A ‘Puppy Blue Book’ is a book for you to track and record your puppy’s health and development milestones throughout their first six months of life. It can be brought to all veterinary appointments and include milestones and individual health records such as dates of upcoming routine health checks, a record of vaccination, bodyweight entries, and notes on illnesses or any behavioural concerns.
Stages of puppy development
It is important to be aware of the recognised stages of puppy development. This begins with the neonatal stage from approximately 0- 2 weeks of age where puppies are completely dependent on their mother and spend most of their time suckling or sleeping.
When they reach the transitional stage at approximately 2-4 weeks they’ll begin to open their eyes and ears and grow more aware of their surroundings.
The socialisation stage from approximately 3-17 weeks is a critical part of a puppy’s development, where they’ll be exposed to new experiences and begin to develop their confidence.
Between approximately 3-6 months is sometimes called the 'testing' stage where puppies start to test the boundaries and limits, making reward-based training essential.
Understanding these stages of puppy development will help you understand your responsibility as a puppy parent and look out for the milestones they should reach.
Your Puppy Blue Book can come in any format, whether it's in a hard copy or digital format, it’s recommended you keep a record of vaccinations and preventative treatments in a separate section to ensure nothing is overlooked.
Some examples of milestones your book could include are registration with council and taking out a pet insurance policy.
For more information, including an extensive list of milestones to recognise, download your free eBook today.
Download the Blue book for dogs in the first 6 months [eBook]
Dr Rosemary Elliot
Dr Rosemary studied veterinary science at the University of Sydney after having established her career as a clinical psychologist, and has qualifications of BVSc (Hons), MANZCVS (Animal Welfare), MPsych (Clin), BA (Hons) as well as previously establishing her career as a clinical psychologist. Her experiences during veterinary training fostered an ambition to focus directly on animal welfare and ethics, with a particular interest in animal sentience and the human-animal bond. Currently working in small animal practice, Dr Rosemary combines her psychology background and veterinary skills to contribute to and promote animal welfare, and regularly contributes quality content to RSPCA Pet Insurance's Pet Care blog.
8 Oct 2021