Tips for the first days at home with your puppy
​Here are some basic things to know when caring for your puppy: ​
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1.Exercise: Extensive running and jumping or stair climbing can damage still developing joints--especially for our standard sized doodles. Standards will continue to grow and fill out until around 2 years old. Miniatures and mediums will usually be done growing before a year old. Playing in the yard, playing with kids and going on walks are all great activities for puppies! Many of our adult mini and medium dogs are avid running/jogging partners. Until your puppy is fully immunized after 16 weeks of age avoid areas of high dog concentration where you don't know the dogs--so avoid dog parks, pet stores, busy rest stop areas or busy walkways.
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2.Vaccines: Our puppies receive passive immunity when they nurse from mom but Mom's antibodies wear off somewhere between 6 and 15 weeks of age. There is no way to tell for sure when a vaccine is effective so we vaccinate in a series to maximize immunity and reduce risk of rampant dog disease. Ideally we would vaccinate just after mom's immunity has worn off but before the puppy is exposed to disease. There is only one vaccine called Neopar that can provide immunity against parvo even in the presence of mom's antibodies. We give our puppies Neopar at 5 weeks old. Most vets will not accept full vaccinations done by a breeder because they don't know if we have transported, stored and delivered vaccines correctly. We totally understand. In order to expose your baby to the minimum amount of vaccines but get the maximum effect, we only vaccinate against parvo (the most common and dangerous puppy disease) and we allow your vet to administer the full vaccines at 8 weeks when they are more likely to be effective. You need to have an appointment within 3 days of getting your puppy home to have the first round of shots and a well puppy check.
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3.First day Home: First thing at home take your puppy out to the potty area to let him get used to this new surroundings and hopefully go potty right away! Sometimes you might have to ignore your puppy for a minute and slowly walk away from him if he is too excited to go potty. Once he goes, treat with food and attention!
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Puppies need to go potty about every 2 hours or after they wake up, eat, drink or play. You want them to go potty in front of you so that you can reward that behavior liberally. Trust us on this! The more often your puppy is treated for going potty outside the more intentional the behavior (potty-ing) will become.
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4.Feeding: We give our puppies free access to water all the time during the day. Take water up a couple of hours before bedtime. Dry food should be served in three smaller servings. Puppies tend to use the bathroom right after they eat so regularly scheduled meals will help with potty training. Don't leave food out for more than 15 minutes with each meal. If your puppy doesn't eat when you put the food down then offer it again at the next meal time. Many babies will go off their food for a day or two when they get to their new home. Give them a little time to adjust and they will get back to a regular eating schedule. Many will naturally start to "back off" or not finish the mid-day meal at about 3-6 months of age. This is fine, and this is a good time to go down to 2 meals a day--just distribute the same amount (follow recommended serving sizes on the bag) into 2 meals. A similar thing can happen at about 8 months to a year when some puppies naturally go down to 1 meal a day. Some dogs do better with morning and night feedings and some will naturally prefer just to eat at night. We never recommend free feeding. Take up any unfinished food after about 15 minutes and combined any uneaten portion with the next feeding. Growing puppies and adolescents will sometimes go through a growth spurt and eat more than the recommended amounts. We let our puppies and teenagers have a little more food if they act like they are still starving after finishing their measured amount.
Petite (expected weight 10-20 lbs) doodles are eating about 1/4 cup of food 3 times a day.
Miniature (expected weight 20-30 lbs) doodles are eating about 1/2 cup of food 3 times a day.
Medium (expected weight 35-50 lbs) doodles are eating about 3/4 cup of food 3 times a day.
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Here's a typical feeding schedule:
7 am--wake up and go straight to potty area. It is critical that you watch your puppy go potty and reward extensively for these first few days. First thing in the morning is usually the best training time--puppy is hungry and less distracted than other times during the day. Plan to spend at least 10 minutes working on your training courses right after wake up. We like to measure the morning food into a baggie and use that as a treat for this morning training.
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12 pm--lunch. Give your puppy no more than 10 minutes and then take the food up and put it away until dinner. Always offer lots of water throughout the day. Remember that your puppy will need to go potty soon after eating, drinking, waking up, playing and training so keep a close eye during those times! *Your puppy may give up the lunch feeding within a few days or weeks of going home. If that happens just go to 2 feedings a day--split the total feeding amount into two feedings.
