Newborn puppy care week by week

Caring for a newborn litter of puppies can come with its worries. Breeders face questions like are they warm enough? Are they feeding enough? Are they healthy? What do they need to grow and develop into robust, resilient puppies who are ready for the world? It can be a nerve wracking time. They are so small and vulnerable, how do you know they are growing as they should?

Take a look at our week by week guide and gain the insight you need to ensure that they bloom into bouncing babies. 

Week 1 of a newborn puppy care

During week 1 it is important that they are warm. Puppies cannot maintain their own body temperature, so an additional heat source is required to maintain a minimum temperature. Ideally that should be between 29.5-32 degrees centigrade. They should be away from any draught and kept on dry, absorbent bedding. Puppies cannot process food if they are not warm enough, so temperature has a direct effect on their ability to develop at the normal rate and feed well. 

Are they feeding enough? Puppies need to feed hourly in the first week of their life. You need to ensure they are suckling and have a well rounded “full belly”. Monitoring their weight gain is an essential part of the daily routine, by simply weighing them and recording their individual weight you can closely follow their progress and react quickly should any of the litter fail to gain on a daily basis. 

You may think that during the first few weeks that there is no hurry to start their socialisation development, but this is not so. From as early as day three there are important neural developments occurring in the puppies brains, and by undertaking some simple protocols you can start them off on the road to success. Early Neurological Stimulation and Early Scent Introduction are two methods of developing the puppies during week one. Take a look at our blog for more details Puppy raising tips: Introducing ENS and ESI to your litters (pupstartsbreeders.com)

Week 2 of a newborn puppy care

Week 2 creeps up on you quickly, and during this time the puppies will have started to feed slightly less. The daily monitoring of weight is crucial, and the continuation of the socialisation protocols through to day 16 should be part of the routine. 

Week 2 is a good time to trim their nails. Puppies can have sharp ends to their nails and as they are feeding they paddle with their paws to stimulate more milk production. This can be uncomfortable for the bitch, and can cause her to become sore and reluctant to feed them. By taking a small nail clipper, or file, take the ends from the nails and ensure they are no longer sharp. This also forms part of the early handling techniques you can utilise to prepare the puppies in later life for being handled by the vet or groomer. Remember the earlier you start, the more accepting the puppies become to being handled. 

Week 3 of a newborn puppy care

By now the puppies' eyes will have started to open. Different breeds develop at different rates, some earlier than others. Check them daily and look for any discharge or signs of poor health. 

Weight gain will still require monitoring, but feeding frequency will have slowed and temperature can be lowered slightly at this time. 

The puppies will start to become more mobile, exploring their whelping box on wobbly legs. It is a good time to introduce toys into the area so that they can investigate and explore new sensations along with new sounds. 

Around day 18 their ears will open, the use of background sound is the next stage of their socialisation journey, we want to prepare them for the noisy human world they will be living in. Play a variety of sounds in the background, gauging their responses. If they are worried, turn the volume down and try again at a later stage in the day. There are lots of places where you can access the sound clips online. Youtube and The Dogs Trust website are some examples. 

Worming will also be required during this week. Take advice from your vet on products and quantities. 

Weeks 4 & 5 of a newborn puppy care

Now the fun really begins! It is time to start weaning! You will probably have noticed by now that the puppies are more and more adventurous and they need more to sustain them. Milk is simply not enough! It is time to start to wean your puppies onto a balanced puppy specific diet. 

Food should be paste-like in consistency to start with and offered to them when it is warm. It can take a few tries to get them into eating, as they will be learning how to lap, rather than suckle, but once they are away there will be no stopping them! 

Solid feeds will start to increase across weeks 4 & 5, and the puppies can feed less from the bitch. Think of it like a scale, the more solid food they eat, the less milk they will need. This should be a gradual process, over the weeks to come. 

Once weaning begins you may find that the bitch is more reluctant to toilet her puppies. This is a great time to introduce a litter tray to the whelping area. It encourages the puppies to be clean and helps with ongoing house training. 

During week five there will be another round of worming to do, use their weight charts to make sure they are having the correct amount of wormer, and liaise with your vet on the best puppy wormer to use. 

Weighing daily is not usually necessary at this stage, but a diligent breeder will still weigh their puppies weekly at this stage.

Week 6 of a newborn puppy care

By now you have a small herd of bouncing babies who are keen to adventure and explore their world. This is a great time to really get into the fun stuff, let the socialisation and habituation games begin! Here is a great blog with lots of handy tips on how you can offer your litter all of the opportunities available to them to ensure they are prepared for life ahead! We want to ensure they have all of the life skills they need, as it is only a couple of short weeks away before they will be flying off to their new homes and facing lots of challenges that we can help to set them up for. Puppy Socialisation for breeders: Giving pups the best start (pupstartsbreeders.com)

Week 7 & 8 of a newborn puppy care

Weeks 7 & 8 will include visits from potential new owners! These visits can be stressful for puppies, so ensure you arrange them at a time that is good for the puppies’ routine and keep the visits calm and of a reasonable length of time so as not to over stimulate the puppies. 

Making sure your babies go to the right homes is crucial. It is you as a breeder that will start them off on the path that their lives will take. Matching them with the right families and placing them in the right environment can be the difference between success and failure. Take a look at our blog on how to do this confidently and effectively. Selling puppies to happy forever homes with confidence (pupstartsbreeders.com)

Microchipping, vet checks, and first vaccines will be happening during these weeks. It is a legal requirement that all puppies are microchipped prior to leaving for their new homes, and the breeder should be the first registrant. Failure to do so can lead to a £500 fine. 

A pre sale health check should be undertaken by your vet prior to them leaving for their new homes. During the check the vet will look for signs of poor health and any congenital issues. They will listen to their heart and lungs and check for hernias, normal development of testicles, and normal development of the puppies jaw and teeth. Once this is done you will know that the puppy is fit and well for sale. 

During week 8 it is time to protect your puppies from disease longer term. This is done by a simple vaccine. Talk to your vet about the services they can offer you, they will microchip, health check and administer the puppies first vaccine all in one consultation, setting them up for their next steps away from the litter and into a new environment.  

It is a roller coaster of a ride, not only is it hard work, it feels relentless at times. But there is nothing more satisfying than knowing you have done all you can to provide your puppies with the very best of starts in life. The stages they go through can be supported by you, as the breeder, and when you give them this solid foundation they will blossom into balanced, happy and healthy hounds! 

This article is a guest post kindly contributed by Rebecca Walters of Pupstarts Breeders. 

Pupstarts Breeders offer dog breeding courses to help you breed, whelp, and raise puppies responsibly, safely and with confidence. Their range of courses set you up with everything you need, for every litter you breed. 
Learn more at www.pupstartsbreeders.com/dog-breeding-courses/