new puppy questions

[Gizmo's mom]

first off, our new little girl is such a cutie! we just had a few questions. how many times should a 10 week old need to pee in a day? she didnt pee at all yesterday though probably because of nerves, anxiety, etc of leaving mom and siblings and family and going on a very long car ride. she went from about 4 yesterday to 9 or so this morning without peeing at all. we have been making sure she has plenty of water to drink, but its now after 4:30 pm and she has only peed twice today. do we need to do anything different? just wait for her to be more comfortable here? or is this normal? how much water should she be drinking during the day? also, how much sleep do they need throughout the day. she will wake up for a little bit, and has even started to wonder around, but then she flops back on the floor for more sleep. i know she is a puppy so needs lots and lots of sleep, i just want to make sure this is normal. she has even found a favorite sleeping spot; either under the kitchen table, or on the linoleum right in front of the front door. and she sure does love to just lay in the shaded grass outside. we are working with her on walking on a leash, because she has never been on one before. so she doesnt really want to walk with it to much for now. but my husband has discovered that she LOVES string cheese and was walking beautifully with him for a few minutes. oh and i think one more thing. she was on purina puppy chow but we have started her on Avoderm large breed puppy. and she eats it with no problems so far. we are just wondering about how much she should be eating. we weighed her this morning and she was about 22lbs or so. i think the bag recommends 2.5-3.25 cups a day for that weight and age (10 weeks). the people we got her from couldnt really give us a guess on how much she eats because they had 3 other puppies that all got fed at the same time out of the same bowl. so about how much would you guys recommend? thanks in advance.
Edit: oh also, when does teething normally start? i dont know if she is just going to be a chewer or if she is starting to teeth. we did get a couple toys for her to chew on which is likes. just wondering which it is.

[Jewel]

Everyone else will chime in but based on my experience with my current two that we've raised from 8 weeks, the infrequent urination and energy level of your pup seems unusual to me. Puppies at this age, if they are drinking a reasonable amount of water, would usually need to urinate more than twice in 6-7 hours (also the holding it in for 17 hours prior to that is most unusual). Also, at 10 weeks they are usually pretty energenic for several periods a day. We got Bijou late August and so it was very hot. But she was quite game playing with my male dog from the get-go notwithstanding the heat.

But other people's pups may be more like yours, so, it may be within normal. Have you set an appointment with your vet yet? On second thought, the puppy had a long stressful trip coming to her new home, so that probably explains the sleeping.

[Gizmo's mom]

Originally Posted by Jewel

Everyone else will chime in but based on my experience with my current two that we've raised from 8 weeks, the infrequent urination and energy level of your pup seems unusual to me. Puppies at this age, if they are drinking a reasonable amount of water, would usually need to urinate more than twice in 6-7 hours (also the holding it in for 17 hours prior to that is most unusual). Also, at 10 weeks they are usually pretty energenic for several periods a day. We got Bijou late August and so it was very hot. But she was quite game playing with my male dog from the get-go notwithstanding the heat.

But other people's pups may be more like yours, so, it may be within normal. Have you set an appointment with your vet yet? On second thought, the puppy had a long stressful trip coming to her new home, so that probably explains the sleeping.

yeah we are thinking with just the long stressful drive she may be more sedate and tired til she recovers. also, it is pretty hot even inside, because the only ac we have is box fans. so that may be part of it. though just the last couple hours she has been up and walking around a good bit. she has decided its fun to follow our daughter around. and yeah we have been surprised at how little she has peed. we did get her to poop this morning though.

[BC19]

I know absolutely nothing about the going potty, my Siege went every hour on the hour when he was that young. I don't think I was able to stretch it out to two hours until he is about 12 weeks old, but then his bladder has always seem to be a little behind what is suggested holding it time.

On the energy front, Siege never was super energetic. We could take him for one walk when he was 12 weeks old and he would poop out for three hours or so after that, then get up and play for half an hour, poop back out for several hours, get up and play for an hour or so, then go back to sleep. He would play several times a day, with his extended play time being in the evening, but it was always followed by a two to three hour nap with potty breaks thrown in there. I have read puppies need lots of sleep and that is exactly what Siege did lol. He just started about a month ago staying awake more then he was asleep. Now, he will get up with me around 7ish and we go outside, feeding time, cuddle time on the couch, maybe a walk if it isn't too hot, and just general laying around and relaxing. Then he takes a nap from about 11-12 to 4-5, where we go back outside, then dinner, a walk if we didn't get one in earlier, a good hour or so of rough playing, chewing on his toys and pig skins, and then bed time for us. He doesn't go to bed when we do, but he has always been quiet while we sleep. Several times a month our schedule is thrown off by a day at the beach or park and we take him with us.

