| When you
have a singleton puppy, it is a lot more work than if you have more than
one puppy in a litter. When there are several pups, even only two, they
teach each other many lessons on how to interact with other dogs, and their play
teaches them physical coordination as well. Pups egg each other on to try new
things, to experiment. A singleton pup has none of this interaction.
This pup is fine as long as Mom is there and she will pay it lots of attention.
However, often by week three, Mom is tired of feeding and caring for the
pup and being away from her human family. Therefore the breeder must
take over to make sure the pup is socialized, learns to eat by itself, to
climb stairs and all those other important lessons pups need to learn.
Learning to eat is a big issue for singleton
puppies. A litter of pups play with each other, and encourage each other
to try new things. If one of the pups doesn't like the new food dish,
it will soon find it is out of luck, so it will dig in and learn to eat
with the others. With a single pup, the breeder will have to encourage
it. I place the dish on my knee and dip my finger into the very runny food
and encourage the pup to lick it off the finger. This introduces the pup
to the food and in time it will learn to like it. Up until now, its
food has only been liquid and so grains of dog food, even tiny ones, are
different - and so the pup will turn away from it. At this time, Mom
should be still feeding the puppy but gradually, you will wean the pup away
from her and onto the dish entirely. If this is an orphan pup, or Mom doesn't
have any milk (which sometimes happens with only one pup nursing), then
the breeder has to supplement the puppy. As the pup learns to eat the runny
food, the breeder will gradually make it thicker
and
thicker until it is dry puppy chow. Socialization
of the puppy is the next problem that needs to be dealt with. Singletons
are lonely little guys and so you have to help them to learn to play and
roll and tumble as though there are others to play with. Good breeders spend
playtime each day with every litter, but a singleton will present bigger
problems. Puppies have enormous amounts ofenergy, and a singleton
has no brothers or sisters to expend their energy on. I like to spend
time at least three times a day one-on-one with the pup. The time can be
spent in a variety of ways. Sometimes it is rolling a ball, playing gentle
tug, and other times, it is just petting, letting the pup chew on my fingers
or a toy. Depending on how rough
the other dogs are, you can allow the pup some time playing with the other
household pets. But never leave him alone! Always be there to monitor the
play carefully. To enlarge the
pup's horizon, at about 4 5 weeks of age, I give him a change of location.
It gets to spend time in other parts of the house - the kitchen, rumpus
room, or wherever, so the pup can explore and see new places. At this
time, you must watch that it doesn't get chilled as chilling may cause diarrhea.
Introduce the singleton to new places gradually, starting with 15 minutes and
gradually increasing the time. By
6 weeks, I try to have the singleton in an exercise pen in the same room
as the big dogs. It should also be on straight dog food by now and it should
be on the way to being dry kibble. By the time pups are 8 weeks, I like
them to be on dry puppy chow with a separate dish for water. Until
a pup is 3 months old and has its shots, it is difficult to have it with
other dogs. Most puppy socialization classes will accept pups at three months.
This is a very important part of training, and it is even more crucial for
a singleton pup. Singletons need to learn to tolerate other dogs besides
the ones they are already used to. Socialization classes will help
to make a pup much calmer as well as teaching it how to behave around strange
dogs. I always encourage new owners
to do at least one class in basic obedience by the time the pup is a year
old. However, if the plan is to show your puppy, then basic handling
classes will give the same results.
Marie
Ison
Brenmar Kennels
(perm.) Reg'd |
