NEW PUPPY INFORMATION
Vaccinations
PARVO CAN LIVE IN THE GROUND FOR YEARS. YOUR PUPPY IS NOT PROTECTED FROM PARVO UNTIL TWO WEEKS AFTER THEIR THIRD PUPPY VACCINATION. For this reason, please do not place your puppy on the ground anywhere besides your home until two weeks after the third puppy vaccination. Puppies are not protected until they build their own antibodies. This occurs at different ages in each puppy. To help protect your new baby, do not expose them to public grounds, rest areas, dog parks, gas stations, shopping carts, etc. When at the vet do not place your puppy on the floor and before placing on the scales or table verify, they have been sanitized.
Your puppy will receive one to two puppy vaccinations before leaving me depending on their age. Their next vaccination will be due three weeks from their last vaccination.
FEEDING YOUR NEW PUPPY First Two Weeks: It is important your new puppy eats and drinks. If your puppy does not eat call me. If they do not eat and drink, they can get dehydrated. Due to this you will feed your puppy differently the first two weeks while they adjust to their new home. - Leave dry puppy food and water out at all times. - Twice per day place a scoop of the canned wet food I sent on the dry puppy food. Do this until the canned food is gone. Sometimes puppies are shy about eating in a new environment, this is to help ensure they eat at their new home. We feed some canned food when they are first starting to eat solid food. We use the Retriever Puppy wet food purchased at Tractor Supply. They like this one better than others I have tried. AFTER FIRST TWO WEEKS: Your puppy will now eat primarily dry food. You may start feeding your puppy three time per day, then work down to twice per day. Feeding twice per day you can control a lot of your puppy’s potty needs.
WATER Leave water out for your puppy all day. It is important they have plenty of water. You may it up two hours before bedtime and put it back out first thing in the morning. If your puppy drinks all night, they will need to pee all night.
FOOD I feed Diamond Puppy. You may purchase it at Tractor Supply, Chewy, Amazon or many other feed stores. If you choose to change your puppy’s food, you will need to do it gradually as to not upset their stomach. Start with adding a few tablespoons of the new food to the Diamond Puppy. Increase by adding a few more tablespoons every three or four days. Please do not feed Grain Free Food to your puppy as it has been connected to heart issues in dogs.
POTTY TRAINING The mother dog teaches her babies at a very young age they potty in the same place each time. The first 48 hours at their new home your puppy will be trying to find their “New Place.” During this time you want to teach them their “New Place”. If they pick out a place in the house, you will have to reteach them. It works best if you capitalize on the behavior taught by the mother. The first 48 hours take your puppy our to where you want the “New Place” to be every few hours. There are different products you can purchase to squirt on the “New Place” to attract your puppy to potty there. If your puppy starts sniffing the ground, waking in a circles or scratching the ground, these are signals they need to potty. (This is usually about 10-20 minutes after eating.) Pick them up and very quickly carry them to the “New Place”. They cannot hold it very long at this age. If you would like your puppy to ring a bell to go out in the future, hang a bell off your doorknob. Each time you are going out the door to the “New Place” with their paw ring the bell before going out. Your new puppy will have started working on dogging door training when they arrive at their new home. Even if you do not have a doggie door they are trained to go outside.
CRATE OR PLAY PEN Your puppy has been exposed to a crate, but it is different when they are by themselves fot the first time. They are babies and it is scary for them. If you choose to crate train your puppy you will neew to start by placing your puppy in the crate with the door closed for 5 minutes the first time. When taking them out of the crate immediately take them to the “New Place.” The next time increasing the time by five-to-10-minute increments, building up in this manner. Placing your puppy in the crate all night the first time will most likely cause your puppy to develop nervous diarrhea.
If you are gone more than three hours at a time, I suggest you purchase a wire play pen for your puppy. You may place their bed, toys, turf (grass like) potty area, food and water in it. This can be their safe area while you are away or at night. I suggest the turf potty turf as verse to a standard potty pad as not to confuse them. The end goal is for them to go outside to potty.
SUPPLY LIST
Puppy food - I feed Diamond Puppy. You may purchase it on Chewy, at Tractor Supply or on Amazon.
Wire crate or play pen — Depending on your lifestyle.
Food and water dish
Harness
Toys - Be sure to check for anything they can choke on
Apple Bitter spray - this is helpful with puppies chewing.
Bed - We like the shaggy type that can be easily washed.