Are you a new puppy owner? Or maybe it has been a while since you had a dog. Well Puppyhood has so many roller coasters so I’m going to give you a little bit of peace of mind.

Collars and scratching

One of the first things that kind of freaked me out as a first-time puppy parent was the constant scratching at the collar. He would scratch at it while relaxing or stop in the middle of playtime to scratch it.  After doing some research I found out that this was totally normal. For the first 8 weeks of the puppy’s life, they didn’t have anything on because they were so tiny.  After a couple weeks they should scratch at it less and less. If you want, you give your puppy breaks from the collar.

You can take it off when the puppy naps and slowly increase how long he wears it. But there is no problem with putting the collar on and not taking it off either. One Rule you want to remember when putting on the collar is to make sure that it is not too tight. You can check to make sure by seeing if you can easily place two fingers between the dog’s neck and his collar. 

You should try to practice wearing the collar as much as possible, so they are mostly use to it by time they are fully vaccinated and ready to take leash walks.

Deep Sleeping!

The first couple of weeks with a puppy is crazy and before we had a set schedule with enforced nap time. Our puppy would go into a deep sleep at random times, and it was a little scary because the little guy could sleep past alarms.  We soon realized that puppies need 18 hours of sleep and without a regular schedule our puppy was just sleeping whenever for however long.

But be weary though if your puppy is taking a nap and is still sluggish after a nap that they might need food and may be suffering low blood sugar. You could give your pup some plain yogurt or a safe fruit like blueberry or strawberry and see if they perk up and become playful.

But if your puppy is on a pretty relaxed schedule and you notice they are going into a deep sleep you don’t need to worry too much because it’s pretty normal.

Reverse Sneezing!

If you are ever here your dog, make a Nosie that sounds a little bit like elongated sneeze or maybe like a cat trying to hack up a hair ball. That is called reverse sneezing. It’s not an allergic reaction, it’s just something that happens when your dog gets a tickle in its throat. Maybe it’s dust or mites or maybe your dog just got excited. As long as the sneezing fit isn’t happening for too long 1-2 minutes, they usually last. Then you have nothing to worry about. But if this is happening for prolonged periods of time it definitely you want to talk to your vet about.