[Maggie's mom]

Typically, you can count on a puppy needing to pee their age in months+2 (2 month old pup can go 4 hours, 3 month old 5 hours, etc.)...however, some puppies go more or less (yeah, I know...a lot of help that equation is, right??!!) Maggie has a bladder the size of a watermelon...when we first brought her home at 9 wks, I got up in the middle of the night to take her out to potty and it seemed to annoy her...she could go ALL night without needing to potty. She only had 4 accidents in the house EVER. She was the easiest puppy I've ever house trained and crate trained. She is a dream pup. My boys have been a bit more difficult, esp during the day/evening. I have to watch Arlo closely, and take him out every few hours...any time a puppy wakes up from a nap, soon after they eat, and after a playful period you need to take them out to potty. If they start sniffing around, esp on carpeted areas, RUN them outside to potty. Arlo is now sleeping through the night without needing to go out (he's 14 wks) I limit how much he drinks after 8pm...I don't deny him water, but just limit his accessibility to water in the evening which helps at night.

In the first few days at home, all my puppies have been fairly subdued...then, after 3 days, WATCH OUT!! They do need time to get adjusted, and they are very young, so they tend to sleep and "observe" most of the time. The puppy zoomies will come very soon. Having said that, my pyrs have been calmer as puppies than my sammies. Arlo loves to play, and is very "kitten-like" in his play, but is not over-the-top with constant play. Maggie was VERY calm as a puppy...Jazz (18 month old sammie) irritated the heck out of Maggie and INSISTED she play with him...otherwise, she would have been content to lay around and get petted. She is not a toy fanatic. Arlo likes his toys, but is not annoying with them. He likes to play with the big guys, but spends a lot of time sleeping still. That will probably end in a couple weeks, and his energy level will increase dramatically. We're all resting up in preparation for that stage.

How much to feed...I have found that to be fairly individualized. Jazz was not a food motivated puppy, so ate very little (I've NEVER had a puppy eat the recommended kibble amount), Maggie ate a LOT as a puppy (after I started feeding raw when she was 6 months...she never ate kibble well), but she doesn't eat much at all now (summer heat??) Arlo has a voracious appetite and I'm convinced he would eat constantly if allowed. Maggie seemed to know her limit...Arlo doesn't. I tend to keep an eye on body condition rather than amounts. Arlo needed to gain weight because he was very sick, so I was supposed to give him Iams Max-cal (high calorie formula) supplemented with Ensure. He was starting to get a little chubby, so I slacked off the high cal diet and transitioned him to a regular diet. His weight seems perfect now...enough meat on his bones/covering his ribs, growing appropriately, but not growing too fast or looking chubby. I put more value on how puppies look and feel, rather than what the bag recommends in amounts.

Chewing...Arlo isn't a terrible chewer, but he does want the occasional chew treat. Personally, I like cow ears and bully sticks for puppies. As I said, my guys are raw fed, so I think the desire to chew on bones is satisfied in their meals, so they aren't constantly chewing on chair legs or human limbs. It seems my guys have gone through big chewing stages around 4-5 months (when the adult teeth start coming in) so I keep chewable items easily accessible during those times.

Puppies are soooo much fun!!! I love them!!! Have fun!

[kimierose]

When we first brought Bella home I to thought something was wrong she seemed like she didnt like it here didnt play so on that only lasted 2 days Bella sleeps most of the day away usally more active at night around 7 she gets her spirt of energy after it cools down. Bella also has a bladder the size of a watermellon she at 4 1/2 months can go 7 hrs without peeing and has never had a accident in her crate. As for eating she is a grassier I leave food down all the time for her. When we first brought her home at 7 weeks she was eating about 4 cups of food a day. Now depending on how hot it is usally 7 to 8 cups is her norm.The people we got her from had her on Ol Roy I changed her over to Iams took a couple weeks did it gradually increasing her new food more everyday till she was on the new food totally.Hope this helps just give her a cpl days to get used to the new place and new people and being away from mom, dad and the siblings.