Congratulations on the adoption of your new puppy. Owning a dog is an extremely rewarding
experience, but also carries some responsibility. These notes will give you some help, but, for the 
many other questions you may have about your puppy's health, behaviour or well-being please
speak directly to one of our Animal Nurses of Veterinarians.

What should I feed my puppy?
Find out what the puppy was eating before you took him home and start by giving a similar diet. 
Any modifications to diet should be made slowly.  This helps to avoid the stomach upsets and 
diarrhoea, which are a common problem in young puppies.

It is best to feed an easily digestible, complete and balanced puppy food as a core diet.  You can supplement it with home cooked food but avoid "meat only" meals as these do not provide the full 
range of nutrients a puppy needs.  Puppies fed an entirely home cooked diet almost always require 
a calcium supplement to ensure normal bone growth.

Where should my puppy sleep?
Start off as you mean to go on.  If you allow the puppy to become used to sleeping at the foot of
your bed, you will have a real struggle later on when you want to introduce it to the nice kennel 
you have constructed outside.  Young puppies are best slept indoors initially and will often cry when 
put to bed the first few times.  Be firm and consistent.  Provide a comfortable bed, somewhere 
where the puppy can go to the toilet if it needs to, and toys to play with.  In some cases it helps to 
leave a radio turned softly on.

What about toilet training?
This is the first skill, and one of the most important that a puppy needs to learn if it is to happily 
share your house.  You need to be vigilant in watching for the signs of a full bladder and try to 
anticipate the next bowel movement.  A consistent approach is essential.  Take the puppy outside 
after every meal and stay with him so that you can praise the effort!  Your puppy should be well 
on the way to being toilet trained by 12 weeks of age.

What vaccinations are necessary? 
Discuss this with your veterinarian. It depends on the age of the puppy and what vaccines have 
already been given.  A vaccination program will be recommended to you that will generally require 
two or three visits before the puppy is five months old.

At these vaccination checkups the vet will fully examine your puppy and draw your attention to 
any health issues.  You will be advised on intestinal worm treatment and heartworm prevention 
regimes.  Bring a list of questions with you - it is a good opportunity to glean a wealth of 
information on puppy care, tailored to your needs.

When should I have my dog desexed?
We recommend desexing of both male and female dogs at around six months of age.  There is 
a multitude of compelling reasons for this.  The surgery is low risk and the young animals recover 
fast.  At six months the surgery is done before problems associated with sex emerge, such as 
unwanted pregnancies in females or overt aggression in males. 

What type of play should I expect from a puppy?
Even small breed puppies can be very boisterous and do considerable damage to property, and
person, if allowed to do so. Provide your pippy with plenty of stimulating toys. These can be as
simple as wads of paper or rubber balls. Avoid toys that are small enough to be swallowed, and if
a toy starts to break apart, discard it.

How do I make sure my puppy is well socialised?
There is a window of opportunity between about 4 and 20 weeks of age where puppies need to 
learn the essentials of social interaction with others of their kind, and be exposed to a variety of 
people as well.  If, during this time your pup has good experiences with men, women, children, 
cats, and, most importantly, other dogs then he is likely to accept them throughout life.  If the 
experiences are absent, or unpleasant then he may become apprehensive or hostile to them.

Remember that your puppy will not be fully immunised until around 1 4 weeks of age.  Take care 
to socialise only with healthy, vaccinated adult dogs, or similarly cared for pups.  You need to strike
a balance between the risk of exposure to disease and the need for social stimulation.  Many 
training clubs and some veterinary practices run puppy classes in order to initiate training and 
ensure adequate socialisation takes place.

Should I consider formal training?
You will probably want your dog to learn to sit, stay, and walk well on a lead.  He also needs to
learn not to jump up on people, and how to behave with other dogs.  Formal training lessons can 
be helpful and there are many clubs which provide them.  There are also several excellent books 
available on dog training which may help.  Remember that adequate socialisation is essential to a 
'well balanced" canine personality.

What about discipline?
Make sure the message is always consistent.  Discuss with other members of your household what behaviours are going to be deemed unacceptable.  These may include things such as mouthing and 
jumping up on people.

Often an area set aside for "time out" is the most effective means of discipline.  A puppy wants to 
be centre of attention, and if the whole family is yelling at him he has achieved his goal!  The 
period of time for "time out" need only be a few minutes.

Avoid physical confrontation as a means of discipline, over time your pup may become more
aggressive in response and end up winning the fight.