So today is Koda's second full day with us and things are going pretty well! She and Drake seem to be getting along fairly well. She still is possessive about certain things. For example, we're not letting her on the furniture right now, until she isn't so dominant over it, but she was laying at my feet while I ate lunch. I wasn't feeding her, but she was hoping to get a morsel. Drake approached to beg as well and she jumped up and snarled at him...We'll have to work on that.

The other two questions aren't really behavioral. Koda's fosters had her on Beneful, which I know now is a horrible dog food. They gave me the rest of the bag so that I could slowly switch her over to TOTW without potentially upsetting her stomach. She will not eat TOTW, she picks out the Beneful and leaves the TOTW...What should I do??

Also, she only poops on walks. Sometimes I cannot take her on a 45 minute walk at 5 am, I just want her to go outside and do her business. Is there a way to let her know "Go poop now" so she realizes there's a difference between going out for a walk and going out for the bathroom?? I think it's just a difference in routine. I know the foster got up very early and took them on very long walks first thing in the morning. I usually can't do that until mid morning or early afternoon.

If she's picking out the Beneful, you might soak her food in warm water first or pour broth over it to make it all taste the same.

The potty training will take a bit longer. Bring treats out with you and tell her to go potty. If she goes, tell her she's a wonder dog and give her a treat and let her back in and start play time. If she doesn't after 5-10mins, go back inside and put her in her crate. Then wait 30mins or so and take her outside again. So she'll eventually realize, going potty gets me treats and play time, not going potty gets me stuck in my crate.

Benefit is full of carbs and sugars, it's very addicting to a dog... Much like people would rather eat fast food. If it were my dogs I'd just nix the benefit all together and just offer the TOTW. But that's just me, I know my dogs and how they tolerate food changes.

If she's being that possessive when food is around, even though none is being given to her... Just kick her butt out of those areas. For the first few months Odin wasn't allowed in the kitchen when food was out, he would do the same thing.

We put a cue to bowel movements, helped a lot.

River is a "closet pooper" he will only go poop when no one is looking so i tight line him in the front while i finish getting ready and by the time im done hes done and i put raw egg on his food to get him to eat the kibble

So I tried to take your advice...This morning we were up at 5, took both of them out. Of course Drake did his business, she just stood there. We waited about 5 or more minutes, she just walked around and didn't do anything. So we went back inside and I took her out 45 minutes later, before I left for school. Still nothing...I KNEW she needed to go since she had been since yesterday afternoon, but what was I going to do?? So I was gone 7 hours today. I come home and let both of them out and they're zooming all over the apartment. I knew she needed to go because she ran and jumped to the door, but before I could grab her leash in the other room I saw her squatting. I tried to catch it with a paper towel but I just missed it...Sigh. I'm getting used to picking up poop off of the carpet.
I took her out and she peed and pooped more...I know she couldn't help it, and I praised her when she went outside, but how do I keep this from happening again?? I don't want to pick up poop several times a week!

aww poor Koda! Her schedule is probably all off from being bounced around from place to place. I'm sure she will get the hang of things soon enough with good praise and lots of treats! The hard part is getting to that point! It's so frustrating when they only poop on walks! My female Dalmatian will poop every time we go to the dog park, even if she went before we left, it never fails and drives me NUTS! I fixed it by walking her a few minutes before letting her enter the park and she doesn't poop in there anymore. If I were you, I wouldn't take her on a walk until she has pooped at home, then walk her afterwards so she knows pooping at home will get her a walk.

She didn't go again early this morning, and I took her outside by herself a few minutes ago and she went just a little bit. I praised her and am trying to use the cue "Potty". I brought her back inside because I'm working on a project and haven't been able to take her on a walk yet. She looks mad at me, lol. She just stands at the door and will lay down by it, she even whines a little bit. It makes me feel guilty because the foster to her on several mile walks every day, and I just can't walk 5 miles a day! We take her on 2 long walks, but she still wants more! I think she'd be content walking all day long!

Another thing that's worrying me is her complete lack of enthusiasm for food. She will beg like crazy, and as soon as we're in the kitchen she's there. But when I give them their kibble in the morning she couldn't care less. She still hasn't eaten, and I even moved the bowl into our bedroom when we went back to sleep for a couple of hours. I can't leave it out for her to eat when she wants because Drake is always trying to eat her food. So I have no idea what to do, poor girl needs to gain weight!!!!

She's adjusting, during this time you don't want to doctor up the food to make it more appetizing otherwise she'll get used to that and figure that she can be picky. What I do with Cheyenne's dinner is mix in some warm water and break her fish oil pill up in there. It stinks, but she likes it. And it's a supplement sp she was going to be getting it anyway.