when handrearing I've always worked on 4 hourly feeds once they get to 4/5 weeks, he should sleep over night now he is on solids.
I worked on little but often type thing, if you use small tiny amounts you can soon start dropping the milk less and less.
Mince is a good thing to introduce as he gets alittle more settled on the biscuits feed. Im sure others will have thier opinion and all advice is useful if used right. Just make sure that you do not introduce things too fast and swop too often as then you will give him the runs, which again is as bad as constipation.

Im so peased to hear he is doing well .......good for you xxxxxxxx

No advice but thanks for the update.

Well done---the next hurdle comes with the socialisation! When he gets strong enough he needs to meet other nice dogs to learn some dog manners from his own kind. Some hand reared pups have problems if they are too isolated.

rune

Just returned from the vets,she's very pleased with him and didn't feel the need to xray him again.She gave him his first worming cream(the tablet to follow in 2 weeks along with his first injections).Had his front claws trimmed,I'm looking like a road map.Trouble is as he has no siblings or canine mum I get on the floor and interact with him,he loves it,my face,arms,legs ect do not!
She has told me to pen off a small area and put his food bowl and milk bowl in and let him get on with it on his own.Only using the bottle as a treat. I think the wash cloth will be in constant use! I still want to know if it's ok to just give him a bottle for the late feed?By midnight I am falling over and the thought of watching him bath in his food at that time makes me feel REALLY ILL!Having said that I will if it has to be.
I do think he is deaf,or maybe a little late in the ears department.I dropped a heavy bunch of keys quite near him this morning and got no reaction.That's nothing to what I did 3 nights ago,I knocked a whole bottle of RED wine of the worktop,no reaction to that either.Belive me it made my husband jump,spent the next 2 hours picking up glass,hoovering ect.Just sooooo Tired! If he is deaf does anyone have any info on how to start training,I realise that the sooner I start the better for his sake as well as ours.I was really looking forward to the training,you don't usually get the chance to start at such an early time in a puppies life.I like a challenge,just as well lol
Will look forward to any help and advice and will keep you posted with his progress.Thanks to all

Well done on taking on the little pup Eileen.

I took on a 3 and a half week old Dobermann puppy and it is hard work, The tiredness had me in tears at times but trust me it's so worth it.

I didn't bottle feed Erik, I starting him off lapping milk replacement from a little saucer, and then made his puppy kibble into a porridge like consisitency.

Dont worry about him walking/paddling through the milk/food. At the start Erik had more food on him, than in his belly. I used to put his food down and he'd start off eating it, then walk through it, then lick the food off his paws, and he even fell asleep in his food once!

Just keep a supply of wetwipes near by, and when he's finished eating, if he's really covered in his food give him a quick wipe over with the wetwipe, and then a quick dry with a towel.

Try not to bath him too often, as pups of that age get cold very easily, and you dont want the pup to get a respiritory infection.

At 4 weeks old I think Erik was on 6 - 8 small meals a day, he was being fed every 3ish hours. then gradually over time he started going 4 hours between eating, and then if he slept longer in the night i'd leave him untill he woke up.
I did find that by giving Erik his soaked puppy kibble and then his drink of milk that filled him up more than just the milk and allowed him to start sleeping better.


I can appreciate just how tired you are at the moment, and can I suggest you speak with your husband and try and sort out some times that he can take over for you?
With my hubby working, I knew I had to do most of the night time feeds etc, but my hubby would get up a couple of hours early so that I could go grab a few hours sleep, and again when he came in from work he'd take over for a little while so that I could grab a few hours again.
Also when pup sleeps in the day, grab the chance to get some sleep too..

Wishing you the best of luck xx

Hi Bugzy,Thank you for telling me about your 'baby'.I did as the vet said and put 2 bowls in a smallish crate(part of a playpen we had sent from the UK) one with his milk and one with puppy food mixed with biscuit soaked in water.He went for both,can't say how much he managed to swallow against how much was stuck on his feet.Having said that we then had a little play time and he wandered off and put himself in his favourite spot to sleep.I have a side table next to my sofa which I have draped a towel over and put towels inside.He seems to like the reduced light.It's either that or he slides himself under the sofa which is a little worrying as he is growing so fast he will soon get stuck! I guess as he decided to leave the food he must have felt full.The vet said I could leave the food down for a while,not sure I like that idea so I shall throw it after he goes to sleep. I guess I will find out if he's eating enough by how long he sleeps.
My husband has been a saint,it's me who will not let him do to many of the night hours.He works 24/7(luckily from where ever we are) and for the last 4 weeks has done all the shopping,lot's of the cooking and also had a better technic for getting Lucky to poo(must be the bigger hands!) I also have a sleep problem anyway so naps don't work for me.I shall just get to the point where I can't stay awake any longer(which comes over me about once a fortnight)and then let my husband do the hero thing!
I'm so glad I found this site yesterday,I don't feel so out on a limb,you are all such a lifeline,Thank you.Husband home from the UK tonight so it will be a problem shared again until next week!

Well done you for giving this little chap a chance


All your hard work will be well worth it!!
xx

A quick up date.Lucky is learning not to stand in his food and I have started to weigh what I put down for him and weigh what he leaves.This way I hope to get a better idea of what his needs are.He slept from 1.30 till 5.30 and did a poo before I even got his food to him.RESULT!
I did find he had bought up some of the biscuit yesterday so I am putting twice as much meat to biscuit and hope to get the right balance. He seems very content this morning and is quite relaxed sleeping under the table again.Prayers answered!

Re training him.

Hand signals are the way to go---paired with little bits of treats.

My friend has a deaf pointer pup (7mths) and he has learnt lots.

Come is now a bright toy held in the air and waved---he is not given the toy when he gets back, he may get another one instead of a titbit. The difficulty comes in trying to make sure they look at you, you can get vibrating collars but so far she hasn't found the need as she has other dogs and he tends to follow them. You can't use a collar till they are at least 6mths and it MUST be just a vibrate--not a shock. If you need one and can't get one we can source one for you.

Sit is finger held up---teach with treat held above head.

Down is hand flat to floor---again teach with titbit under palm and put on nose then move hand to flat on floor and pup shopuld lie down---release titbit.

Toilet is all fingers wiggled whilst outside then signal for good, which is a thumbs up, followed by titbit.
(because my friend uses the thumb as a clicker she has a different sign for good---but that does make it complicated).

Bad is hand flat and pushed towards him or hard to the side---VERY bad is hand hitting front of your head several times----whilst approaching him with fierce expression (I had cause to use that one last week whilst pup sitting and made the mistake of being cross enough to hit myself---not good!)

That will probably do you for now.

Good luck

rune

Hi Rune,Thank's so much for that,I shall start as I mean to go on! I am keeping my fingers crossed that I am wrong but I don't think I am.We have a stray dog coming into our garden that we think is the mum and she is stone deaf.She's in a really bad way,I have been feeding and doing all I can for her but I found out she is owned.The owner lives 5 km away and he leaves his dogs on the hillside next to us.My gardner followed her 2 weeks ago and found a dead dog and 2 dead puppies.If only Portugal had the RSPCA!.I feel like shooting him.I have tried to keep her out of the garden because of the pup but she climbs and burrows and we have a 4 acre garden.
I am having a fence put around the area outside our living room and will have to make sure she can't get into that.On the up side,I have taken Lucky outside and put him on the grass and he wee's every time.Just can't let him stay out for any time,I'm waiting for my gardner to erect the fence.I shall teach my husband the hand signals so that we are doing the same thing and let you know how we get on.Thank You Eileen

She wants to be with the pup----not a bad idea if you can manage it as she will teach him a lot.

rune