1. Watch closely to ensure that your dog is attentive to her new pups. For the first week, she will spend most of her time with them. A healthy dog will be interested in her puppies, and happy to have them nurse.
- Ensure the puppies have a clean, safe place to nurse. Make sure bedding is clean and dry. Move the whelping box out of high traffic areas.
- Keep the whelping box warm. Ideally, the temperature should be around 85 degrees Fahrenheit for the puppies' first week. If your home is warmer than that, bring in a fan to keep the puppies cool. In cooler weather, bring a heating unit nearby to make sure the new pups are kept warm.
- Clip the puppies' nails to prevent them from scratching their mother.
2. Assist in the weaning process. Within the third week, puppies will start to be able to lap liquids. When this occurs, they can start to be weaned. Offer milk replacement for one meal per day. This will help teach them to "lap" liquids, as well as supplementing their nutritional intake. After two days of this, begin to mix milk replacement together with puppy food to create a very mushy meal.[11]
- Continue to gradually increase the amount of solid food over time. The texture of the food should go from soup to Cream-of-Wheat to oatmeal within about a week's time.
- Puppies will continue to nurse as they are weaned. By week 6, they should be offered soft, moist food as well as puppy kibble. Puppies should be completely weaned by week 8.
3. Offer stimulating toys. Puppies will be increasingly aware of their surroundings beginning in the third week. They will start to develop teeth, and the need to chew. You can help them by providing toys to focus their attention, and stimulate their play skills.
- Start to accustom the puppies to the sounds of everyday life. Bring in new people, one at a time, to play with the pups. Turn on your household radio near the puppies for 5 minutes at a time.[12]
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