Health and Nutrition
From the day our pups are whelped, they live in the house with us, in fact, all our dogs and visiting dogs live in the house with us. This entails a lot of extra work, but it ensures that their environment is clean and comfortable. They have regular visits to the vet and are transitioned to a high quality dog food at around four weeks.
Environment and Grooming
We take great pains to make sure that the puppies' environment is always clean and comfortable.
The pups are taught to potty in a litterbox, grass and pea gravel. The litterbox and litter we use is Purina Second Nature.
As soon as they're old enough, the pups are regularly taken out to the back yard for fresh air, exercise and potty training.
By the time the pups are seven weeks old, they have been on seven different surfaces.
We bathe the puppies, trim their nails and pluck and clean their ears weekly. Their faces, feet, tail bases and bellies are shaved at 4 weeks and weekly after that. Besides the obvious health benefits, these activities get them accustomed to handling by humans. For more on this, see the "Socialization" page.
Just as for human children, play is an essential part of a puppy's development. Kalein puppies are given a rich environment, with many different kinds of toys and a backyard to explore. In addition to helping meet the developmental needs of the puppies, a wide variety of environments is another important part of the puppy's socialization.
Veterinary Care
Puppies have their first visits to the vet at three days old, when their tails are docked and dew claws removed. At that time they are tested for sound hearts.
At eight weeks, they are vet-checked and wormed. We also weigh each puppy weekly and use these weight charts to assess and correct any potential developmental problems. At nine weeks they receive their first vaccine, MLV Distemper/Parvovirus. We follow the Dr. Jean Dodds' Vaccination Protocol.
We use the veterinary services of Blair Doon Veterinary Hospital.
Nutrition
The puppies begin nursing within minutes of birth. For the first four weeks they will get all the nourishment they need from their mother's milk. At four weeks, they begin the transition to a quality dog food, Purina ProPlan. Pups are fed three times a day at 6 am, noon and 4:30pm.
