Weaning puppies: if you have a litter for the first time and need help/advice on getting puppies weaned onto solid foods, Roger has had a lot of experience on this matter. Just phone 01531 633985 for a chat. 

GENERAL ADVICE on REARING YOUR PUPPY

It is most important to establish a routine for the puppy and your family. This consists manly  of:- 

1.Establish a Routine

It is most important to organize a routine before you get your puppy. Plan well before hand and it’s easier to put into practice. You need to address these issues:

a)  Give your puppy a short name for everyday use (no more than 2 syllables makes life easier). All the family need to use this name only until puppy has learned to respond to it instantly.

b)  Decide on the limits of the puppy’s area in the home. Would advise on non-carpeted area until it is properly house-trained. N.B. Stairs are dangerous for young dogs, as young dogs are dangerous for everyone on stairs.

c)  House training starts immediately and can be easy if you all work together positively i.e. frequently put the puppy outside to empty and praise it every time it does so, you can actually train them to go on command if you wish (mine ‘tiddle’ to order quite happily: very useful  when you are in a hurry). Make sure that puppy goes out as soon as it has eaten a meal as it will want to empty then. If you just put the puppy out and leave it, it may well empty on its own, but then you have missed the chance of verbal reward. Reward is far more effective than punishment in all training. Getting cross with a puppy that empties in the house usually means you are cross with someone for not letting it out in time!

d)  Don’t make the assumption that young children are capable of full responsibility for a puppy, even though you may have bought it for the children. Puppies usually love children and vice versa, maybe because their needs are very similar! Please be aware that young children do not have the anticipation, experience or strength to control a boisterous, wriggling puppy! If they want to cuddle a young puppy it is advisable that they are all on floor level so that lasting damage is not done when if falls. Children need to know that puppies are great fun, lovely, soft and cuddly – but they are not soft toys.

e)  Establish an exercise/feeding routine straight away. Depending on the breed, and advice from your breeder, you will start at about 8 weeks on ¾ meals per day. Try the puppy on a good quality, complete food, dry at first. All puppies react differently to this. If it wolfs it all down with no problems, then consider yourself fortunate. It is better for  a dog’s gums and teeth to crunch on hard kibbles and all you need to concern yourself with in future is keeping an eye on the dog’s weight throughout its life. If your dog turns its nose up at dried food, you could soak it for 20 minutes at least in cold/tepid water to bring out the flavour a little and make it more palatable. (Never put hot water on food as it decreases the food value of the various elements considerably). If this doesn’t work either, you probably need to change to something more palatable that will smell good because it is good! Don’t be tempted to add ‘nice things’ to the food to make it tempting – that is the road to developing a really fussy and unhappy eater, which can go on for a lifetime. A good quality food already has the correct balance of what your puppy needs to develop well, it should not need anything added to it.

f)  Remember that you exercise first, then feed a short while after. This is to avoid tortion (referred to as ‘bloat’ i.e. twisted gut) to which some breeds are more prone than others. It can prove fatal if you do not recognize the symptoms and get your dog to the vet very quickly. Discuss this with your vet when you go for a check up. After exercise your puppy should have an appetite. If you puppy does not eat up all its food, do not leave it down for longer than 10 minutes. It could just mean that you are providing too much. Food that is left down loses its palatability and if food is always there, why develop an appetite! If you find that a dog of any age is being given treats all the time, this can also effect the appetite as well as making it fat! If visitors or children want to give puppy treats, it can be a couple of kibbles out of its next meal. It’s a good idea to only use treats as a training reward.

 2. Training is ongoing throughout a dog’s life, intensive work to teach a puppy what it needs to know and later reinforcement to make sure your dog doesn’t forget or get into bad habits! Even if you know what you are doing and have other dogs already, puppy socialization classes from 12 weeks old are invaluable. Your puppy will be introduced to other puppies and dogs in a controlled situation, and you will learn how to teach it and have fun too! If you want children to train the dog as well, then they need to go to classes too. This is essential as different or incorrect commands and use of voice incorrectly will only confuse your puppy, take all the fun out of it and in no time at all you can have a very difficult puppy that will grow into an even more difficult to handle dog. All dogs respond more quickly to a pleasant high tone, and associate this with doing the right thing. A deep stern voice, or growl type noise is a very effective punishment, and if you are serious about training and start early enough it should be the only sort of punishment you will need. End of lecture! Local libraries and vets usually have a list of training classes near you.

 3.  Medical advice: as soon as you get your puppy make an appointment to get it checked over by your vet and start a course of inoculations which may have been started by the breeder. Head his advice on frequent worming, and we find that tablets from the vet are more effective. If your puppy doesn’t eat the pills in its food, and you don’t fancy popping it down the throat far enough for it to swallow instead of spitting it out, try putting a pill in a bit of cheese or a bit of bacon and toss it nonchalantly on the floor or toss it up in the air! It usually works.

 4. Insurance: you either take the view that it costs a lot to insure a dog every year and the premiums go up after certain claims, or even worse, the company will refuse to cover you for that particular condition again, or you pay up as you go along! Either way, owning a dog and looking after it is an expensive business, but the happiness you gain is immeasurable!!

• N.B. Some breeds are more accident prone than others, as are some dogs irrespective of breed!! Look for insurance quotes on the internet and see for yourself.