Deciding to bring a new puppy into your family is a large undertaking. It is best to have realistic expectations and goals before deciding if a puppy is right for you. Training a new puppy takes a great deal of time and patience.
By becoming familiar with nutritional, socialization and healthcare needs your puppy will require you can be as prepared as possible. The following is a sampling of expectations from eight weeks to six months of age.
Familiarizing yourself with what to expect in the month ahead will allow you to best provide his nutritional, socialization and health-care needs. Below is a sampling of what to expect and what you can do during the time period for 8 weeks until 6 months.
Eight to 12 weeks of Age
What's happening with puppy:
- Physical coordination and bladder control are still improving.
- Attention span is short.
- Critical socialization period occurs between three and 12 weeks influencing adult temperament.
- Sleeps a lot during the day
- Baby teeth begin to fall out at 12 weeks.
What should I be doing:
- Keep current with vaccinations
- Inquire about heartworm preventatives and flea/tick control products
- Work on housetraining by taking puppy outside frequently
- Begin basic training:
- Getting used to a collar
- Leash walking
- Coming when called
- Reward immediately when puppy obeys a command
- Introduce puppy to a vriety of people, situation and places
- Considering enrolling in a puppy class
- Allow puppy to sleep when tired
- Begin maintenance grooming
- Brushing teeth
- Brushing the coat
- Handling the mouth and paws
- Trimming nails
- Feed a quality puppy food
12 to 16 Weeks of Age
What's happening with puppy:
- Exploration of everything
- Inquisitive and eager to learn
What should I be doing:
- Continue basic training
- Offer rewards and praise for a job well done
- Offer plenty of chew toys and exercise
Four to Six Months of Age
What's happening with puppy:
- Period of great physical growth
- Beginning to exhibit social behaviors
What should I be doing:
- Keep socializing with other puppies and humans
- As growth continues, make sure the collar grows as fast a puppy
- Begin to consider spaying or neutering
Time and attention on your part is critical in the beginning month to allow puppy to become a well-behaved, well-adjusted adult dog.
Additional behaviors
Many puppies do not whine at or go to the door to indicate the need to eliminate until they are four or five months old. Puppy may not pick up its name quickly. It is important not to use the dog's name in a negative sense during initial training. Instead of scolding with the puppy's name, clap or shout. Verbal praise may be a hard concept to grasp initially. Use physical praise along with verbal praise to allow puppy to understand and appreciate verbal praise.
Do not be too concerned if puppy falls asleep in the middle of some other activity. Puppies need a lot of sleep, but since they are easily distracted they tend to forget to sleep and will fall asleep at bizarre times such as while eating, chewing or even running.Twitching during sleep indicates healthy neural development. Twitching will be most pronounced for the first few months of the puppy's life and slowly diminish thereafter. Many adult dogs often continue some form of twitching. Expect muffled woofs and snuffling noises too. And lastly, many puppyies hiccup. The only solution is to let them pass.
