 Cedar Ridge Beagles
3005 Lexington Court
Bedford, IA 50833
712-523-3646
tonip@frontiernet.net
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How soon can we
pick up our new puppy?
Puppies should not leave their littermates until they are at least 8
weeks old. Until this age, they are in need to learning socialization rules
from their littermates. If taken away too early, puppies are more prone to
become biters and whiners, as they didn't learn needed rules from their
siblings. For their health as well, they should be allowed this fun and
low-stress time with their brothers and sisters.
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What health care
will our puppy have received before leaving CR Beagles?
We will send you an updated health record right before or right after
you get your puppy. Before puppies leave us, they will have received at
least the first vaccination in their puppy series, plus will have been
dewormed several times. We also give puppies medication to prevent coccidia
while they are here (a common cause of puppy diarrhea...read
more here). These things will all be noted on your health report. Please
take a copy of your health report to your vet at your first visit so he/she
knows the puppy's health history.
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When will our
puppy need to see a vet?
We like our puppies to see a vet within 72 hours of leaving CR Beagles.
This allows your vet to evaluate the puppy's health and how he/she is
handling leaving our environment. It also gives your vet the opportunity to
discuss the puppy's vaccination and deworming schedule with you. Puppies
MUST have a series of vaccinations through about 4 months of age to help
prevent diseases. After this series, most dogs can have once-yearly
vaccinations to maintain their immunity, but puppies need the extra help
that this series provides. **Remember to take the health history we give you
to the vet for him/her to review.
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Do you use
Advantage/Frontline, and if not how soon can we use Advantage because we do
not want fleas in our house?
We've never had fleas, but I do recommend monthly treatments because fleas
can be picked up from the yard, parks, vet's office, etc. When we send/give
you your puppy's health record, check to see if the puppy has had a
Frontline treatment. It should not be closer than 4 weeks between
treatments.
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Do I need to buy
a carrier?
S/he will come with a small travel carrier if she flies to you that will
work for several weeks. (If you pick her up in person, buying a carrier
might be a good idea.) After that, we find that a large carrier (for a
20 lb dog or so) is good to have for future vet visits over the years, and
for traveling in general.
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Do we need to buy a
metal cage for crate training? If so, how large? And what is crate training?
I do like crate training for the times that nobody is in the house during
the workday/school day. Some people only do this during potty training, and
others use the crate as the puppy's home while the family is away. This
page
has some very good articles about it.
Also, see our links at the bottom of our
Puppy Development page.
Dogs don't like to potty in their
"bedroom" areas, so most will try to hold it if they can until you get home.
Initially, it might be hard for a puppy to go that long. But shortly, they
will learn your schedule and will wait for your home arrival to go.
Most beagles will mature to between 15 and 35 lbs, so buy a crate that will
be comfortable for your puppy even when she's mature.
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How do we potty
train a puppy?
Visit here for some links about
potty training. Searching the Internet will result in many good articles
that will help.
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What size
Harness/leash should I buy?
Initially, an 8 to 12" collar (very small) is the right size. Our beagle
puppies from 8 to 10 weeks old generally weigh between 3.5 and 5.5 pounds,
so a big collar will come right off her head. We buy collars and leashes
from Wal-Mart or any pet store for our puppies at home.
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Do I need to buy
a cozy doggy bed?
Oh, they do love those! Some puppies might confuse that with a chew toy, so
don't buy an expensive one until you see what she'll do. :-)
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Do you have a
good food recommendation and vitamin in mind?
From just prior to weaning until our
puppies leave us, they experience a variety of foods and
supplements including puppy milk replacer formula, canned puppy food
(small amounts only), probiotics, Nutrisource Small/Medium
Breed Puppy, Diamond Small Breed Puppy, and sometimes Purina Puppy Chow.
Don't Worry! :-) The most
important components of our feeding program are those that
your puppy is eating right before he/she leaves us, because
you should try (as best as you can) to mimic that diet for
a week or so before changing the puppy's diet. At that
time, we typically are just feeding our puppies a mixture of
two dry puppy foods.
What Our Puppies
Are Accustomed To Eating
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Our puppies are currently eating
Diamond Naturals
(Chicken and Rice) Small Breed Puppy Food
If you are soon
to receive a puppy, we recommend that you try to find
a small bag of a food your puppy is currently eating to use for a week.
We will send a little bit with you to get you started,
too.
After a few days, you can begin mixing it with the food
you plan to feed throughout your puppy's first year until the small bag is
gone.
See
http://www.diamondpet.com/dealer_locator/ for online and
physical addresses.
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How Much Food
and How Often?
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We keep Diamond Naturals Small Breed
Puppy Food (unless an exception above exists) with the puppies almost all
the time until they are 8 or 9 weeks old. We need to offer
food most of each day to ensure that all puppies in the
litter get enough food, rather than having one slower-eating puppy
not have enough. This also helps prevent any puppies from
feeling that they need to rapidly eat as much food as they
can, out of fear that they will be hungry when there isn't
any food available.
