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So now you have your puppy...
The following advice, written by myself is the product of many years of placing puppies in their new homes and learning by other peoples mistakes, mistakes which you can avoid if you listen to the advice below. You can do it the easy way, or the hard way, the choice is yours alone.....
The next 24-48 hours are going to be quite traumatic for him, don't forget he has spent the last 7 weeks in the company of his other brothers and sisters, with Mum and several 'aunties' if he is going to a home without another dog he is going to feel isolated for a short while until he adjusts to this. If he is going to a home with another dog, they will need constant supervision to ensure that all is going smoothly and if he is going to a home with children, THEY will need constant supervision with him.
Make things easier on your pup, when you come to collect him to take him home, bring a towel or a blanket which can be rubbed all over Mum, so he has a familiar scent to take to his new home.
Above picture of a 5weeks old 'Shanti' puppy taken by Paula Randall of Zakasia German Shepherds
Do not overwhelm your pup with lots of new experiences in the first crucial days, limit his world to one room and the garden, make sure you have created a safe environment for him to be in, where he cannot come to any harm or get into any trouble. Make sure all electical appliances are not plugged in or are well out of his reach.
Don't have every member of your family and friends visiting in the first few days and when it is time for visitors, drill them all with what is acceptable from puppy and what isn't, everybody who interacts with the pup in this first crucial stage must be consistent. Avoid letting the pup get over exited at times of visitors, ask visitors not to let their children 'wind up' the puppy.
When interacting with your puppy it is vitally important that you never allow him to mouth your fingers, there is plenty advice below on how to stop this, but it is crucial in those first few days that EVERYBODY who interacts with your puppy is consistant with this, some people find a small puppy chomping on their fingers quite endearing and so it is 'allowed' even encouraged, some will find it funny, especially children, but it stops being endearing or funny when you can't stop the puppy from biting you, how is he to know he's suddendly not allowed to do it any more ? Start as you mean to go on, a puppy that is allowed to bite will certainly take other liberties and this will only get worse - If you allow it.
Be aware that your pup is a baby and as such requires lots and lots of sleep to grow and develope properly, if he is napping try not to disturb him. Curb any children in the house and discourage them from waking the puppy up....He needs his sleep !! And so do you !!
Which brings me onto one of the best pieces of advice I can possibly give you, before puppy arrives home, invest in several pairs of ear plugs for you and your family, you are more than likely going to need them....... Every now and again a puppy will settle immediately in it's new home, with no night time howling, but the usual scenario is very different and a whole lot noisier !!
Begin to crate train him for short 10 minute periods. Place the blanket you have Mum's scent on into the crate and lock puppy in, try to do this when he is tired and with luck he will settle down for a sleep. Do not remove a crying pup from a crate just because he is crying, compare this to picking up a baby, every time it cries. Let him out when he is quiet, that way he will not associate crying with being let out of the crate.
You might want to give your puppy a bone, for the times he goes into the crate, to help settle him, he will soon see the crate as his 'den' and be quite happy to spend short periods of time in there, which means if you have to go out and leave him at all, he is safely confined, you may also find a crate trained pup is easier to housetrain.
When it's time to settle your pup down for the night, either in his crate or a small safe room, firstly ensure that he has relieved himself, then quietly, without fuss, leave him in his crate or room and put your ear plugs in, the next couple of nights will probably be very noisy. The most important thing is NOT to respond to the screaming, howling racket he will more than likely be making, your first instict will be to go and comfort him BUT, if you do, you have taught him a very valuable lesson in record time......
'If I cry loud and long enough..they will come'
Make sure that all your family are aware of the rules and don't let them sabourtage your efforts !!
If, however you puppy settles and is quiet for a long period of time and then begins to cry, this could be him telling you he needs the toilet, this should not be ignored, go down to the puppy, but DO NOT speak to him or comfort him in anyway, instead take him quietly to the area you wish him to go to the toilet in and just use two words 'Be quick' if you can say this while your puppy is actually going to the toilet, this is possitive reinforcement. If your puppy performs, praise him very quietly, then return him to his room or crate without any sort of fuss or words, leave and put those ear plugs back in !!
Always follow this routine for nightime toilets and your puppy won't view it as an occasion for petting or attention. Pups are extremely quick to learn and a lack of fuss at toilet time will speed the process of when he will go straight through the night, without needing to go out.
This method of settling a puppy works on all breeds, even the toughest nuts to crack will give up crying if there is nothing in it for them, I will guarantee that your puppy will be settled in a week or less if you and every member of your family sticks firmly to the rules, if you don't pay attention to this advice and do decide to pander to a crying pup, then you will be doing it for weeks or months to come, maybe even the rest of his life !! The choice is yours !!
