Hi Diane, There are a lot of changes in a young puppy's life at eight weeks and that can have an effect on their bowel movements. I don't know if he had a long journey, by car or plane? Either can be very stressful and my advice to you is to try feeding him smaller meals and perhaps include a fourth, add some probiotics to his meals to help the bowel flora rebalance itself. You can buy lactobacillus acidophilus, bifidus and s.faecium from a pharmacy or healthfood store and feed one capsule opened and sprinkled on his food and one capsule intact. Do this twice a day for several days. I would check with the breeder to see if the litter was wormed and even though the stool sample was negative at testing time I would still treat. Oftentimes the parasites are not actively shedding eggs when testing and it can be missed. I use the same type of kibble that you are using and it has not caused diarrhea or soft stool with my puppies unless I feed too much at one helping or put too much water in it to soak. Usually my young puppies like their kibble dry and at 12 weeks I start to put a little warm water with it.
Be careful with the training treats especially with the baby puppy, it is best to use his kibble as treats for training and no rawhides or "junky" treats that contain dyes and sugars. It can also be tempting to show your new puppy to everybody but its best to let him settle with his new family and your household routine and even though he might be having fun with lots of visitors its still a lot of excitement and that is stress as well. Sometimes it is necessary to rest the stomach for twelve hours and then offer a small meal of boiled lean hamburger and rice mixed in equal quantities. Simmer the hamburger for 35minutes or until well cooked and then cool and skim and discard the fat. Rice should be overcooked and soft and not the converted type like Uncle Ben's, cheap starchy rice is the best. Feed small meals and slowly integrate and replace with the kibble when the bowel movements are firmer. Contact me if you need any further advice:-) Rose Tierney
