# New Puppy Information!



## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Hello everyone! I don't know if anyone read my post on the Raw Feeding forum about my friend's dog who died last Wednesday, but they are getting a new puppy today! IMO, it's too soon, but they were "given" the puppy more or less. It's a beautiful light Golden Retriever puppy with a health guarantee and the parents have been health tested. The only problem is that the puppy is only 6 weeks and 1 day old, yikes. I have no idea why the breeder let the puppy go so young. The puppy is adorable though, it's a female they are going to name her Penny Lane. 

I know many of you here have raised puppies and have great advice. I want all the advice and information available about the best way to raise a puppy, exactly which puppy shots to get from the vet and at what age, and anything else anyone can think of! 

Does anyone have a favorite toy that your dog liked to play with as a puppy?

When will the puppy be old enough for the dog park? Puppy training classes? Swimming in the pool? 

They plan to not feed kibble, but either Grandma Lucy's, Honest Kitchen, or K9 Natural. They did feed raw to their previous puppy for a few months, but they live in a tiny apartment and they have no freezer space unfortunately. I figure freeze-dried with some added meat is better than kibble! 

Any socialization advice, training advice, ANYTHING you would do with a new puppy the first few weeks would be great! The more details the better! 

I'm very excited about having a new puppy in my life even if it isn't mine. All the information will be passed on to my grateful friends! Thanks everyone! :becky:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

happygirlx3 said:


> Hello everyone! I don't know if anyone read my post on the Raw Feeding forum about my friend's dog who died last Wednesday, but they are getting a new puppy today! IMO, it's too soon, but they were "given" the puppy more or less. It's a beautiful light Golden Retriever puppy with a health guarantee and the parents have been health tested. The only problem is that the puppy is only 6 weeks and 1 day old, yikes. I have no idea why the breeder let the puppy go so young. The puppy is adorable though, it's a female they are going to name her Penny Lane.


She sounds cute! I wouldn't worry too much about her being only 6 weeks. Puppies are pretty resilient. 



> I know many of you here have raised puppies and have great advice. I want all the advice and information available about the best way to raise a puppy, exactly which puppy shots to get from the vet and at what age, and anything else anyone can think of!


Puppy shots: 

8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16 weeks do a DHPP (find a vet that will give them as a specific dosage based on the puppy's weight). Booster the DHPP again at 1 year old. Thats it. 

Rabies give at 6 months or older, then booster it again at 18 months. Thats it. 



> Does anyone have a favorite toy that your dog liked to play with as a puppy?


Uh...for me its more like which toys DIDN'T my dogs like to play with LOL! What I always suggest is to go to thrift stores for stuffed toys, MUCH cheaper than buying brand new stuffie toys that just get destroyed. Kong type toys are good, anything that you can stuff with treats and make the puppy think about how to get them out are great. Tug toys are good too, but make sure that the game of tug is VERY controlled. 

Tug-O-War: have a good sturdy tug toy. Once the puppy grabs it immediately say "get it" or whatever. IF the puppy drops it, immediately say "drop it" and ask for a sit or down or nose touch or whatever. This brings the puppy back down from an elevated arousal level...tug games are very arousing to dogs which is why they can get out of hand. If they notice the puppy getting extra growly or aggressive, immediately take the toy away and DO NOT play with it again for a long while (several hours at the very least). 



> When will the puppy be old enough for the dog park? Puppy training classes? Swimming in the pool?


I'm one that firmly and entirely believes that its never too early to socialize a puppy. Training classes should start as soon as they get the puppy. Dog parks I don't think are good for socializing puppies. You never know who's going to be there. I would recommend getting her introduced to as many "safe" dogs as possible, ones they know will be sweet and polite with her. If they don't know that many, find a "dog" group or club and get her out there. Many people will say that its too much of a risk to socialize a puppy before they finish their puppy booster shots, but I personally think that its an even bigger risk to not socialize a puppy and end up with one with life long behavioral problems.

The more you can expose this puppy to early in life (before 16 weeks) the better. People with different colored skin, with tattoos, wearing hats, who have facial hair, wearing big noisy clothes, in wheelchairs, with crutches, etc, etc. The more experiences she has the better....car rides, loud motorcycles, lawn mowers, sirens, thunder, elevators, escalators, etc, etc. Socialization is not training...its making sure the puppy is comfortable in potentially stressful environments. 



> They plan to not feed kibble, but either Grandma Lucy's, Honest Kitchen, or K9 Natural. They did feed raw to their previous puppy for a few months, but they live in a tiny apartment and they have no freezer space unfortunately. I figure freeze-dried with some added meat is better than kibble!