Don't forget to provide your pup with fresh bones, do not buy any artificial replacements, go for the real macoy, fresh raw bones are one of the finest foods you can give your pup, not only are they are a very important part of his RAW diet, they will also help to sooth aching gums when the pup is teething, they can be served straight from the freezer for teething pups. Another good tip for teethers, is to tie a teatowel in a knot and freeze it, the pup will get comfort and releif from the pain of teething by chewing it.
Providing plenty of tasty bones for your puppy to chew whilst teething could also save unwanted attention to your house, shoes, furniture, fridge magnets .........!!
If you have another dog in the house make sure they are separated at bone time, an older dog will not take kindly to a pup trying to muscle in on his bone. Pups have to work out their boundaries and respect older dogs, most dogs will not share their bone willingly !
Make sure that when you give the pup his bone, you make a practise of taking it off him at regular intervals, to prevent any kind of food agression manifesting, do the same with the pups meals from time to time, praise the pup then return to him the bone or dinner.
This advice is not given because your puppy is RAW fed, feeding them in this manner does not make them aggressive, but food aggression can manifeste itself no matter what the dog is fed on, so follow the advice given and it won't happen to your puppy.
Your pup is soothed by a human voice, leave a radio on close to him as a comfort factor, you may also like to leave a ticking clock close by him, theories are that the ticking mimics Mum's heartbeat.
Give your pup lots of praise and reassurance, but do not allow children to constantly pick him up, the place for a dog is on the floor!! Do not allow him to jump up at you, or place him on the furniture. Never encourage biting of hands, redirect it to a favourite toy.
Also, never allow a puppy to constatly demand attention, far better for you to call the pup to you and then give him fuss/praise/play sessions, although puppies, especially males will do all kinds of things to get you attention, including this....!!
Whilst this kind of behaviour is not acceptable to humans, to a puppy, it's the most natural thing in the world, a very firm 'NO' and the dislodgement of the puppy should curtail this behaviour, but you have to be consistant about it, never laugh at him if he does it to you, just say 'NO', get him off and walk away from him.
You should, by now have made him an appointment with you local veterinary practice, if you have not already done so, book him in soon for a general check up and to make arangements for his first innoculation, please may I now refer you to our vaccination advice, your puppy musn't be vaccinated before the age of 8-9 weeks, please click HERE, for detailed advice on vaccinations. By the time he is 7 weeks old he will have been wormed twice by me.
Make an A1 student out of your pup by enlisting him into puppy training and socialising classes as soon as he is old enough. Spend some time reading about training and when you practice at home, use 10 minute lessons, so the pup's attention does not wander, always try to finish on a pleasant note for the pup.
Socialisation whilst the puppy is still young is VITAL, again it's a straightforward choice on your behalf, do you spend tons of time taking him to socialisation/obedience classes, do you make sure he has lots of positive experiences meeting other dogs or do you live with the consequences of not doing this, which I will guarentee, will include anything from silly, exitable behaviour when your dog spots another to downright nervous aggression..... Not easy to handle when your male shep tips the scales at 40 kilos, but this is just as important with females too, both sexes can end up a living nightmare if enough time is not put into them when they are young, don't make the mistakes many others have made and reinforce some people's beliefs that the German Shepherd is aggressive, there are no bad dogs, but there are many bad owners...Don't be one of them please. There is lots more advice below in the 'Puppy Management' section.
Another thing to think about is........Do you have small family members ? If so, great........Your child will be of an age that you can reason with him/her.....Or I would not be letting you have a puppy......but what if your family has no little people ? A puppy/dog that has never been used to small children, can in fact be intimidated by them, I have several theories of my own as to why this can sometimes happen, but it can so easily be avoided.......Most people live close enough to a primary school to use this to their advantage.....AS SOON as your pup is ready to go out, take him to a school gates at home time and make the most of free socialising sessions with little people !!
Most parents will ask if it's OK to allow their child to pet your puppy, again the same rules must be observed with mouthing, you will need to carefully supervise each child's interaction with your puppy, but once you have done this a few times, your puppy will view these kind of sessions with utter delight and you may then knock visits like this down to once a week, keep them up throughout the puppy's developement and this will be another check on your list of important experiences for your puppy.
Toilet training your puppy
This can be a very simple and quick procedure, here are some links to help you with this.
http://www.barkbytes.com/training/house.htm
http://perfectpaws.com/htrp.html
If at any time you are worried or concerned about anything regarding your puppy, please do not hesitate to phone me, it is part of the after-sales service I offer and I take it very seriously and will try to help or advise in any way I can.
Please now read the puppy management section below and if possible, buy the book I have suggested on there, you will find it fascinating and extremely helpful.
