Never had a puppy before - so many questions!

Have a look at www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

It is an independent dog food comparison website which scores all types of foods (dry, raw, wet) on a scale of 0 to 5. You can set filters for your dog's weight, age etc and choose to view only the foods scoring, say, 4 and above. Then you can show them listed according to daily feeding cost so you can see what gives you best value for money. But remember to transition gradually from what the breeder gave you, over a 2 week period or so.

I would leave it another couple of weeks or so, you want to be able to hear him move if he needs to toilet, and you definitely want to keep him confident and not distressed. When you do start moving him, do it gradually, a couple of feet at a time.

The risk to unvaccinated dogs or part vaccinated dogs is from rat faeces and urine so I would say no, these are not great places. But what you can do is take him out in a carrier or in your arms or a sling and allow him to observe the big world out there without being on the ground. If you live by the coast, taking him to the beach as the tide is going out and has left the beach freshly washed is pretty safe.

No, puppies are great at keeling over and falling asleep if they are learning too much! You will see when he has had enough but short and frequent training is great!

It is but do be prepared to step in if you feel any bullying is starting, if one seriously gets more bossy than the other. Or if one is getting tired and they just need some time out.

Never been a problem in my experience, as long as they don't see each other 24/7 - then you can get an issue called littermate syndrome. Once he has had his second vaccinations it might be a good idea, if you can, to introduce him to a calm older dog for positive role modelling.

It sounds like you have made a great start though!

 

Keep him on the food the breeder had him on, then if you want to change the food do it gradually because changing it suddenly can cause upset tummies. Also with regards to the crate, I would do it slowly because he's still only young, I would do this by each week take the crate a little away from your bedroom until finally he's down stairs. I wouldn't walk him just yet because their could be disease on the paths or fields. It's great that you are socialising him, puppies will play rough they know when is enough. No you wont fry his brain keep up with the hard work! Ask away if you need anymore questions answering!

 

Welcome to the forum! You'll get some great advice here, not that I can help as I've never had a puppy.

 

Harri came weaned on to James Wellbeloved but not being a big fan of kibble, I moved him on to Butternut Box at 3 months. He loved it.

We did the same as you for the first few nights and he slept through without needing a night time wee. After 4 nights we started moving his crate away from us and he was downstairs in the kitchen within 10 days or so.

Training is excellent for wearing them out!

Once he's had his jabs get him to meet other pups as well as your mum's and play ( a lot of vets offer puppy parties). The more he gets to meet and play with before 16 weeks the better socialised he'll be.

We sound like you in location. Harri had to restart his lepto jabs as we need the 4 version around here (and that's a whole thread to itself!) and his breeder had just done the 2. I did walk him out a little a few days after his second Parvo jab but we avoided other dogs and I kept him away from lamp posts, trees, gate posts, standing water etc. He was already exposed to rats in the garden - we live next to farm barns - so I didn't actually see much point in not. This was on my vets advice - obviously you need to listen to yours as it may be different around you.

 

Mainly because we have so many rats around! The 2 covers the main strains of lepto so it was really just a belt and braces job and if you google lepto 4 you'll find some dog owners are very anti it.

Yes do the puppy parties too! The training sessions don't give the pups a chance to play with each other which is what they need. It's lovely watching a shy puppy develop confidence around other pups and then get stuck in to the melee!

The Butternut Box is delivered every 3 weeks- it arrives still frozen and costs me about £2.60 a day for my size of dog. More expensive than kibble but it's human grade meat and veggies. If you want to try it once the pup is 12 weeks old then send me a PM and I have a code that will give you a discount off your first order

 

You can put a t-shirt in the crate and then you wont need to dangle your arm!

 

Just a word of caution - these can be great, if they are well run but if they are not well run, they can be a bit of a free for all and some puppies find them overwhelming, especially if they coincide with one of their fear periods.
With socialisation, quality is better than quantity. Letting all and sundry (people and dogs) near a puppy can be overwhelming and frightening - the opposite of what you want. Control the socialisation by being selective, especially with other dogs and kids. Look for calm role model dogs, and children who can be trusted not to get over excited. Socialisation is not about plunging your puppy into every new experience, but rather allowing him to see, hear and get used to people and situations calmly and from a safe position.