I'm now feeding 4 Great Danes out of my own personal freezer. It can be done :thumb: 

Maybe see if they can get a small 7 cubic foot freezer. That should be plenty of room for just one dog on raw. They are usually pretty cheap and can fit in most places. 

But if they can't manage, at least they are wanting to feed something a lot better than kibble!!! 



> Any socialization advice, training advice, ANYTHING you would do with a new puppy the first few weeks would be great! The more details the better!


Like I said above this puppy should be exposed to as many things as possible, but make sure experiences are good and they're not pushing the puppy past her comfort zone. 

I suggest the owners read, read and read more books about dog ownership, training, etc even if they are dog savvy people. Heck, I thought I was dog savvy before I started reading which showed me how much I didn't know. Heres's a good list:

Amazon.com: patricia mcconnell: Books



> I'm very excited about having a new puppy in my life even if it isn't mine. All the information will be passed on to my grateful friends! Thanks everyone! :becky:


You'll have to post up pictures!


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## doggoblin (Jun 6, 2011)

The other thing which, important to me, having an 8 year old daughter, was teaching the pup to take food gently from the hand and not to snatch it.

The main consideration is to be consistent. If you allow the pup on a couch once, it probably will not understand why it is banned another time. The whole family, if applicable, needs to know the "rules". We had problems with our training as the father in law would allow and encourage almost everything :wink: Another good example is the bed... yes the puppy can fit nicely on the bed when a pup... probably not when it's full grown.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

When I raise a litter at 6 weeks we start car rides, climbing stairs, socializing should continue, "Be Gentle" top command for a soft mouth, "Mine" applies to things which his mouth should never touch, mine start leash training at 5 weeks, crate training, lots of outings to non dog places like Home Depot, church (we have abus ministry and they meet lots of kids every Sunday) visit friends, play with lots of different people and toys, exposure to things like canes, walkers, hats, big coats, umbrellas. Groom him alot and trim those nails, handle his ears and tail often to desensitize and Those are some of the thigns we work on with a litter. Hope it helps some.


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

I haven't ever raised a pup on my own since I've adopted adults, but I definitely second the heavy exposure to everything possible. Good way to create a bombproof dog (of course genetics are also a factor there), I often wonder how different Scout the foster would be if she'd been raised in a good environment from the get go instead of being in a hoarding situation the first three months of her life...

Right now I'm feeding two medium-large sized (50 & 60lbs respectively) dogs out of a normal sized above the fridge freezer... with plenty of space for my own food and a bag of ice on top of it all. I can fit a good month worth of dog food in there and easily more if I needed to. Just some food for thought...


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the replies!! It's so helpful! They just got the puppy yesterday and she's already been all over town haha. I work at a pet store and she was brought to all 3 locations, 2 different houses with about 5 different dogs, and out to dinner on the patio! Busy busy day! Her name is Lucy. She is the calmest puppy I've ever met, nothing fazes her and all she wants to do is sleep! She's completely not interested in food, which is a complete opposite to our previous puppy, and eats laying down. She's also extremely chubby for only being 6 weeks. She already weighs 14.3lbs, everyone calls her "Chubby" or "Chunks" haha! Do you think it's just a puppy phase or will she be huge as an adult?



> Puppy shots:
> 
> 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16 weeks do a DHPP (find a vet that will give them as a specific dosage based on the puppy's weight). Booster the DHPP again at 1 year old. Thats it.
> 
> Rabies give at 6 months or older, then booster it again at 18 months. Thats it.


I found out that she was already given DHPP + Coronavirus + Leptospirosis at 6 weeks. I know there should be at least 4 weeks between shots so should she wait until 10 weeks or 12 weeks for the next set? And should C + L be included or just DHPP? The breeders were in their 80s and although they've raised puppies for 12 years, they weren't that informed IMO. The parents did have health certificates for eyes, elbows, hips, etc, and the pups are AKC registered, but I find it strange that the shots have already been given and they let the puppies go as soon as they turned 6 weeks. Also, they've already been wormed once, does it need to be done again? And when should Heartworm treatment begin? What brand do you like best?

Hopefully socialization should be the easy part as she's going to be taken everywhere! We all have dogs and she'll get to interact with different dogs everyday due to us all working at a family owned pet store. The breeders told us the puppies have lived in a special air conditioned "dog house" that looks like a huge hut and haven't been outside in any type of bad weather or in temperatures over about 70 degrees. The high today is 98, but the puppy will be indoors most of the time. Do you think she'll adjust quickly? Last night at dinner, she was lightly panting almost the whole time and it wasn't too warm. 

Here are a few pictures!

At her home


















Sleeping at the store









At dinner

















The puppy was a surprise!









This is what the Dad looks like:










Thanks again everyone!


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