We suggest you keep to the feeding schedule that your puppy is used to. Your puppy is presently eating Royal Canin Mini Junior puppy food, moistened with water, 4 - 6 times a day, and is drinking water. You will no doubt have your own preferences when it comes to food, but please remember that your puppy will be upset if you change things too quickly. You will have been supplied with enough food to last you a few days. You can use this to help change to your preferred brand. Mix a little of the new food into the old, increasing the amount at every feed over 3 days. This should make sure your puppy acclimatises itself to the new food. At 12 weeks, you can gradually stop soaking the dried puppy food, adding a little less water over the period of about a week, until your puppy is eating all dried food, either mixed with tinned or fresh meat, or on it’s own. At 16 weeks, you can cut down to 3 meals a day, then to 2 meals at 6 months. If you are worried at all about your puppy not eating, you can give goats milk and/or a little honey into the mouth to ward off hypoglycemia, which can be a problem with puppies of toy breeds. See our page about Hypoglycemia for more information.
Your puppy has recently been wormed. This, and changes in surroundings, routines and food, can sometimes cause diarrhoea. As long as your puppy is not ill (ie, still eating and drinking and playing as normal) this is nothing to worry about. Stop feeding the usual food and give plain boiled rice mixed with boiled chicken in small quantities. You can also give some natural LIVE yoghurt to help with bacteria in the gut. Do not give milk as this will make things worse. Always provide clean water and encourage drinking. If it lasts longer than 48 hours, or your puppy appears listless or ill, please consult your vet.
Your puppy has been used to using newspaper in the toilet area. This will help you housetrain him/her. Put the newspaper in the place where you want the puppy to go to the toilet, and take him/her there often, during play, on waking and after eating. Give him/her loads of praise when he/she uses the paper. Ignore accidents, getting cross won’t help, and may be counter productive.
Your new puppy will likely cry at night for a few days. This should stop soon, but we find an old teddy bear (have a look in your local charity shop for one) to cuddle up to helps…..make sure it is old though as it WILL be chewed!!! If you give in and let puppy sleep on your bed, it’s a hard habit to break, so now is the time to consider whether or not you want a wriggly, restless, dog hogging ¾ of your pillow in a years time!!! If that doesn’t bother you…..go and get your puppy!!!
Provide safe chew toys for your puppy to save your shoes/toys/furniture. Hide chews are fine, and we also recommend a small Puppy Kong, with peanut butter inside to keep them occupied. You may also want to consider a crate to keep your puppy out of mischief when you can’t be there to supervise……..we find this an essential piece of equipment.
Your puppy has had his/her two inoculations, and was checked over by our vet. You are advised not to take him/her outside for another week or so (your garden is fine) to make sure that the immunities have developed. Please make an appointment at your own vets for continuing the worming schedule. You can start lead training indoors to make it easier for when you start going walkies.
Thank you for choosing to give a home to one of our puppies. We, as caring breeders, are always here (at any reasonable hour), to answer questions and help you solve any problems. Please do not hesitate to call us, even to say hello and let us know how your puppy is getting on. We’re always very happy to receive photos of our offspring to see how they grow, please email them to : info@lefkimmi.co.uk
