New Parents

INFO for New Parents: also see "Your Puppy" for a review.

Artificial Sweetners in food , snacks or GUM will KILL YOUR DOG!! "Xylitol"

Google "Xylitol Warning"

"Xylitol" causes the dogs insulin to drop and then it destroys their liver quickly.

AND all those cutsey, yummy lookin dog treats you buy at the local store. My personal opinion, its not good for your dog. If you want your dog to have a snack/treat, boil him/her a chicken tender! OR give him a toddler chicken stick.

I try to tell you everything to make your life easier with your new puppy.

In case I miss something, here are tips you might need to know. ( I will add them as they come to mind) Some of these are situations I have experienced and am trying to prevent happening again. I want the best for my babies above all else!

Down the page is a "quick list" of must haves when you bring your puppy home

Please be sure of your decision, deposits are NON refundable. You are free to back out of the adoption, but I keep your deposit. I will not accept checks or pay pal anymore.

    My poodles main food is dry food.  A few times a year for a few weeks they get cottage cheese w/diatomaceous earth mixed in and another goodie added, something different each day.

   Puppies sometimes have 'stress coccidia' which is usually treated with Albon.  Most test positive with no symptoms. All dogs have coccidia in their gut. Stress brings it out. Weaning and/or going to a new home oftentimes brings it out. I suggest to have Albon ready to give to your puppy when you bring it home. Or you can wait and see. Sometimes I send it home with them as a preventive, suggested by my vet.

     An easy way to tell if your tiny dog is eating the dry Euk small breed Puppy food is: just cover the bottom of the bowl with the food, no kibble jumbled up, all smooth across the bottom of shallow bowl. That way you can tell if any kibble is gone.

     Do NOT feed your lil dog COLD Food!! Warm it! It takes lots of energy for a lil dog to digest food. If the food is cold, it puts a HUGE strain on their system. I warm my poodle food on top of the stove. I do NOT microwave for my poodles!

     IF you have kids or grandkids that are afraid of puppies/dogs, do NOT get a dog UNLESS you are willing to put that puppy/dog first above the kids. The puppy/dog needs to be protected. Dont get the puppy then find out the kid is afraid and then have to uproot the puppy's life and get rid of it!

     TEACUP: (3 1/2 lb and under) Teacups need a "Stay At Home Mom" , at least for the first 8 months of their life. Usually by 8 months old they are eating well and can be left alone for a few hours. I believe they need to be checked on at lunch. My personal opinion is, if you have the leave the baby home alone for the whole day, you should not have a teacup.

     If you are adopting a teacup, you need to have everything ready before you bring the baby home. Have the formula made up, have babyfood chicken meat, have vanilla yogurt and cottage cheese, nutri-cal or nutri-stat, karo syrup, human baby playpen, potty pads and make sure you have discussed with your vet that you are adopting a teacup.

     If your puppy or tiny dog gets a knock on the head whether is knocked out or addled or fine, rub karo syrup on its gums immediately. It might not do a thing for it, but again, it might just save its life.

    If you have a tiny puppy/dog, or even a toy size puppy, Nutri Stat is your friend!! During stressful times, or play times, or right before bed, I give a dollop or two. It keeps their sugar up and gives them a nutritional boost. Keeps them from going down. I also use it for "good potty" treats when they were young.

      No matter what size your puppy is, for the first few weeks make sure they eat every few hours. Any size can go down with a sugar drop (hypoglycemia) if they dont eat. Feed first thing morning,and last thing before bed, and several times inbetween. Make sure you see them eating their dry food!!!!

   Don't let your TINY dogs jump off the bed. If they break a leg, its a long EXPENSIVE recovery.

   Dont give your puppy the run of the house until they are almost a year old.

    My poodles drink distilled or reverse osmosis water only, even the water I mix in their food.

NEVER artificial sweetners in anything you give to your dog. * Xylitol * will kill your dog pretty quick! Its in lots of health food also, and in sugar free gum.

    Cottage cheese is a great bed time snack! So is Activia Vanill Yogurt.

   Puppies and tiny dogs need to be in their crate or play pen when you are not home.

     Canned Pumpkin Pie Filling (its the cinnamon and cloves that work so well) or canned Plain Pumpkin is GREAT for loose stool. I feed it from a spoon. My poodles know how to eat off a spoon! You can also mix Plain Canned Pumpkin in their food for filler for overweight dogs. Its great fiber and they love it.

    For chicken or chicken and rice I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts OR chicken tenderloin. Whole chickens or the broth from boiling a whole chicken is too much fat. Canned broth is too salty. For ground beef I use 93% lean and scramble in a tiny bit of coconut oil.

     If your puppy wont eat, MIX UP THE FORMULA!! Dont wait for it to go down with a sugar drop. It's a long way back!

    What makes your dog fat?? YOU DO! You feed him/her too much. Wet food makes dogs fat coz its too easy to overfeed wet food. Dry food is better for their teeth, or so I hear. Its OK to give a little wet food, but they should be eating more dry than wet.

     Fleas are almost a given in the Southern states, but they dont have to ruin your life! Nowdays there are too many products on the market to use to keep them away. I use Frontline. I buy the ex large tubes and empty it into a clean baby food jar. I never use the full amount , which is .6 cc (thats a hair bit over half cc) Even on Bella I only use about half cc. On the tiny ones I use .3 to .4 cc. Use a ONE cc syringe.(obviously NO needle)

If you have one dog, you can buy one tube and it will last you nearly all summer long.

         NEVER EVER use flea shampoo on your dog. It dries out their skin and makes them scratch more than they did with the flea! Put them in the sink/tub cover them with Dawn, thick and slick rub it in good. Wrap them in a towel, hold them for about 15 min, rinse and the fleas will be dead.

        I spray my yard with tobacco juice brew. I take a large cheap package of chewing tobacco, put in an old piece of panty hose and tie each end. Drop in a gallon of distilled water to boil for 5 min. Cover and steep for a few hours. Pour back into the emtpy water jug. It will keep for months. I use one cup of brew and one cup of lemon dish soap in hose-end sprayer.

If you want you can add fresh garlic to the bag of tobacco. It really stinks up the place!

     Fleas in your house? If your dog is always covered with oodles of fleas, you have fleas in your house. Most People are in denial about this. I lightly sprinkle diatomaceous earth along the baseboards, in the carpet. It lasts for ever as long as it stays dry. Just dont breathe it. If you are remodeling or building, you can put it heavy in wall. In some areas the builders put several inches under the house and that house NEVER has bugs! I use Food Grade and order online. Some feed stores carry it. I need to find one! Its cheaper.

      I also use DE for fire ants too, it gets rid of them quick, they run like they are on fire!

  *******RAWHIDE UPDATE:******* I have ordered Bully Sticks to see how that goes. I'll let ya know (4/19/09 ) I did like them, but making sure that 15 poodles have a bully stick to chew is very expensive.

Ive decided to go back to rawhide. the big long pieces , under supervision, and throw away when half gone. Ive read really horrible horror stories about the nylabones. They chew or break the nylon off and eat it. It is rough and irritates their insides and some die. I do have a few of the really hard nylabones I have kept, but the softer, puppy nylabones are gone,

G O N E   gone.

BLANKETS: I love the polar fleece blankies! However, if you buy one with the 'thread' trim around the edge, please rip it off! Puppies or chewing dogs can get that string/thread wrapped around their neck and .......

You may find a less expensive puppy somewhere else, but you wont find one that has been better cared for than my babies!

more to come............