We can divide the periods of growth of pups in four stages: neonatal period, which runs from the moment of birth until 15 days of life; Transition period, ranging from 16 days to 30 days period of socialization, which comprises 5-12 weeks of life and finally the juvenile period, which begins with 13 weeks going until puberty, which usually occurs between nine months and a year old.
We will address this topic in the neonatal period, transition and socialization. The neonatal period is one where you do the cub and mother need attention and care. Shortly after birth, you should apply 2% iodine in the navel of puppies, to keep clean the umbilicus and accelerate the healing process. This should be done twice a day for the first seven days of life babies.
To enter the maternity kennel, you should use rubber boots or footwear that is only used for this purpose in order to avoid carreação of microorganisms and bacteria in the environment of puppies. We must also be careful with the clothes, they should be clean and without previous contact with other animals.
The lining cradle maternity should be changed at least twice a day, whether made of paper, cloth or other material. This maintains the cleanliness of the environment and prevents the proliferation of microorganisms.
We can manipulate the least pups during this period. Normally calved bitches when already accustomed to the owner, are quite tame and accept the approach of people. The puppies are still very fragile at this stage and therefore should avoid unnecessary handling. If you receive home visits under any circumstances let the puppies be handled. Avoid large number of strangers around the cradle maternity, it stresses the mother, and expose the puppies to possible contamination of the street brought by visitors.
At this stage suck the chicks in a range of 2 to 3 hours, leaving the remainder of the sleeping period. The mother usually only leaves the cradle to feed themselves and make their needs. The owner should always observe the attitudes of the mother and cubs, however intervene only in necessary cases. Changing the neonatal period for the transition period is marked by the opening of the eyes of the puppies, which occurs around 15 days old.
The transition period is the stage where the baby changing their diet. Starting from 25 days of age, the mother decreases the frequency of breastfeeding babies. At this age the pups begin to show teeth and nails, in addition to having a suction force much greater. This causes the skin around the breast bitch she stay sensible and avoid leaving their children suckling long. The first worming should be done with 20 days and repeated at 53 days of age.
In this period we began offering the puppies for the baby food weaning, which must be made with mashed chick feed and water or warm milk mixed. There are some products in powder ready for making this mixture. You can also add some cooked ground meat to prepare. This baby food should be offered to go slowly replacing breast milk. Ideally, place the puree in two or more different containers depending on the size of the litter, so all pups can eat the same amount.
As the acceptance of pap increases, it must be offered more times per day until reaching four times per day. From 40 days of life, we leave a small amount of dry food in the kennel for the pups begin to get used to the type of food. Normally with 50 days of life all puppies eat dry food without problems.
At this stage the puppies start walking, some try to leave the cradle maternity. It is also at this age that they start to have eye contact with the external environment and start to become more active.
From the 5th week of life, the socialization period begins to occur. The puppies are no longer within the cradle maternity because they already get out of your own interior. At this stage we can remove the cradle and keep the floor of the kennel lined with newspaper or cloth. This helps maintain a temperature and assists in cleaning the environment.
From 40 days of the birth mother does not leave the cub suckle more, but it is important to keep it close to the puppies. This makes the puppies are more protected and prevents early weaning of the litter. The mother should be separated from pups between 50 and 55 days of life. At this stage the mother's role is very important to start educating children. It is very common to see a mother scolding the puppy with light bites on the neck. The interaction between puppies is also quite large.
The first dose of vaccine eightfold (V8) must be given between 50 and 55 days of age. In our application we kennels with 55 days of age, so to prevent maternal immunity is immunity from interference generated by the vaccine. Usually puppies do not have vaccine reaction. With 60 days the chicks are ready to be removed from their environment.
