Providing your puppy with love and care is essential as they are growing up. I live in California, and my puppies for sale are taken care of every day until they are sold, and then that responsibility falls onto your shoulders. In order to support you, I've written this puppy care guide, hoping to instill new pet owners with a sense of knowledge and confidence; two helpful qualities to have when providing the right care to a delicate young dog. This guide can be used for any small breed dog but I will be referencing Chihuahuas throughout.
Once a Chihuahua puppy reaches 6 months of age, their immune system matures and they become quite tenacious, no longer requiring special care from you. Until that age however, you will need to take certain precautionary steps to ensure that your puppy stays happy and healthy. Depending on the size of the Chihuahua, you may have to be more wary than usual. The smaller the puppy, the less room for error you will have in his or her care.
Pet Safe Heating Pad
Does your house get cold during the winter? Do you leave the air
conditioning on during hot days to keep your home cool? These are
two questions you can ask yourself to determine if your puppy needs
a heating pad or not. Generally, temperatures that are below 72F
I would recommend having a heating pad for your puppy.
Now there are two types of heating pads you can get for a dog. One is
made for humans, the other specifically for dogs. Clearly if you have the option, you should go for the dog heating pad. The difference between the two is the maximum temperature they're capable of reaching.
Human heating pads generally run much hotter than the dog heating pads, even on lower settings. A dogs' heating pad will typically stay at a comfortable heat level, or at least should. If you have the option, go for the one designed for dogs.
Sometimes, regardless of whether its a human or dog heating pad, the temperatures can prove to reach and stay uncomfortably high. Help lower the heat levels by wrapping a pillow case around the pad, or put a cloth/towel on top of it. This should make it safe enough for your puppy to sleep on. You'll have to be the judge when it comes to temperature. Turn the heating pad on, wait a few minutes and measure how hot it is, then adjust accordingly.
After the above steps are complete, The comfort of your Chihuahua puppy will significantly skyrocket as they joyfully snuggle up to their heat generating pad. But danger has not eluded your warm puppy just yet, it still lingers nearby, waiting for its chance to strike.
What's the danger? It's the electrical cords that are spread out in people's houses. Given enough time, puppies can easily chew through most cords. Imagine at night while you are in sitting in bed, your puppy decides to start snacking on some not so delicious electrical wires. I'm no expert, but I'll assume those offer no health benefits.
If a puppy chews deep enough into an electrical cord, the outcome is predictable. They'll suffer an electric shock and because of their small size, the shock can be deadly. Such tragedy must be prevented, and the prevention method is easy: use a cord cover. Buy a cover that's hard enough to where even the jaw of a determined Maltipoo/Morkie puppy won't stand the slightest chance. After all potential life threatening electical cords are safely covered, your puppy is one step closer to staying alive and remaining injury free!
There is another safety tip you must know. It's important, so listen carefully! A heating pad should not cover the entire bottom area of the puppies playpen, carrier, or bed. A delicate teacup puppy needs the option of stepping off onto cooler flooring, otherwise they'll be stuck on a heated surface forever, and that sounds mighty uncomfortable, doesn't it?
Resting Time for Your Puppy
When a new Chihuahua puppy enters your home for the first time, they
may act timid or bashful. Do you know why? It's because of
the new unfamiliar environment they've are inbeen thrown into. Since
everything feels so different, stress becomes a major factor for them. The
stress alters their behavior, making them appear to be shier than usual.
Don't be so sad! As with many things, the stressful obstacle that
impedes the behavioral path of your puppy will soon be cured with the
healing properties of time! Meanwhile, continue encouraging the puppy
to explore your home.
Before long, your house will feel just like home to them, and their
behavior should shift straight from shyness to confidence. I predict it'll
take a few days until they feel content enough to start truly running around and wagging their little tail in glee.
With your puppy's newfound excitement, they'll want to explore every inch of your home, and with exploration comes exercise! Exercise is important in tiny puppies, but you need to be careful! Similar to a growing child, young dogs can overdo it and not realize when it's time to rest. You'll have to carefully watch to make sure they get a suitable amount of rest. For every 1-2 hours of play time, a puppy should rest around 2 hours.
Speaking of rest, puppies need plenty of it. You should set up a place somewhere for your little puppy to rest at. Where is an ideal location for that? Preferably a quiet area of your home that's not too busy. If you have a playpen set up for the puppy, make sure to have the following inside: a heating pad, a blanket, dry food and water, and possibly some toys to keep them busy if they ever get bored.
There are a few areas in your home a resting place should not be located near. Some examples would be a place near a drafty area like a fan, vent or door. Unsafe areas such as next to a furance or fireplace are also ill-advised. I recommend a playpen for the first 2 months for your new puppy.
Socialization of Your Puppy
Having a puppy socialize with both animals and humans are critical when
trying to develop a gentle, friendy attitude. My teacup Chihuahua puppies for sale
in California are already off to a fantastic start in the attitude department,
as I interact with them on a daily basis, showing them plenty of love and care
as they grow.