Here is a link for you to click on for lots of information about the different stages of puppyhood and how you can expect your pup's personality to change during these periods.
http://www.westchesterk-9.com/personalities.htm
Puppy Management
Here is where things can go terribly wrong!!!
All the efforts of a conscientious breeder can go out of the window within months of a puppy arriving at it’s new home if it is not managed correctly.
Please click this link to be taken to '10 simple rules'
http://www.bluegrace.com/10simplerules.pdf
I cannot recommend this book highly enough, a real must for all new puppy owners and enthusiasts alike. Don't be without it.
click on the link below for information on this book, including cheaper used copies as well as new.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0060199539/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-5377686-8048740#reader-link
Socialisation
You can turn the friendliest most out going puppy imaginable into a quivering nervous wreck with nervous wreck with aggressive tendencies if it is not socialized properly in the first important few months of it’s life.
There is a window which is open between the pup being born until it is around 16 weeks of age, the window then starts to close, during the time that window is open it is very important to subject the puppy to as many different people, other dogs, situations, sounds and experiences as possible, once the window closes, it is a lot harder for a pup to accept new situations/people/noises etc.
Taking him for very short journeys in the car, allow him to look out of the window and experience the sounds of heavy traffic.
Work in the house with a collar and lead, practising until he accepts them so that when he is safe to go out properly on a lead his first experience is a journey of discovery and not a struggle to get him to even walk on the lead!
The Puppy’s Rule of Twelve
Positive Paws Dog Training ©2002 – Margaret Hughes - 707-935-6142 – mags@positivetrainer.com
Adapted with permission from Pat Schaap’s “RULE OF 7’s” for 7 week old puppies
Make sure all experiences are safe and positive for the puppy. Each encounter should include treats and lots of praise. Slow down and add distance if your puppy is scared!
By the time a puppy is 12 weeks old, it should have :
(If your puppy is over 12 weeks start right away with this socialization guide.)
- Experienced 12 different surfaces: wood, woodchips, carpet, tile, cement, linoleum, grass, wet grass, dirt, mud, puddles, deep pea gravel, grates, uneven surfaces, on a table, on a chair, etc.....
- Played with 12 different objects: fuzzy toys, big & small balls, hard toys, funny sounding toys, wooden items, paper or cardboard items, milk jugs, metal items, car keys, etc.......
- Experienced 12 different locations: front yard (daily), other people’s homes, school yard, lake, pond, river, boat, basement, elevator, car, moving car, garage, laundry room, kennel, veterinarian hospital (stop by sometimes just to say hi & visit, lots of cookies, no vaccinations), grooming salon (just to say hi), etc....
- Met and played with 12 new people (outside of family): include children, adults (mostly men), elderly adults, people in wheelchairs, walkers, people with canes, crutches, hats, sunglasses, etc….
- Exposed to 12 different noises (ALWAYS keep positive and watch puppy’s comfort level – we don’t want the puppy scared): garage door opening, doorbell, children playing, babies screaming, big trucks, Harley motorcycles, skateboards, washing machine, shopping carts rolling, power boat, clapping, loud singing, pan dropping, horses neighing, vacuums, lawnmowers, birthday party, etc…
- Exposed to 12 fast moving objects (don’t allow to chase): skateboards, roller-skates, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, people running, cats running, scooters, vacuums, children running, children playing soccer, squirrels, cats, horses running, cows running, etc…
- Experienced 12 different challenges: climb, in and around a box, go through a cardboard tunnel, play hide & seek, go in and out a doorway, exposed to an electric sliding door, umbrella, balloons, walk on a wobbly table (plank of wood with a small rock underneath), , bathtub (and bath) etc....
- Handled by owner (& family) 12 times a week: hold under arm (like a football), hold to chest, hold on floor near owner, hold in-between owner’s legs, hold head, look in ears, mouth, in-between toes, hold and take temperature (ask veterinarian), hold like a baby, trim toe nails, hold in lap, etc…
- Eaten from 12 different shaped containers: wobbly bowl, metal, cardboard box, paper, coffee cup, china, pie plate, plastic, frying pan, Kong, Treatball, Bustercube, spoon fed, paper bag, etc......
- Eaten in 12 different locations: back yard, front yard, crate, kitchen, basement, laundry room, bathroom, friend’s house, car, school yard, bathtub, up high (on work bench), under umbrella, etc....
- Played with 12 different puppies (or safe adult dogs) as much as possible. [This does NOT mean at the dog park.]
- Left alone safely, away from family & other animals (5-45 minutes) 12 times a week.
- Experienced a leash and collar 12 different times in 12 different locations.
