FAQ Series: What to do if your puppy or adult dog has diarrhea?
Be smart about your dogs poop! 
Bringing a new puppy home is a fun and exciting time for the humans as well as the new furry bundle of puppy. Housetraining is a big issue that needs to be addressed the moment you walk in the door and can't be put on the back burner until the pup is well established in his new home. One of the biggest hinderances of housetraining can be when the pup can't hold it long and either has a somewhat loose stool or full out diarrhea. You need to take care of this immediately, not only for the pup to feel better but for your own sanity with the new housetraining.
First things first: if your puppy has watery, really foul smelling diarrhea, as well as not eating, acting depressed or lethargic - take him to the vet immediately!! These are the first signs of Parvo and is deadly to pups. If your vet can not see the pup immediately, take it to an emergency vet. Even if your pup has had a vaccine or 2, they are not out of the woods from catching parvo! Treatment cannot be delayed if your pup has the above symptoms.
OK so you've determined your pup is not in "danger" and just has some loose stools, what to do?
First is to only offer a very bland diet of cooked rice, can be brown or white, mixed with some cooked bland chicken or ground beef. If they will eat it (some love it and some may not want it) add canned pumpkin. You can not give too much pumpkin, so if the pup will eat several tablespoons or half a can full, go ahead and feed him as much as he will eat of the pumpkin. (Keep in mind, it needs to be plain pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling. Preferably organic, but if you can't find organic, regular will do. Depending on the store, canned pumpkin can either be found in the canned veggie aisle or near the baking goods like canned milk or ordered on Amazon HERE) You should not limit the amount of food they eat at this point.
After offering the rice, chicken/ground beef and pumpkin, make sure the pup is only getting distilled or filtered water.
Keep the pup on this diet for at least a day or several days up to a week or more, depending on if the stools are firming up. As the stools start firming up, you can start to add some kibble to the rice, meat and pumpkin mixture, while making sure the stools are still staying firm. If everything is going well, you can increase the amount of kibble and decrease the amount of rice/meat/pumpkin mixture until they are fully on the kibble. If you have a puppy from us, you know that we recommend to feed other good stuff in their meals such as cottage cheese, yogurt or a very high quality, organic canned meat, etc. mixed in their kibble. You can add these things along with the kibble as the stools seem to tolerate these additions. If you start to add kibble and the stools start to get loose again, it's possible there is something in that kibble that their tummy can not tolerate, and you may need to try another brand/formula. This is not common, but can happen. If their stools just don't firm up after several days on the rice/meat/pumpkin mix, then you probably need to run them into the vet for a stool check to make sure there isn't something else going on.
So now what about an adult dog that may have gotten a loose stool? You can absolutely follow all of the above, especially if they are really loose or been loose for a few bathroom breaks. If you notice just a loose stool and the dog seems healthy otherwise, you can simply add pumpkin to the food and that will help firm them up pretty quickly. Pumpkin can be given at every meal if you wish, for as long as you wish.
As with a puppy, if your adult dog is lethargic, not eating, not drinking, AND has diarrhea as well, definitely get them into the vet immediately. It's unlikely for adults to have Parvo but there are plenty of other things that can cause the above symptoms and you don't want to wait for them to be seen by the vet.
Remember, we recommend throughout the life of your puppy/dog, keep them on some key supplements such as Vitamin C and a really good probiotic which will help keep their gut healthy and balanced and should help prevent loose stools. If your dog eats something they shouldn't have or has an upset tummy, go ahead and double the probiotics any time, as
needed. HERE IS THE LINK for all the dog food, supplement and bones to chew on recommendations.
needed. HERE IS THE LINK for all the dog food, supplement and bones to chew on recommendations.