What common health problems could you face as you raise a litter of puppies from 6 to 12 weeks old? Find out here and save yourself heartache, vet bills, and pain for the puppy!
Educating yourself in advance is what makes you an ethical dog breeder!
Illness Caused by a Dirty Environment
By far the most common health problem during this phase is caregivers giving up on cleaning the puppy areas.
I know, one puppy poop can make the whole house smell like a stinky diaper. I STILL insist that the safest way for puppies to be raised is in a clean, sanitary, and fresh environment.
It keeps illness away- which is a much bigger problem than cleaning.
Besides, it’s healthier for your family and shows your customers that you truly care for the pups.
No matter how much work it is, I would never allow my babies to be raised in filth. We MUST keep the puppy environment sanitary no matter how hard it is to do so.
Parvo and Other Contagious Illnesses
Since a litter of puppies grow up in a group setting, illness can easily spread to the entire log.
Exposing the puppies to other dogs, dogs’ feces, or any contaminated surface can cause deadly illness in puppies- you never know what illness exists right outside your door.
Keep the puppies home, ask visitors to wash their hands, keep the puppy area sanitized, and vaccinate the puppies to decrease risks. Remember that a pup is not fully vaccinated until he has had 3 rounds of vaccinations- including his rabies shots, which is usually completed around 12-16 weeks old depending on your vet.
The most common vaccination schedule is every 3 weeks beginning around 6-10 weeks old. For example, if the pup received his first vaccinations at 7 weeks old, he will need the next round at 10 weeks old and the last around 13 weeks old.
NEVER skip vaccinations!
Plan ahead to help the puppy travel to his forever family without exposing the pup to illness (hopefully after a few more weeks with mom and litter mates).
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Health Problems in the Form of Physical Defects
Around 6-8 weeks old, ethical dog breeders have ever single pup vet checked to assess their overall wellness.
The vet may discover health problems during the wellness check, such as an umbilical hernia (that’s where the umbilical cord doesn’t heal properly, leaving a tiny weak spot in the abdomen where you can feel the squishy guts instead of muscle).
No matter what the health problem is, if a vet identifies any issue with a puppy’s health, tell the family immediately. Communicate clearly, allow the family the opportunity to select a different pup if they would prefer to, and discount the price for a pup with any physical defects. That allows the family to use their money for vet bills to care for the dog instead of paying me.
Find out if the defect is genetic- in that case, you may not want to breed those parents again.
Be sure that you find a forever family that can meet any unique needs of that particular pup.
If there is no family who can meet her long-term needs, you are responsible to be her loving forever home and care for her. If you don’t want that kind of commitment, don’t have a litter of puppies.
Parasites
Be sure to keep up on your vet’s recommendations for routine deworming to prevent any parasite infestations. Worms are incredibly common- they can be in stagnant water, in other dogs’ feces, in any area contaminated by wild animals (raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, birds), and even passed to puppies through mom’s milk.
Most dogs get parasites at some point, so prevention is key. Ask your vet what age to deworm, what variety of worms/parasites live in your area, and how to recognize an infestation early.
Remember that parasites are communicable to humans- meaning you can get them too, so wash your hands a lot!
If you see signs of parasites, visit the vet quickly for a fecal float.
NEVER send a puppy home if he’s got worms- you’ve got to eliminate them before sending the pup home.
Diarrhea- A Sign of Many Health Problems
If your puppies have diarrhea follow these steps:
Step 1: Assess if the puppies are dehydrated- solve his first.
Next Step: Visit the vet for a fecal float and treatment of any current parasites (which can cause diarrhea).
On to Number 3: Increase the temperature of the puppy area to keep everyone warm, especially during and after meals. This helps digestion.
Step 4: Consider the puppies’ diets- are they eating quality food? Did we make any changes to their diet too quickly? Do any puppies show signs of allergies? Are the puppies overeating?
Final Step: Realize that the puppies’ guts will heal slowly over a few weeks. As you help puppies heal after having diarrhea, these foods can be soothing to their stomachs: Canned/unsweetened pumpkin puree, cooked rice, warm broth, and cooked chicken with no seasonings.
Remember to introduce any new food slowly and always talk to your vet first. Ask your vet if a probiotic could help as well.
If you want more detailed information about how to stop diarrhea, check out this post.
Don’t forget to train all the puppies’ forever families so that they know what to do if the pup gets diarrhea after the transition home- which is a common side effect of a stressful life change.
Forgetting to Loosen Collars
Maybe this doesn’t sound like health problems at first, but it absolutely can cause them!
