Puppy chart

Important Puppy Developmental stages – items needed

Important Puppy Development – Make sure you have the right stuff 

Puppy chart
                   Puppy development

As a responsible breeder it is vital to have a sound understanding of how all dogs minds develop. It does not matter what breed your puppies are, they all develop the same and need the same care of the breeder.

 Breeders should learn these developmental stages so that they are equipped to support healthy socialised puppies that will grow up to be well-balanced, happy members of a human family. It has now been widely reported that the root cause of most adult dog behavioral problems can been pin pointed to the ignorance and poor care of puppies by the breeder. 

Clarence Pfaffenber identified the developmental stages ‘common to all dogs’ I have used her work to write these posts and I will cover briefly these first stages in the follow up posts with downloadable charts, but if you would like to read about this subject, which I highly recommend, I would suggest you read ‘Think Dog. John Fisher’ 

 

Before we look at the developmental needs of a puppy here are a few items you will need set up ready for your new born puppies…

To care for your young puppies you need a few important things;

  1. Whelping box 

 

This needs to be placed in a room that can kept warm, or you can use a heating pad or light 

2. Heat sources

 

 

Newborn puppies are able to maintain a body temperature about 12°F warmer than the air temperature. The temperature under the heat lamp in the whelping box should be around 85°F for the first 2-3 days, and then can be dropped to 75-80°F depending on the surrounding temperature. A temperature of 70-75°F on the far side of the box is fine. Puppies head toward the heat source to nurse so do not have the heat source warmer than the bitch. Hanging a household thermometer on the inside of the whelping box will help you know the temperature in the box. Puppies typically lay side by side or on top of each other to share warmth. If the puppies are scattered throughout the whelping box and away from the heat lamp, the temperature is too warm. If they are all piled on top of each other, it may be too cold. Puppies need the extra heat, as they are unable to regulate their body temperature until several weeks old. The rectal temperature of newborn puppies is about 97°F and rises each week until about 4 weeks of age when it is a normal adult temperature of 100.5-102.5°F. Find out more about rearing newborns

3. Weight 

 You will need to weigh the new born puppies daily for the first few weeks to check that each puppy is getting enough milk and that they are all developing at the same rate – Why not keep track of your puppies weight with this Yogadogs printable puppy weight chart Printable Puppy Weight Chart

4. Clipping Claws

 

The puppies’ nails must be trimmed weekly starting a couple of days after the birth. This will help stop some of the scratches on the dam’s mammary glands.

5. Bed for Mum to go into next to whelping box

By the age of 3-4 weeks, Mum will  want to be able to rest a little away from the puppies, it is a good idea to put a bed next to the whelping box so Mum can go and rest but still will be able to keep an eye on her pups 

 

6. Towels, Blankets and Training Pads

You will need lots of towels, blankets and training pads – I would beg and borrow from family and friends for these items as they are going to get ruined so there is no point in buying new. I did end up buying a couple of small fleece blankets that the new born puppies do like to sleep on 

7. Shallow dishes

When the puppies are around 3 1/2 weeks old you will need to start feeding them and weaning them off Mum 

‘A healthy puppy is firm, plump, and vigorous. Puppies should nurse every 2 hours or so. If they nurse until their stomachs appear round and they sleep quietly, they are eating enough. If they are crying and moving a lot, they are not eating enough. They may be swallowing air, which makes the stomach appear larger. As they become weaker, they will lay still and not cry. A puppy may lose weight in the first 24 hours (less than 10% of birth weight), but after that, the weight should increase steadily. Their weight should double in the first 7-10 days. Before, during, and after nursing, the bitch will lick the stomach and perineal area to stimulate urination and defecation. She will continue to do this for 2-3 weeks.

Puppies should gain 1-2 grams/day/pound of anticipated adult weight. Weigh the puppy daily for the first 2 weeks, then weigh at least weekly. A food scale typically works well for weighing the puppies. Failure to gain weight is often the first sign of illness in puppies.

 
 

At about 3 weeks of age, the puppies will begin to imitate the bitch eating and drinking. A secure shallow water dish should now be available at least part of the day. At 3½ weeks of age, the puppies can start receiving puppy mush.Prepare the puppy mush by placing 2 cups of high quality dry puppy food in a blender with 12.5 oz liquid puppy milk replacer and fill the rest of the blender with hot water. This should be blenderized until the consistency of human infant cereal. (This feeds 6-8 puppies of a medium-sized breed.) The puppies should receive 3-4 meals a day of this to start. Once the puppies have checked it out, walked in it, and have eaten some, the dam can be allowed to finish it and clean the puppies off. Each week, increase the amount of food, decrease the amount of the milk replacer and water that is added and the time of blenderizing, so by 7 weeks of age, the puppies are eating dry food. Once they are on dry food, it may be left in with the puppies (when the dam is out of the box) or the meal times can continue. As the puppies eat more solid food, the bitch may be let away from the puppies for an ever longer period of time.