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5 or 6 pm--Offer any uneaten portions of food along with the regularly scheduled feeding. Always make sure to have fresh water available!
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We generally feed outside to help with potty training. Puppies will usually need to go to the bathroom within a few minutes of eating and drinking. Always offer water with each feeding. You may want to monitor drinking times while you are potty training but otherwise water should be available at all times.
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*If your puppy has diarrhea you are probably feeding too much. Cut back and see if that helps. If it doesn't clear up within a day or two then a vet check may be in order.*​​
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5.Sleeping: Crates are awesome for sleeping because you don't have to worry that the puppy will wander into your room or house and pee somewhere while you are asleep. Our puppies are all introduced to a crate very early in life. We always have a crate open in the puppy pen for naps and bedtime. We have had great reports of the puppies' first nights! If your puppy is older than 10 weeks (we often do this at 8 weeks but 10 weeks for sure) your puppy is sleeping in a crate either individually or with one littermate. If your puppy has not yet been individually crate trained the transition of learning to sleep alone can be a little stressful for a puppy and may take a few nights of crying. Weather your puppy is already sleeping individually or not here are some suggestions to make things easier:
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1. Take up food and water a couple of hours before bedtime.
2. Let the puppy play and explore
3. Choose a late bedtime.
4. Take your puppy potty just before you go to bed. If they have been outside you will still want to walk out the the grass with them and give them the pee command so just before locking them in their crate.
5. At that point just pop him in the crate and turn off all the lights. Make sure the blanket we sent home with you is in the crate so he has a familiar scent. If he/she is whining, sometimes it helps to completely cover the door with a sheet or blanket. Don't let them out if they are whining or crying or they will whine and cry every time they are in there. If they continue to cry you can open the door and put your hand inside with the until they settle down. Sometimes it can help to put the crate next to you in your room for the first few nights. It's okay if your puppy cries a bit. It's not going to hurt them! A full panicked scream needs your attention. If your puppy seems to be truly panicked you may need to take them out and help the calm down and introduce to the crate once the pup is asleep. Sometimes it can help to offer all meals/food in the crate to help create a positive association.
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6.Start training right away: You should already have completed your first two preparation units (Prep and Intro) from Bella and Baxter. Puppy brains are fully ready for training at 7 weeks of age. Remember that the most basic principle of training is that puppies will do whatever brings them rewards. If they get treats and attention when they lay down next to the couch they are more likely to lay by the couch. If they get treats and attention when they jump up and put their feet on you they will jump up and put their feet on you. Be careful not to reward 'cute' puppy behaviors that will be problematic in adults (ex: mouthing hands, putting feet up on you, barking for attention etc.)
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7. Basic grooming: All goldendoodles need to be groomed so it's important to get them accustomed to being brushed and handled every day. Play with every part of your puppy and use your slicker brush to keep coats smooth and tangle free. If your puppy tries to bite the brush or dislikes grooming time then keep the sessions short and offer a chew toy or other treat to distract during brushing. Your puppy will need to have a hair cut every 6-8 weeks. You shouldn't need to give bathes too often in between grooming--over bathing can strip oils from the coat and cause overproduction of oil to compensate.
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8. Diarrhea: Loose stools are a common problem with puppies. The first and most common problem is switching foods quickly. Feed PawTree food during the initial adjustment to a new home and transition gradually if you want to use a different food. Using the Gastro Pro Plus probiotic from PawTree on the puppies food from will help during the transition of food if you wish to do so.
The second most common problem is over feeding. If your puppy has soft squishy poop you may need to cut back on volume a little bit. Poop consistency should be like a soft tootsie roll.
Another common cause of of diarrhea are parasitic infections like giardia or coccidiosis. Both of these can be passed form mother to puppy and can also be picked up from ground and water contamination or other adult dogs. Adults can carry both giardia and coccidosis without having diarrhea. We treat mom and babies for both of these conditions prophylactically along with standard de-worming treatments. If diarrhea is watery or has mucous or if it continues more than two days then he needs to be seen by your veterinarian.
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9.Chewing: When teeth are emerging, gums are sore and chewing can relieve the discomfort. It's almost impossible to eliminate the urge to chew--the most successful management is to provide acceptable chewing resources. Bully sticks, a Kong stuffed with food or small treats, frozen chew toys can all be great options. We try to keep chew toys all around the house so that we can trade toys for shoes (or whatever) at any time. Once the adult teeth are all in and set chewing will get much better. Be diligent watching and you will survive the chewing stage of life!