Forgetting to loosen the collar could cause a pup to suffer from difficulty breathing or swallowing. Collars get too tight as the puppies grow very quickly- consider checking them at least once a week, maybe more often.
A collar should be loose enough to slip 1-2 fingers between the collar and the pup’s neck.
Similarly, don’t allow the collar to hang too loose- it could get caught on something and restrict the pup’s breathing.
Injuries from Falling or Rough Play
These are the worst health problems that I have personally experienced!
Falling is very dangerous for puppies and could cause long-term damage. Rough play can cause injuries to eyes, ears, or other delicate body parts.
If a pup is hurt, inform his family immediately, always have him vet checked- even if you think the injury isn’t serious.
Never send a puppy home with an injury- keep that puppy with you until she is completely healed and then she can transition to her forever home.
My Sad Story
I made this mistake once when I was new to breeding- I accidentally dropped a pup when she wiggled in my arms as I carried her outside for a potty break (that was my first mistake- I now use a tall laundry basket to carry several pups outside at once without them jumping out).
After the fall, she was favoring one leg, but it didn’t seem that bad. The pup was supposed to go home that same day!
I called her family right away and told them.
My (crappy) solution was to offer them three choices: 1) I could keep the pup until I could get her to the vet on Monday (it was a weekend), 2) I could keep the pup and they could select a puppy from my next litter (all the other siblings already had families), or 3) I would let them take the puppy home and discount the price for my accident (remember- I really thought the pup was going to be ok, it didn’t seem that bad at the time).
I wish I had never offered that third option.
They chose to take her home, but the injury turned out to be worse than I thought.
It was a horrible headache, ruined relationships, but worse of all it was trauma for that pup. I would never do it that way again- ever.
It would have been so much better to only offer the first two options and take full responsibility for the problem myself- and take better care of my baby until she was fully healed.
Poorly Navigating the Fear Period of Development
From week 7 to week 11, puppies go through a Fear Period- a developmental phase where they are less open to new things and more likely to develop long-term fears.
Navigating this period poorly results in not only HEALTH problems, but EMOTIONAL problems for your pup.
This could happen at your home or the forever family’s home. The best thing to do is prevent this situation by #1 providing desensitization exercises during the appropriate developmental phase and #2 avoiding new experiences during the Fear Period.
(No wonder 12 weeks old is the safest age for a pup to transition to his forever family!)
If a pup seems traumatized by something new, it’s best to give the pup space from that scary thing.
After the pup has had some time to calm down, you could try gentle exposure to help the pup realize that the item or sound isn’t as scary as it seemed- but this is much more particular of a process than before because we’re addressing an existing trauma. If we were slow and gentle before, we’re 10x as slow and gentle now. It’s vital that the pup have fun and zero signs of nervousness during the process.
If a pup can be gradually reintroduced to the sound or item in a positive and fun way, he may overcome his fear.
Some dogs may live with that fear for the rest of their lives.
Other Problems (Not Health Problems) to Avoid
#1: Stay in constant communication with each puppy family, sending updates and pictures of their baby but also to educate and prepare them.
We aren’t taking chances that these people will know what to do when their pup comes home. There’s no wishful hoping that they’ll do the appropriate research and learning. We are going to be sure of it by supplying the information right into their hands!
If you want an easy way to educate and prepare your family, just send them the Prepare for Puppy Packet that you can find HERE. You purchase it once, then it’s easy to send it to all your puppy families forever.
#2: Use positive training methods with your puppies. We want to love our babies into behaving right, not scare them into behaving right.
Don’t forget that the Fear Period can last up to week 11. For that reason, we need positive, happy interactions with our puppies. That is one major motivation to avoid punishment during this phase and focus on gentle training.
#3: Socialize the puppies every chance you get…. But in a safe and healthy way. Never allow unvaccinated animals around your puppies. Don’t allow the puppies off your property until they are fully vaccinated. (image 17)
#4: Bathe the puppies any time that they are dirty or stinky, usually once a week or once every 2 weeks. The cleaner you keep the puppy area the less bathing you’ll need to do. They also need fewer baths after they eat dry puppy food instead of mash.
#5: Trim the puppies’ nails every 2 weeks. Those nails will getcha if you don’t.
Health Problems are Avoidable
Sometimes it’s scary to see how many potential problems could affect you and your puppies, but did you notice how AVOIDABLE most of them are??
There is always something YOU can do to help improve the situation and decrease the problems for your babies.
Great job learning about it in advance- that’s what makes you an ethical dog breeder!
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