An 8 week old puppy can be a lot of work. But with the right guide, it’s not too difficult to take care of them. Here is the guide you need and three easy tips to help you out.
Puppy First Weeks
The first eight weeks of a puppy’s life are rough. They go through several different stages each week. When you get your new 8-week old puppy, make sure you’re prepared for anything that can happen to them during their sensitive time frame.
What Does A Puppy Need
An 8-week old puppy needs proper training, guidance, love and most importantly – support! It is one of the most challenging times in a dog’s life because they need so much. Make sure to keep track of their schedule and act accordingly when necessary.
How Much Do Puppies Sleep
When they aren’t eating or playing with you, they will be sleeping up to 20 hours per day. 8-week old puppies don’t have it down quite yet, so be prepared to care for them all day and night.
Puppy Schedule – 8 Week Old Puppy
A puppy’s first eight weeks are very crucial for its development. They need to learn a lot during this time because it is a big part of who they will become as adult dogs. A portion of that learning is by testing everything in their teeth.
If you’re thinking of setting up a schedule for your 8-week old puppy, the best bet is to start with their feeding times. Take the puppy outside before and after each meal too. That will teach them where and when they are to go outside.
Another great way to help train your puppy to a schedule, especially regarding going outside, is to use a doorbell. That is, a bell or bells hung from a door handle. We set up one of these bells on our front door and trained our German Pinscher to ring the bell when he needed outside. At 8-weeks old, a puppy won’t get it yet. But it’s a good time to start so.
Bringing A Puppy Home At 8 Weeks
It is not advisable to bring a puppy home at eight weeks. Typically puppies should remain with their mother for 10 to 12 weeks.
If you are faced with a situation where you have no choice but to take a puppy home at eight weeks, ensure you check with a vet for best practices.
You will definitely need a special diet for them, as they should still be on mother’s milk for the most part, at eight weeks old. Speaking of food, let’s talk about that next.
Food For Puppies 2 Months Old
At two months old, puppies require a specialized puppy diet. Because of their tiny puppy teeth, they aren’t equipped to chew the big, harder kibble of adult dogs.
I recommend taking a quality puppy kibble and soaking the kibble in a touch of hot water from the kettle. That will help soften the kibble quickly (make sure it cools off before giving it to your puppy). Then add a bit of high-quality canned puppy food as a flavor topper and supplement.
How Much Should I Feed My 8 Week Old Puppy
An eight-week-old puppy will each have around one to two cups of food per day. However, it strongly depends on the breed and, therefore, the puppy’s size. Larger breeds might eat as much as 2.5 cups of food at eight weeks. Like our German Pinscher, medium breeds eat around 2 cups per day at that age. Perhaps a touch less.
For comparison, the Yorkshire Terrier we had eaten about a cup at ten weeks. Naturally, you’ll want to consult your vet, but the food to weight ratio that you’ll see on dog food packaging is typically pretty accurate also.
8 Week Old Puppy Feeding Schedule
Feeding an 8-week old puppy should happen at least three times per day. When puppies are very young, they feed almost constantly when awake.
When a puppy is eight weeks old, they should be okay with eating three meals per day, morning noon, and dinnertime.
Some believe that more and smaller meals are better than less, larger meals. This fact is actual for humans anyway, but your vet will know what’s best for your puppy.
Potty Training An 8 Week Old Puppy
Potty training an 8-week old puppy is challenging at best. Most dog breeds will have issues holding their bladder for long at that age. So, don’t get upset with your puppy if they take a few more weeks to get going outside.
Our GP pup we got at ten weeks old was already partially house trained. But he didn’t learn to ask to go outside until around 13 weeks old.
The best way to potty train a young puppy is via pads and treats/rewards. Never punish a puppy for going to the bathroom. Negative reinforcement is harmful to a puppy’s mental growth.
Using pee pads in the puppy’s area and rewarding the puppy for going outside is the best way to train them.
How Often Do 8 Week Old Puppies Pee At Night
At night an 8-week old puppy may pee a few times. I like to use reusable pads for a puppy. Reusable puppy pads are great because they are tough enough to survive a puppy who wants to chew.
The disposable puppy pad might seem like an easy street to take, but trust me, they aren’t. The problem with disposables is two-fold. First and foremost, they are bad for the environment (disposable, remember?). Second, and perhaps more importantly, a puppy quickly destroys disposable puppy pads.
If your puppy eats some of a pad, it could get an impacted gut. That could require surgery to clear. As I said, disposable pads are not worth using.
I like the type of reusable human-grade bed sheets for incontinence. You can usually get a pack of three, and they are pretty tough. My German Pinscher chewed on them, and they never gave way like the disposables that were shredded in moments.
8 Week Puppy Training
8-week old puppies are fully capable of being trained. Eight weeks is the perfect age to begin training obedience.
The name is the first thing you want to teach your 8-week old puppy. Say their name frequently, so they learn it and attract attention when giving a command or saying no.
Next, be sure your 8-week old puppy is on their leash when you take them out to do #1 or #2. It doesn’t really matter which 8-week old puppy training technique you use, but a pad is better than crating because young puppies may have problems holding their bladder.
8 Weeks Golden Retriever
An 8-week old Golden Retriever will be similar to most other 8-week old larger dog breeds. They are likely to eat around 1.5 to 2 cups per day of food at that age. Similarly, they will be friendly and playful.
8 Week Old Black Lab
8-week old black labs will be almost the same as an 8-week old retriever. They will eat a similar amount of food and sleep a lot, like other puppies their age.
Puppies 10 Weeks Old
I mentioned a ten-week-old puppy a few times in this article. That’s because typically, most dog breeders won’t release the puppies until ten to twelve weeks old.
Most people who get a puppy will get them at about ten weeks. With that in mind, a puppy won’t be that much different at ten weeks old compared with eight weeks. So, this guide will still apply at ten weeks old.
3 Easy Tips For Great Puppy Care
Use these three easy tips for great 8-week old puppy care.
- 8-week old puppies need lots of sleep. If your 8-week old puppy is getting less than 8 hours in a night, you may want to rethink their sleeping arrangement. Likely they will spend a lot of their day sleeping also. It’s perfectly normal. Puppies sleep a lot.
- 8 Week Old Puppy Feeding is an essential part of caring for 8-week old puppies. Puppies need at least three good meals a day, so they grow strong and healthy.
- 8 Weeks Potty Training – Utilizing pee pads around the house will be helpful when training your 8-week old pup to go outside or on a particular pad. Use the reusable. They will save money and help the planet by not contributing to landfill sites.
