Even after your puppy receives her vaccinations and seems to be immunized from many common puppy problems, there are other potential puppy health problems.  Pay a lot of attention to your puppy every day, examining her frequently to see if there are any health issues that need to be addressed. Taking care of your puppy’s health early and catching a problem before it spreads is the best way to insure she will stay healthy and happy.

Whether you buy a puppy from a breeder, pick up your puppy at the pound or get a puppy from a friend, you need to make sure you’re making the right decision. You also need to make sure that before you even bring her home that you prepare your house for a new puppy and get ready for that all important puppy’s first night.

After you’ve brought your puppy home and begin some basic puppy training, you will also want to think about your young dog’s health including basic concerns like fleas and ticks and of course the all important puppy immunization. You can find additional good advice for a new puppy here.

If you are not able to determine the type of insect, either flea or tick, then may have to consult a veterinarian. Possible help can be found here for flea and tick treatments .

The time that your puppy should first be vaccinated varies from breed to breed and even for different litters. The earliest you’d want to immunize a puppy is about 5-6 weeks, but some puppies won’t receive one until about 15 weeks or so.  You really should consult with a veterinarian to find the proper course of action.  Also, consider the window of susceptibility of your puppy also.  this is the time that your puppy is still susceptible to a disease or illness despite receiving an immunization or vaccination.

Once you’ve decided to bring a new puppy into your family, you have to change a lot of the things you’ve been doing, including your schedule, but most importantly your own home. From your puppy’s first night onward you need to make sure you home is safe and comfortable for your puppy, before you even begin thinking about how to potty train a puppy.

Of course you want to remove anything that could hurt your young dog, but you also want to keep things out of her reach that she could ruin.  A new puppy will likely chew on things left laying around the house.  I once had my new leather wallet chewed apart including some of the card inside. Get down on the floor, at the level your puppy will be seeing the world, to get a good perspective on what she’ll see.

Puppies will also chew on things like books, electrical cords, purses and other items left laying around. It’s a good idea to take a thorough sweep of your house and remove any small item that might get chewed on and ruined or even possibly swallowed.

• Make sure your garbage is not accessible to prying little noses.
• Be sure that all toxic cleaning materials are safely locked away.
• Find out if any of your house plants are toxic to dogs, and if so, keep them out of reach or even give them to a friend.
• Tie up the cords to your curtains and drapes.
• Block off any rooms that you don’t want your puppy to have access to.
• Keep electrical cords out of reach, safely tucked behind furniture. Unplug anything that doesn’t have to be plugged in.

For the first couple days certainly, but perhaps even longer, your new puppy will need to be heavily supervised. Don’t leave your puppy alone in the house for any extended length of time. If you need to step away for a short bit, you can get an exercise pen, a crate or simply choose a small room where she can be safe. Don’t rely on this for any great period of time. Your puppy has a small bladder at this point and will likely not be able to hold it for long.

Of course, house training your dog is going to involve more than just a being patient and following a schedule.  You need to have some idea what exactly it is that you’re doing when you try to potty train your puppy.  You also need to understand that accidents do happen.  You can’t expect this new puppy to just naturally understand what’s going on.

Get on a Housetraining Schedule ~  Figure out when your puppy needs to go and get on that schedule.  Stick to a routine and make sure you’re available during those times.  Understand that your puppy will have to go more frequently the younger it is.  You’ll probably have to get up during the night when she is very young but this will get better with age.  Make sure you let your puppy go outside the very first thing in the morning.  Don’t wait until it’s too late.  If you’re going to be away for an extended period of time, especially early in your puppy’s life, make sure she has easy access to wherever you want her to go or find someone to help you out.

Make Opportunities Happen ~  Take your puppy outside to go to the bathroom even if she’s not showing signs of needing to go.  If you give her the opportunity to go the bathroom outside, she might just realize she can go out there.

Repetitive Housetraining ~ As part of your routine, pick the same spot to go outside and use the same words.  Then, if your puppy goes outside make sure there’s lots of praise and attention.  Make sure she knows she’s doing something right.  You can give her encouraging words or a little treat or whatever it is you use to praise your puppy.