By the time the puppies are 6½-7 weeks of age, they should be fully weaned from the dam’s milk, eating dry food, and drinking water. If the weaning is not rushed, she will naturally start decreasing milk production, as the puppies increase their intake of solid food. As the puppies begin eating the puppy mush at 4 weeks of age, start changing the bitch’s diet back to adult food to also help her decrease milk production. Start by replacing 1/4 of her puppy food with adult food. Keep increasing the adult food and decreasing the puppy food until by the 7th week postpartum she is eating only adult food. During the last week of weaning, the dam’s food consumption should be less than 50% above the maintenance levels and declining toward maintenance levels. Hopefully she has been fed well during pregnancy and lactation so she weighs the same at weaning as she did before pregnancy.’ To read full article

 
I would love to hear if you think this shopping list should be added too – if you have puppy items for sale please message me for advert space. 

This post has affiliate links in, I have put them on this post because I have used them in the past and think they are good items. 

 


Puppy charts

Free Puppy Socialisation Printable Plan – Week 1

Free Puppy Socialisation Printable Plan – Week 1

free printable puppy socialisation plann
          Puppy socialisation plan

This week I give you a free printable puppy socialisation plan – contained is a free download that covers week 1 where you introduce your puppy to the family, close friends, toys and smells. Come back next week to download the free next part in this series of puppy socialisation training plans.  

The Yogadogs family is so happy that you have a new member to your family and we know how much, love, fun and challenges you have to come. Hopefully we can be part of your journey – why not join our Facebook group and introduce your new puppy to us – we love photos   

All things Dog – Join our Facebook page

Socialisation plans
            puppy training

If you are looking to buy puppy items why not see what is new in the shop ; YogaDogs

Puppy training

                                                                                 Free Printable puppy week 1

 

 


Dinky Daisy meets her Stud – How to send your dog for studding

4 Feb 2017 Emily

Are you wanting to have puppies? Do you know how to choose a suitable dog stud for your dog ? Read about our journey in finding a stud for our French Bulldog and the ups and downs of taking her to meet her new frenchie man. 

 

 

My husband is driving us up to Wales to pick up Dinky Daisy from a week away from home – she has been staying with the Neibullshowdog family

Why, well we are hoping that she is now a pregnant Frenchie as she has been busy being wooed by ‘Gucci’ ,http://neibullshowdogs.co.uk/stud.html resident Casanova and Stud dog.

So a week after doing the 3 ½ hour journey we are all packed in the car again on our way to the Welsh Valleys to pick her up.

Now this is the first time I have done this sort of thing, and believe me it was gut wrenching when I left her – Neil from Neibulls is a professional in the Bulldog world, so I tried to play it cool when I walked in to his up-to-the-minute looking dog set-up and kennels -. Neil talked about hormone levels, not mine the dogs, just to make it clear and how he tested these levels, and he showed me a colorful  chart. To be completely honest I heard little of what he was saying as all I could focus on was where I was leaving my ‘baby’ and the size of the stud dog that was brought down by his son – HUGE, I mean he was 3 times the size of my baby – really…did I want that beast ( how ever handsome he was ) to,, you know, do the do with my little girl ( I know she is a dog but still ) – ok keep it together Emily…so smiling I handed Neil the lead and said goodbye to him and walked out to the car… sobbing. What was I doing… I got in the car and said to my husband …just drive, 1/2 a mile down the road  he piped up – wow glad you handed her over, I couldn’t have done it. Great thanks.

So on the way home I questioned myself about what I was putting Dinky through, I thought  about making money off my Frenchie ( a member of our family )  – was it unethical to do what I was doing?

Look I know the arguments around the subject of breeding, but I was questioning it on a smaller more personal level, was it wrong to be breeding her, leaving her in a kennel, somewhere in Wales.

I suppose, if you are thinking of doing it, just be aware, that if like me your dog is a member of your family and like me you get angry when people say ‘but they are just a dog’ when you know they are so much more, be prepared that is isn’t that easy to leave them with someone else for potentially  10 days who is going to mate them up to 3 or 4 times. Also don’t forget the costs involved, for me it has been – petrol to and from Wales, Stud fees ( £500) and many coffee stops, you could make a saving on the coffee – but I can’t get through the day without.

Since my Frenchie has been away I have been reading and watching videos, mainly from The Kennel Club website to learn as much as possible on how to be a good breeder, carer of this litter and my Frenchie mum to be – I am determined to become an ‘assured breeder’ which I will talk about in a following post and I will continue to read up on the subject so I can bring healthy, well socialised puppies into the world which will hopefully be a credit to the breed and me..

In the end I do think we did the right thing sending her to Neil,  and we did the responsible thing choosing a top stud dog to make sure we were breeding the most healthy next generation of French Bulldogs– Poorly bred French Bulldogs have led to a lot of health issues ,for example  breathing difficulties   – at least I have the knowledge that we are enhancing the breed not diminishing it.

So it is 7:30pm and we are all home, Dinky is fine and happy ( think the Mc Donald chips that we shared help to smooth over any Frenchie bad feelings she had  towards us ) . I look over to her sitting on her Dads lap in front of the fire – I still think that she gave me a look of ‘how could you’ when I picked her up – you know mum is the bad guy and dad is the good guy’ thing going on – Neil handed me a sheet to show the dates that she was mated – 4 times in the week and he said for us to get a scan in 24 days from the last date mated – so 28th Feb we will take her for a scan.

If you are looking for a Stud dog I suggest that this is a good first article to read – Finding a Stud dog