to see so many Doxies! They had over 400 that raced!

Herbie won his first heat with a time of 3.3 seconds but that was a little shy of the 3.18 that would have gotten him in the top 16 dogs! S'mores did well and got 2nd place both heats! So no moving on for us but so much fun!

Here are some pix from our day!

Cash loves his tennis balls!!






Amy & Cash

PENNSYLVANIA Action Alert-- Rabies Medical Exemption SB 1454 http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/L ... yp=B&billNbr=1454&pn=2164 just introduced by Senator Stewart Greenleaf has been referred to the Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee. Please contact Committee members and ask them to vote "Do Pass."

Senator Mike Brubaker, Chair (717) 787-4420 mbrubaker@pasen.gov
Senator Michael Waugh, Vice-Chair (717) 787-3817 mwaugh@pasen.gov
Senator Michael O'Pake, Minority Chair (717) 787-8925 opake@pasenate.com
Senator Joseph Scarnati (717) 787-7084 jscarnati@pasen.gov
Senator John Eichelberger (717) 787-5490 jeichelberger@pasen.gov
Senator Robert Robbins (717) 787-1322
Senator Elder Vogel (717) 787-3076 evogel@pasen.gov
Senator Gene Yaw (717) 787-3280 gyaw@pasen.gov
Senator Andrew Dinniman (717) 787-5709 andy@pasenate.com
Senator Shirley Kitchen (717) 787-6735 kitchen@pasenate.com
Senator John Wozniak (717) 787-5400 wozniak@pasenate.com

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UPDATE "Molly's Bill" CALIFORNIA AB 2000 August 28: Saulo Londono from AM Hagman's office called to say that Senate Appropriations Committee Chair, Senator Christine Kehoe (916) 651-4039 "killed" the rabies medical exemption bill, AB 2000 "Molly's Bill" yesterday in committee by aligning all the Democrats on the Committee to vote against it strictly along party lines rather on the merit of the bill. Senator Kehoe's Chief of Staff reportedly told Saulo that this was "all about politics."

Remember this bill unanimously passed an Assembly floor vote (74-0) May 6th, and on July 15th received a unanimous 8-0 "DO PASS" vote from the Senate Health Committee. The Appropriations Committee should respect this strong vote of support from the Legislature and fund this bill. Please direct any and all calls of concern to Senator Kehoe at (916) 651-4039.

Hi! Welcome!

First, if your puppy is only 4 months of age, she should be fed 3 times a day, not two until she is 11-12 months of age.

Puppies need to keep their sugar levels up so they need to have their daily food amount broken into three to four small meals a day. Most people do three.

Second, putting her in her crate for punishment does no good what so ever, except, as you say, to make her run from you so she is not put in her crate. She has no idea why you are putting her in her crate and cannot associate it with peeing in the house.

I would keep feeding her on a schedule, except add one more meal a day to her routine and when you take her outside, praise her and give her a special treat if she goes potty outside.

Also, keep her confined to only a few rooms in your house (baby gate her off) so you can see her at all times when she is not in her crate.
If you see her looking for a place to go potty or starting to circle, take her immediately outside to her potty area and if she goes outside, praise her like crazy and give her a treat.
She needs to associate going potty outside with something she likes and is pleasant to her.

Never yell or punish her for going potty in the house, because it is not her fault, it is yours.

It will take time, but most of all it will take consistency and patience to potty train a puppy. Everyone in the family has to be on the same page.

Some people have had great success with the ringing of a bell to let you know your puppy needs to go out to potty.

Place a bell, or bells next to the door you take your puppy out to potty so they hang low enough for your puppy's nose or paw to tap or ring them.

Place your puppy's paw on the bells and ring them every time you take her outside to potty and give her a treat or praise a lot so she knows that pleases you.

It will take a few weeks, but hopefully, with consistency, your puppy will learn to ring the bells when she has to go outside to potty.

Positive reward training is what usually works the best.
Punishment or negative actions do not as a puppy or dog cannot comprehend what they did wrong, which only makes them feel more insecure and anxious, making the potty in the house problem worse.

I hope this helps and good luck!

Bette, Baxter and Daisy
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