How should i take care of my 7 weeks old boxer puppies pair?

Question
Hi Jennifer, can you please tell me how should i take care of my 7 weeks old Boxer puppies. There are a pair(Male- Female).Plz tell me how much food should i give them, how much sleep and exercise they need? Thanks...

Answer
Hi Jatin,

That's a loaded question that would take more room than we have here to answer completely! :) I'll go over the basics, and refer you to some sites for more in-depth information.

As far as food, if you're feeding kibble, start with the suggested amounts on the bag. You may need to adjust up or down, depending on the puppies' weights -- if they're too thin, feed more, and if they're too heavy, feed less. Boxer puppies should be lean but not skinny -- it's OK to just see the outline of the ribs, but you don't want to see the spine or hip bones. If you can't see the ribs at all and can't feel them easily (it should feel like the back of your hand), the puppy is too heavy. Research has shown that puppies kept at a lean weight had a longer lifespan than puppies kept at a slightly chunky weight.

Puppies sleep a lot -- up to 18 hours a day. Most of the time they'll go to sleep on their own, but sometimes, especially with two puppies together, they get playing and can't seem to stop themselves. At that point you have to step in and give them a "time out" to get that important rest. If the puppies have been playing for a long time and then start playing harder, or start involving you in the game by biting all over, they're probably over-stimulated and could use a break. Put them in their crates -- give them a treat to help encourage them to go in on their own -- and let them rest for a while. Odds are they'll fall right asleep!

Aside from stepping in when pups are over-stimulated, they can have as much free-play exercise as they want -- though you might want to limit them amount of jumping they do, on and off furniture, up and down stairs, etc. For "forced" exercise -- leash walks, games of fetch, anything where they don't control the activity -- two schools of thought exist. Once is no forced exercise before 9 months of age, then start with 5-minute walks, building up to 20-minute walks by 14 months of age. The other is 5 minutes of walking per month of age until 14-18 months. Over-exercising at this age can cause damage to the growing bones and joints, which may not show up for years but could lead to painful arthritis. After 18 months, the growth plates have closed and you can slowly start running with your dog, if you desire; jump training (obstacles) can begin in earnest, several miles of hiking, etc.

For more information on raising puppies, visit these sites:
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/spt/SPT_Puppies.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20061015014349/http://www.pawsitivesolutions.net/pupp
http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/raising-puppy

Good luck with your pups!