Pet care : Puppy

Bathing a puppy:

• Very young puppies don't generally get very dirty, and it's best not to bathe them before they're 7 - 8 weeks old. Depending on the size of your puppy, you can use the bathtub or the kitchen or laundry room sink for puppy's first bath.
• When you're bathing a puppy you only need a few inches of warm water in the tub or sink. This also depends on the size of your pup.
• Use a hand-held shower head or jug, gently wet down her coat.
• When you're bathing your puppy it's important to make sure that the water soaks the coat, and gets all the way through to the skin, so wet her thoroughly.
• Mix a little shampoo with some warm water in the jug and pour it over her. 
• Lather well but avoid the eyes and ears. Use a warm, soapy wash-cloth to clean her face instead.
• Take your time to rinse your pup thoroughly and make sure that you get all the soap out of her fur.
• Towel dry your puppy gently, if she has long or thick hair try squeezing rather than rubbing.

Grooming pups:

• The right brush and comb is essential for your breed of dog and should be one that will effectively brush the entire depth of the coat.
• To introduce each comb or brush, show the brush to the pup and then feed a treat. Do this a few times, and then brush a few short strokes on the back and reward with a treat for good behaviour.
• Do the same process with combs and nail clippers. Grooming sessions should be short but frequent for puppies. 

Feeding puppies:

• During the first six to eight weeks of life the puppy should stay with the mother. The mother’s milk provides the best nutrition and provides antibodies to help protect your puppy from disease. Starting around four to six weeks of age, begin introducing your puppy to puppy food by making a gruel by blending the puppy food with milk replacer. Offer the gruel three to four times a day gradually reducing the amount of milk replacee used to make the gruel. This way your puppy gradually learns to adapt to solid food and gastric upset is minimized. 
• By around eight weeks of age your puppy should be eating solid food. Smaller meals are easier to digest for the puppy.
• There is no set age when the switch from puppy food to adult dog food should be made because it will vary with the breed and individual dog. 
• When making the switch to adult food, do it slowly over the course of one to two weeks by gradually mixing in increasing amounts of the adult food with decreasing amounts of her puppy food to minimize gastric upset.