NEW PUPPY TAKE-HOME INSTRUCTIONS

Congratulations on the purchase of your new puppy!  Hopefully, you will have many happy years together.  Here are a few tips to make the puppy’s move to your home easier.  If you have problems or questions, please call the store (892-7070) to speak to the owner, Crystal.

INTRODUCTION TO OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS

If you already have a dog or cat, be prepared for them to hate the new puppy.  It may take several days for them to get used to the “new kid”.  Be ready to intervene if necessary, but allow them to work out the new social structure on their own if possible.  Remember to give your older animals lots of attention and praise for putting up with the new kid.  Sometimes it even helps NOT to fuss over the new puppy in front of the other animals because they need to know that they are still #1 with you.

If you have young children, make sure you supervise the play.  Young puppies need frequent naps so make sure the kids know that the puppy needs to be left alone to sleep sometimes.

FEEDING

You were given a bag of Nutro Natural Choice Small Bites Puppy food.  This is what the puppy has been eating at our store.  We feed them twice a day, morning and evening.  Most puppies will eat this food dry.  If your puppy doesn’t readily start eating, add a little warm water and mix it in.  Start with ¼ to ½ cup of food and adjust the quantity based on how much they eat.  If this is a very small puppy, please read the “Special Instructions for very small Puppies” that are also included.  Also make sure that the puppy always has free access to clean water, except maybe late at night.

If your puppy doesn’t eat enough food it could suffer from Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and become very listless or possibly comatose.  If this happens, immediately give it sugar like corn syrup, honey or sugar water.  Even a ½ teaspoon of syrup will perk them up.  If they don’t come more awake within 15 minutes after forcing the syrup into their mouth, get them to a veterinarian immediately.  

If you would like to switch the puppy to another brand of food, wait a day or two and then start mixing the new food into the old food for several days before switching over entirely.  Make sure the new food has meat or meat meal (chicken, turkey, lamb, etc.) as the primary ingredient and contains no ground corn, wheat or soy.  Puppies should be fed a good quality puppy food until they are 10-12 months old and switch to adult food.

HOUSE-TRAINING

This really isn’t difficult if you are committed and consistent.  Young puppies need to go potty every couple of hours during the day and maybe once during the night.  Take your puppy outside on a leash and walk it to the spot (same spot every time) where you want it to relive itself.  Tell your puppy “Go potty” (or some other phase) then wait.  You can walk around a little, but don’t play with the puppy, pet it or continue talking.  Let the puppy sniff the ground until it relieves itself.  Wait until it’s almost done, then praise softly (Good puppy!)  When it’s done, praise and pet it saying “Yeah! Good job!”

If the puppy doesn’t relieve itself after 5 minutes, it needs to go back inside its crate (or other confined area) and try again within an hour.  Don’t let it run around the house until after it’s relieved itself.  Most puppies need to go after waking up from a nap, shortly after eating and after exercise.

If it has an accident it the house, it does no good to yell or scold unless you catch it in the act because it will have no idea what your problem is.  If you see the puppy circling around & sniffing the carpet, pick it up and take it outside to “the spot”.  

BATHING/GROOMING

Puppies generally should not be bathed more than every 2 weeks… however, sometimes they get too dirty to wait.  Bath with a mild puppy shampoo (tearless is great), rinse well, towel dry and then use your blow dryer to get it completely dry.  Clip the nails as needed but don’t cut them too short or they may bleed.  (Cornstarch works well to stop the bleeding.)

SHOTS

Your puppy has been started on immunizations but will need a total of 4 shots - 3 weeks apart.  You were given a shot record to take home.  Look for the shot called Vanguard or DA2P which is the 5 in 1 puppy shot for distemper, adenovirus, parvo, parainfluenza, etc.  Your puppy will need another one 3 weeks after the last one was given.  Take the shot record with you to the vet for your first visit.

HEALTH ISSUES

Changing homes is very stressful for some puppies.  Everything in their life suddenly changes.  This causes some pups great stress and others not at all.  It would not be uncommon for the puppy to have some loose stools and be kind of quiet and maybe not eat too much for a day or two.  If this lasts more than 2 days or the diarrhea becomes severe, please call the store for advice.

If your puppy develops nasal congestion, sounds “wheezy” when breathing or gets a cough (which sounds like they are trying to cough up a “hairball”) please call the store for advice.  Sometimes the puppies have trouble adjusting to our climate or have been exposed to germs during their travel here which causes them to become ill.  If it’s mild, they can be treated with Robitussin DM or CF.  If they get an actual upper respiratory infection (humans call it a cold) they may need an antibiotic to get completely well.

If you need a veterinarian, we recommend these:

Sunrise Veterinary Clinic                                            High Desert Animal Hospital
Dr. Abernathy or Dr. Nance                                         892-4412
892-6538

Cottonwood Animal Clinic                                          Petroglyph Animal Hospital
Dr. Mike Forsyth                                                         (open until 10pm)
891-2800                                                                                                                                          898-8874

Unless you are desperate in the middle of the night, I do not recommend the Albuquerque Animal Emergency Clinic on Montgomery Blvd NE because they are extremely expensive.  I also do not generally recommend any of the VCA clinics because I think they perform too many expensive tests and some of their vets have not been out of school very long.

There are many other wonderful vets.  Ask your friends and family which ones they have used and liked.