Puppy Care Tips, Advice For Dog Owners: A How To For Pets

What Are The Dangers For New Puppies? Let’s Get Safer!

New puppy owners beware, purchasing a new puppy is a thrilling experience for everyone involved, but at the same time, it’s a giant responsibility. You want the young puppy to grow up into a healthy adult, preferably with a friendly personality to match. However, the most fragile time in a dog’s life is early on, within the first six months to be exact. Until that age, the puppy will need to be provided with special care from you, their new owner, to help guarantee they reach adulthood safely. And guess what? I want to help you out, so listen up… please. I asked nicely!

To help a puppy reach the age of 6 months without any problems, let’s take an essential in-depth look at a few of the dangers that may threaten a new puppy’s life, how we can prevent those dangers from occurring, and how we can shape a puppy’s personality to be one oozing with affection.

The Danger: Temperature – Well, I’ll tell you the dangers. There are many to consider, but I’ll highlight the important ones. The first danger is a simple one but can be easily overlooked. It’s the temperature of your house. Think about that for a second, what temperature does your house usually hover around during the winter? How about the summer? What about in general? It is common for households to range anywhere from 65-85F (18-29 C), and anything below 72F is slightly too cold for newer puppies and poses a threat to their safety.

Sure, 72F might feel comfortable to you, and is perfectly acceptable for full grown adult dogs, but puppies are fragile and cannot be exposed to low temperatures for long periods of time. Houses cool down late at night, so think about this: when you are fast asleep, you use blankets to keep warm. A puppy, however, only has his fur and that’s not adequate enough to keep him warm. So while you’re all cozy laying in that soft bed, the poor puppy may be suffering from the cold and a chilling death might not be far off for them.

Prevention: A trusty heating pad will solve all of these troubles, and keep the puppy nice and warm at night. All you need to do is acquire one somehow, I suggest by buying it! Once you get a heating pad, it is imperative to check the temperature. Ideally, the temperature should stay warm and consistent, but nothing overbearing. Some heating pads may get too hot, though, which is why you want to check before using it.

If the pad is reaching uncomfortable temperatures, a method you can use to help make it more comfy is by wrapping it in a towel. The towel will absorb a fair amount of heat, plus adding some additional softness to the hard surface. Perfect for the puppy to lay down on, the puppy will be pleased with your efforts.

Worth noting, when inserting the heating pad into the puppy’s playpen, arrange it in such a way that the pad does not cover the entire surface area of the pen. Otherwise, the puppy will be stuck on a heated surface with no choice to step off, and that is mighty uncomfortable. It’d be like getting stuck on a hot sidewalk with no shoes, yikes! When you are finished, the puppy will be protected from the cold, allowing you to sleep better at night knowing they are safe and sound.

The Danger: Other Unfriendly Pets – Do you have any other pets besides the new puppy roaming around? If the answer is yes, then consider their personalities. How friendly are they, and will they accept a new animal with open arms? You know the attitude of your pets more than I do, but in order to keep your new puppy safe we need to think and weigh all the possible outcomes.

Remember, animals can be friendly towards humans, but towards other animals it can be an entirely different story. Young puppies are very playful, and will probably attempt to provoke your other pets to get them to play. Whether your pets view those good-intentioned gestures as a friendly invitation for fun or an act of war, who knows? Only you do!

Prevention: If your other pet is unfriendly towards the new pet puppy, then it’s a serious problem. No doubt the unfriendly one is bigger since they are likely older, so what you’ll have to do is isolate them. Keep them separated until the young puppy grows up and is able to defend himself. Have them interact with one another on a daily basis, with your supervision. This will help your unfriendly pet become more familiar with the puppy. Hopefully with time, the mean pet will become a bit more generous.

The Danger: Electrical Wires – You flip the switch and the light turns on, an every day occurrence for millions of houses. Electricity flows through each of them, powering our microwaves and refrigerators, along with other convenient appliances we use. Some of these appliances come with cords power them. The cords have electricity running through them.

It’s not just your pet puppy you have to worry about, it’s any pet that can have a chewing habit. Needless to say, dogs love to chew on things, and last time I checked, cords are things. That’s right, if you look around right now, do you see any electrical cords sitting on the floor? I bet you do, and those are all potential health hazards. Even the heating pad I talked about earlier has a cord it uses, and your puppy will chew through it if given enough time. I’ll spare the details on what happens when dog or puppy gets a mouthful of electricity, but I will give you a hint: it’s really bad. Here’s one more hint: It’s also deadly! Okay no more hints.

Prevention: To avert this disaster, relocate the cords that are vulnerable on the floor to a safer place. If you have tape, use that to neatly pack the cords together, possibly taping them high on the wall away from your pets. Undoubtedly, not all cords can be moved, and in those cases, use cord covers. As the name implies, they cover the cords and prevent animals from chewing through. Remember to use a cord cover on the heating pad in the puppy’s playpen, as new owners sometimes miss that. So watt are you waiting for, go secure those dangerous cords. I wrote the previous sentence just so I could use that pun, sorry.

Making The Puppy Comfortable

Alright, we’ve learned about 4 possible dangers that have potential to be hazardous to a new puppy’s health and what we can do to prevent such disasters. Now, let’s take a look on how to make the life of our puppy more comfortable. A comfortable puppy is a happy puppy, and a happy puppy is a healthy one!

Many owners restrict the area a puppy is able to move around in. This is vital if you don’t always have the time to keep a constant watch over them, and you probably don’t. Most of the time, playpens or small dog gates are used to limit their movement, so think about buying one of those. I suggest a playpen, as I find them to be more convenient than setting up gates.

As for where to put the playpen, I advise in a quiet part of your house, away from any noise. This playpen is going to serve not just as a way to restrict their movement, but also as a place of rest. Puppies need plenty of rest to maintain their youthful energy and health. Places you should avoid setting up resting areas in, include spots like directly next to a furnace or fireplace. Drafty areas, like next to a fan or vent are not recommended either. A drafty area could dry out a puppy’s throat as they sleep, making it sore when they wake.

Include necessary things a puppy might need when it’s resting. A heating pad wrapped in a towel is one, how about food and water? I’ve heard feeding puppies is a great way to help them continue living, so have that available to them at all times. For entertainment purposes, buy a couple of toys for their amusement. Chewing toys will also focus their attention away from any dangling cords.

Let’s see… a playpen, a warm heating pad, food and water, fun toys; things are looking good for our new fragile animal friend. But something is missing, do you know what it is?

The owner’s love! That’s right, while trying to ensure the puppy’s protection and comfort, we forgot to show them the most crucial thing: our love. Aw!

Don’t forget it, neither. Providing a young puppy affection and positivity as they grow will have profound affects on their personality later on. A puppy’s attitude will reflect what’s shown to them. Show them tons of love, and they will most certainly mirror it right back, which is precisely what all new puppy owners dream of having; A fun, loving, loyal companion. Hopefully this little guide will help you achieve just that.