What Goes in Must Come Out ~ You need to not only stick to a puppy housetraining routine but a feeding routine as well.  Pay attention to when you can best feed your puppy and then how long afterwards she might need to go to the bathroom.

Accidents Happen ~ Of course your puppy will have an accident or two…or four or five.  Don’t freak out and don’t lose hope.  If you catch your puppy going in the house make a loud noise, but don’t scare her, and some sort of command like “Potty” or “Outside” and try to get to the potty spot outside so she can finish.  Then don’t forget to offer some more praise and let her know she did a good thing.

Don’t yell at her, rub her nose in the mess or hit her.  These will not work but will only make your dog afraid of you and possibly make it difficult for her to go to the bathroom in front of you, even outside.  If you find a mess, just clean it up extremely well so she doesn’t think this is the new bathroom spot.

You need to remain patient with you puppy whenever you’re trying to her new things. This includes not only teaching her new puppy tricks or other training exercises, but also house breaking your puppy. If you get angry and rub your puppy’s nose in her mess or strike your dog in any way, you’ll only slow down the training process and possible create other behavioral problems in your dog.

Although every puppy is different when it comes to house training, most young dogs are not able to control their bladder very well until usually about 6 months of age.  Therefore, you need to take a different approach to training your puppy when they are very young. Part of the early process, when your puppy is under three months old, is really just training yourself.  You need to develop a schedule as well as learn to recognize the warning signs that your puppy needs to go.

After your puppy turns three months old, she can hold it a little longer, usually about the number of hours that correspond to her age in months, but a puppy running around the house playing is likely to go at just about any point. Crate training will help in this regard because she will hold it a bit longer in the confines of a crate, but do not overly rely on this.

After six months of age your puppy will have much greater control over her need to go potty and you can usually complete house training in a short period of time. You’ll still need some patience and a solid plan, but you should certainly be able to house train any puppy that is at least six months old.

You can find some good tips on house training your new dog at the article on how to potty train a puppy.

Everything is new and exciting and the happy puppy is a bundle of cute joy.  She will bound around the house, sniffing here and there–looking for new scents and discoveries.  The kids will want to play with your puppy and your puppy will play right back.  Everything is good!

Then, your puppy’s first night at home comes.  Your puppy is pooped out and seems tired and ready for bed.  You may have set aside a little place, perhaps a little dog crate, for your puppy to spend the night.  Everything seems great…until your puppy realizes she’s all alone that is.  Remember, she’s been curling up to a bunch of other, snuggly litter mates for the past few weeks and mom is always nearby with a steady heartbeat and some warm milk.  Now your puppy is alone.  Sure, she has her new family, but you’re all in your own beds…trying to sleep.  So, the puppy begins to cry…and whimper…and whimper more and cry and so on.  It will be a pitiful little noise and your heart will break.

There are many different ways to handle your puppy’s first few nights.  You can try to ignore her.  You can stay up all night trying to make her calm and sleepy.  You can get up occasionally, trying to remind her that she’s not alone.  Perhaps there’s really no right answer, but most experts agree that you should establish your routine right away.  You need to establish the boundaries and rules that you expect your puppy AND you to live by.

Generally speaking, it is probably best not to let your puppy sleep in your bed the first week…unless it is something you plan on continuing forever.  You should also probably not ignore your puppy the entire first night.  Tough love has its place, but your puppy’s bladder is very small and she may need to use the potty occasionally.  Keeping her in a crate or tethered with a short leash near your bed will generally keep her from voiding during the night as dogs do not like to go where they sleep; but, she will not be able to hold it all night.  You have to help her out.

If the crying and whining persists you can give your puppy some gentle reassurance that everything is okay, but don’t overdo it.  Eventually, she will learn that crying is not leading to anything and she will probably stop.  It might take an hour or so…or it might take a few nights, but eventually she’ll get it.  Most of all, stay consistent and patient.  Do not yell one moment and rub her belly the next.  If you find yourself getting upset, take some deep breaths and count to ten or something.  Remember, this is your puppy’s new home and you’ve brought her here.  You need to provide the best environment you can and show her how comfortable and loving her new home will be.