Appropriate Exercise
It is very, very important that your pup is not over exercised or allowed to do anything which will damage the soft growing bones, hip dysplasia can be brought on and manifest itself in a remarkably short time when a pup is given too much or the wrong type of exercise, once you have damaged the hips although they can be managed it will never go away, far better then to ensure it doesn’t happen in the first place.
There is a growing misconception that hip dysplasia is a purely genetic disease, I can absolutely assure you that it is not, in my opinion man has, by modern methods of management contributed enormously to this on going problem and it can pop up in any pup, no matter how well bred or low scored its parents were. So how do we help avoid it happening to our puppy? This is quite simple, we have a puppy management system which is two fold, we feed an appropriate diet and we allow our pup only appropriate exercise.
What is appropriate and inappropriate?
As your pup grows, the bones are very soft and impressionable, the larger the breed the longer it takes for the bones to develop properly, the stress those bones receive, play a major part in whether that pup could go on to develop hip dysplasia. Lead walking long distances is definitely not a good exercise for growing pups, with a breed like a German Shepherd, the bones are not fully mature until well over twelve months of age. During that time the best exercise you can allow your pup is natural play, how then do we define natural play?
Natural play is your puppy determining the amount of time he wishes to stress his bones, when he becomes tired he will rest, if he is an environment where rest may occur, if he has to walk for 15 mins to the park and then meets up with friends which he than spends the next 15/20 minutes chasing around, his adrenaline will have kicked in and his tiredness will have been forgotten about, you will only notice that he has overdone things when the poor little chap is so tired he can barely make the walk back home. This can be very damaging to growing bones.
Far better then to walk very short distances on the lead with him, a trip out does not have to and should not end in a mad dash around the local park, I would advise never, ever to allow you pup to run with older dogs until it is well past 12 months of age. Not only will he be stressing his bones enormously, he could also be barged or bumped also causing damage. You would never allow your toddler to get on a bouncy castle with big boisterous kids, give your pup the same consideration.
Swimming is an excellent form of exercise for growing bones, it builds muscles without stressing the joints.
The following I would recommend you take great care NOT to allow your pup to do until well over the age of 12 months:-
1. Climb stairs, going up and down stairs can be extremely damaging, do not let your pup ever do this, if necessary buy a child gate and use it.
2. Leap on and of furniture, sofas, chairs etc.
3. Jump in and out of the boot of a car, always lift him in or out.
4. Jump or lunge at moving objects such as frisbys, balls etc, these types of exercise are definately not appropriate !!
5. Encourage any exercise which results in him being on his 2 hind legs and this includes jumping up at you.
6.Chasing or running with older dogs.
To tug or not to tug!! - click on the link below for advice on use of the much loved tug toy ~
http://canismax.angelcities.com/training_tug.htm
Appropriate Recommended Exercise 1. Sufficient free exercise than a pup can initiate and end on his own. 2. Wrestling with a favourite toy. 3. Playing tag or tug with other family members human or gentle canine. 4. Ambushing favourite toys. 5. Swimming (from about 5 months- supervised and gradual) 6. Chewing on a Raw Meaty Bone. 7. Very short trips out on the lead. 8. Free running, supervised and uninhibited by other canines. 9. Puppy class or training class (use exercises as homework) click on link below. http://www.urbancarnivore.com/uc_online/pages.cfm?ID=38 Who is in charge ~ me or the dog?? click on this link to learn how to become the ALPHA in your household ~ http://www.sonic.net/~cdlcruz/GPCC/library/alpha.htm Here is Shanti at about 8 months in a hydro pool, she really enjoyed this and by the time she was ready and old enough to run free on the beach with her pals, she was not scared of the water and often went in for a dip! PUPPY BITING and MORE... Every pup goes through the 'biting' stage, it is normal instictive behaviour and does not mean that you have an aggressive puppy, they are testing their boundaries, they are working out what is acceptable and what isn't, biting is a normal part of that behaviour. It is how you deal with this behaviour that is important here, click on this link:- http://www.canismajor.com/dog/bite2.html to read about the method I have been using for years to irradicate this sort of behaviour, it really works......for me!! There are several other methods which can also be used and depending on what sort of a personality your puppy has, you may find other methods work better. 1. separation - If your pup starts to bite, separate yourself from him immediately, walk away into another room and ignore the bad behaviour. I find that this method takes longer to get results with. 2. Have a small plastic bottle half filled with small stones so that it makes a distict rattle when shaken. When puppy bites, shake it into his face. Do not allow puppy any contact with the bottle - it is not another toy for him. 3. Squeal loudly when the puppy bites you, it must be instant and responsive. Try a combination of these methods working out which you get the best results with. http://www.crickethollowfarm.com/biteinhib.htm But you HAVE to be consistant about it ! Here are a few more things you will find interesting now you have your new puppy, click on any of the following underlined subject questions and they will take you to another page.
