Important things to know about puppies.
1. within 3 days of bringing your puppy home, you must bring her to the vet of your choice for a well check and to set up a vaccination schedule. Typically every 3-4 weeks until she is around 6 months old.
2. Do not take your puppy out into the public, dog parks or pet stores until he has had all of his puppy shots. Young puppies are very susceptible to picking up viruses that could be fatal.
3. Decide now what behavior you will expect of your full grown dog. Now is the time to sart teaching your puppy how to behave. You will need to allow for mistakes due to her youthfulness, but don't condone or encourage behavior that will be undesirable in a grown dog.
4. Using kennel will keep your puppy safe and aid in housetraining. Your puppy can't get into things that would hurt him when when you are not able to give hi your full attention. The kennel becomes the puppy's safe haven and dogs that have had proper kennel training enjoy their kennel as their personal space. Puppies do not like to soil where they sleep making training easier.
5. Housetraining is not hard, just remember that puppies will want to eliminate after eating and waking up from naps. while the puppy is up and active, be sure to give them a short potty break once every hour. Picking your puppy up and announcing "let's go potty." (Using whatever term you wish.)
If the puppy does not go in 5 minutes, bring the puppy back in and try again in 15 minutes.
When he does go, praise him happily announcing "You went Pee!" or "You went Poo!" You are giving the function a name, whatever name you choose. But use a different name for each function. After proper training, you can tell your dog what you want them to do and get them to take care of their business quickly.
6. Give your puppies appropriate chew toys and play with them. Puppies will learn to play with toys, rather than your shoes. They need to chew to help emerging teeth. If you do find her with your Manolos in her mouth, take it away and give her her toy and play with her to make it more interesting.
7. Puppies bones and joints are soft and growing until they are around one year old. DOn't walk them on a leash or start agility training unitl he is 1 year old. Too much exercie too soon can prevent the growth plate in the long bones from closing and could weaken you puppy's joints.
8. Read this website http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ and choose the best food you can for your puppy using the guidelines they give. So many physical problems can be linked directly to feeding nutritionaly poor commercial dog foods.
