






 Cedar Ridge Beagles
3005 Lexington Court
Bedford, IA 50833
712-523-3646
tonip@frontiernet.net
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It's time!
When your puppy is 8 weeks old, it can leave
our home and head to your home. Here are some things to help
you prepare for and pick up the puppy.
The Big Day
For specific instructions to reach our home,
e-mail or call us several days in advance. Mapquest and
Yahoo Maps have incorrect instructions from what we've
heard, so don't use those other than to come toward Bedford
from your location. After getting near Bedford, use our
instructions.
If your puppy is flying to meet you, click
here for more information about
the trip and what you'll need.
Final Payment
Most people bring the final payment in cash at the time of
pick up, which is best for us because cash doesn't require
clearance time.
If
you plan to pay via credit card, check or money
order, please send it at least 2 weeks prior to picking up
your puppy to allow for clearance time.
We have found with even PayPal credit card
payments that there can be a processing time, depending upon
the actual card or account you use when paying. So, it's
just best to take care of that about 2 weeks in advance.
Supplies to Buy/Have/Bring
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A
small collar and light leash for potty stops on the way home and leash
training
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Two short and heavy (flat-bottomed) tip-resistant bowls for food
and water
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Some chew toys are good to have!
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If
you have far to travel, a pet carrier is an excellent idea (and also helps
for vet visits down the road). We might be able to get one for you if you
give us advance warning. We can get them for $20-$30, depending upon the
size you choose.
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A crate for crate training or to
keep the puppy in (when you are not home) until it is completely
housetrained
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A bag of puppy food.
Click here to see what we like to feed.
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One can of soft puppy food for
emergency temptation only.
PLEASE DO NOT FEED YOUR PUPPY CANNED PUPPY FOOD in unlimited
amounts soon after receiving him/her. Puppies are healthiest when fed dry
food. 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. 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, and which could be fatal.
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Talk to your vet in advance about
having some medication for coccidia on hand to use at home (Marquis, Albon or Corid, for example).
Many puppies get diarrhea from the stress of leaving littermates and home,
and it's sometimes caused by coccidia. We treat preventatively prior to their
leaving us, but they can still have an outbreak a few days after arriving at
their new homes. Or, they can pick it up any time in their lives, though it
usually just affects puppies between 2 and 4 months of age. More
information about coccidia here.
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Ask us about orange or berry Gatorade...a tablespoon added to water
can disguise the chemical/mineral smell of differing water from your tap and
our tap. We may begin adding a tablespoon of Gatorade to our puppies'
water a week before they leave us to help that transition.
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Pepto Bismol: You can give puppies Pepto Bismol if needed. If your puppy has a
little bit of loose stools for the first day, you can give Pepto to him/her to
help settle the stomach. The change of leaving littermates can sometimes cause a
little diarrhea. If the puppy is still eating and drinking, it's normally not
something to be worried about. But if he/she stops drinking, dehydration can
become a concern. I have given Pepto Bismol (or generic equivalent) to puppies
as needed....1 to 1 1/2 cc's orally, which is probably 1/4th to 3/8ths of a
teaspoon. A couple times that first day seems to help a lot.
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Visit our Supplies page for a more complete
list of ideas.
Travel Carriers and Crates
Beagles from us are usually between 15 and
30 lbs
and around 11-13" tall when mature, so look for a carrier
labeled for that size of dog if you want one for long-term
use.
If you want to just transport a dog in a carrier to the vet
for quick trips, a smaller carrier will work (but be careful
about carrying it so the handle doesn't break). If you want
to keep the dog in a crate/cage while you are away from home
to crate train him, we recommend a much bigger, coated metal
cage with a door. Pet supply stores sell large crates such
as these for $40 to $100.
Visit our Supplies page
for more information.
Feeding Your Puppy
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.
Diamond also makes the
Chicken Soup For The Pet Lover's Soul dog foods, which
have good ingredient lists.
NutriSource Small/Medium Breed Puppy
has a very good ingredient list as well.
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!
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.
Registration Papers
We will mail your puppy's registration
application to you about 2 weeks after you pick up your
puppy. This is because we want you to wait to register your
puppy until after you have had your vet check him/her, and
also to make sure you can keep your puppy.
Recommended
Vaccination Schedule
We give the puppies their first vaccination
at about 6-7 weeks of age, around the time of weaning. You'll need to
continue with a vaccination schedule recommended by your
veterinarian for your area. The Humane Society has some
recommendations:
From The Humane Society
- Distemper - an airborne viral disease of the lungs, intestines and
brain.
- Hepatitis - a viral disease of the liver.
- Leptospirosis - a bacterial disease of the urinary system.
- Parainfluenza - infectious bronchitis.
- Parvovirus - a viral disease of the intestines.
- Rabies - a viral disease fatal to humans and other animals.
- Corona - a viral disease of the intestines.
- Bordetella - a bacterial infection (kennel cough)
Puppies - 6 weeks to 1 year
- 6 to 8 weeks - First puppy shot (DHLPP) + Corona
- 11 to 12 weeks - Second puppy shot (DHLPP) + Corona
- 15 to 16 weeks - Third puppy shot (DHLPP) + Corona
- Over 4 months - Rabies (repeat l year later)
- 7 to 9 months - First heartworm test
Adult Dogs - After 1 year
- DHLPP - Yearly
- Heartworm test - Yearly
- Rabies - Every 3 years (after second Rabies shot)
- Bordetella - Yearly
Note: Some states have their own laws
regarding the frequency & requirement of certain vaccinations. When in
doubt, always ask your veterinarian or local humane society.
I've made a 2-page (front and back of one sheet of paper)
health record form for puppies we sell that is great to use to keep track of
your dog's health its whole life. Feel free to download it
here. It is in MS Word
format.
Deworming Schedule
Veterinary recommendations vary for deworming puppies, but
all resources we've encountered recommend deworming at LEAST by 6 weeks of
age and again at 3 months of age.
A schedule beginning at 2 weeks with deworming every 2 weeks
through the 8th week is recommended by some vets, while others recommend
deworming for the first time at 6 weeks. We deworm our puppies at least
twice prior to weaning (at least at 4 and 6 weeks), and hope you'll continue
with at least monthly deworming unless your veterinarian recommends
otherwise.
Training/Growth Stages for Puppies
This is a neat and short article about the stages of puppy
growth. Knowing what to expect for that first year can help you both
train and cope with your puppy's changes in personality and abilities.
Click Here to read the article.
More here...
FAQ's About Our Puppies
We are assembling some commonly-asked questions and answers about getting a
new puppy, and have created a FAQ page that might
help.

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