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10.Adolescence: Just when you think your dog has settled down and is a the perfect pet you imagined, adolescence will set in and it will feel like you are starting over from scratch. This usually hits around 10 months and can last 4-6 months. Don't despair. This "relapse" is temporary. Continue with schedules, walks and training and your puppy will return to his baseline within a few months.
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11.Spaying/neutering: There is a lot of debate about this in the dog world right now. The current trend is to leave dogs intact until they are 2 years old or older before spaying or neutering. The theory with this is that bone and body structure will be healthier if all adolescent hormones are present. There are mixed reviews about this in the literature. There are some cancers that have a reduced rate with sex altering procedures and some that are reduced by leaving dogs intact.
Our experience is that most people ARE NOT PREPARED to handle a sexually mature dog. We have had more than one panicked phone call (not for our puppies thankfully!) because a 'puppy' mated with another dog before the owner even realized they were capable of mating. The behavior of un-fixed dogs can lead to unwanted pregnancy, lost pets, traffic accidents, digging, barking and all sorts of difficult behavior. Overall the risks of not fixing outweigh the benefits. Dogs have been altered before puberty for generations and have lived long healthy happy lives. We recommend that you spay/neuter before puberty, at around six months of age or by 12 months old at the latest. We are passionate that puppies should only be created with intention and purpose. Never as an accident.
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There are really only a few Must Haves for a puppy.
Basic Supplies:
1. Collar and leash (start with size 'small' collar and a plain lightweight flat leash)
2. Crate and pad
3. Food
4. Chew toys. ​
Potty training
We like to take the puppy straight outside to his outdoor potty area before introducing him to the house. Take a handful of yummy treats (freeze dried liver! )to reward outside potty behaviors. Once in the house, set the timer for an hour and take the puppy outside diligently. He will need to pee after waking up, after playing and after eating. If you don't have both eyes on the pup, put him in his crate or outside. We always use a high value food treat to reward potty until the puppy is asking to go out on his own.
Don't punish the pup for accidents unless you want a dog that hides in the closets or behind the couch to pee and poop. If the pup has an accident then you didn't watch him closely enough.
*Can I just mention--in my humble opinion--the dog door is the greatest invention since sliced bread! The dog can let himself out and can stay home overnight... Life with dogs has been noticeably easier since we installed a dog door!*
House manners
Training doesn't have to be overwhelming. Basically, any behavior that is rewarded will continue. In the beginning we treat liberally for any behavior that we like--
The pup looks at me instead of the cat=treat. (treat is food, petting, picking up etc--we keep stashes of treats all over the house so the puppy thinks rewards can appear anywhere at any time!)
The pup walks up looks at me=treat.
The pup walks up and sits=treat.
The pup sits nicely while the toddler pets him=double treat.
The pup starts to put paws up on us=nothing (no treat, no petting, no talking). Be patient--once you start rewarding sitting as a default behavior it will happen more and more often.
Don't reward nervous or timid behavior. Resist the impulse to pet and 'comfort' a puppy who is whining/crying/hiding. This is important. Most dog bites are fear based (the dog is afraid...). Remind visitors to let the puppy meet them with smell first--this is especially important for puppies that are more timid. Give everyone who comes to the door a little treat to offer once the pup has had a chance to sniff and greet. If he sits he gets double treats! If the pup is afraid of something it is okay to step between him and the 'scary' object until he calms down but don't pick him up or pet him until he is back to a calm state.
Have a stash of acceptable chew toys available all the time. If the dog picks up a good chew toy--give a treat (food, petting, attention etc.). If he picks up your favorite shoes, remind yourself to put your important things away and replace the shoe with an acceptable chew toy.
It is faster and more effective to reward good behaviors than it is to punish bad behaviors.
We love using a clicker to teach a new behavior, but if a clicker is intimidating or unfamiliar then use what you have. We have found that we don't have to have a clicker to reinforce everyday behaviors.
One more note--we always, always use a high value food treat to reward 'come.' 'Come' is one of the most important behaviors we want our dog to have. In the beginning even coming across the kitchen when called gets a food reward. Work up to calling the pup from another room and then from the back yard etc.
Most important--have fun and don't worry too much. Puppies are babies. They learn quickly and they are forgiving. Keep working on it and you will have a fantastic family dog!