If all goes well, we are getting an 8-week-old weimaraner puppy this spring!
I’ve put together a list of the puppy raising questions I have so far. Of course, I will seek advice from with our puppy’s breeder, our vet and trainers as needed but I also thought it would be good to get your ideas.
Feel complimentary to chime in with your ideas to any of these questions in the comments. You’ll be helping me, and we all know tons of others have these exact same questions!
If you were raising a puppy this year, how would you answer these questions?
My puppy questions so far …
1. Where must my puppy sleep the first few nights?
In the crate, of course, but where must I have the crate? I’m leaning towards in the living room so it’s close to the door for potty breaks. I would sleep on the couch nearby the first 2-3 nights so my spouse can sleep well. then moving the crate to our spare bedroom after a few nights, which is where I want the pet dog to sleep permanently.
See my post: Where must my puppy sleep?
2. how long can an 8-week-old puppy hold it at night?
I’m going to start with setting my alarm every 3 hours and see how that goes. I think I’ll swiftly change that to every 4 hours so I’ll only have to get up once each night but figure I better start with every 3.
3. how do you balance potty training and walks with keeping the puppy safe from diseases?
I never thought I’d be anxious about diseases like parvo, but I am! I live near San Diego, and we do hear about parvo outbreaks fairly often. Of course, this is normally at places like pet dog parks which I will be avoiding until the pup has had all his shots.
We live in an apartment or condo complex that has about 100 dogs – all using the same shower room areas. I also want to walk my puppy in the neighborhood where there are hundreds of dogs walking by each day. Is all of this safe?
See my post: must you walk your puppy before he’s had his shots?
4. how much crate time is too much during the day?
I want to potty train the pup as swiftly as possible, and I’m lucky I have a flexible schedule (I’m a self-employed pet dog walker and blogger). but how much time in the crate is too much? I’m thinking a daytime rotation such as:
90 minutes in the crate / potty break and walk / 30 minutes out of the crate – repeat!
And then of course slowly boosting the time out of the crate as the puppy is successful.
Am I nuts?
5. must I give flea prevention to such a young puppy?
Fleas are a big problem around here, and regrettably natural flea-prevention products don’t work for us due to allergies. I hate putting chemicals on my family pets but we can’t have a flea infestation either … been there, done that!
So … I haven’t made a decision what to do yet. I might just not put anything on the puppy for at least a month and hope for the best considering that my other family pets are treated.
6. how lots of meals must I feed the puppy each day?
I’m thinking three meals for a week or two and then switching to twice per day.
So those are my questions so far. I’m sure will probably be a part 2 to this post as a lot more questions come up!
What is your #1 puppy raising idea you’d like a lot more people to know?
Deixe-me saber nos comentários!
Related posts:
How to introduce my pet dog to a puppy
Sign up to receive training ideas & a lot more in my weekly newsletter:
Related posts:
How to potty train a puppy in an apartment
Will my puppy be able to hold it while I’m at work?