There is so much going through your mind as you prepare for the addition of a puppy.
"What do I need? What questions should I be asking? I know I'm forgetting something!"
We have you covered! Here are 10 of the most common questions we've received over time from our RLD families, so without further ado...
Q: How much food should I feed the puppy when I first bring it home?
A: A 1/4 to 1/2 cup three times a day is what we usually suggest starting with. As the puppy grows, it will go through times when its appetite significantly grows to times when it's in a lull and doesn't want much. As the pup grows, you can increase the food amount. Serving size based on weight is usually listed on all raw and kibble brands. For the first year, with all the growth spurt needs a pup will have, 3 meals a day is a good decision.
Q: Which method is best for bathroom training at the beginning?
A: We've seen people do everything from a litter box with wood pellets, a grass subscription, pee pads, to so many others.
Personally, we feel that a dog learns the "potty training" lesson faster if you get them going outside right from the beginning, every 30 minutes. However, if it's the dead of winter when you bring your puppy home and it won't go because it's too cold, we suggest the grass subscription in a boot tray by the back door, or a litter box with unscented hardwood/softwood pellets from the hardware store that you change out every few days. Pee pads are a nice idea, but the puppy will rip them up and try to eat them, and I don't find they end up catching many accidents in reality.
Q: How much exercise is okay for a puppy?
A: When you bring your puppy home at 8 weeks, it's not going to need much exercise outside of play time in the yard or in the living room. They have bursts of energy, but they also sleep a lot. When your first month with the puppy has passed and it's able to go outside your yard on walks (at around 12 weeks old), 20-30 minute walks are a good place to start. If they seem to be handling that well and not showing signs of exhaustion (lying down on the walk or pulling behind you slowly), you can upgrade to two 30 minute walks a day. As they grow, the walk time can increase.
We don't suggest enrolling your dog in agility courses before at least 6 months of age, as their bones and joints are still solidifying till around 8 months of age, but otherwise, your dog will show you what it's capable of! Dogs will be dogs, and they need activity. Just don't overdue it -- watch their energy levels.
Q: When should I take my puppy for its first haircut?
A: By around 4 months old you start to notice the shag has taken over just enough that they no longer resemble a dog but a muppet, haha, so we usually suggest a cut by the 4 month birthday mark. You can wait longer, but it does become significantly harder to keep them clean, brush through their coat, or see their eyes. There's also a LOT of benefit to starting grooming desensitization at an early age, and not waiting till they're 8-12 months old. If you do choose to go longer than 3 months between haircuts, we always recommend trimming around their eyes to avoid the pup getting eye infections because the hair is poking them all the time. You can do this yourself at home, CLICK HERE to see a short video on how we do it!
Q: Do puppies go through a stage of not wanting food?
A: Absolutely. The first few days with your new puppy you may notice it isn't too food motivated. This is normal as they have just undergone the biggest transition of their life and lots is new for them. However, that shouldn't last long, and they should be taking down food like normal.
It's also quite normal for your puppy to go through several appetite lulls and highs throughout the first 6 months as they grow. Don't panic if they aren't eating as much. You don't want puppies to get dehydrated, and you certainly don't want them completely quitting food, but a little less of an appetite or a skipped meal every now and again isn't abnormal. If your dog continues to not want food, it could be that the food you have it on is either boring, the puppy is picky, there's something in the ingredients that doesn't agree with them, or you need to try another type of diet.
We suggest feeding raw and find that most of the time, dogs that won't eat LOVE it, however, we also really like Nature's Logic (Distinction Line) Kibble and find it's usually a crowd pleaser.
Q: How long do you think getting up for the bathroom in the night will last?
A: Some puppies don't wake up in the night to go to the bathroom. However, that's not very common. Night time bathroom runs should really only last for the first week.
If you're two months in and still getting up three times for the "bathroom" -- chances are your puppy has outsmarted you and already found a way to be out of its kennel and up with you! lol. Learning to hold their bladder at bedtime should be a fairly quick lesson for them to learn, if you're making sure to cut off food and water access after 7:00pm.
