Information Sheet On Care Of Your New Puppy

- Bill Jac Select (adult premium dog food). Feed dry and "free choice." You can feed this to your puppy his entire life. It is very palatable (easy for puppy to eat).

- I feed Eukanuba Low Residue for puppies (which is a prescription dog food only obtainable at the vets). This helps firm up the stools.

- Leave fresh water "free choice" for your puppy.

- In case of loose stools I use cooked hamburger and add pumpkin to the hamburger. Pumpkin is a "binder."

- I advise against using a grocery store dog food; and if your dog food supplier doesn’t have Bill Jac, ask them to get it for you - most stores will do this.

- Do not give milk to your puppy; it causes loose stools.

Stress:

- I strongly advise using P.E.P. which stands for Pep Engery Punch which contains electrolytes, vitamins and minerals (and sugar). This is to keep your puppy from stressing. It is a good idea to give this to your puppy as soon as you pick him up from the airport and for at least several days after he arrives in his new home. Toy breeds are subject to stress. This product can be obtained from KV Vet Supply 800-423-8211 and it comes in an 8 oz. packet as a dry powder - ½ tablespoon per half cup of water so you can mix it fresh every day for him and he will readily drink it over plain water. If your puppy stresses you can add more sugar to this P.E.P. and force him to drink it by feeding it to him at the side of his mouth with an eyedropper and stroking the throat to make him swallow. Get him to drink as much as possible and if he is not up and moving on his own within a half hour, get him to your vet. Aggressive therapy may be needed if he doesn’t "come around" - which means he may have to have an IV drip. Make sure you have P.E.P. and sugar to keep giving him for a few days after his round with stress. A/D prescription dog food is good to feed a puppy that has stressed. (Word of caution - A/D is so high caloric that it may cause loose stools.) If your puppy won’t eat (don’t bring him home from the vet unless he is eating on his own), you can mix 1/3 esbilac (or similar product), 1/3 pumpkin, 1/3 A/D dog food and put it in syringes and feed that to your puppy (store it in refrigerator and knock the chill off by microwaving it a few seconds).

- If your puppy stresses, he will go down; extremities go stiff; and he will drool or have a clear foam from his mouth. If you see this, get P.E.P. down the puppy immediately and he should "come to life" again within 30 minutes.

Choice of a vet is "critical":

- Choose your vet carefully!

1. Use only a vet that administers to ONLY small animals!!!

2. Don’t even consider a vet that also works with large animals!!!

3. Convince your vet that Pomeranians are NOT "normal" dogs.

4. Check a prospective vet’s "references"; make sure they can keep small kittens alive during surgery.

5. If your dog requires "intensive care," make sure that Pom is going home with your vet at night or your Pomeranian will not be getting intensive care!

6. If your Pomeranian needs teeth pulled or cleaned, make sure your vet can keep small kittens alive during surgery.

Worming:

It is always a good idea to have your puppy’s stool sample checked for worms (even though checks don’t always find worms when your dog has them). Hookworms and roundworms are the two most common worms. Hookworms are microscopic and can cause your puppy to become anemic and death can occur rather suddenly. Roundworms are visible by human eye and resemble miniature spaghetti.

Puppies can pick up tapeworms (from cats or eating "wild game"). Some of the "foul" things they chew on can also allow them to pick up other organisms like giardia. Fleas can also give dogs tapeworms.

Panacur liquid wormer is my choice of wormers. I like to give panacur for 5 days and then repeat in 2 weeks. No wormer is 100% effective and it is good to change wormers so as to not get resistance to the product. But always use a safe, mild wormer.

I like to follow up the wormer with 7 days of metronidazole (wait 3-5 days between dosing).

Flea & mite control:

I like to use Xotrol bomb to "debug" your home, garage, wherever. Turn off all pilot lights. The label says to keep house closed up (and all living residents out of the home) for 2 hours; however, I believe it is most effective if left closed up at least 8 hours. This bomb kills all kinds of bugs. It sterilizes eggs and it is effective for 11 months.

Clean ears with mineral or baby oil twice a month and your dog should never have ear mites.

