Steps for Looking After a Puppy

When you adopt a puppy, you're in for several months of hard work. The first few months of your puppy's life are critical to raising a healthy, socialized and happy dog. The good news is that the efforts you put into looking after your puppy now will be rewarded throughout your dog's lifetime. Proper care of a puppy includes looking after his health, social development, growth and training.

  1. Home

    • Even before you bring your new puppy home, it's a good idea to puppy-proof your house. Any toxic substances or dangerous objects should be put out of reach of the puppy. Remove any items the puppy can access that might result in choking. Put away items you are afraid the puppy will damage or break and ensure that power cords are placed out the reach of puppy's teeth. It's also a good idea to set up a crate so that you can confine the puppy when you're not present to supervise him. This will protect both your puppy and your home.

    Feeding

    • Feed your puppy a high quality food that is designed for puppies. You might ask your veterinarian for recommendations about what the best food for your puppy will be. Puppies eat a lot and are unlikely to become overweight at such a young age. While an adult dog might do fine with one or two feedings per day, puppies need to eat three to four meals per day.

    Veterinarian

    • Your new puppy should see a veterinarian as soon as you adopt him. The veterinarian will give the puppy his first set of shots, perform a fecal examination, deworm the puppy if necessary, and examine the puppy for overall health. Puppy vaccinations, fecal examinations and deworming will be repeated every three to four weeks until the puppy has received four to five sets of vaccinations.

    Training

    • This is the period in your dog's life when training is critical. Not only will you be house training your puppy, the dog should begin learning basic obedience. Training for puppies should always be gentle and in short sessions. The key to training a puppy is to reward good behavior and ignore--or redirect--undesirable behavior. Never punish a puppy, especially with physical punishment. This does not teach the puppy that she has misbehaved and serves only to make your dog fearful of you.

    Socializing

    • It is also critical that you socialize your puppy to other dogs, cats, men, women, people of different ages, people of different ethnic backgrounds and children during her first few months of life. According to Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, the socialization period for dogs lasts until the puppy is about 3 months old. Exposing your puppy to as many different kinds of people and animals during this critical time will ensure that your dog is neither aggressive nor fearful when encountering new people and animals as an adult.