| Home Available Puppies Sires Dams Vet's Comments Puppy Care Guarantee Puppy Growth Chart Testimonials Contact Us Site Map What to Expect | Puppy CareAt the AirportWhen you arrive at the airport, bring a towel, some bottled water with a tablespoon of honey (or white Karo syrup) dissolved into it, a small bowl, and some high carbohydrate treats. I recommend Honey Nut Cheerios, graham crackers, or chicken baby food. If your puppy weighs under 3 pounds you will need to guard agaist hypoglycemia. It is imperative that you get your puppy to drink some of the honey water as soon as he gets off the plane and/or eat a treat. If the puppy refuses both, open his mouth and place a few drops of the honey water in his mouth. If you have purchased a Yorkie puppy, you must bring a tube of Nutri Cal or Nutri Drops and put these into your puppy's mounth instead of the honey water.. More information about hypoglycemia can be found below. Bringing Your New Puppy Home-Day 1 Your new puppy is like a newborn baby and needs quiet time to adjust to his new home. You should introduce him to his new family quietly and one person at a time until he become adjusted. Let him sniff around and explore. Put his food and water in its permanate location and do not move it. Use a soft voice when first introducing yourself to your new puppy. Try to arrange your schedule so that you can stay home with your puppy for the first 48 hours. It is a good idea to limit your puppy to one room in your house for the first week. Puppies are forgetful and will forget where their food and water is located. It is best if you can locate their food and water near the areawhere you want them to potty if paper training, or near the door you want them to use if housebreaking. Small puppies will usually eliminate within 15 minutes of eating. They normally will pee first and then play for 5-10 minutes before finishing their duty so make sure you take them outside for 15-30 minutes after they eat. Visit the Vet-Day 3 By now your new puppy is beginning to adjust to her new home, will begin to recognize your voice, and is beginning to feel secure. It is a good time to take your new puppy to the Veternarian for her check up. Many timees your puppy will become frightened at the Vet's office. One way to reduce her fear is to take her in her pet taxi. Put familiar items in the pet taxi like her bed and a few toys. My favorite trick to reduce a puppy's fear of the Vet's office is to take a good supply of a favorite treat like liver snaps or a bacon flavored treat. Give your puppy very small, tiny bites of the treat every 5-10 minutes while at the Vet's office. This is guaranteed to make her associate the Vet's office with getting lots of treats. Don't forget to take your health records, and make a list of questions for your Vet. You must take your new puppy to the Vet within 72 house to validate your guarantee. Feeding Your New Puppy Your puppy is on a feeding schedule, just like a newborn baby. Housebreaking is much easier if you stay on a feeding schedule. However, you should NEVER let your new puppy go more than 6-8 hours without offering her food (prior to the age of 6 months). After 6 months of age, most puppies can go 8-12 hours without food.. Currently all puppies are eating Purina brand Puppy Chow at 7 am, 2 pm, and 9 pm. Food is left down for about 20 minutes and then I pick it up. I leave fresh water down all day and all night. Toy size puppies and puppies under 3 pounds should have about 1 tablespoon of Karo syrup or honey mixed into their water. Mix 1 tablespoon of syrup or honey with a 20 ounce bottle of water and make the water available to your puppy all day and all night until she reaches 3 pounds. All puppies should be fed food labeled for puppies until they reach 1 year of age. You may switch to regular dog food at age 1. Housebreaking One of the very best methods for housebreaking your new puppy is crate training. Your puppy will arrive in her very own crate. Crate training is not only the fastest method that I have used, but it also helps your puppy feel secure in her crate while you are gone to work. Your new puppy will be using a crate and a doggy door while she stays with me. I also tie a jingle bell to a string on the doggy door so that it jingles everytime she goes outside. When the doggy door is locked shut, most puppies will "ring the bell" to get my attention when they want to go outside. You can use this same trick on the door that you want your puppy to use. Hypoglycemia Hypoglycemia is very common in Yorkshire Terriers. It is less common in other breeds but can happen to any small puppy. Hypoglycemia is not a disease or sickness nor is it genetic or inherited. Hypoglycemia is the medical term for low blood sugar. It is a metabolic disorder and death will result unless properly diagnosed and cared for immediately. It is a problem seen most often in toy breeds and is usually found in tiny Yorkies or under weight puppies brought on by poor diet, failure to eat, stress, or parasites in some form. Hypoglycemia usually happens to puppies from 2-6 months old but it can happen to older toy breeds when they are subject to stress. Most puppies will outgrow hypoglycemia by 6-8 months of age or when they reach 3 pounds. SYMPTOMS: First signs are weakness, confusion, a wobbly gait, frothing or drooling and seizures are possible. The Yorkie puppy may begin to appear limp and lifeless. The gums and tounge will be grayish or very light pink (they should be a bright pink). The eyes may appear to be unfocused and unresponsive. Body temperature will drop and the puppy may or may not be shivering and trembling (during the early stages). If left untreated, the condition will get worse and the puppy will go into a a coma or start having convulsions. CAUSES: 1. Over-handling young puppies. Allow your puppy to sleep. Never wake a sleeping puppy. Puppies should sleep 85% of the time. Remember they are BABIES and need REST. Until your Yorkie is 4 months old, do not play for more than 20 minutes at a time with him. You can increase this to 30 minutes by 6 months of age. Then put him in his crate and allow him to rest. He is a BABY and does not know that he must rest---you must insist that he rest! By all means, check on him while he sleeps and make sure that he has honey water AT ALL TIMES--EVEN IN HIS CRATE OR PEN. 2. Change of home or environment or food. Hypoglycemia is usually first triggered by Yorkie puppies not eating a HIGH CALORIE FOOD or being subject to stress. Yorkies can become stressed by trips to the Vet, trip to the groomer, changes in home, daily outings, or skipping a meal. Limit these types of trips until your puppy is 18 months old. Because Yorkies are so small, they can't eat very much at a time so they must be offered more frequent meals during the day. Best case, you would offer a high calorie food every 3-4 hours and your puppy will eat 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon. High calorie and nutrient rich foods include: boiled liver, chicken baby food, premium puppy food (ask your Vet), beef baby food, bone meal mixed into canned dog food, and NutriCal or NutriDrops. TREATMENT: As the old saying goes "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" so it is best to make sure your Yorkie puppy is fed a high calorie, nutrient rich food 4-5 times per day, has honey water available at all times, gets enough rest and is confined in a small area while you are gone, not taken on unnecessary outings, and is kept warm. Should you find the need for treatment you MUST ACT QUICKLY to bring up your puppy's sugar level. Nutri Drops or NutriCal must be put in your puppy's mounth immediatley. If you do not have NutriDrops or NutriCal, use Karo syrup or honey. Rub the NutriCal or honey (or whatever you are using) on the puppy's tongue and roof of the month every 10 minutes. As soon as you have this in his mouth, go get a heating pad and set it on LOW. Wrap your puppy in a blanket or towel and then place him on the heating pad. Warmth is essential because puppies in the progressive stages of hypoglycemia rapidly lose body temperature and can go into a coma. Continue feeding every 10 minutes. Once you have your puppy warm, and have given him some NutriDrops, NutriCal, honey or Karo syrup, call your Vet and follow his recommendations. If you are unable to reach your Vet, do not panic. Continue giving you puppy the NutriDrops, NutriCal, honey or Karo syrup,every 10 minutes for the next hour (even if he seems better in only a few minutes) . He should begin to respond in under 30 minutes. Once your puppy is alert feed him wet food or baby food mixed with the Karo syrup. Always make fresh water available. |