chowfornow

Canton Huggy Bear
11-25-2005 to 5-13-2019

When we have puppies, we completely assist in the whelping and keep Mom and the babies comfy and clean. Someone is always present to help when mom needs to go outside. We make sure she's all clean, as well as change out and launder the puppies' blankets often. Cleanliness and comfort is #1. We take pix often (weekly of each puppy).
       9 to 14 days, they open their eyes so we keep the room at low light for at least a week so they won't be in bright light.
       3 weeks, puppies will try new foods (still nursing of course). They will try mushy scrambled eggs in water, they'll also be moved to the front room of the house with a large corraled area where they'll see more people, hear new sounds, get used to pottying on papers and then natural clay kitty litter, they will be introduced to taking baths (using baby wash and then towel dried) and of course will still be cuddled, talked to, and pestered as much as we can.
       3 to 4 weeks, their personalities begin to bloom. That's when we begin to learn who's who.
       6 weeks, we introduce a small amount of soaked small salmon and pea kibbles (dry kibbles are too hard and also - they swell in their tummies and that may cause problems.
       6 weeks, they will be learning to make that effort to go outside in a safe, covered area to potty in a designated area with clean kitty-litter natural clay. They will be fitted with little bitty harnesses and will learn to start walking on leash. By then we have observed the personalities and temperaments pretty well. They really like to learn new things and explore. That's about the same time Mom decides that they don't need to nurse anymore so she stays near them but with a partition so she can begin to recuperate. Also, we don't want her to be sharing her food with them.
        8 weeks, they will get their Vet exams and their first DA2PP (5 in 1) vaccine (with NO LEPTO). Lepto vaccines can cause serious side effects in Chows and the Vet must not administer that vaccine especially to Chow puppies.
       We continue to train them as much as possible in the short time they are here with us and we strongly encourage their new families to continue doing so when they come home. Indoor potty pads are a bad idea because it confuses them and they think it's okay to potty inside the house. Puppies must eat healthy foods every 2 hours at first and taper off as they grow and the portions increase. We NEVER feed dry kibbles to puppies while they are here and ask that you refrain from that until they are at least 4 or 5 months when their adult teeth come in. Most people decide to cook their foods using human grade meats, grains and vegetables.

Canton Fortune Cookie
10-4-2004 to 4-16-2016

(Sometimes google does not display this website correctly. I usually use Bing because they never mess up).