I usually say for the first week, 1 bathroom trip a night is realistic & typical.
If the pup is squeaking in the middle of the night, get them up for the bathroom and then right back to their bed (no play/affection time -- that confuses the purpose of why they're up).
If they keep squeaking and you've already taken them out twice, I'd suggest leaving them in their kennel till morning.
Try transitioning them to no bathroom pit stops in the night, and see how they do!
If there's been an accident in the kennel, it either means they needed a bathroom break in the night, or they're getting up a little too late in the morning and it happened recently.
The odd person asks: "If my puppy isn't squeaking in the night though, should I still wake it up to go to the bathroom?" The answer is heck no. HECK NO. haha. Appreciate the blessing you have, lol, and don't disrupt it!
Q: When I'm gone for a short period of time, is it better to put the puppy in an X-Pen, or in its crate/kennel?
A: When you take your puppy home, its journey with kennel time has just begun. Daytime kenneling is very important, BUT needs to be started in small doses and worked up to longer durations. You don't want to plop them into a kennel for hours at a time right at the beginning (other than bedtime), so if your time away is going to be over 1-2 hours long, put the puppy in an X-Pen instead or in a cordoned off, puppy safe area.
If you have continued kennel training everyday from when they came home with you, by the time they are 4 months old, they should be able to handle up to 3-4 hours in their kennel during the day. Keep in mind that in the night the pup is able to sustain the 8-9 hour length because their food and water was cut off several hours before they actually went to bed, vs daytime kenneling, they probably recently ate a meal and will need to go potty.
Q: When (and how often) should I give the puppy a bath?
A: Within the first week of bringing your puppy home you can give it a bath. Make sure the environment is stress-free and you make it a calm and fear-free experience for the pup. If they like treats, bring some treats! Our puppies all receive 6+ baths from us before they go to their families, so it shouldn't be completely foreign to them. For the first month or two, you don't need to necessarily bathe the pup because it looks dirty, but more for the exposure and getting them balanced around grooming from the start. A bath weekly or every other week isn't a bad idea! Alongside baths is the blowdryer. Wave it continuously over their entire body from a distance, not staying in one location, otherwise it can burn/overheat them. This is a really important part of having a balanced pup (seriously, the groomers will thank you for doing it), so don't leave it out! If they act all crazy in the bath, it isn't because they're afraid and have no experience with it, usually it's just a case of them seeing if they can convince you to stop ;)
If you're having problems with them slipping around, put a hand towel in the base of the bath so they have more stability :)
Q: How concerned should I be if my puppy has runny poop?
A: We are not vets, and our advice doesn't cover all reasons your dog could be having diarrhea, however, before getting too worried, there are several reasons a puppy's poop isn't super solid. Here are a few things to consider...
We deworm our puppies usually within a week of their homing date. Generally that means we deal with any looser bowels, but sometimes the deworming takes longer to take effect, and so the pup has runny poops after leaving us. This can last for a few days and effect their desire to eat as well.
Puppy poop just isn't as solid as a grown up dogs!
Is your puppy transitioning to a new diet? A different brand of food than it was eating while with the breeder? That definitely affects their bowels.
Stress and change of atmosphere can definitely play into a change in bowel habits.
The reason people usually get frightened by their pup's poop being runny is because you don't want puppies to get dehydrated. That is a definite factor to be aware of. If your dog isn't eating lots but is pooping liquids and you want to make sure they stay hydrated, try getting them to drink some bone broth or goats milk.
A few foods that help solidify their bowels are:
Canned Pumpkin
Cooked Rice
Cooked Oatmeal
Cooked Sweet Potato
Q: I heard somewhere that puppies shouldn't sleep with their collars on at night, is that true?
A: Definitely. It's obviously not very common, but the possibility of their collar getting stuck on a part of their crate or kennel is there, and you wouldn't want that. Always try to remember to remove it if they're going to bed for the night, at least for the first month or two.
Happy puppy adventures!!
The RLD Team
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