National Puppy Day is a fun and exciting day for pet owners and dog enthusiasts to celebrate puppies while introducing great opportunities for current and prospective pet owners to adopt a dog.
Every pup has its day so prepare yourself for an overload of cuteness because Wednesday, March 23, 2022, is National Puppy Day! National Puppy Day is a fun and exciting day for pet owners and dog enthusiasts to celebrate puppies while introducing great opportunities for current and prospective pet owners to adopt a dog. Continue reading for more information on National Puppy Day and helpful tips for taking care of your new fur baby.
Puppy Training
Puppy training is essential for pet owners and their newly found fur babies. Training is a great way to bond with your puppy while teaching them basic skills, rules, routines, boundaries, and much more, establishing a foundation for higher learning as your fur baby grows and matures.
Listed below are some helpful tips to get you through puppy training:
- Be consistent
- Redirect bad behavior instead of reprimanding
- Reward good behavior
- Be gentle during training
- Refrain from training methods and commands that can be confusing. The shorter the workout, the easier it is for your pup to remember and understand.
- Short and frequent training sessions. Puppies don’t have very long attention spans, so focus on one command for five minutes and then take a break.
- Make sure your puppy is well-rested before a training session
- Initiate training in familiar and distraction-free environments
- Integrate training tasks and commands throughout the day
Socialization
Carefully socializing your puppy is a fun way to introduce them to new places, faces, and fur friends, exposing them to new surroundings and social settings creating positive experiences and memories. Socialization is key in teaching your puppy how to behave in public while helping them develop the ability to adjust and cope with new surroundings, dogs, and people. Remember, a well-socialized dog is a happy, confident, and friendly dog. Be mindful of your puppy’s friend’s vaccine status. Since puppies aren’t fully vaccinated until they are about 16 weeks old, only socialize them with other dogs you know are fully vaccinated.
Vaccines
Similar to how humans require important vaccinations in their first year of life, your puppy will require frequent visits to their veterinarian to get vaccinated against potentially dangerous and fatal infectious diseases. To best protect your puppy’s health, they should receive their first vaccinations around six to eight weeks of age.
Distemper Vaccine (DAPP)
DAPP is a vaccine that protects your dog from four diseases that are highly contagious and dangerous, including Canine Distemper Virus, Canine Adenovirus, Canine Parvovirus, and Canine Parainfluenza Virus.
Rabies
The rabies vaccination helps protects your dog from contracting and spreading rabies to humans or other animals. Rabies vaccinations are required by law and should be administered to your pet around 16 weeks of age by a veterinarian.
Lyme Disease
The Lyme vaccine helps prevent your dog from contracting Lyme disease, a bacterial infection in dogs transmitted by ticks.
Leptospirosis
The Leptospirosis vaccine protects your dog from Leptospirosis (Lepto), a disease caused by bacteria found in soil and water that can spread from animals to humans.
Bordetella Bronchiseptica
The Bordetella vaccine protects your dog from contracting Bordetella Bronchiseptica, a highly contagious bacterium linked to kennel cough and respiratory disease in dogs.
Canine Influenza Virus (CIV)
CIV vaccines reduce your dog’s risk of acquiring Canine Influenza or “dog flu”, a highly contagious viral infection caused by two influenza strains.
Spaying/Neuter
Many health and behavioral benefits are linked to spaying and neutering your pets. Early spaying in female dogs reduces the risk of mammary cancer and pyometra and helps to prevent overpopulation. Neutering male dogs combats testicular cancer, prostate issues, and behavioral issues such as reduced aggression. Ask one of our veterinarians to discuss the best timing for spaying or neutering your pup.
Preventatives
Dogs are prone to many illnesses from different parasites found both outside and inside the home. The best way to protect your dog from contracting a disease or picking up a parasite is with regular preventatives.
Bravecto
Bravecto is a veterinarian-recommended one dose chewable treat that can protect your dog from fleas and ticks for up to 12 weeks in dogs 6 months and older. Due to quickly changing weights in puppies, it is given monthly for the first 6 months of your dog’s life. Bravecto’s high efficacy and fast kill time ensure any parasites that find their way to your furry friend will die before they can pass along any disease.
Interceptor Plus
Interceptor Plus is a broad-spectrum parasiticide in the form of a chewable that protects your dog from heartworm disease and intestinal parasites, including tapeworms, roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms. It requires a veterinarian prescription and should be administered to your dog monthly.
Here at Mount Carmel Animal Hospital, We’ll Treat Your Pets Like Family!
Mount Carmel Animal Hospital has been serving the Northern Baltimore/Southern York community for over 30 years and is proud to be an independently operated, small animal practice committed to excellence in veterinary medicine and client service. From grooming to wellness services, along with Canine Life Skills Training Courses, and surgical procedures, we