Caring For Your Puppy

Feeding

Your puppy has been weaned onto Savourlife Grain Free Puppy dry biscuits available morning and late afternoon and the occasional raw chicken neck or wing. He/She is also been given Frontier Pets Pork balls occasionally as it is ethically sourced and very good for them. I recommend that you keep your puppy’s diet similar to this for a while so he/she doesn’t get a tummy upset. The raw chicken wings and necks are both very good for the teeth. Other raw bones are also very good for the teeth.

Also a frozen Puppy KONG with wet puppy food inside to keep them entertained during the day.

A teething Puppy Toy is advisable for your puppy to chew on. I recommend an Antler or a bone shaped chew toy.

You should maintain your puppy diet until it is about 12 months old. This will allow the bones to grow and will provide a well balanced diet with good calcium supply. Please be careful not to let your puppy get too fat while it is growing because this will add pressure to growing bones etc.

I recommend Gluten Free Puppy food as it is better for their joints. Also their No. 2’s will not smell and will be firm.

Worming

Your puppy has been wormed at 2, 4, and 6 weeks with Drontal Puppy Suspension and then with Advocate. It will need to be wormed at 10, 12 and 14 weeks and then once a month till six months and after that every three months. If you get a worm tablet from the supermarket make sure it is an Allwormer and does tapeworm as well as the other worms.

Vaccinating

Your puppy was vaccinated at six - seven weeks of age.

Check the vaccination certificate to see when the next vaccination is due.

Fleas & Ticks

Fleas can be a big problem during the summer months. The best way to keep on top of them is to use a good flea control program, so ask your vet which program works best in your area, particularly if you live in an area susceptible to ticks. Shampoos and powders will kill the fleas but will not give you any resistance.

Settling your puppy into your household

When you take your new puppy home, the best advice I can give you for the settling in period is to get your puppy used to sleeping where it will be sleeping from the very first night. It is very confusing to dogs for things to be changed as they grow up. If you don’t plan to allow your puppy inside once it is grown up, don’t allow it in at the beginning.

If you plan on an inside dog, toilet training is very important from the beginning. You need to get yourself into a good routine and take puppy outside regularly, probably around every hour or so to start with, and get it used to going to the toilet in the same area. Once your puppy understands these boundaries, it will let you know when it needs to go by knocking on the door or using a doggie door. They are very smart but it’s up to you to teach the rules.

Please refer to our Training Videos on our website with regards to Setting up puppy playpen.

Socialising

The critical learning period for a dog is between 6 and 16 weeks so therefore your puppy needs to be socialised in this period. I recommend taking your puppy to Puppy Pre-School. These are run by your local kennel club or by your local vet. It’s great fun for you and your puppy.

If a puppy starts growling at you it has been frightened by you and is giving you a warning ,so please be considerate of your puppies emotional needs and give her/him space and lots of positive reinforcement to gain your trust. They are only little and need positive socialisation and positive bonding experiences to be a confident puppy.

Desexing

Your puppy can be desexed at about five to six months of age. As it helps minimise typical male behaviour once a boy matures and avoids an unwanted pregnancy with the girls. It also helps to prevent some other forms of problems, for example mammary tumours and prostate problems.

Microchipping

Your puppy has already been microchipped but needs to be registered with your local council by the time it is six months old. If you are going to desex your dog wait till you have had it done then register it as the cost will be much cheaper for a life-time registration. If you plan not to desex your pup, it must still be registered by the time it is six months.

Grooming

Cavoodles need regular grooming, it is advisable to find a friendly experienced groomer. It is important to buy a pair of blunt dog scissors to trim hair in front of their eyes. This will need doing to stop from having seeing issues as hair gets into their eyes and will cause problems. Good luck with your puppy. Please don’t hesitate to contact me via email if you require any further information or assistance with him/her.