1d.jpg picture by magsmate 1j.jpg picture by magsmate 1c.jpg picture by magsmate

 So now you have your puppy...puprunsmall2.gif

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.

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.

0040.gif

 

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.

 

 0068.gif

 

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 !!

0020.gif

 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.

0039-1.gif

 

You might want to give you 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.

 an16.gif

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, 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.

 

puppy-giving-gift.gif

 

 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 wth the pups meals from time to time, praise te pup then return to him the bone or dinner.

 0058.gif

 

Your pup is used to being 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.

0059.gif

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.

 

0041.gif

You should, by now have made him an appointment with you local vetinary 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. By the time he is 7 weeks old he will hve been wormed twice, by me, using a natural wormer. It is called four seasons and can be found and ordered if you click on the link below. 

lightred.gifhttp://doghealth.co.uk/fleaworm.htmlightred.gif

0005.gif

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 if you practice at home, use 10 minute lessons so the pups attention does not wander, always try to finish on a pleasant note for the pup.

doglaugh.gif

Toilet training your puppy

thISaidSit.jpg

This can be a very simple and quick procedure, here are some links to help you with this.

lightred.gif http://www.barkbytes.com/training/house.htmlightred.gif

lightred.gif http://perfectpaws.com/htrp.html lightred.gif

 

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 page 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.

lightred.gif  http://www.westchesterk-9.com/personalities.htm lightred.gif

puprunsmall2.gif

Puppy Management

puprunsmall2.gif

 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'

lightred.gifhttp://www.bluegrace.com/10simplerules.pdflightred.gif

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, a real must for all new puppy owners and enthusiasts alike. Don't be without it. 

running20dog.gif    book1_the_dog_listener.jpg     running20dog.gif

click on the link below for information on this book, including cheaper used copies as well as new.

lightred.gif http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0060199539/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-5377686-8048740#reader-link lightred.gif

puprunsmall2.gif

 Socialisation

 You can turn the friendliest most out going puppy imaginable into a quivering 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!

lightred.gif http://www.dog-training-information.info/ lightred.gif

 

 puprunsmall2.gif

 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.
  • puprunsmall2.gif

 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 it 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 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 pups grow 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 plays as major part in whether that pup will go on to develop hip dysplasia. Lead walking 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 !!dog0133.gif       

dog0076.gif

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. 

puprunsmall2.gif

To tug or not to tug!! - click on the link below for advice on use of the much loved tug toy ~ 

lightred.gif http://canismax.angelcities.com/training_tug.htm lightred.gif

 1c.jpg picture by magsmate

 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.

lightred.gif http://www.urbancarnivore.com/uc_online/pages.cfm?ID=38 lightred.gif

 

Who is in charge ~ me or the dog?? click on this link to learn how to become the ALPHA in your household ~

lightred.gif http://www.sonic.net/~cdlcruz/GPCC/library/alpha.htm lightred.gif

 

puprunsmall2.gif

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! 

s3.jpg s4.jpgs5.jpg

 

 

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 irracicate 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.

Here is an A-Z help list of subjects you might be interested in, click on any of them to take you to another page:-

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Z