Some Puppy Questions?!?!?

Question

Okay so i have been reading around, trying to get the best things for my puppy (i take her home on the 20th, just trying to get everything ready) I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on some things like.. what flea treatment works the best for you? ( i used advantage before and it didnt seem to work all that well on my chihuahua), What type of food is good to feed a new puppy. (I cant seem to find the puppy food the breeder uses at petco or anywhere around here). Any thoughts on what works best for potty training? and any other information you can help me out with would be great. I have had puppys before, but its been a while, infact, i think this is the first time i have had MY OWN puppy and doing it on my own.. so whateverinfo you have.. would be very helpfull.

Answer 1

For dogs, Frontline works good for flea control but please know that young puppies cannot use it. There are age and size requirements so talk to a vet before using anything like that. The puppy shouldn't come home with fleas anyway so it shouldn't be a big concern right off the bat. Ask the breeder where they got the food they use. You don't want to jump to switching foods. It can be very hard on the dog. When switching brands of food, you want to do it slowly by mixing the foods together and slowly lowering the old food and making it more the new food. This way the dog's system can adjust to the new food better. Crate training is the absolute best training method! The puppy should be crated anytime it is not actively being watched, played with, or outside. As soon as you let it out of the crate, immediately take it outside and make sure it does it's business. When it does, tell it good potty and give it a treat. NEVER rub the nose in it when it has an accident. That is cruel, nasty, and does nothing but teach the dog not to trust you. Also, never hit the dog or scold the dog if you catch it after the fact. By the time they have walked away, they have forgotten all about it so it's pointless. Only reprimand if you catch in the act and take it outdoors immediately. I don't reccommend puppy pad training because basically you would be training the dog that going potty in the house is okay then changing your mind later and just confusing it. Just start with outside training from the get go but also understand that dogs do not have great bladder control until after 4 months of age so be patient. Get lots of chew toys and bones, puppies love to chew. Tobasco on wood furntire will deter chewing on those and anytime you catch it chewing on anything inappropriate, give it a chew toy instead. Distracting the behavior is key! Good luck!

Answer 2

Advantage is a good product to use. Make sure your careful not to apply it before 8 wks of age. If you have to, due to fleas, then just a small drop will do. If you bathe at any time in the month, you must reaaply it. A lot of people don't realize that it's not waterproof. K9-advantix works well also, but I would wait till the puppy is a little older. As far as food, any high quality food that you can get at your vets office is your best bet. You will probably be able to find it at petco, etc..., but find out what the vets in your area feed. Get some food from the breeder. Enough to mix 1/2 and 1/2 with the new food for two weeks. You have to do this in order to not upset your puppies stomach. Kennel potty training is the best. Keep the puppy in the kennel. When you want to play, take him outside first, praise him for pottying & then take him in to play. Watch him like a hawk!! At least every hour while he's out take him out & go through that routine. He may not have to go, but it sets a good example for him. When your done playing, put him away in the kennel. This is the absolute best way. Have the puppy sleep in the kennel also. They don't like to potty where they sleep.
Most important, DO NOT take your puppy to ANY public places until it's had all it's distemper/parvo/corona vaccines. In our area, you need four. In others, it's only 3. Your puppy can pick up parvo in the ground. Just a small amount of digging(parvo lives in the dirt for 15 yrs!!!!) or even walking through a dogs feces (it's carried through the intestinal tract) that has had parvo can make your puppy VERY sick, even life threatening.
Never give the puppy rawhide. Always use a nylabone (they have destructable & non-destructable types). Rawhides get gummy and get caught in the intestines. We have surgically removed many from dogs in the past.

Answer 3

Get some food from the breeder and find out where they are purchasing it. If it is a high quality diet you may wnat to sitck with it. Some foods are not available at PetCo in fact the good ones are not. Most found in stores are ok but not what I would chose to feed my dogs. I get mine from the distributor for the midwest area. I like what I feed and my dogs look great and are healthy. Their coats look good and they keep a nice weight and the poo is small and firm easy to get rid of.
I never paper train a dog we do the outside thing for potty only. If you teach them to go on pads or paper it only teaches them that going in the house is ok if on something. Not a good thing to have to re-train that potty only goes outside. Makes it much easier to go outside only.
If this pup is another Chi then I would pee pad train them as many are never really housebroken and some go on pads their whole lives.
I use Bio-Spot for fleas and ticks and I have for about the last 10 years and I treat from April to Oct and have not had any fleas in those years. The stuff is a preventative so use it once per month and you should not have problems.

