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PUPPY CARE INSTRUCTIONS
Caring for your new Yorkie.
These Puppy Care Instructions are to help you and your new puppy to have a happy healthy relationship.
The suggestions and tips that I give come from my own experiences and from information gathered from other yorkie
breeders and owners.
I have read many heartbreaking stories that could have been prevented with a little education.
I have read stories of yorkies getting broken legs from being dropped or from jumping from high places.
I have read heart breaking accounts from people who have accidentally, slammed a door on their puppy, or stepped on
the puppy when going down stairs or from stepping down off from a chair.
I’ve heard stories of yorkies being killed by kids kicking soccer balls, hitting baseballs, or shooting baskets, or
just wrestling or rough housing.
And the most frequent one, dogs being hit by cars or lost because they darted out the door or out of the car and ran
into traffic.
I’ve read stories of puppies dying from hypoglycemia, even though they took the puppy to the vet and the vet gave it
glucose to revive it. The owners took it home and still failed to make sure it was eating. It appeared tired so they
put it down for a nap and later it was dead. Glucose goes through the system very rapidly and the puppy still needs
to eat.
Some of these people spent a great deal of money for their puppy and within a very short time it was dead.
That is so tragic when it could have been prevented through a little education.
Along with your puppy, you get me for as long as we both shall live. If you have any questions or concerns,
feel free to call me or email me.
If for some reason, you can no longer care for your yorkie and need to rehome it, please contact me.
Jeanie Knapp
712-328-3932
CircleKRanch1@cox.net
How to Care for Your New Puppy
Your new little bundle of joy is just an infant. It has the same needs that an infant has; a warm, quiet place to sleep,
nutritious food, regular grooming, and lots and lots of love and patience
Your puppy is not a toy that can be played with when you want to play and then put aside when you get tired of playing
Your puppy needs constant supervision when not in a confined area.
.
Your puppy will respond to love and patience. It will cower and hide from loud noises and anything painful.
Just like an infant, it does not understand right from wrong, it does not understand human words and it does not pee
on the floor to punish you for leaving it alone.
Dogs don’t hold grudges, and you shouldn’t either. Dogs live in the moment. If you catch them in the act of doing
something wrong, a scolding will be effective, if you don’t catch them, it does no good to scold them, they won’t know
what they are being scolded for.
A dog makes very quick connections between cause and affect, sometimes not the connection that was intended.
Example of dog logic: Your puppy is peeing on the pee pad, and at that same instant you drop a pan on the floor,
or a child lets out a scream. The dog will make the connection between his peeing on the pad, and the frightening noise,
and might be hesitant to pee on the pee pad again. A Solution would be to try moving the pee pad to another spot
and see if that makes a difference.
Remember that your puppy is trying to learn your language while at the same time, teaching you their language.
He/she will watch your every move until they know your habits better than you know them yourself.
You need to try to get to know your dog as well as he/she knows you.
Always handle your puppy with kind, gentle hands. NEVER hit your puppy, he/she will only grow to fear your hands and
will cower or run away when you reach for it.
HOUSE TRAINING
Your puppy will be a baby for at least a year or longer. Do not expect it to be fully house trained before that time.
It might be trained sooner, if it is, then you are lucky. Just as with a child, house training is a gradual process.
It won’t happen overnight.
Just because you had one or two accident free days, does not mean they can be trusted.
Just because they are trained in one room of the house does not mean they are trained in another room.
Every room is a new world to them. As you allow them more and more freedom, you might have to retrain in every room.
However as they come to learn your commands it will get easier and they will catch on quicker.
There are many different methods. You can find information about house training on the internet.
The method you choose is up to you, but whichever one you choose, be consistent. If after a week or two, you have not
made any progress, than perhaps you should try another method.
Remember if the house training is not working, it is because you have failed to communicate, what you want,
to your puppy. It is not that your puppy is being stubborn. They really do want to please you. There is just a
communication barrier.
Your puppy comes to you trained to use pee pads. They are very good in confined areas, and fair in larger areas.
When I take them out of their pen for play, I have several pee pads around the room, and they will use them most of
the time.
GROOMING
Bathe your yorkie once a week. I use Crazy Pet Baby dog shampoo. It’s mild and it smells nice. Make sure to rinse
thoroughly. They also make a nice smelling spray to finish off with or to use to freshen up between baths.
Brush your puppy even though they don’t need brushing yet. This gets them used to it.
I also like to get them used to a blow dryer when they are small.
Trim their toenails regularly. If this frightens you, take them to a groomer or check with your vet. Most of them
charge a nominal fee to trim nails.
Trim the hair on their butts. This is important to prevent feces from becoming caked on, thus, preventing them from
being able to poop. This is a very common problem with long haired dogs, but can cause impaction if they are unable
to poop.
As the hair on their face gets longer, their eyes will get goopy at the corners, you can prevent this by trimming
those hairs, but if you want to let it grow out, you will need to clean their eyes regularly. They sell special wipes
for this. However, I just wet it with a wash cloth and use a fine tooth comb to comb it out.
