Smithville, Tennessee
Your new puppy is coming home!
Puppy Care Sheet
Congratulations on your new best friend!
May he or she bring you many years of love and companionship!
Here are few care tips for your new puppy!
- I believe the best food for my dogs and puppies is a RAW diet. See order form on page labeled "Ways to feed your pup". Form is at the bottom of that page. But since I can no longer get it in the quantities I need at a reasonable price I have had to find a new way to feed my crew. So far the best I have found is Royal Canin, which comes highly recommended by veterinarians. Sometimes I like to treat my babies by adding about a tablespoon or so of canned Royal Canin wet food to the dry kibble and add a little hot tap water to it as well. Stir it all together and they devour it. We send each puppy home with a container of food which should last you a number of days. Our puppies are fed 2 times per day (breakfast and dinner). Depending on the age in which you bring your puppy home this amount could be different. A puppy going home at 8 weeks of age will eat between 1/4 to 1/3 cup in the morning and 1/4 to 1/3 cup in the evening. Most of our adults eat 2/3 cup once a day. I do have some adults only eating 1/2 cup per day. As well as every now and then I will get one or two dogs that are very active and need more food, at times up to 3/4 cup. Dachshund should have a tuck to their waist line. Pay attention to that. If they are looking too thin increase their food just a little. If they are looking too chunky decrease their food just a little. Their waistline is something you should always watch. If you give your puppy treats daily, that would means you should decrease their food intake.
- Your new puppy is trained to use washable pee pads. We do not start outdoor potty training until puppies are fully vaccinated (typically 13 to 16 weeks minimum) due to puppies not having a full immunity until fully vaccinated. We use a big washable pads for the entire whelping pen, but Momma does a great job training her puppies to use a large potty pan lined with washable pee pads in the back of the pen. This helps to give them a sense of "where" to pee. We use the same setup in our living space when the puppies come out there as well. Bottom line what you do with your new puppy is your choice. But I strongly recommend against you letting your puppy outside prior to being fully vaccinated. Also we do STRONGLY suggest you NOT allow your puppy onto public grass/concrete/stores/vet floors/etc. until fully vaccinated as you have no idea what animals have traveled through and what diseases are lingering in the area. I know it is also important to you that your puppy remain healthy. So please do not allow your puppy outdoors until fully vaccinated.
- Young puppies are notorious for worms and parasites; we deworm all puppies at 2, 4, 6 and 7 weeks with Panacur (Febendazole).on a 3 day deworming schedule per session. We also use a tiny bit of Bene-bac Plus at the same time we deworm to help protect their sensitive tummies. Bene-bac Plus is a probiotic with some prebiotic ingredients. **At the puppies 7 to 8 weeks of age vet visit they will do a fecal exam to confirm all puppies are clear of worms & parasites. If some puppies are still with me past 8 weeks of age I do still continue to deworm them every 2 weeks until they start on monthly Nexgard Spectra. Nexgard Spectra is a monthly heartworm preventative, deworming, and flea & tick control. We also use Ponazuril to help prevent parasites. Usually just one 3 day course prior to heading home. Our Momma's from the time they give birth to tgheir new puppies they get Deccox on their food daily and the puppies get it on their food when they start eating. Deccox is a coccidia preventative. We care very much about our puppies being healthy so we try to be proactive & prevent troubles before they start. We are always researching and trying to learn if we are still doing the best we can for our puppies or if they have come up with something new or something better. Coccidia, Giardia, worms, and such are tricky & sometimes hard to treat so we like to try to stay on top of it and do our best to try to prevent it from happening in the first place.
- Your puppy will leave here up to date on all vaccinations; if your puppy is picked up at 8 weeks of age, he or she will have received his or her NeoPar Vaccine at about 5 weeks, and a 5 way vaccine at about 7 weeks of age. Your puppy will need at least TWO more vaccines spaced out roughly 3 weeks apart (10 and 13 weeks). Please verify with your vet that the Leptospirosis vaccine is NOT being administered. If this disease is common in your area please do research before administering as fatal reactions can occur, and do all precautionary measures before administering (Benadryl, steroid, stay at/near the vet for a minimum of 1 hr, early morning/lunch appointment, etc). Rabies shot should be given no earlier than 16 weeks of age UNLESS required by state or county laws. As for adult rabies vaccines, follow your state or county laws, but we do a 1 year rabies vaccine, then each one after that is 3 years apart. As for annual vaccinations (Parvo, etc), we do NOT do them every year anymore; it has been proven through numerous studies that most vaccines protect for a minimum of 7 years (excluding Bordetella and Leptospirosis vaccines) so we do the puppy vaccines as stated above, Once they are over a year old we follow our rabies vaccine schedule and they get a 5-way vaccine everytime they get a rabies shot. A puppy's initial rabies shot at about 16 weeks of age is good for one year. After the initial rabies shot it is given every 3 years in Tennessee were we live. If I wanted to know if they truly needed another vaccine I could have a TITER test done to determine how high the antibody levels are. If they are low, then re-vaccinating is needed. If they are not low, you would retest as suggested by your vet. Please check state or county laws as some areas where Parvo, etc. are prevalent they may REQUIRE yearly vaccinations.
- Please be careful as to where you take your puppy up until the time he or she is fully vaccinated (16 weeks old). Places such as Pet Stores, Dog Parks, Rest Stops, etc. can have very serious illnesses lingering around, such as parvo. If your puppy needs a potty break on the way home we recommend a “potty pad” or find an untraveled location if you must (however, untraveled locations do have strays that come through so please take that into consideration). We have provided you with puppy pads and wipes for easy clean up! Just place a puppy pad in the floor board of your vehicle and the puppy should go potty pretty quickly.
- Dachshunds can be very stubborn and mischievous, that’s for sure! We highly recommend crate training your puppy. Your puppy will not “feel like he or she is in jail”. It will help prevent your baby from getting into things he or she should not. Crate training will also greatly assist in potty training; use a crate that is just large enough to get up and move around in to prevent your puppy from finding a place to potty in it. Do NOT use the crate as form of punishment; the crate should be your puppy’s “safe place” where he or she feels comfortable.
- If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask anytime!
Country Creek Dachshunds
Smithville, Tennessee
Lori Martinson
931-545-4009
