First Time Puppies: Supplies Week 3-5
Way to go! For the most part, you are through the really long nights, the worry about safety and health, and your puppies are finally hitting a rhythm in feeding well with mama and having some sort of awake and sleep cycle. As your puppies continue to grow, you will need to add a couple of new items to your repertoire. Here is what we found were most important for the third through fifth weeks for our puppies.
Puppy Pen: You growing puppies need a new place to live and hangout. If you used our DIY Whelping Box it is definitely getting too small for your growing brood. If you are planning to be a larger breeder, you likely have a full room, kennel, or other place in mind. We chose to make a Puppy Pen! This is an area that is larger than a whelping box, but also not so large as a kennel run or dedicated room. You can read our article and see all the considerations that are part of deciding what to build next for your litter.
Food: It is time to start introducing food! This is both fun, and messy. Food is a full-body contact sport for puppies. They will often lay in it, sleep in it, but then—sometimes—eat it. We always recommend a high-value nutritional food. We use NutriSource for our dogs, and our contract requires the use of the same for our health guarantee (so we believe in it). There are other good foods out there as well…work with your vet to decide what is best for your dogs and breed. Some breeders choose to feed their puppies raw meat. Whether dry food or raw, the process is relatively the same. You want to mix the food with water to the point of creating a slurry. For dry food this is about a 1:2 mix of food:water. Raw food is very different in consistency, so you may need to experiment with ratios. At first, you will want to only put the food in when you can keep an eye on the puppies. The goal at first is just to get them used to it as an item. They will often like it for the water (lapping it up and leaving the food). You will also need….
Food and Water Trays: You will want the round-trough style bowls like these. These serve two purposes. First, they help minimize food possessiveness since all the puppies can get to food (you may need two depending on litter size). Second, they keep the puppies from falling all the way into the food! Buying additional bowls so you can also try adding just a water dish is a good idea as well. You won’t want to try this until later in this period, closer to the five-week mark. Again, be ready for it to be very messy!
Optional: Pumpkin Supplement: Your puppies developing digestive track will sometimes not appreciate the new food, resulting in loose stool. One of the best ways to help with this is to supplement their food with some type of pumpkin additive. This will harden the stool and help with digestion. We have used DigginYourDog Firm Up! with good results.
Bed: This is a great time to introduce some type of bed. Your puppies will begin to have a nesting instinct and will want to have a place to sleep (bed) and a place to play and potty (the pee-pad areas). By adding a bed you will provide a place for them to begin sleeping. However, all dogs are different. Our puppies preferred the cold, plastic floor rather than the bed (probably a summer warmth issue). Helping them distinguish the difference between a bed and play/potty area is the main goal.
Toys: You can start introducing small toys to your dogs. Fewer at first, and then more during this phase. Be sure they are toys that are appropriate for their size.
Optional: Litter Box: Some people have had success with putting a litter box with either wood shavings or pellets to encourage the puppies to use for a bathroom area. We have not had much success with this (they just slept in it and ate it), but are going to still keep trying periodically to see if it is an age thing or just our litter.
Still Need: You will still be using your scale from before to weigh your puppies weekly, charting them as you go, blankets to line the floor for traction everywhere or just under the pee-pad area (or for a bed area), pee-pads, and your Mother’s Pudding for your dam as she is still nursing.
Your puppies should be growing and beginning to look like the typical puppy that everyone’s hearts melt for. They are also getting more active like a puppy, so be ready for a lot of interaction and training!