Start brushing their teeth at an early age. I prefer the Petzlife Oral Gel, or the Petzlife Spray. It will help to
prevent tarter build up, bad breath and gum disease.
FEEDING
You must watch to make sure that your puppy is eating. The stress of going to a new home and getting over tired from
being handled by their new family can be overwhelming and cause them not to eat. This can cause hypoglycemia.
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) can be fatal if not caught quickly. If your puppy appears to be weak or lethargic
and has not been eating, give him/her Karo Syrup immediately. If they do not improve within 5 to 10 minutes, call your
vet.
I like to put Karo syrup in their water for the first week or two, until they get settled in, and I am sure that they
are eating.
Feed your new baby a good quality food. The cheaper foods have too much filler in them. I like to use those formulated
especially for the needs of a yorkie. The needs of a small breed dog and a large breed dog are very different.
Yorkies cannot handle the large amounts of protein that a large breed puppy needs to grow.
I let them free feed, keeping food in their bowl at all times. Most yorkies will not over eat.
If you want to switch foods do it gradually adding a little bit more of the new food each day while decreasing the
amount of the old food.
Never feed them table food. There are some people foods that they can eat but not all people foods.
They can have
Cooked boneless chicken
Cottage cheese
Boiled or scrambled eggs.
Cooked rice
Avoid giving them foods high in fat; their systems cannot tolerate that much fat and it can cause pancreaitis.
Foods NOT to feed your yorkie
Chocolate or caffeine
Onions or garlic
Mushrooms
Grapes or raisins
Macadamia nuts
Baby food
Bones
Cat food
Fat trimmings
Dairy products (except cottage cheese)
Raw eggs
Raw fish
SLEEPING
Your puppy needs a warm quiet place to go to get away from the family. Children should be taught not to disturb the
puppy if it is sleeping. A small travel crate is ideal for this. You can remove the door if you do not use the crate
for training or confinement when you are gone. These can be purchased at Wal-mart for under $20.00.
Expect your puppy to cry at night when left alone, he/she is used to littermates and will not like being alone.
If you plan to have your puppy sleep alone, you can expect several night of crying. They sell various products at the
pet stores such as stuffed animals with a warm pack inside that can be warmed in the microwave oven, or those that make
noises like a heartbeat to make the puppy think that they are not alone. Years ago they used to say to put a wind up
alarm clock in with them.
Your puppy is coming to you with his/her own blanket that has my scent on it as well as the scents of his litter mates.
This will also help to comfort him/her. Try not to have to wash it until your puppy is settled in.
If he/she has an accident on it and you have to wash it, try giving them a T-shirt that you have been wearing.
If moving their crate into your room, is an option, that will help some. But don’t start this if you don’t intend to
make it a permanent situation.
Some active play before bedtime will wear them out and they will sleep better.
The best advice that I can give you for puppies and children alike; don’t start anything that you don’t want to become
a habit.
SAFETY
When puppies are under your feet, learn to do the yorkies shuffle. They are so quick and can easily be injured if
stepped on.
Do not allow children to run or roughhouse when the puppy is around, they can trip and fall on the puppy causing
serious injury.
Have children sit on the floor when holding the puppy; they can wiggle out of the child’s arms and fall or jump to the
floor.
Be careful when closing doors, slamming a door on them can cause fatal injuries.
Put gates between your outside doors and your puppy. They can dart out of a door so quickly. If gates are not an
option, get into the habit of picking your puppy up when you open the door.
Never put a collar on your yorkie. Small breed dogs are prone to collapsed trachea, caused by collars.
Always use a harness.
Have you puppy spay/neutered. This can prevent a variety of health issues including cancer. They also make nicer
pets when you don’t have to worry about the little girls’ heat cycles or the little boys marking.
BAD HABITS
Don’t let bad habits get started. It’s much easier to prevent them than to correct them later.
Chewing: Make sure puppy has plenty of appropriate things to chew on so he/she will leave the furniture and kids shoes
alone.
Humping: Humping in the puppy stage is not a sexual thing, it is a dominance issue. To stop this behavior, you need
to act as the pack leader. When you catch the puppy, scold it or use your hand to simulate a dog’s mouth and nip
him/her in the shoulder, making a dogs snapping or snarling sound at the same time will be quite effective.
If it’s an object that can be removed from them, then temporarily take it away from them.
Barking: Barking is not something that ALL dogs do, nor is it the way they communicate. A dog that barks excessively
is an annoyance to everyone within earshot. Use the hand to nip at them as mentioned previously. Stand right over
the top of them until they stop. Some barking is normal and can even be a good thing, barking when someone drives
into the driveway for example. But the barking should stop as soon as you acknowledge that you are aware of the
incident or that you tell them to stop
Begging: Begging should never be encouraged or rewarded. The best way to deal with it is to ignore it and not give
in. Once you give in it will be much harder to make it stop.