Dr. Elisa Mazzaferro: Hi! I am Dr. Elisa Mazzaferro with AAHA, and today we're talking about how to care for your puppy. We're going to discuss now, how to establish a daily routine. Like a human baby, puppies like to eat, they require a lot of care and they also like to sleep. So getting them into a routine is extremely important. They have food time, potty time, and play time.

Puppy should be fed three to four times a day. And the time in between each feeding is according to their growing requirements. And so it's very important that if you don't have time to feed your puppy at regular intervals, that you hire someone, that can come in and not only feed your puppy, but then soon afterwards, take them out for potty breaks. For every month of age, your puppy could go for about one hour before it has to go to the bathroom. So for an eight week old puppy or two months, they can go for about two hours before needing to go outside.

Again, the three month old puppy, three hours. And by the time they are four months of age, they can go for about four hours. They need these regularly scheduled breaks. Otherwise, they might have housebreaking accidents or soil their crate. Then it will be difficult for them to learn the difference between inside and outside. So after you've scheduled a bunch of times for potty breaks, remember that it's also important to know when downtime versus play time is.

It's important to get your puppy socialized as well as exercised. So if you're type of person that likes to go outside, you might want to start the day out, by taking your puppy for a walk, allowing them to do its morning-business, and then taking them inside and giving them their first meal. Then you can put your puppy in a crate, while you get ready for work.

But remember, that in about two or three hours or longer depending on the age of your puppy, your puppy will have to go outside again. This might be a good time to then play with them for a short while to get them a little bit tired out. Before you put them into their crate for a period of time, say, two to three to four hours depending on the age of your puppy, while you do other things, like go to work.

Then schedule a person to come in to take care of that puppy during the day, if you can't do that yourself. If you're at home during the day, scheduling regularly periods of times to go outside, get some fresh air or if you live in a Condo Unit or something like that, you might want to play with them inside. Playing with toys. Teaching them games. Making them go fetch. Whatever it is to interact with your puppy in a time of play, that's enjoyable for both of you. When you get home at night, puppies will want to be very enthusiastic and greet you.

Take them outside, let them do what they need to do, and then bring them back inside. Some dogs will get very, very anxious and want to continue to play. I would downplay that type of behavior, and get yourself into routine, knowing that you have taken care of your puppy's needs, whether it be taking them outside or giving them their evening meal and then take care of yourself and your family's routine. Such as preparing dinner and eating. Then finally, after that you can interact for another series of playtime with your puppy.

Once you get into routine, the puppy will learn that all time is not puppy time. But puppy time is the best time of the day.

So I hope you've learned a lot today about how to care for your wonderful new puppy. Thanks for watching.