Once they reach a certain age, I introduce social elements into their lives by
placing them in with other puppies of the same age. It's here they learn to
socialize with other animals. The mixture of being together with other puppies
and receiving daily attention from me encourages the development of a
friendly and loving attitude towards all involved.
After my puppies leave my care, it's then your
turn to show the puppy how much you care. You can accomplish this by
toying around with them when they are in a playful mood; giving them attention whenever you have time; and keeping them safe from potential dangers in or out of your home. Remember, a puppy's personality can be molded by how you act towards them. Show your tiny puppy some love, and they will most certainly mirror the emotion back.
Children and Carrying Your Puppy
What would you do if you were stuck on a rollercoaster at an amusement park and started to feel nauseous? The man in charge of the ride refuses to let you off. What a nightmarish situation to be in! If you arn't careful, an alarmingly similar incident can befall your Chihuahua puppy, because children absolutely love to carry around small pets.
Having a new pet puppy is a super exciting thing to experience, especially for kids.
It's understandable that having a new pet puppy is an exciting experience, especially for the kids! Understandably then, children will have the tendancy to pick up a small, light-weight puppy and carry them around from place to place. This is an unfortunate situation for the puppy, and possibly dangerous. Why? Similar to the amustment park ride, a puppy may become nauseous bouncing up and down repeatedly while a child carries them around, unable to get off when they probably want to. The nausea may cause your puppy to be apprensive about eating. If they don't eat, then low blood sugar has the opportunity to rear its ugly head.
With that in mind, try your best to block the effots, or at least limit the amount of time your children can carry your small puppy around. A puppy wants to explore with their 4 feet firmly planted on the stable ground below, so let them!
And when it comes to exploring, a puppy should do so at a light pace. A puppy does not need the complete run of your entire household, especially if you arn't fully aware of areas in your home that may be dangerous for them. Restrict your puppy to areas you know are safe, and hinder them from going to places you arn't sure of.
Flea Medication
Fleas! A filthy insect that not only steals blood from you, your family, and pet puppy, but they can also cause medical problems for all inolved. At some point, everyone has to deal with these annoying parasites. What is the most effective way?
The best way, I've found, is to use Frontline or Advantage, given on the nap of the neck every 2 months. It's safe, effective, and lasts a good amount of time. Flea medications you should avoid are ones given through the mouth, as these can be even more dangerous to your puppy than the fleas themselves.
Nutrical
Puppies can burn through calories at an extemely rapid pace because of how active they always are. This is dangerous, because at times, the amount of calories they burn through exceeds the amount they take in. When that happens, your puppy may get low blood sugar.
One way to prevent this from happening is using a calorie supplement, known as Nutrical. Give your tiny Chihuahua some of this during the middle of the day, once a day. Learn more about Nutrical and other useful food commodities you should have.
There! Now you are better informed on how to care for your new, delicate and tiny Chihuahua puppy, as well as your puppy! I hope you utilize this information to the fullest and guarantee your teacups grow into healthy, full grown dogs for you and your family.
Keep your puppy at a comfortable
temperature.
Caring For Small Puppies - How To Guide
I'm an experienced California Chihuahua breeder, selling teacup puppies of extremely high caliber. That's right, while my puppies are of high quality, they are very small in size. Smaller dogs require special care since they are more fragile than bigger breeds. No worries though, because if you are wondering how to care for small dogs, then I've got the guide for you! Just go to our puppy care... wait a minute, you're already on our puppy care page!
Then you probably already know that this page has advice and information on puppy care, right? If not, scroll up and start reading! New owners will learn how to better care for their new pet, which might happen to be one of our Chihuahua puppies.
Feeding Small Puppies - How To Guide
Shipping straight from California, my small Chihuahua puppies for sale are healthy eaters. You want your puppy to eat, because they need all the nutrition they can get. Do you know what supplies you should have available to help you effectively feed smaller dogs? Things like Esbilac puppy milk, Nutrical, and Karo syrup are only a few of the helpful food tools available to you. If you'd like to know more about these items and more on feeding small puppies, then read our feeding instructions for puppies - a useful guide for new dog owners.
Hypoglycemia in Small Dogs - Low Blood Sugar In Puppies
Do you know what symptoms to look for with low blood sugar in small puppies? Hypogylcemia in dogs is usually brought on by an underlying sickness that prevents the puppy from eating.
Another factor that causes a lack of appetite is stress. Sometimes, the Maltipoo puppies I sale, and puppies, might become stressed for a few days when moving into a new home. This is normal, and doesn't always cause a lack of appetite, but it can. To safeguard your pet from hypoglycemia, learn how to treat it and even better, prevent it from ever happening.
Vaccine Schedule For Puppies - Vaccinations For Small Dogs
I'm a teacup Maltipoo breeder, and using vaccinations in small dogs is important and so is knowing the side effects of using too much. If you'd like to learn more on the vaccine schedule I use for the puppies I sell, and the dangers of giving too many vaccinations at once, then visit this page.
Veternarians sometimes give a young puppy 5-8 different vaccines at the same time, and follow those up with a Rabies shot. Reckless behavior like this can be fatal, learn more dangers!