Answer 4

Good for you! I am sssooooo happy when people actually research and prepare for a pup. Raising a baby is a big responsibility, regardless of the species.

I can not recommend the book Before and After Getting Your Puppy by Ian Dunbar highly enough. It has terrific, step-by-step info on housetraining, plus other great stuff.

I think you are best asking your vet about flea products and food, but I will say that I have used Advantage and it worked well. I also really like Innova's food, but there are other really good brands, such as Solid Gold and Flint River. It is worth paying the few bucks to Whole Dog Journal (I think www.wholedogjournal.com, but you can search it) to download their article on dog foods. Also, if possible, check other stores. PetSmart and PetCo in my area don't carry nearly as many premium foods as Pet Supplies Plus does.

Finally, enroll in a puppy class as soon as you can. It will help so much with socialization and training, especially if it uses positive training methods.

Congrats, and good luck!

Answer 5

I've had the best results with K9 Advantix as far as flea treatment goes.

If you can't find the food the breeder uses, have the breeder buy some and pay him back for it. You can't just switch a dog's food cold turkey. You will need to gradually mix a new food in and decrease the amount of the old food until the dog is completely on the new brand that you can find where you live. Otherwise, your pup will have bad tummy issues and diarrhea.

I recommend Nutro brand products. They make high quality dog food and are good for dogs that may develop skin allergies. Best of all, they are guaranteed to improve your dog's skin and coat or you get your money back! I know Petco carries them and has a buy 10 get 1 free offer on the bags of food.

Crate training seems to work the best for house training. Buy a kennel large enough for the pup to lay down comfortably and turn around in, but not so large that it can potty at one end and sleep at the other. Leave the pup in the kennel when you can't be around to watch it and take it outside IMMEDIATELY when you take it out of the kennel.

If it potties outside, praise it enthusiastically, but if it happens to have an accident inside, clean the mess thoroughly, but ignore the puppy. He will some to associate going potty outside as pleasing you and will want to do it.

Additionally, positive reinforcement training techniques have always worked best for me with all different types of pups and dogs. This means that you INSTANTLY reward good behavior, whether with a treat or simply praise, and ignore bad behavior unless it can harm the puppy. For instance, if your dog chews on something that is bad for him, take the item away, and give him something more suitable to chew on, but do not scold the dog. If he goes up to something you do not want chewed on, sniffs it, and walks away without chewing it, praise him!

Good luck!

Answer 6

Well you shouldn't be giving your puppy any fela treatments until 6 months of age....Advantage worked for me. For potty training, i would use a crate. Buy a crate only big enough for him to stand, turn around and lie down in....for urs...a pet carrier for dogs will work. Do not let him have full run of the house until u know there won't be any accidents.....so put him in there and every 30 minutes let him out....take him straight outside and praise him when he goes...he will cry the first few times being in his crate...I put mine in a seperate room and let him scream his head off......then move it to your room. For food I highly recommend Pedigree Healthy Vitality for puppies...soak the amount you want to feed for about 10-15 minutes so when he chews it it doesn't hurt his teeth....you want it hard but soft. Ask the breeder to get u some of her food, and slowly mix the new food in...weaning him off. It will go easier on his stomach.

Good Luck

Answer 7

I go with Purina puppy chow for food. Also you can go to Purina.com and get alot of useful hints on puppy training. They'll even send you a free video and a coupon on the food. Good luck with your puppy. Be patient with it and give it lots of love.

Answer 8

well pleas e_mail me back cause i got a few quwetions well first one is about potty trianing.... well there is a thing caled a we we pad the second thing is caled a diper fore dogs if you dont now the size e_mail me back k i m so sorry if this dosent rrealy work out but thats how i learnd my dog but he past away but im fine
:) well pleas e_mail me back cas i know evry single anwer i had the same problems as you!. love
paula!