Mary Allen
In order for your dog to lead a long and happy life, it is important to pay special attention to several factors from an early age as a puppy. If your puppy is a little used to you, vet visits should ideally be on the agenda.
There, things like vaccinations, worm treatments, and checkups can be discussed individually and your puppy will learn that the practice is rife with goodies. If possible, just visit the veterinarian as often as possible and reward the puppy with the best treats. This way, you can be sure that your dog will not be afraid of the veterinarian in the future.
Parvovirus is Especially Dangerous
The most important vaccination for your puppy is the highly infectious parvovirus vaccine. This condition causes bloody diarrhea, which, despite treatment, can kill your dog. Thus, in the eighth week of life, your puppy was ideally vaccinated against parvovirus, as well as against distemper and leptospirosis.
Your dog cannot receive a rabies vaccine until he is 12 weeks old. The further vaccination schedule depends on the vaccines used, but, as a rule, revaccination should be carried out at the age of 16 and 15 months.
From the second week of life, the breeder has been deworming your puppy against roundworms every two weeks. This is no longer necessary if he is no longer receiving milk – instead, he must undergo deworming, depending on his origin and living conditions.
Now you can start preventing parasites from ticks, fleas, and co.
Puppies are Of Course Allowed to Run
Of course, you want to discover the world with your puppy and show him everything. This is also important because typical puppy curiosity ensures that you can show them “dangerous” things like movement, other people, and other dogs as exciting.
Even so, your circles should only be short at the beginning. The rule of thumb that a puppy should only walk one minute per week or five minutes per month of life per day is a common misconception. For healthy bone development, your dog must move or the bones will remain too soft, and joint disease may develop. Tailor your dog’s activities to suit his temperament.
Don’t make your puppy run in huge circles, but if he wants to run ten minutes longer, this is not a problem or cause for remorse. Rampage, of course, is also permitted. A young dog should also be able to dispose of his energy.
However, a young dog is prohibited from activities such as jogging, cycling, and hiking. Climbing stairs is also taboo as your dog’s joints are still too sensitive to stress. Excessive hunting with a ball is still beyond the strength of your puppy’s joints. Make sure you have a healthy balance of activity and rest so your dog will thrive.
Don’t Skimp on Food
Taking into account purchase costs, basic equipment, and the first veterinarian’s bill, some of the sums add up when the puppy moves in. Therefore, it is clear that you pay attention to the price of goods and prefer something cheaper. But especially for growing dogs, balanced, high-quality nutrition is extremely important for healthy development.
Good food companies can be recognized by the fact that they offer food for small and large-breed puppies. Both have different feed requirements for rearing and cannot be simply fed with the same “minor line”.
Also, make sure your puppy isn’t getting too much energy. Usually, young dogs do not get fat but instead, show increased growth. Excessive energy supply leads to rapid bone growth and rapid weight gain, resulting in an overload of the skeletal system.
The clinical picture that often arises in this context is skeletal deformities, as muscles develop faster than bones, and increased stress can lead to true “bending” of bones.
Young dogs that are not fed until they are full and only get what they really need will also grow large but will grow over a longer period of time. This gives the bones time to adjust to the changed load.
Toy Must Also Be of Good Quality
Unfortunately, one of the most common reasons puppies go to the vet is to swallow objects. This is why your home must be “puppy-proof” before an animal moves in and must remain so. Dropped batteries, spools of thread, or socks: nothing is safe from sharp puppy teeth.
If swallowed, a foreign body can cause intestinal obstruction, which can only be treated with surgery. Your puppy’s toy is also a popular source of danger. To choose durable, quality products that don’t always look pretty, but are safer.
Takeaway: When caring for your puppy, do not rely primarily on what is written on Internet forums and social networks, but rather on your common sense and on experts such as veterinarians and trainers who really know your dog.