Things to Strictly Avoid with a new Puppy

Here are some tips that will help eliminate some unwanted mistakes, confusions and frustrations when you just get a new puppy to your house.

No Shower or Bath: If you are getting an absolutely newborn one i.e a pup less than 2 months old, ask your breeder if you can give the puppy a bath. Most likely your breeder will tell you not to. The reason is simple, the pup will catch fever. This is not for grooming reasons. The bath is to be avoided for the pup to not play with varying temperatures. The pup is naturally warm and enjoying the freshness of being born into this world. A warm cleansing with slightly wet cloth is recommended but a wrongly performed complete shower can prove to be a total disaster for the pup. I tell you from experience, when i got my labrador pup, he was dirty. The breeder specifically told me not to give a shower to him. By the time it was 3rd day, i had already forgotten the tip from the breeder and gave him a bath with nice warm water. He was clean and shiny, however by evening he developed fever. The vet told me to follow the advice from next time and only give him bath after he has completed 3 months or with the help of professional groomers. Also, it is not necessary that you give your puppy too much regular bathing. Bathing once a month till the time pup reaches 6 months is more than enough. Even after that bathing more than twice a month is not recommended. One should always consult a local pet groomer, vet or the dog trainer to get proper advice about cleanliness and management.

Note: 1) After consulting pet groomers, i found that you can give a bath to a puppy no matter the age. But the puppy shouldn’t remain wet for long. It is important to deep dry the puppy with a blow drier. If the puppy is 100% dry after bath, she will be fine.2) If you are unable to manage go to the professional groomers and let them do the job.

No Anger or Pointing Fingers: Just like a human kid, a pup is totally clueless about what is going around him in the initial months. Yes, the pup can recognize you as the master, the parent, the food god etc etc. But the pup has no clue when it is being mischievous, or ‘naughty’ or ‘destructive’. For the pup all of these things are just play. So when the pup sees anything it wants to chew or destruct , it just assumes its play time. For the pup, all life is play time. So for you as pet parent it is important to not show anger at the pup. You want to train your pup, alright!. But you should know that training is important for you first. If you shout, point fingers, punish (in any way), it is not going to help your pup. In fact it will confuse the pup for a few minutes and most likely the pup will return to the behaviour he was doing before. With its new expanding body, the pup is getting used to the environment in your house and is getting used to you. There is no way he understands your anger. So please keep that anger aside and educate yourself or consult a  trainer.

No Long Road Trips: You are excited about your new pup and you wanna take her around for a long drive to your family somewhere in the other corner of the country. You wanna share your excitement by driving your puppy to the mountains or for a long drive to the ocean. You can totally avoid these things when the puppy is too young. A young one can’t control its stomach. Most likely gonna vomit, feel dizziness, feel confusion and be under useless stress of traveling in a vehicle. Too much movement in the car will surely cause some problems to the kid. Best is avoid super long travels with the pup. If the travel is unavoidable and you must travel at all cost, then you can create the right condition for the travel to be possible. Consult your vet and your pet trainer.

Note: Sign of motion sickness Drooling, panting , hyper activity, sleepiness

No KFC or Other Heavy Foods: You are tempted to try out different food items with your pup. You assume that the pup can digest everything. “Dogs are strong’’, “dogs can eat anything”, these are total myths and totally dangerous. Dogs are sensitive to certain foods and can have problems based on their own individual capacity as well as through natural dislike to certain kinds of food which other dogs can eat. However for a puppy strict guidelines can be followed. If you order food from outside, please avoid giving it to your pup. There is dog food of all kinds available which can be given along with known harmless food items for your pup. Do not play with your pup’s stomach health. It is gonna cost you by creating unwanted trouble for you. Please remember you cannot feed bones to your young one. If the pup accidentally ingest bones, it has no capacity to digest it completely. Sometimes, the bones get stuck in the system while the pup may try to excrete. This is a very painful situation and may take you on a trip to your vet. You do not want to see your pup bleed from a sharp bone stuck in its shit hole.