Question about normal weight gain

Daltrey my new toy poodle has finally started eating ALMOST normally. Although I hate the food, Science Diet was the only puppy food I could get him to eat. He hated Wellness canned, he ignored Nutro Natural Choice, wouldn't touch Wellness dry, and then gobbles up the Sci Diet. Grrrr. I guess quality doesn't = tasty for him. Okay so my question is... we got him on Sept. 18th and promptly took him to my vet for a weight check, 2 lbs 6 oz. at 10 weeks old putting him at about 5 lbs 12 oz. for estimated adult weight. He is now 12 weeks old, and has gained exactly 1 oz. He has been eating about 1/2 cup a day, sometimes less (he eats it one kibble at a time), plus boiled chicken for training sessions. The chicken doesn't hinder how much he eats as he gets miniscule amounts during training and immediately goes and chows down afterwards. Is this tiny weight gain normal? The vet has said he looks healthy and he doesn't appear to be lethargic. He's more playful than he used to be.

Another question: how old should he be to begin training? He has a short attention span unless we use chicken, and then he does nothing but pay attention. He sits on command and lays down on command during the training sessions. Sometimes I will give him a treat and sometimes, just praise, hoping that he won't only work for food. However, he sits whenever I tell him to without treats IF he feels like it. He won't lay down without an incentive or me pecking the ground in front of him. He also completely ignores me when I call and doesn't seem to know his name. I can never get his attention. Its very frustrating. I have tried to clicker train him to come, but either I am not good at it, or he is just ridiculously confused by it. Any suggestions?

 

12 weeks is still really young to be training your puppy, so i don't think he's confused or doing it on purpose, give him some time. after he is 16 weeks and had all of his vaccines you could begin to take him out more and then enroll him in obedience classes, they were the best thing i ever did for my dog :y_the_best:
i have no idea what age would be best though, i waited until about 6 months with both of my dogs.

and regarding the food, my dog loves innova, did you try that brand? science diet is really bad, i'd much rather let my dog just handle it and be a nice healthy baby instead of give in and feed her that other stuff. one thing my dog LOVES though is vita gravy. it's gravy with vitamins and comes in flavors like chicken or steak and they sell it at most pet stores like petsmart, etc. and you can just stir some into his food so he would eat it, and it's good for him too
as long your the vet says he's healthy and you don't see any signs indicating otherwise, i wouldn't worry much about the weight gain. some pets may have higher metabolisms or just grow slower than others.

 

Like gwen said, unless you or your vet notices any problems with your puppy's weight, I wouldn't be too worried about it! Just keep an eye out for anything abnormal. Usually, small breed dogs keep growing up until about a year old (it does vary a little depedning on the individual dog). In addition, puppies don't eat a lot of food, especially small breeds, so keep that in mind. When a puppy isn't eating and drinking reasonable amounts, then there's a problem.

Another suggestion, try not to switch the foods so often even though your dog may act as though he doesn't like it! You'll end up with a very picky eater who knows just how to get what he wants in regards to food. Once again, as gwen mentioned, a lot of dogs seem to like VitaGravy, it adds a little flavor to the food, and contains vitamins!

Regarding clicker training, you have to first learn how clicker training works. First and foremost, you have to train your dog to understand that the click means they did something good. To establish a positive association with the clicker, most people click, then give treat immediately, click, give treat immediately, and so on. Once you do that you can move on to the next step, but don't take it too quickly!

It's great to hear that you have started this early with your puppy in training him! Your puppy is currently in a "critical learning stage" which is a perfect time for training (commands, housebreaking, etc.). I would start with the obedience/training classes once his puppy shots are finished. The younger you start in all aspects of training, the better...puppies who start training as young as twelve weeks (and even earlier) are extremely successful and pick up on new things very quickly...so I would recommend that you keep on working with him even at his young age, and enroll him in classes once his puppy shots are finished!!! :y_the_best: