New Puppies
Congratulations on your new puppy! Here are a few pointers for the care of your puppy that are vitally important at this stage.
Nutrition is always important for dogs and vitally so during the rapid growth stage of puppies. Puppies may need canned food during the transition from their mother’s milk to dry kibble (weaning). This is usually accomplished by 4-6 weeks of age and so by the time most puppies reach their new home they are eating dry puppy food (kibbles). It is important that a puppy does get a ‘growth’ or ‘puppy’ formula. We can advise you on a proper food for your dog. The amount fed is roughly based on your puppies weight and guidelines on how much to feed are generally found on the food bag. It is important to note that this amount varies with an individual’s activity level and stage of growth as well as many other factors. Ultimately the amount fed is the amount that maintains proper body condition for your puppy. You should be able to feel your dog’s ribs and be able to see a slight ‘waist’ appearance when viewing from above. If you can see the outline of your puppy’s ribs, chances are he/she may be too slim. If you cannot feel the ribs or see a ‘waist’ when viewing from above then chances are he/she may be overweight. Overweight puppies are more prone to problems with developing joints as well are pre-disposed to obesity for life and it can be very hard to keep them at a healthy weight afterwards. Clean fresh water should always be available for your puppy.
Housetraining can be a challenging task so it is best to start right away and develop a consistent routine. Puppies have an urgency to pass stool very shortly after eating. You can harness this reflex to help with housetraining. Divide the food that your dog eats in the day into three to four equal meals. You should offer these meals first thing in the morning, in the afternoon, evening and just before you go to bed. Within a few minutes of eating, take your puppy outside to a place where you want it to eliminate. When it does so, give it praise and encouraging pats and bring it back inside. Most puppies quickly learn the routine of eating, going for a walk and eliminating outside. Crate training (link to crate training) can help to facilitate housetraining in difficult cases or in situations where a puppy must be left unattended for long periods of time. A few pointers will help you:
Paper training will often just confuse a puppy and should be used only in situations where you want a puppy to use paper all of its life. If you want your puppy to eliminate outside start training it to do so right away and don’t bother with laying out paper.
Never punish a puppy for making a mistake in the house. Unless you actually catch the puppy in the act it will not associate the act of eliminating in the house with your punishment and will only know that you are angry at it. It is better to just clean the areas with effective odor eliminators and focus on meal feeding and walks to get housetraining established. Note that if the smell is not eliminated properly from a soiled area then the puppy may be attracted to return to the same area again. We carry a variety of effective odor eliminators for these purposes.
It is important to feed your puppy its first meal early in the morning (and take it for a walk) and give its last meal and walk just before you go to bed. This keeps what is typically the longest period that a puppy must hold its urine and feces (ie: overnight) to the shortest period possible. If your puppy eliminates just before you go to bed it will reduce the chance that it will need to go to the bathroom at night when you are sleeping.
Do not expect a young puppy to be able to hold its urine and feces for long periods of time. A rule of thumb for the number of hours a puppy should be able to hold its urine and feces is its age in weeks minus one. Thus a 5 week old puppy should be able to holds its urine for 4 hours.
Exercise is important for the development of healthy bones and muscles, however too much activity can lead to permanent damage to growing joints. Exercise should be consistent day by day and never vigorous enough to cause pain or lameness. Controlled exercise (such as leash walking or fetching) should be introduced gradually, starting with a very small amount and gradually increasing to amounts that are very easily tolerated.
Obedience training should begin right away. Use one word commands (such as ‘come’, ‘sit’ and ‘stay’) linked with a consistent hand gesture. A good time to train your puppy to follow these commands is at mealtime when your puppy is highly motivated. Ask you your puppy to come, sit, and stay before he gets his food. Gradually increase the stay from 5 to 10 to 15 seconds and then give a release such as ‘OK’ before your puppy is actually allowed to eat. Practice this training often and reward in the form of touch (petting your puppy), praise (‘good dog!’) and food treats. When training it is best to reward appropriate behaviour and ignore inappropriate behaviour or mistakes.
Punishment is very difficult to use effectively and should be used sparingly. Only punish a dog if you actually catch him in the act (even ½ second after the act is too late!). A simple ‘NO!’ in a harsh tone will usually suffice. Formal obedience classes are a VERY good idea for ALL dogs. We can recommend a good class for your puppy.
Vaccines are typically given at 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age. Until this initial series is complete your puppy can still be prone to infection by the potentially deadly viral diseases we vaccinate against. It is vitally important that your puppy not be allowed to come in contact with another animals stool during this period. Feces are a major source of parasites and the viral diseases we vaccinate for. Although contact with other dogs is encouraged, as this is a vitally important socializing period for your puppy, the other dogs should be healthy and vaccinated. It is always wise to have both dogs on leash and closely monitored on meeting to minimize the chance of conflict.
Parasites are common in young pets. In fact almost 100% of young dogs will have internal parasites or worms. Some of these parasites can be transmitted to people. We can recommend safe and effective treatments or products to eliminate or prevent internal parasites and external parasites such as fleas, mites or ticks.
Puppies are inquisitive and explore with their mouths. Provide appropriate chew toys (we have dental ‘Kong’s’ available at the hospital) that do not resemble anything you do not want the puppy to chew (do not give your puppy an old shoe to chew if you do not want it to potentially chew any shoe it can find!). Chew toys should be too large to conceivably be swallowed and too sturdy to be broken up or swallowed. Puppy proof your home by storing all household cleaners, pesticides, herbicides or other potential toxins securely away. Many household plants can be toxic (link to Toxic Household Plants) so these must be out of puppies reach. Whenever outside, have your puppy on a leash so you can control and monitor what he gets into outside.
