Welcome Letter
We’d like to formally welcome you to the Nimh Kennel Puppy Family! We appreciate your faith in us to provide you with a healthy, well-rounded Rat Terrier puppy and our commitment to you and your puppy doesn’t stop when your puppy leaves our home. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns at any stage of your puppy’s life.
We also welcome pictures and updates as your pup grows. There is a Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/nimhpuppies, that you can join if you have a Facebook account and meet the rest of the Nimh Kennel Puppy Family. A great place to share your experiences and achievements with your pup.
The first few days might be a bit of a challenge, sort of like bringing home a new baby. Your puppy may experience separation anxiety and of course the stress of adjusting to a whole new environment. Remember: this too shall pass.
We highly recommend crate training. Your puppy will be used to a litter box, litter box training helps the puppy to understand to keep their sleeping area clean. Crate training a young puppy requires patience and consistency. Do not give in to a fussing puppy when you know they don’t need to relieve themselves. Even then, don’t encourage barking/whining when you are letting them out, open the crate when the puppy settles. This is, of course, best practiced on an empty bladder. Also, it is important to get a crate of proper size. The crate should be just big enough for the pup to stand up, turn around and lie down in, anything bigger gives the pup an opportunity to use one side to potty.
Put your puppy on a potty schedule. Take out to potty after it’s eaten, drank, slept, or played. Never punish for an accident that you didn’t see, it’s too late for the puppy to associate the reprimand with the action. Even a feeding and water schedule are helpful to set a routine. Also, remember, your puppy is young and learning. They may not be able to ‘hold it’ for a full 8-hour workday. They’ll be able to hold it longer as they grow.
Your pup will come litter trained, we use a paper pellet, like Yesterday’s News, in a rabbit litter tray.
It is also not suggested to leave a collar on a dog in a crate, accidents happen and we know we all want to prevent them as much as possible. Toys and bedding should also be limited inside a crate to avoid destruction and the potential for intestinal blockage or other accidents. If you’d like to give your pup something soft to lay on in a crate you may want to check out the K9 Ballistic beds, they offer a few different chew-resistant beds with guarantees.
Your puppy is currently eating GoodFriends Puppy Kibble (RuralKing.com). We also like SportMix Wholesome (Chewy.com), GoodFriends Naturals (RuralKing.com), and have used Retriever Puppy Food (from TractorSupply.com).
Foods to avoid based on recent findings and link to Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM): Acana (67 reports), Zignature (64 reports), Taste of the Wild (53 reports), 4Health (32 reports), Earthborn Holistic (32 reports), Blue Buffalo (31 reports), Nature’s Domain (29 reports), Fromm (24 reports), Merrick (16 reports), California Natural (15 reports), Natural Balance (15 reports), Orijen (12 reports), Nature’s Variety (10 reports), Nutrisource (10 reports), Nutro (10 reports), & Rachael Ray Nutrish (10 reports).
The change of environment and away from their litter-mates a pup may experience diarrhea. This can be exasperated with a change in food. It is best to switch gradually, of course, if you can. We usually switch off puppy food to adult food around 6 months of age. This allows for proper growth and less painful growth spurts.
We also suggest spay/neuter surgery to take place between 6 months to a year. Waiting a little closer to a year of age will allow hormones to do their thing in helping your pup’s growth as well.
Your puppy will have been started on NuVet supplements, we’re offering this to the pups to try to help ease potential stress issues such as diarrhea & a hit to the immune system during the transition to their new home. If you want to continue your pup on the supplement, they’re good for all life stages, you can order from http://www.nuvet.com/795237.
For general dental maintenance, we recommend PlaqueOff food additive, they also have chews available.
We also write a blog with some training information as well as product reviews and general articles on our boarding kennel website, check it out at sterlingacreskennel.com.
Welcome to the family!
Ashley Bond
Nimh Kennel | ratsofnimh.com
276-620-2138
ashley@ratsofnimh.com