RE: [pyrnet] Newbie

["Ferreira, Elaine (ING)" <FerreiraE@ING-AFS.com>]

<<5.  You can put a soft buckle collar on the pup right away and begin
coaxing her
to walk on leash.  Don't force her to exercise more than she wants (i.e.
long
walks) until she is at least a year and has finished growing..  The nice
thing
about getting a young pup is that you can pick it up and get it outside
quickly
when they start to have an accident in the house....a great help in
housebreaking.>>

The only thing I would add to this is not to take your new pup out into
public areas until she has had all her shots. I believe that should be 12
weeks or so, your vet should tell you when it is safe. There are some very
nasty things she can pick up until she is protected. One more thing about
the feeding, if you choose not to feed her what her breeder did, make sure
you switch gradually. 

Other than that, welcome to the list. I am so jealous whenever I hear about
someone getting a new pup. There is nothing better than sitting with a
little ball of fluff in your lap, watching it sleep after a tough morning of
puppy activities. 

There is a book by the Monks of New Skete that is about raising puppies. I
found it very interesting and used many of their suggestions. You may want
to look for it. Be careful when you purchase dog books, I have found some of
them to be nothing but a 50 page advertisement for a particular companies
products. 


Elaine and Pico