Puppy Dog Care

 Mixed breed dogs usually live longer, are stronger and healthier. These qualities are almost always passed on to their descendants.

A useful herbal remedy for diarrhea is slippery elm. Slippery elm coats the puppy’s bowel and gently clams the gastrointestinal tract.

Get your new puppy accustomed to going to the toilet on a particular kind of surface. An example may be teaching your puppy to go to the toilet on the grass.  This will then make it will be less likely to go on surfaces unlike grass, like your homes floor boards or tiles.

Do not wash your dog too often, certainly no more than once a week, as it can cause damage to your dogs skin. Always use a veterinary grade pH balanced, low fragrance shampoo.  Never use human shampoos as it may burn the dog’s skin and will strip the oils out of its coat

If ants are getting into your pet’s bowl, place the bowl into a larger bowl partially filled with water and some vinegar. This acts like a moat, which the ants can’t cross.

Ask your breeder to give your new puppy ginger tablets before you arrive to take it home. The ginger will reduce the likelihood of the puppy being sick on the way home in the car.

If your dog bounds up to you when you get home, ignore it. This sounds cruel, but just wait a few seconds till it is away from you then call it back. Then pat and cuddle it.  Never let a dog train you to respond.

An important and useful tool to tech your dog is stay focused and to understand you are then one giving commands.  You are teaching your dog to “check in” with you. And you’re doing it in a way that is so reinforcing, that soon the behavior of turning his head to look at you will become part of his muscle memory. It will become habit.

You can then make the eye contact game become also a “Name Game”. If the dog learns that each time he hears his name, it means to stop and look to the person calling that name, then you’ll have less worry about him bolting across a busy road and getting hit when he hears his name called.

He’ll listen for the *next* cue word which will tell him what to do. His name, by then, will mean “Stop, look, listen to human for cue of what to do next.” The next cue might be “Sit” or “Down” or “Come” or “Back.” His name is his cue to look to you for the next cue. His name only means “give human the attention.”

One way to teach the eye contact game is to hold your arm out at your side, at shoulder height, with a really good treat in your closed palm.

When the dog stops focusing on the treat in your hand and looks up at you, click and give him a treat. Repeat several times.

Turn around. Do the same thing facing a different direction. Repeat several times.

Move into another room. Do the same thing in every direction.

Once you can hold out your arm and the dog instantly makes eye contact, you’re ready to add his call name just before you click. This will pair his name with giving you eye contact in his mind. Be careful not to reward moving toward you, only looking at you. Be very accurate in your clicking and catch him just as the head swings to you and the eyes touch yours.

It is important to start training early and keep going with it.  Many people start training their puppy but soon get sick of doing it and forget about it.  Those people end up with a dog that digs up the back garden and barks non stop.

Don’t let your puppy end up like this.  If you need more training help then I would recommend you take a look at the SIT STAY FETCH puppy training guide.  It’s a comprehensive and easy to follow.  I got a copy for my mum when she got her new Maltese pup (Josie,  she’s so cute!)  and she thinks it’s a life saver.  Now she has a well behaved dog that is also a perfect companion and friend.  You can take a look at the guide from the SIT STAY FETCH website.  Just click here.

Before you bring your new puppy home there is a list of things that you will need to go out and get. Below is my top ten list.

1. Bedding/ blanket.  This should be really easy to clean and really hard to rip up. If you can get some of the puppies mothers scent on the blanket.  This will make the transition easier on the puppy.
2.  Bowl. Your puppies bowl should be tip proof.  You’ll need one for food and one for water.
3. Chew toys.  Your puppy will do a lot of chewing while he is growing up.  Try and stay away from really cheap chew toys as they have been known to break a part and choke dogs.
4. Dog crate. You can get either a wire or plastic dog crate.
5. Grooming supplies. This depends on the dog however most dogs will at least need a brush.
6. A collar and lead.  Your puppy wont be able to go for walks in public until he or she has had the full round of injections but it is still good to get your puppy use to having a collar and lead on from time to time.
7. ID tag.  This should have your number inscribed.
8. Dog food.
9. “Bitter Apple“. This is a safe spray-on product which discourages chewing on inappropriate objects.
10. Training pads.  The pads are great for training your puppy to pee in a designated place.

I think I’ve covered all the essentials.  If you have anything else to add which I’ve missed out please add a comment to the blog.

Sorry if this post comes across as a bit full on but it’s something that makes me totally ashamed to be a human being.  I walked past my local pet shop today and there was four little puppies squashed in a tiny glass box with children banging on the glass.  It stunk really bad and the puppies looked so scared.  It made me so sad and upset.  I had to come home and post this.If you’re a responsible human, you wont support pet shops that sell puppies.  Never ever, under any circumstances, buy a puppy from a pet shop.  Please don’t do it.  Don’t even purchasing food, or toys or training equipment if the pet store stocks puppies!  A message needs to be sent to these stores that selling puppies  is inhumane and irresponsible.

 The pet shop owners keep these poor little puppies in the worst conditions.  They are caged up in tiny little glass or wire boxes with people bothering them all day long.  This is torture to a little puppy that has been ripped away from the safty of it’s mother.  As a result a lot of pet shop puppies develop behavioral problems.If you won’t buy because you don’t agree with the business practices then the business owner has no choice at all. They need to change or go out of business.  If you buy, even if its because you feel sorry for the puppy, you are directly responsible for creating the demand to put more puppies in the same situation.  It will be you and not the pet shop owner who is to blame.   Don’t create the demand.  Prove by your actions what business practices you support. Your words are meaning less.  As the old saying goes “Money talks”.Do you ever stop to think where the pet stores get the puppies from?  Most dogs sold in pet stores are from breeding “farms” called “puppy mills,”.  Mother dogs and “studs” spend lonely lives in small filthy cages, producing litter after litter.

Animal rights organization, PETA,  found dogs at one puppy mill living on hard wire with no bedding, little protection from the searing hot summers or the frigid winters, and little to no veterinary care. These dogs had been ignored and inadequately treated and were left with crusted, oozing eyes, raging ear infections, mange that turned skin into a mass of red scabs, abscessed feet from the unforgiving wire floors.Unfortunately this is not a one off case.  These type of conditions are typical at hundreds of puppy mills across the globe.If you want to buy a dog why not rescue a dog from the local pound?   These dogs are vet checked and in most cases micro chipped and desexed.  Did you know that at least 25 percent of shelter dogs are purebred!If you must buy a puppy please make sure you buy from a responsible breeder that has the animals welfare first.