[Eric]

I walked outside of my apartment in Ulaanbaatar this morning, and found this. I think she was abandoned by her mother. I stood around a while, and didn't see anyone come back for her. Could you please tell my how old you think she might be. Someone told me she looked to be about 1 month old, but I am not sure. She was very hungry, but I have been feeding her beans, meat, and milk. She has a good appetite, and already feels a lot stronger.

Also can anyone please tell me the best way to keep her from eating the furniture. Right now her teeth are not strong enough to do damage, but I can tell she will be a terror when she gets older. I figure it is best to teach the dogs when they are very young. Any help or advice you can give would be much appreciated. I have never owned a puppy before.


-Thank you

 

[yogakitty]

She's adorable and lucky to have found you! :dog-love:You can google "puppy age" or something similar and find one of the sites who talk about aging by teeth. Some of them have diagrams which makes it easier to visualize.

Vets usually age puppies by their teeth, how many they have and the percentage of puppy v. adult. I adopted a street dog in Uruguay and the vet estimated her age by his teeth.

Dogs need to chew, for a variety of reasons. Puppies especially because they are teething. My vet and the dog trainer told me I should provide the pup with healthy safe things to chew. Avoid anything that your puppy could choke on. The trainer taught me to distract and redirect my puppy if he was chewing on something he wasn't supposed to. By providing a good chewy and redirecting his behavior my little man stopped chewing on nondog things.

I've never been to Mongolia but isn't it a meat-centric culture? I bet you might be able to find dried meat and rawhides there. When I lived in a Tibetan community I bought dried meat and a version of rawhide for my other dog.

Best of luck!

 

[Criosphynx]

Wow. I agree with the four week old estimate. Poor thing
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[Tess]

I would agree she looks very young, barely weaned, so I'd guess 3 to 5 weeks old. Not sure what your resources are where you live, but getting her a good diet will be most helpful.

Can you get books where you are? Here is a very good puppy book
Amazon.com: puppy primer

If you are going to raise her, you'll need to know a lot about puppies. They are not easy! And questions such as your first one about how to direct the chewing thing are important. All puppies are very interested in chewing on things for about the first 6 months to a year of age, so you need to provide things she's allowed to chew on. Keep in mind that a puppy this young is like a human baby about a year old... you do not expect to be able to teach a human baby not to put things in her mouth yet. You must MANAGE the situation so she cannot have access to the things you don't want her to chew.

Overall, you need to be very careful NOT to PUNISH her for doing the things that come naturally to puppies (chewing, and general unruliness) She won't be capable to learn NOT to do these things yet, and if you punish her now (physical punishment or even a harsh voice) you will be frightening her. Later when she is older, she may turn aggressive due to this.

So, basic thing to remember, treat the puppy like you would treat a young child.
1 month old puppy = 1 year old child
2 month old puppy = 2 year old child
3 month old puppy = 3 year old child
then they start to grow up a bit faster
4 month old puppy = 5 year old child
5 month old puppy = 10 year old child
6 month old puppy = 13 year old child.
1 year old puppy = 18 year old human

These are approximate of course, but you get the idea that you should not expect too much in the way of SELF CONTROL or ability to learn too soon. Be GENTLE and PATIENT and GUIDE the puppy, and she'll grow up happy and healthy.

 

[Tess]

There is lots of help on this forum in the puppy section for things like house training and other training. Its almost too soon for that now, as she is SO young but you can read up and start to help her form good patterns in terms of where she potties.

Meanwhile, what you have on your hands is truly and INFANT, so you are the proud Daddy of a baby girl! She is counting on you to meet all her needs for food, warmth, affection and protection. Don't worry about teaching her right and wrong yet for a couple of weeks. Let her get her strength up and let her bond with you and find you to be a reliable caregiver. No doubt she has been through some emotional, if not physical trauma, before she was lucky enough to be picked up by you. She was likely dumped by someone, or as you say, the mother dog could not care for her. Perhaps the mother was hurt or killed, otherwise she would not abandon her pups. More likely humans turned her out into the street.

 

[DLo]

I can't offer much advice but I wanted to say congrats and I hope she brings you many years of happiness. I rescued an abandoned pet as well a year ago and the chewed up furniture, shoes, socks, etc are quickly forgotten when she lays at my feet or obeys perfectly after weeks of working on a new skill.

 

[Eric]

Thanks for all the advice. I will not worry about her chewing on things for a while I am feeding her Stewed Beef, and milk. She will drink water only if there is no milk or diet coke in her bowls. Weird.

She is really lovable, and seems to act more like a cat then a dog.
Again thanks for the help

 

[Cinseault]

diet coke? Not sure about that...
I am a new puppy Momma - although mine is a bit older - 16 weeks. Make sure that she does have things that she is allowed to chew now, don't wait too long.
She is a very pretty little girl. Give her lots of loving...

 

[Maly]

diet coke? I hope that was a joke. Water and milk are enough! I don't know about dogs, but should it get special puppy milk? Or is normal milk okay?

Good luck with the little cutie