[Julia Tompson]

I have a couple questions about puppy development.

I have heard a few different ideas about when you should introduce food and water to a puppy but nothing all that conclusive.

My pups will be 3 weeks tomorrow. When should I start feeding them and what do you breeders feed them during the first couple weeks?

Also... I have heard 21 - 28 days is the most critical time in a pup’s development and that nothing bad should happen to them during this time as it could forever scar them.

Well it is April vacation here and my young children are home and the house is much noisier then normal. The last couple weeks I have been keeping the puppies in a play pen downstairs and at night I have been bringing them up in my bedroom where they were whelped.

My question is... should I keep human traffic and the noise level to a bare minimum during this critical week or is a noisy environment with kids running and screaming okay at this point.

 

[Selena van Leeuwen]

At this time I introduce puppymilk, everyday I do a little bit more small pieces of kibble in. If you have a thick mass build the milk of. In about 1.5-2 weeks they´re on kibble. Or you can start with raw feed now, little pieces. Or both :wink:

The children, not direct contact when noisy, running etc. I will keep them on a safe place like your bedroom.
They can start meeting the kids but easy...no yelling, no picking up yet unless you´re with them..tell them they´re little babies and be very carefull, stroke softly etc.. Build up the interaction with the children up.

If the wheather is good and the kids aren´t outside, for a quater of an hour or so with mummy in puppypen so they can hear, feel, sniff up the bright air and the sounds of outside.


And...where are the puppypics :twisted: :wink: :lol:

 

[Carmen van de Kamp]

with our A litter I started at 19 or 20 days with raw food (a complete version), I started this soon, because the female already started to give up her food for the pups around 17 days of age of the pups......most breeders I know would like to start around 25 days or later......

but I just started with the complete raw meat and added (approx. a week later) bigger pieces of meat like small chicken organ parts, muscle meat from cows, etc and a little bit later I also started to add bones to it, starting with chicken necks/chicken backs, lamb etc.........I never added puppy milk......

 

[Selena van Leeuwen]

I never added puppy milk......

That isn´t necessary with raw feeding, only for the kibble so it isn´t to hard.

 

[Sarah Hall]

For your sound question (looks like the others have the feeding thing), I allow everyone to make normal noises. What is most important is how your bitch reacts to the noise. If she is calm, the puppies will pick up on it and they'll think "No big deal. Mom doesn't care". Remember, some of your pups may go to homes with lots of kids, and getting them used to the noise now is very important so they won't freak out later. It's like rasing a child. If you make the house totally silent and dark, they won't be able to sleep, say, in a brighter, busy hotel room or at a slumber party. There are a few ways to go about getting them used to a lot of noises, and I can e-mail you practically a short book I wrote on the subject. I base most of my information on genetics of canine behavior and learned behaviors.

 

[Julia Tompson]

Thank you all for your advice... I bought a really cool dog Sound Socialization DVD that contains many many different sounds like babies crying, Thunder, Gun Shots, fireworks, horns honking, vacuuming etc… . You name it and it's on the CD. I started playing it very softly for the puppies and have been gradually increasing the noise level. They seem curious at times but oblivious mostly.

Marsha the mother has shown no reaction to any of the sounds what-so-ever except when she hears a baby crying. When the baby cries she just looks at the CD player with her head tilted to on side... with that real curious "What is that" Look. It is so cute.

The other day I set a can of tuna fish in the play pen to see if they could smell it and oh boy could they smell it. The all rushed right over to check it out. I ended up hand feeding it to the puppies... and latter I was talking to a friend that said... you should NEVER give raw food or fish to a small puppy because it can give them a bad case of worms.

Does anyone have any comments about this being true or false?

Also... Is hand feeding them a good way to teach pack order at this young age?

Thanks so much!