Questionable age Boxer puppy

Question

March 16   I recently took in a boxer puppy. Was told about 10 weeks old, female, but vet and everyone else says she's  has to be be younger going by her teeth. My friends all say can't be older than 6 weeks, vet says definitely isn't older than 8 weeks.

She is also very thin (attached a picture of when I got her 3 days ago now), when I first got her you could see all of her ribs, most of her spine, and her hip bones. I weighed her yesterday late (after having her almost 2 whole days) and she's only 9 1/2 lbs.

Any advice for slowly adding weight on her? If she really is as young as everyone thinks she is, she is a definite "removed too soon" pup. Any advice for socializing her (since she's not properly vaccinated yet) with my existing dog (fully vaccinated) and other people?

I know we've had issues with fleas in the past, since her age is questionable should I go ahead and treat as if she really was at least 8 weeks or wait another week or so just in case?

She's doing great with potty training, and has been actually holding it all night (from about 10:30/11pm to about 7am). We still have a few accidents during the day when I'm not watching her properly, but otherwise she is doing good on that. NOT a huge fan of the crate yet (she barked/whined the whole time I was gone for a Dr's appointment, although there were others in the house and she wasn't in it the whole time).

Any advice is welcome in this situation, it's been a long time since I've had a puppy in the house.

Answer
Well, not knowing her history; i.e. where you got her, why she was removed from mom and litter so soon, what she was being fed, medical background (parents, etc.), I will have to assume you don't have that info....

Let me address in order:

She is the age the vet told you because they know teeth and are familiar with other signs for age. I would go with 8 weeks old which is 2 months old according to her picture...

Being thin with ribs showing is not good. Feed her a very nice high protein puppy food (I would personally recommend one with no additives; no corn, no gluten, etc. as Boxers don't do well on foods with corn)... and go ahead and add (mixing it in with her food) plain, whole yogurt (no flavor) and give yogurt to her as a treat by itself to help stimulate her appetite.

Don't go on the "measured quantity" of food, but rather feed her small amounts throughout the day and cut her off an hour or so before your bedtime. Getting her to consume small meals throughout the day and evening will help as well as a good quality puppy food and yogurt. Regular grocery store dog and puppy foods have fillers that go through them fast and poop out with no health benefits...

Socializing her is actually easier than people think; kids, company visiting, other pets, friend's and families' pets visiting, taking her to their houses to play with their kids and pets, leash training her on walks; i.e. begin that in your own back yard as often as you possibly can, then take her for walks (harness is good to start) and then dog parks....

As for fleas, ask your vet if she is old enough for a once-a-month flea pill such as Comfortis which is made according to age and size. In the meantime, bathing her with Dawn dish soap works great on killing fleas and gentle to her skin and not allergy prone.

Crate training can be made easier if you put her in the crate, leave the house (even if you walk outside and out of her sight) for 10 minutes then come back in, let her out, praise her for being good and give her a treat. She will soon realize you WILL come back and she will also get a special treat for being in the crate-- all by association.

Be sure to puppy-proof your house as you would baby proofing........

Join boxerforums.com and boxerworld.com for free, go into the forums and read the categories and posts, post as you want and get info and advice from other Boxer owners. It's a great way to get familiar with Boxers and enjoy the comradeship of other Boxer owners such as yourself!