How to care for a new puppy.

My mom is strange. She has two adult cats. She has two sons and two daughters. One of these sons hate dogs. Alot. She decided that the best way to make sure the pup is fed is to let it be watched by the dog hater and the two cats.

anyway.... Is there anyway to get them to shut up after their feeding time? Do I wrap them in a blanket? I have checked online and they all talk of older puppies. Mine still has 3-4 days till it opens it eyes. Did I mention I hate dogs? He just keeps whimpering at me but he does not want food and I have already molested his body with the warm and wet towel. I placed him back in his box but he refuses to sleep.

Here's a guide.

Anyway, if that puppy is only a few days old, it should be nursing with its mother and be kept in a place that is constantly warm and soft since it doesn't have the ability to survive on its own yet. Keep in mind that while you should give the puppy love, you might be a bit large compared to it right now and should be as gentle as possible.

edited 25th Mar '11 8:06:10 AM by Usht

Thanks for the guide. Mother abandoned them. I have my money on death. The rest of my family refuses to place money in the bet though.

They are still fighting over names. My suggestion for Kimble was kicked off the table. They want something regal. I said George. They thought I was kidding. I hope I can get kimble to shut it. Thanks again. Bye.

Edit: Do not have close to any of that. Time to go jury rig a heat source. Fun.

edited 25th Mar '11 8:12:30 AM by TheDeadMansLife

What kind of dog is it? Even if it's a mixed breed, knowing at least one of the possible breeds might help. I have read a lot about tiny dog puppies in my readings about Pomeranians and one thing to watch out for is hypoglycemia, simply because they're so tiny and have high metabolisms. Signs of that are if the puppy seems weak or shaky or if it faints, and one thing to do is put some kind of sweet syrup in its mouth or give it candy (NEVER EVER chocolate candy, of course). I never experienced that myself but I've read about it (my Pom was over a year old when I adopted her so I've never actually taken care of a Pom puppy). Another thing is that if the dog is weaned too early, it might need to have milk with its kibble at first. We did that with my first dog, since she was only 5 weeks old when we got her.

One thing about puppies and dogs in general is that for scolding them, only do so if you catch them in the act. Dogs live in the moment and a puppy especially won't remember that it peed on the floor 5 minutes ago, and rubbing its face in its excrement doesn't do anything but confuse it. I hope you can find someone who actually likes dogs to help because it will help the puppy's emotional stability to also be cared for by someone who likes it. And this is probably obvious, but don't spank a dog, especially a young puppy, or shake it roughly, that might lead to something like shaken infant syndrome.

I could give more if I knew a little more about what kind of dog it is, I know a lot about dogs in general.

Doberman.

Okay. You're not likely to have the hypoglycemia issues, then, but the other stuff I mentioned would still apply.

This site might help:

http://www.dpca.org/PublicEd/PEC/PECGrowth.html You don't have to do the ear docking thing if you don't want to, that stuff is rather controversial and it's aimed a bit at show breeders there.

http://www.2ndchance.info/orphanpuppy.htm

This is about taking care of orphaned puppies in general.

edited 25th Mar '11 8:50:08 AM by Rainbow

If it survives, you should make sure you get it vaccinated and wormed as soon as possible.

Any advice that can be given is given already. But I guess for the first few weeks of it's life, keep it in your house. When feeding it, you might want to pour some water into it to let it soften up if it's really that young.

And...watch the dog hater.

And if your dog starts eating it's own feces (some puppies will do that, and develop a habit of it...), feed it pineapples and it will never do it again.

...did you just say you molested your puppy?

edited 25th Mar '11 5:13:58 PM by Signed

I am the dog hater. And yes. I need to molest it or it dies.

By "molesting", I assume he means poking at its genitalia and anus with the damp towel to make it defecate. Which is something the mother would normally do with her tongue.

I am sorry to have to say this, but the only way to make a really young puppy be quiet is to have it close to you at all times. At that age, it needs bodily warmth and a constant heartbeat nearby. Try putting it with a hot water bottle (not too hot!) and a ticking clock and see if that works; otherwise you are just going to have to cuddle it.

If this is too much work, is there an experienced breeder in your town who you could ask to look after it? Un-desexed female dogs will sometimes adopt a puppy instinctively, and a big dog like a Dobermann is better off being raised around other dogs so that it becomes socialised.

good luck.

I have no clue what desexed means... Already did the clock thing

Un-desexed means unspayed. Intact bitches sometimes 'adopt' young puppies and take care of them.

The good thing about this whole ordeal is that you'll get over your hatred for dogs . If the dog drinks and craps properly and you keep him warm, odds are he'll survive. Do you know how to monitor a puppy's weight?

edited 25th Mar '11 6:56:56 PM by SavageHeathen

Well, if the dog's male you have his testes removed. If the dog is female, you have her uterus removed. Any vet will be able to do it.

If the dog is female, it stops male dogs from coming sniffing after her when she's in heat, and you from having unwanted puppies down the line.

There might also be some behavioural benefits, but those are variable.

If you do it early enough you can stop him from humping everything that moves.

I'd say that's quite the benefit.

Yeah, but I've heard it doesn't always work. Fixed-up males still hump things sometimes.

I still say that all dogs you don't have a definite interest in breeding from should be desexed.

I guess I don't know. I'm only speaking from personal experience.

My dog does pretty much nothing of the sort, and he was fixed right away. The neighbor's dog was fixed later, and he still has some...urges.

With dogs, there are some who hump other dogs out of dominance, not sexual urges, and they might be doing it to other objects, too. I've seen it happen multiple times between two spayed females (two of my own dogs), and I've heard of it being a dog dominance thing in general.

However, I've never had a male dog, so I might be wrong about the humping behavior when it comes to the boy pups.

edited 26th Mar '11 6:07:41 AM by Rainbow

@Deadman: How's the puppy doing? I hope he's alright.

Hes fine. Turns out hes a bit rare though.

Is he gaining weight steadily? If his weight up goes according to chart, survival prospects go up immensely.

edited 28th Mar '11 11:50:34 AM by SavageHeathen

Do not own a scale for something so light, but he has grown bigger and he does weigh more.

Buy a standard kitchen scale at a your local Kwik-E-Mart. A kitchen scale typically tracks 10 or 20 gram increments. That should be enough to a medium-to-large sized pup like a Doberman.

Once the puppy starts walking, 's long as he doesn't become a 'swimmer' (too heavy to walk, so they crawl) or a 'fading puppy' (stagnating or losing weight), everything should be fine. Consider socializing it with another recent litter in the neighborhood when the puppy is about 3 weeks of age, and keep socializing him with other puppies until he's 12-16 weeks.

edited 28th Mar '11 12:11:45 PM by SavageHeathen

Ill try.

The first days are always the worst days, dude. Don't worry.

I know you don't like dogs (yet), but the little buggers grow on you. Y'know, dogs are *friendly*, and they tend to like you.

If the pup doesn't look to be getting worse, you're probably doing it right.