You have a brand new sheepadoodle puppy, now what?! In this blog, we will cover
- products to help with the transition.
- Some common bad behavior and how to correct them
Here are all the products. Scroll down for explanation:
1. Food: Natural Balance- Limited Ingredients Reserves Puppy Duck
2. Crate Crate 36in or 42 in.
3. CBD treats. You can use this one and chewing toy: water buffalo horns.
4. Collar: I recommend a size small. for this age. Leash: This leash is amazing and will help with pulling.
5. Brushes and tools: Deshedder Link to this tool, Doodle brush, de-matting tool, and blow dryer
Food
They HAVE to eat this food until you make the transition later. If you decide to change the food, it needs to be very slow: 10% new food for the first few days, 25% later, and eventually 100%. Sudden changes in food will give them instant diarrhea. Name is Natural Balance- Limited Ingredients Reserves Puppy Duck
I feed them 3 times a day. 6am, 12pm, 5pm. They eat constantly. They also drink A LOT of water, please have that readily available. A previous pet owner recommended a slow feeder and also an elevated pet tray. I don’t recommend eating after 5pm or 6 to help them with potty training. Water should be taken away 2 hours before bedtime.
Crate Training Schedule
They are trained to wake up at 6am and go to bed at 10pm (haha, that’s my schedule). They still make mistakes with peeing, but pooping has been amazing. I don’t recommend pee pads because I didn’t train them on it. I suggest taking them out to pee/poop. If you must use a pee pad, use a towel or something of similar texture. They sleep a lot and will be tired out after 20 minutes of crazy playing, so please put them back into the crate right away. This will help with potty training. You could leave chew toys in there. This is the crate that I and other owners use. You can use a 36 or a 42in. A 42 in will be very comfortable and will last them into adulthood. Please leave the blanket I will give you with them. This will help calm them down since it has all the smells from their home. At night, you could take another blanket and cover the crate entirely so they’ll be in the dark sleeping. You will have to get up in the middle of the night to let them out.
Treats
Please keep treats to a minimum. This may cause diarrhea. You can use this CBD treat later to calm them down if you’ll be gone for a long time. You can use this one. However, I don’t recommend using it now. I usually only give it to my big dogs. The puppies have been obsessed with water buffalo horns. I stuff it with peanut/almond butter then freeze it. This will help with teething.
Collars and Leashes
I can give you their current collars, but those are very fragile and will come off easily. I recommend a size small. This is a good one from Amazon. This leash is amazing because it’ll help with pulling. It goes around their snout for easy control. Check their Instagram account because they give out discount codes often.
Grooming Tools
These are the tools that I use to keep their hair fluffy and long. I usually try to brush 2-3 times a week, but not using the same tools. For example:
Brush 1: Use this de-shedding tool. This tool takes away some of the excess hair, the undercoat hair that will help prevent matting in the future. Link to this tool.
Brush 2: Brush with a Doodle brush which just has longer bristles. Brush thoroughly and be sure to brush the head, ears, tail, and paws. Long bristles can get into the skin area and that’s how you prevent mats.
Brush 3: Use a de-matting tool. This tool is to de-mat any spots that are matted. Doing one small section at a time will help. Their snout can get really matted because of trapped food, so don’t forget to brush their whole head! De-matting is necessary in tricky areas if you want them to stay fluffy! Another reason why they’re high maintenance. This is a blow dryer I use which will save a lot of time. It’s a professional grade dryer for fluffy dogs. Using the regular human hair dryer will not be fast enough.
Common problems and solutions for young sheepadoodle puppies
There are lots of resources on Youtube where you can learn how to fix these problems. Taking a puppy class at Petco/Petsmart or your local trainer would help tremendously. Remember to practice, practice, practice what you’ve learned in class.