Healthy & Happy Puppy Care Basics

This post and the tips for Puppy Care Basics is sponsored by Humankind 100% Human Quality food for dogs.  All opinions are my own.

Having a puppy can be a lot of work!  Be sure to review these puppy care basics to ensure you have everything you need for a smooth start with your new dog.

We had a rough start to the summer this year. Many of you have probably read about Molly here on the blog.  She was such an awesome dog and we lost her on the last day of school in June.  Her passing was a significant loss for all of us.

Molly was so very loved for all of her 14 1/2 years.  As the summer neared its end, I didn’t want the children to define that time by losing our family pet.  It was time… to get a new pup.

Molly was a rescue dog, and we knew that we would definitely get another shelter dog.  I began perusing the shelter feeds for pups and when I saw this guy…. well.

Welcome Hank Harding.  Notice the eyes?  Yep, they’re the same as Moll-dog’s, which to us, indicated it was meant to be.  Our hearts are full, our house is full, and now we’re just making sure to give him the foundation for a long and happy life.

It’s been awhile (well, about 15 years to be exact) since I’ve had a puppy, so I thought I’d share the top things to consider when bringing a new pup into your home.  It’s time to review the puppy care basics!

Healthy & Happy Puppy Care Basics

Pick a vet.  You’ll want one that’s convenient to your home or work.  You also want to make sure that the vet has the facilities you’ll need.  Do you need boarding as an option?  What about x-rays, emergency and weekend hours?  Plan on spending a good amount of time at the vet when you have a new puppy.  You’ll need to take them soon after adoption, then every few weeks in the beginning for all of the puppy shots.

Pick a quality food.  Our poor Hankie-Poo (sorry, you knew a nick name was a’ coming!), was undernourished in his first few weeks, so we knew we needed to get him quality calories ASAP.  We fell in love with Humankind food for dogs and transitioned him onto it during his first week home with us.

Humankind, is a natural, grain-free 100% Human Quality food for dogs. All ingredients and production processes comply with the highest FDA regulations for human edible food set by the US government. It’s real, nutrient-rich human quality food – the same food as you would find in a grocery store or restaurant.

The food has a clean label: no by-products, artificial preservatives, meals, or fillers of any kind.  There are also no GMO ingredients, no animal digest, no irradiated ingredients and no ingredients from China.  Humankind is complete and balanced for all life stages and breed sizes; available in three formulations based on the nutritional requirements for activity level:

• Active: for dogs with regular activity level, and weight
• Highly Active: for sporty dogs or dogs on the thin side
• Less Active: for couch potatoes or dogs with lots to love

We decided to give Hank food for Highly Active dogs, to help him fill out.  He’s growing so fast now, and I feel good knowing I’m making the best food-choice possible for him.

Be sure to click here to order Humankind® for your pet and use the code forksandfolly10 to save $10 off your order.

Pick a potty routine.  Ugh.  Like I needed to worry about more pee and poo in my life.  Depending on the size and age of your dog, you may choose to use puppy pads or just take your dog outside.  We went the outside route.  Because he’s so skinny, though, we had to get a bumper to put around his neck so he can’t get through our slats in the fence.  He doesn’t seem to mind. 😉

In the beginning we took him out about every 30 minutes.  We set the timers on our phone as reminders.  Now we’re up to about 45 minutes.  After a few weeks we still have a ways to go to claim 100% success, but we’re getting there.

Teach ’em the rules. Can they get on the couch?  Will they sleep with you?  Are they allowed upstairs?  Will you be crate-training?  What about jumping?  Yup…. you’ve got decisions to make.  It’s gonna be hard to retrain bad behavior, so you may as well commit to your rules upfront.  We set up boundaries like Hank can get on the couch as long as he’s with a person and is on a blanket.  He sleeps in his crate, and he stays downstairs.  Fingers crossed that’s how it stays! 🙂

Get them around other pups and people.  Molly never did well with other dogs.  I’m not sure how much of that was her personality or her exposure to other dogs.  Regardless, we’re working hard to make sure Hank is around as many dogs as possible as a young pup.  We obviously don’t have any problem exposing him to kids.  Just keep in mind that puppies that haven’t had all of their vaccines shouldn’t be taken to dog parks, pet stores, greenways or anywhere that they might be exposed to unvaccinated dogs that could pass on disease to their vulnerable systems.

Planning on adding a sweet pup to your family?  Please check out Humankind food for digs to give your pet the best quality food and whole food nutrition.  Learn more here.

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