A Greater Swiss puppy is a wonderful thing. However, they have a few quirks that are often misinterpreted as concerning issues to the unknowing.
- Drinking water – Greater Swiss enjoy drinking massive amounts of water. They are known to guzzle water, try to drink an entire lake, or empty a gallon bucket. This often gets mistaken for some systemic issue such as diabetes, cushings, or some other malady. A vast majority of the time, they simply enjoy drinking water and peeing. It is rare for a young Swissy to have any issues, but you will easily find Dr. Google leading down the path of asking for extensive testing only to turn up with no issues.
- Potty Training – Greater Swiss are not difficult to potty train so long as the owners are diligent. Keeping an eagle on when your puppy needs to potty and ensuring that your puppy is rewarded for relieving him/herself in appropriate areas is key to success. Allowing a puppy free reign to a bucket of water and access to the entire house will result in accidents. Please see this article on deciphering house training.
- Poops – Greater Swiss can often have loose poops, and it rarely requires treatment. Sometimes it is because they ate too much in volume, too much fat content, deer poop, or simply because they drank too much water that it could not be removed before shooting through the large intestine. As long as your Swissy has been properly dewormed and appears bright and happy, loose poops are generally not an issue. There are times when loose poops are expected:
- Post deworming can cause loose poops. They will generally firm back up on their own after a few days.
- When Swissy puppies are ~6-12 months, you may notice normal poop followed by soft serve. This is very normal considering the amount of food they are consuming at this age. The poops will firm back up when they are consuming less. You can try to mitigate this by adding pumpkin to the diet, adding Bernie’s Perfect Poop, or feeding smaller amounts more frequently.
- It is common for new Swissy owners to be taken by the idea of switching from food brands to food brands with no real change in poop consistency until dog is not consuming such a high volume of food. As long as your dog appears to be healthy, in good body condition, and with shiny coat, there it typically not a problem.