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At 8 to 10 weeks, beagle puppies should
be offered 3 or 4 meals per day.
Feeding "meals" after a puppy leaves littermates will help
you with potty training.
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Check the feeding suggestions for the
brand of puppy
food you choose. The daily recommended amount will be listed
by either puppy weight and age, or else by the puppy's
weight at maturity.
~Our beagle puppies "typically" weigh between 4.5 and 5.5
lbs at 8 weeks.
~The small beagles might weigh 3.5 to 4 lbs at 8 weeks.
~Look at your puppy's mother/father (link is on the web page
that your puppy's pictures are shown on) for their weights
to estimate your puppy's mature weight.
Examples of Dog
Food Brands, and Comparison
A
high-quality puppy food is essential for the first few months.
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Diamond also makes the
Chicken Soup For The Pet Lover's Soul dog foods, which
have good ingredient lists.
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NutriSource Small/Medium Breed Puppy
has a very good ingredient list as well.
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We
love
Diamond
brand (Lamb and Rice) Large Breed Puppy for puppies that are 3 months
old and older. Not because beagles are large, but because
this food is outstanding!
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Purina
One, Science Diet, Eukanuba,
Solid Gold, and Iams are also popular (though corn
is a major ingredient in them), and your veterinarian might
have a suggestion that he/she prefers.
Lamb and
Rice or chicken and rice foods are often recommended for breeds of dogs with
large ears that lay down, like beagles.
Blue Buffalo offers several good puppy foods. We also like
the quality of
NutriSource puppy food, and often supplement our puppies with
that. However, millions
of puppies have been raised on non-specialty store-bought food, and you sure can choose
that route as well as long as it's specifically formulated for puppies.
After the first year, your puppy can receive a regular adult
formulation.
How do you know if a food is good?
Look at
the ingredients...if "corn" or "corn meal" (or similar) is
in the first few ingredients, it isn't as good as if those
ingredients were lower on the list. Better yet, avoid a
corn-based feed entirely and look instead for rice. Or,
consider a diet of food totally without corn, rice, wheat,
etc. This can be accomplished via prepared foods such as
Natures Variety, or by careful research on your part and
feeding a diet of raw meats.
Foods I Like
Good Ingredient List
Not very expensive!
Common Foods I Like Less
(below)
But are still formulated for puppies and will probably be fine.
(see the prominent location of "corn"
in ingredients):
Click the image above for a comparison of several popular
puppy foods' first 10 ingredients and their PRICE.
Check out
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ for
reviews of puppy foods. I don't know if this site is truly
independent or if it's sponsored by dog food manufacturers
yet. If it's independent, it's kind of a neat site!
What If Our Puppy Doesn't Eat Or Drink
At First?
Normally, there is no problem with eating habits in the new
home environment. But just like when we humans are away from
home, puppies will sometimes be too caught up in their new
place to eat and drink on their normal schedule.
If possible, offer a couple tablespoons of plain or vanilla yogurt with active
cultures (most brands have active cultures, including the Wal-Mart store brand)
once or twice daily. This not only is a treat that might get your puppy to eat,
but the cultures are also good for digestion during this time of stress.
You can also buy puppy milk replacer powder from a vet of pet supply store, and
sprinkle that on the puppy's dry kibble (then stir to coat the food) to make it
more appealing. See image below:
One food caution is to not give canned puppy food unless "needed" to entice him
to eat...and then only in controlled amounts. Canned puppy food is not very nutritious, and also puppies will overeat
if allowed to. This can lead to bloated stomachs, gas, vomiting, and diarrhea,
and can require a trip to the emergency room. It is a good idea to have canned
puppy food on hand, but if you use it, we recommend mixing 2 tablespoons of it
with about 1/4 cup of dry food so the canned food coats the kibbles. This
would only be necessary if he was not eating very well due to his new
environment. Sometimes they do that for a day or two.
We've also had people put canned or fresh cooked (cooled) chicken broth over the
dry kibbles, and even using a little broth or tuna juice in water if needed to
get the puppies to drink.
Again, because this is very important!
PLEASE DO NOT FEED YOUR PUPPY CANNED PUPPY
FOOD in unlimited amounts soon after receiving him/her.
Drastic
changes in their diets can cause severe digestive upset. Do keep a couple
cans of soft food on hand to use to tempt the puppy to eat
if he/she is off feed. But give just a couple tablespoons at
a time to prevent overeating and bloating. If the puppy eats soft food
until he bloats, he could begin a cycle of vomiting/diarrhea
that could lead to blood sugar problems and anemia which
could be fatal.
Vitamins
Ask your vet about vitamins. Puppy foods are supposed to be complete, so
giving vitamins might just be overkill and not necessary. Lots of people do
give vitamins, though.