Bathing:

Bath your dog as often as every week or every other week or as needed. I like to use Dawn dishwater detergent if the dog is really dirty (its grease cutting properties causes all the hair to get really wet and clean and allows the skin to get clean too. Massage and scrub the entire body vigorously. Always brush and comb out your Pomeranian before bathing. You’re done brushing and combing when your comb goes through every inch of your dog easily. You should be able to see and feel clean healthy skin.

During the shedding times of year (spring and fall) following this procedure will eliminate elongated shedding process.

- Brush and comb out and bathe and dry and comb out

- The next week, repeat the process in the line above (comb, bathe, comb)

Potty training:

Potty training will be easier if you do not allow the puppy to have the run of your house. I do not recommend paper training unless that is where your dog will have to go its entire life.

Immediately start to potty train to go outside. It is like a child - after it eats, sleeps, and romps around, it is going to need to potty.

Males make the best pets:

Males do make the best pets! They are more loving, more willing to please, and they are usually very tolerant and train very fast. A male keeps a more beautiful coat at all times (Lassie was a male dog on the TV show rather than a female because of this fact). Males cost least to neuter; generally males initial price is less than a female.

The most important thing to do to your "pet" male puppy is to have him neutered between, at least, 4 to 6 months of age! This keeps them from doing things males naturally do because they are males like lifting their leg and "marking" their territory. They won’t do this if they are neutered BEFORE they know they are a male!

Special Tips:

To prevent front leg injury to toy breed dogs - pick puppies and adults up by putting your hand under their rib cage with free hand on their backs to steady as you lift.

Prevent puppies and adults from jumping off furniture (especially if they are jumping onto slick, hard surfaces.

Small children should be encouraged to sit on the floor while learning to hold toy breeds securely and should not carry toy breeds. Toy breeds do not belong in families who have children unless the children have been carefully parentally trained to respect a toy breeds’ size. Toy breeds are for gentle loving. Families who want a dog to wrestle and rough house with need to choose a larger breed - a much larger breed. Too often, small children tease and torment small dogs by pulling their hair or chasing them with sticks.

Nails should be trimmed every other week and kept short. Long nails break down the pasterns and would be equivalent to a person walking painfully with fallen arches. So it is more "cruel" to let your dog have long nails than it is to trim the nails often, even if it causes bleeding. Quick stop will stop the bleeding immediately. Pinching the toe pad immediately above and below the nail before and after you clip the nail will slow the flow of blood to the nail. Apply quick stop. This method also helps eliminate "foot shyness."

If you feel you must use a collar, rolled leather collars work best for long haired breeds because they do not cause hair to matt under them and do not frey the hair like nylon collars do. A size 10 will work for a puppy and will have enough notches in it to fit the puppy as an adult too. I do not recommend leaving any collars or harnesses on any dogs unattended because they can "hang" themselves with them.

For training young show puppy prospects or training pets to lead, I recommend a size 12 figure 8 cat harness. Again, I do not recommend leaving this harness on an unattended dog.

The fine toy dog show leads are recommended, even for pets, because you must take these leads off and not leave them on - used only for "walking" your dog.

If your dog or puppy has dry, flakey skin, one of the following could be the problem:

1. Bacteria - treatable with chlorahexidine or small amount of clorox in bath water.

2. Fungus - treatable with iodine scrubs and rinses

3. Mites - treatable with pyrethrin shampoos left on for 6-10 minutes and then rinsed.

4. Lacking linoleic &/or linolenic acid - Mirra-coat liquid treatment

5. Vitamin E is a supplement (to be used in moderation) for good healthy skin

A good quality dog food (a premium adult dog food is fine for puppies too) and will supply all the nutrients need for your dog. If you wish to feet it table scraps, use only juices or garvyor something that can be thoroughly mixed and not picked out of the "mush." Wheat germ oil can be added to the diet for luster to coat and healthy skin, but do not overdo it or it may kill your dog. Also, reduced fat "diet" dog foods can kill your dog. Rather than use diet dog food, I recommend Eukanuba low residue adult canine (can only get it through your vet) and sog it up with hot water and feed a very small amount a.m. and p.m. This will maintain your obese dog very well with no other food offered!