Taking Care of a Newborn Puppy (Week 1 to Week 12)

Caring for a Newborn Pup

Caring for a puppy is an extremely rewarding and fun experience, however, you’re bound to be questioning yourself every so often or concerned about their wellbeing. 

Puppies can quickly fade if not cared for correctly, but don’t worry, with the right support, bringing your new dog or puppy home will be a breeze and all the fun it should be. 

A good dog care guide will provide a detailed guide to caring for a newborn puppy, as newborn puppy care week to week changes quite drastically. If you have puppies in your care, let’s take a look at what you need to know during those first weeks.

Things to Know While Caring for New Pups

A good puppy care guide will offer you many important tips to be a better dog owner. Newborn puppy care includes the following factors to ensure their safety and well-being.

Provide a clean and warm environment

Puppies stay in the same space where they were born for the first few weeks, so choose this space wisely before your bitch gives birth. 

Ensure the den is large enough for the mother to move freely whilst keeping the puppies contained. You should be able to change bedding each day to keep everyone warm and dry. 

Provide appropriate nutrition

Puppies are solely reliant on their mother’s milk for the first few weeks, so ensure that you are providing her with several feedings of puppy food throughout the day. 

Dog-proof your home

Let puppies explore your home slowly and remove hanging wires, electrical cords or anything that you don’t want to be chewed. 

It’s also important to keep the toilet lid down to prevent dogs from jumping up and potentially falling in. 

Consult a vet if needed

Don’t be afraid to reach out for professional support and advice. Young puppies are susceptible to illness and a short bout of vomiting and diarrhea could prove fatal. 

Report anything unusual and ensure that you get your puppies treated for parasites and vaccinated as soon as possible.

Caring for a Stage One Pup: Newborn to 3 Weeks Old

Regarding newborn puppy care, your energy should be spent on ensuring that the mother is doing well. Read up on some tips to care for a pregnant dog in a quality care guide for new dog owners, so that you know she is eating well and what to do once the birth comes. 

During that first week, the mother will be resting up, feeding her puppies milk and cleaning up after them. Ensure that her bedding is warm and dry after the birth and changed regularly. 

2-week old puppy care is pretty similar to the first week. A puppy is pretty much devoid of all of its senses and completely helpless. It isn’t only beneficial to you to handle the pups gently, some studies show that tactile stimulation can favour development and make them more resistant to stress. Just be mindful to not overdo it, to let them sleep and to watch mum for any sign of distress. 

Puppies will only start to begin to see, smell and hear in the third week, so as you move into 3-week-old puppy care, you might begin to get some small responses to your gentle handling.

Caring for a Stage Two Pup: 3 to 8 Weeks Old

After those sleepy weeks, puppies begin to explore each other and their surroundings. They will be smelling everything, so be sure to understand circling behaviour in dogs to know what is normal.

1-month-old puppy care involves ensuring that your house is puppy proof, as they are just beginning to walk. Your 4-week-old puppy care will also include observing the important relationship that the mother has with her puppies, she will begin weaning her pups at this age. 

5-week old puppy care will be messy as puppies are learning to eat and will be doing so several times each day as their mother slowly weans them. Puppies will still be suckling milk from their mother.

At 6 weeks old, puppy care involves a lot of handling and socialisation as they begin to make sense of the world around them and become more independent from their mother. They will be almost fully weaned and would have likely received their first vaccination. 

Socialisation continues to be critical for good 8-week-old puppy care. You need to try to get your puppy used to as many experiences as possible whilst keeping them safe if they have yet to be vaccinated.

At 2 months old, many puppies embark on their new lives with their new owners. This is a huge transition and new dog owners should be observant whilst establishing house training ground rules quickly to help the puppy acclimatise as easily as possible. 

Caring for a Stage Three Pup: 8 Weeks to 12 Weeks Old

Taking care of a puppy can be hard work. They are very cute and adorable when you bring them home, but it is a huge adjustment for both of you.

Ideally, the adoption of a puppy should happen at around the 8 to 12-week mark as this is when their fear response starts to set in. If owners wait much longer than this age, it can be trickier to help your puppy get used to its new surroundings. 

Puppies will be extra sensitive at this age, so new dog owners should try to make the experience as positive as possible. Be sure to look into some tips for leaving dogs alone at home and helping your dog deal with separation anxiety so that you can be proactive about any potentially upsetting situations. 

A training routine should be in place to help potty train your puppy and to foster a positive relationship with you that you can both enjoy for many years to come. 

Puppies soak up everything like little sponges, so although they do not have a great attention span, they will learn quickly, if you are consistent and persistent.

Conclusion

Caring for a puppy throughout its first few months is a wonderful experience. If your dog is having puppies, then it is important to know that she will do most of the work. Your role is to care for her and provide her with a good diet so that she can feed her puppies and keep them strong. 

It is important to handle and socialise puppies early so that by that 8-week mark, they are confident around people and ready to head to their forever home.