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What toys should
we have on hand?
Have some simple toys for her to play with and to satisfy her chew desire.
"Greenies" can make their stools green, so might best be avoided until potty
training is complete for the sake of your carpet. :-)
There are lots of stuffed animal type toys, and firm chew toys that are
great for dogs at Wal-Mart and pet stores/vet offices. We've heard that
rawhide chews are not good for puppies, because as they swallow the small
pieces created by tearing them up, they can get irritated bowels from the
sharp edges. Make sure toys don't have plastic pieces unless you only use
them during supervised play. Puppies are very good at getting the 'squeaker'
out of toys and can swallow the squeaker and choke or get bowel
obstructions.
Visit this guide to
dog chew toys. Some favorites we hear about are Nylabones and
Kongs. You
don't need a lot of toys. Just a few good ones will be quite sufficient.
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Do you have a list of supplies that might help us shop
before our puppy comes home?
Yep, we have an ever-evolving list of ideas for you on
this page.
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What should I take to the airport with me to pick my puppy up
if he/she is flying?
We have compiled a list of things to help you prepare. Scroll toward the
bottom of our Shipping page.
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Is my puppy accustomed to being around cats?
We have cats both outside and inside, and the puppies see them every day and
also can come right in contact with them when we have the puppies in the house.
Normally, our neutered male cat comes right up to the puppies and they see him
and go for him as if they think he's their mother. He then jumps up onto a piece
of furniture as if to say "Ha ha! You can't reach me, you poor
vertically-challenged puppies!" Sooner or later, the cat gets right into the
middle of things. He does bat them with his front feet, but he keeps his claws
in. Gradually, the puppies figure out that he is absolutely no fun, and that all
he wants to do is to bite their tails because those wagging things just HAVE to
be a cat toy.
I imagine your cats will investigate and then get where he can't reach them.
Eventually, they'll put the puppy in his place and then they will all coexist
well. That has been my experience, anyway. :-)
Click here to view a video clip of one of our puppies with his cat friend in his
new home:
Guinevere the cat and Zelda, the beagle puppy
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Where else can I
find answers to questions in general?
Searching the Internet is a superb way to get answers to questions about
training, health, treating minor health issues, etc. We have collected info
and made a few educational pages that are listed on our
Site Map page that could help, too.
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We have heard
that AKC-registered dogs are better than other registries' dogs. Is this
true? Does the registration association matter?
AKC's web site says that AKC registration is not to be
considered a guarantee of quality.
AKC is a registry body. A
registration certificate identifies the dog as the offspring of a known sire
and dam, born on a known date. It in no way indicates the quality or state
of health of the dog.
All of the dog registries are companies
that make a profit from storing dog pedigrees and issuing pedigree
certificates. So the dogs' quality and their health is totally dependent
upon the knowledge and skill of the breeders of the dogs. I've seen some
terrible-quality AKC dogs, and some absolutely beautiful APRI-registered
dogs. The association doesn't have any bearing upon that.
An example of how dogs from other registries can be the same quality as AKC
dogs might be that some of our beagles are registered with AKC, APRI, and
UKC (triple registered). This doesn't mean that they are necessarily better
than a dog we own that might just be UKC registered....it just means that
I've paid money to three different companies to get their registration
completed with each of the three companies.
Also, AKC shows are geared around "beauty." In an AKC show, the dog is
judged on its conformation and color, for example. But in a UKC show, the
dog is judged not only on it's "looks," but also on how well it behaves and
does its job (works) in the area that the breed specializes in.
In my opinion, if you aren't planning to show, you should not be concerned
with "which" association a dog is registered with, and instead should be
more interested in the quality and disposition of the puppy and/or its
parents, and the trustworthiness and knowledge of the breeder you buy from.
More about some registration associations here.
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What is the
living environment your adult beagles have?
Our adult beagles are NOT raised in above-the-ground cages, as some breeders
do. We do keep our adults in fenced-in areas (to prevent unwanted
pregnancies and to avoid exposure to viruses, protozoa, and other germs
found in the environment), and they have room to exercise and are let out
into a play area twice daily for fun and even more exercise. This whole
procedure helps us keep our dogs healthy and as free of germs as possible.
They have a heated building in the winter. In the summer, their pens are
surrounded by marigolds, zinnias, and canna flowers. :-) In the
winter....well, Iowa is not very pretty in the winter. :-(
We do not have our dogs on cement, because it's bad for their joints.
It would be easy to clean, but we don't feel it's healthy for them. Instead,
their areas have a tiny gravel about the size of a pea or up to marble sized, over a base of
larger gravel. This footing is softer, easy to maintain, and we can
frequently add new and clean footing to it as needed. It's kind of like big
pieces of kitty litter. The play area has a deep sand cover for them to run
and play on.
E-mail us if you have a good question to add here.
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