These are the items that we suggest you purchase to get ready for your puppy to come home:
We HIGHLY recommend purchasing a puppy playpen/exercise pen to make a little "home" for your puppy. You can purchase these at many stores or online. This will keep your puppy from destroying your house, as they like to chew (on everything!) while cutting and losing teeth. Don't let your puppy run around your house unsupervised, as he* is bound to get into trouble. You are not being mean by containing him. You are simply not giving him the opportunity to form bad habits. Your puppy will be fine - he will soon learn to be content in his little home. If you ignore the whining and begging to get out and just let the puppy out when he is quiet, he will calm down (hopefully soon). Included in your puppy's area, you should have a place for him to sleep, eat, and go potty. This way, you can leave your puppy and he will be self-sufficient if you're not able to be with him for a while. This is helpful for people who need to go to work during the day.
We have tried different kinds of puppy food. Check with me to see what your puppy is currently eating. Your puppy should be offered food 3x/day. They can eat as much as they would like (sometimes, they'll eat a lot, sometimes they'll eat a little). When your puppy is older, you can drop down to 2x/day.
Your puppy is used to going potty in a potty tray. We have tried many, many things, and I finally ended up making one that works the best for keeping puppies clean (if they use it like they're supposed to). I suspend a wire closet rack in a utility tub with hooks. We usually put a potty pad at the bottom, but if your puppy starts to dig those up, you can either put litter or wood pellets down. Sometimes, I just leave it empty & wipe up the messes with toilet paper & flush it. I am happy to send a potty tray with anyone who buys a puppy from us.
Your puppy should have something to chew. Just like teething babies, EVERYTHING goes into that mouth 🙂 There are a lot of things available - just keep an eye on everything you give your puppy at first to make sure he isn't destroying it enough to eat it. If your puppy is ever chewing anything up to the point where he is ingesting it, take it away. When we first got our puppies, we thought that small rawhide bones were an okay thing (they do sell them, after all), but Abbie was an avid chewer and ate one and had major stomach problems! If your puppy enjoys chewing on you or your kids (fingers, toes, hair, whatever) and you just don't appreciate that, it works best to put one of the puppy's paws in his mouth and make him bite it. Say, "No bite!" while you do this, and pretty soon, your puppy will understand what "No bite!" means 🙂 Out of everything we have done to teach a puppy that biting is not ok, this works the best.
A tube of Nutri-cal is good to keep on hand if your puppy isn't eating. Small puppies can have trouble with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). You just need to give your puppy a small amount of Nutri-cal to prevent this. Puppies usually like it, but if not, just put a dab on your finger, open his mouth, and put it on his tongue. Nutri-cal is available at Stockmen's Supply. It's also available at Petco (more expensive), probably at your vet's office, and online.
Should your puppy ever have an upset tummy, canned pumpkin (pumpkin is the only ingredient - not pie filling) is a great thing to have on hand! It can help solidify the runs and help soften op the rocks - though, if your puppy is only eating his own food and not a bunch of other things, this shouldn't be a problem. But, we all know that puppies tend to eat... well... everything they find 🙂
Teaching puppy submission: A friend of ours gave us this invaluable advice: if your puppy is doing something that you don't want him to do, simply place the puppy on his back and calmly hold him there until he stops squirming. DO NOT let the puppy get away. If he wiggles free, immediately grab him and calmly, but firmly, place him back on his back and hold him there. He will, eventually, decide that you are the boss and just lay there. When you feel like the puppy has stopped fighting (this could take many minutes) and surrendered, pick the puppy up. I did this once to a puppy and I had to wait about 5 minutes for her to give in. When I finally picked her up, she wouldn't look at me. After a couple of minutes, she decided to give me a bunch of kisses 🙂 She was a different puppy after that. Your puppy needs know that YOU are the "top dog!" Momma dogs and other adult dogs will do this to puppies to teach them submissiveness - I have seen it! It's a VERY important thing to teach your dog to respect you and for him to acknowledge that you are the leader! We also have our children do this, as it's important for the puppy to realize that all people (not just one) in the house are above him in the pecking order 🙂
Potty training tips: At first, ONLY let your puppy run around inside (10-15 minutes max) right after he has gone potty (either in the tray or outside). Your puppy has to be supervised the entire time that he is "free". After play time, put puppy back in his pen (if you have a potty tray in there) to give him the chance to use the bathroom. If he doesn't have to go, leave him in there until he does. If you're crate training, take puppy out to go potty after play time. If he doesn't go, put puppy in his crate. Leave him in his crate for about 15 minutes & then take him out to go potty. Puppies take lots of naps... if he's sleeping in his crate, let him sleep until he wakes up. When he wakes up, take him out to go potty. If he goes potty, he can have some more inside play time. If he doesn't, he needs to go back in the crate. Repeat taking him out/crate time until he goes potty. Once he goes potty, he's free to play. "Free time" can gradually be increased as the puppy has success only going potty where you want him to... not on your rug 🙂 If puppy does have an accident, you need to drop the play time back to the starting point and work your way back up. If you are a good observer of your puppy, you will likely see signs that puppy needs "to go" - sniffing, circling (more for poo). Immediately pick puppy up and either put him in his potty tray or take him outside. Your puppy won't go potty on you, so you are free to hold your puppy anytime 🙂 If he starts whining and wiggling while you're holding him, he may need to go potty.
Just to warn you, one disgusting habit that some puppies acquire is eating poo... we try to break them of this, but some pups just think it's the best treat ever. We put pepper on it to deter them when we catch it in time, but I am not able to stand there and watch them 24/7, so, no I don't get it all. Usually, once a pup is old enough to "hold it" for a while so you can crate train him (and only train him to go to the bathroom outside), the habit will often (but not always) stop, because there are more exciting things to do. It also will help if, instead of just letting your dog outside by himself to do his business, you take him out on a leash so you can catch him right after he's done & give him a treat from your hand instead to reward him 🙂 There are pills or powder that you can give your dog to make that stuff a little less appealing. I haven't tried them, but they're available, and I have heard they help (at least for some). This is another reason we started using a wire shelf as the "floor" of the potty tray. Usually, the poo falls through so the puppies can't get to it. But, once in a while, it doesn't. Some puppies just leave it alone, but others still think it's a tasty morsel 😛 Gotta love a good kiss on the face after that... EWWW! So, yes, we do what we can to avoid that 🙂
Veterinary care: I take the puppies to the vet when they're 7-8 weeks old. They get an exam and receive their first distemper immunization. There are many different opinions on immunization protocol. On average, vets recommend having puppies vaccinated again at 12 weeks and then again at 16-18 weeks. Some give the rabies vaccine at the same time as a distemper booster, some recommend giving it at a different time.
Parasites: It's very common for puppies to acquire parasites. We give the puppies wormer, but, it doesn't get rid of everything. If the puppies end up with nasty diarrhea, I don't let them leave here until we find out why and have a treatment plan. If your puppy gets diarrhea after leaving our house and it doesn't get better within a day, you can take a sample to your vet and have them check it. Most parasites are passed on to other animals through feces. So, if you want to keep your pup's chances of getting something, keep him away from places where other animals "go" 🙂
Don't forget to praise your puppy for being good! I recommend getting something with as few ingredients as possible (jerkey with chicken as the only ingredient, for instance). Your puppy doesn't need a big treat - just a small little nibble 🙂
List of BAD FOODS:
Um... I have to look it up... The ones I remember:
chocolate
raisins
grapes
garlic
*For fluidity, I have referred to the puppy as a male. Please forgive me, female owners, and kindly substitute all of the "he/his/him" references with "she/her" 🙂