Puppy Vaccines There are many fatal diseases of dogs. Fortunately, we have the ability to prevent several of these by vaccinating your puppy. In order to be effective, these vaccines must be given as a series of injections. Ideally, they are given at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age, but the recommended vaccines and schedule of injections may vary depending on your pet's individual needs. The core vaccination schedule will protect your puppy from several common diseases: distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, and rabies. The first three are generally included in one injection that is given at 8, 12, and 16 weeksold. The Rabies vaccine is given at 16 weeks of age. Other optional vaccinations are appropriate in certain situations. These may include Bordetella, Lyme, and Leptospirosis vaccines if there are risks of those particular diseases based on your geographic location and your puppy's lifestyle. Distemper: Distemper is a virus that affects dogs. It causes respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms in its early stages and eventually affects the central nervous system. If untreated, it can be fatal. Distemper is spread by contact with infected saliva, blood or urine. It can also be spread through the air (cough/sneeze by an infected animal) Adenovirus (Hepatitis): Infectious canine hepatitis can cause a range of symptoms. Some dogs show very mild symptoms, but in severe cases the disease can be fatal. Symptoms can include fever, loss of appetite, lethargy, runny eyes and nose, cough, vomiting, jaundice (yellowish tinge to skin) and seizures. Adenovirus is spread directly from dog to dog through infected respiratory secretions or by contact with contaminated feces or urine. Parainfluenza: Canine parainfluenza virus is a highly contagious respiratory virus and is one of the most common pathogens of infectious tracheobronchitis, also known as canine cough. It is excreted from the respiratory tract of infected animals for up to 2 weeks after infection and is usually transmitted through the air Parvovirus: Canine parvovirus is highly contagious and attacks the gastrointestinal tract of puppies and dogs. The virus spreads through contaminated surfaces, food and water bowls, collars, leashes, and the hands and clothing of people who touch an infected dog. Parvovirus causes gastrointestinal symptoms including vomiting and bloody stool due to the sloughing of the lining of the intestines. It is often fatal in very young or immunocompromised dogs. Distemper, Adenovirus, Parainfluenza and Parvovirus are all included in one vaccine, "DA2PP"
Bordetella: Bordetella (also referred to as tracheobronchitis, canine cough) is a highly contagious respiratory disease in dogs caused by the bacteria Bordetella bronchiseptica. It causes inflammation of the trachea and bronchi. Bordetella spreads through direct contact (licking, nuzzling), through the air (coughing or sneezing), or via contaminated objects. Symptoms include Dry hacking cough, retching, sneezing, watery nasal discharge, pneumonia, inappetence, fever, and lethargy in severe cases. Rabies: Rabies is a fatal disease that attacks the nervous system. All warm-blooded animals, including humans, are vulnerable to infection with rabies virus. The disease is usually transmitted through saliva from a bite but may also be spread if the infected saliva enters the body through a cut or comes in contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth. Bats are the largest carrier of Rabies in British Columbia. Vaccination Schedule: 8 Weeks DA2PP 12 Weeks DA2PP, Bordetella (Canine cough) 16 Weeks DA2PP, Rabies 1 year from 16 week vaccines Da2PPv, Rabies and Bordetella (Canine Cough)
Intestinal Parasites and Deworming Intestinal parasites are very common in puppies. Puppies can become infected with some types of intestinal worms before they are born or later through their mother's milk. The microscopic examination of a stool sample will usually help us to determine the presence of most intestinal parasites. We recommend this exam for all puppies, especially during their first few veterinary office visits. Even if we do not get a stool sample, we recommend the routine use of a deworming medication that is safe and effective against several of the common worms of the dog. We do this because our deworming medication has little, if any, side effects and because your puppy does not pass worm eggs every day, the stool sample will not detect worms that are present but not shedding eggs. Additionally, some of these internal parasites can be transmitted to humans It is important that the deworming is repeated because it only kills the adult worms. Within three to four weeks, the larval stages of the intestinal parasites will become adults and need to be removed. Dogs remain susceptible to re-infection with hookworms, whipworms and roundworms throughout their life. Periodic deworming throughout the dog's life may be recommended for outdoor dogs. Tapeworms are another common intestinal parasite. Tapeworms require an intermediate host, meaning that tapeworms are not passed from dog to dog. Depending on the type of tapeworm, puppies become infected with them when they swallow fleas or when they eat contaminated raw meat or infected mice, birds or rabbits. Dogs infected with tapeworms will intermittently pass small segments of the worms in their stool. The segments are white in color and look like grains of rice or cucumber seeds. They are about an eighth of an inch (1/8 inch or 3 mm) long and may be seen crawling on the surface of the stool. They may also stick to the hair under the tail. If that occurs, they will dry out, shrink to about half their size, and become golden or light brown in color. If you observe tapeworm segments on your dog's stool, please collect them and bring them into the clinic for identification so that we can provide the appropriate drug for treatment.
Spaying or Neutering Your Dog What happens when my puppy comes in to be spayed? We will examine your puppy and weigh her. She will be given a pre-anesthetic medication to help protect her circulatory system under anesthetic as well as cause relaxation At the time of his surgery she will be given an intravenous injection to make her sleepy. We will then give her oxygen and anesthetic gas through an endotracheal tube. This keeps her asleep during the surgery. We clip the hair on her abdomen and wash it for surgery. We also attach the monitoring equipment. This equipment measures her heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and temperature. When your puppy recovers from the anesthetic, she is given a pain-relief injection. This insures that she will have a smooth recovery and be comfortable until she is ready to go home. What happens when my puppy comes in to be neutered? We will examine your puppy and weigh him. He will be given a sedative to cause relaxation, and which protects his heart during surgery. At the time of his surgery he will be given an intravenous injection to make him sleepy. He will then give him oxygen and isoflurane gas (anesthetic) through an endotracheal tube. This keeps him asleep during the surgery. We clip the hair around his scrotum and wash the area for surgery. We also attach the monitoring equipment. This equipment measures her heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and temperature. The surgery involves an incision just in front of the scrotum and complete removal of both testicles. When your puppy recovers from the anesthetic, he is given a pain-relief injection. This insures that he will have a smooth recovery and be comfortable until he is ready to go home.
Anesthesia Spaying and neutering are routine surgeries, but because they require an anesthetic there is a risk just like with any anesthetic procedure. We take every precaution that we can to minimize the risks while every patient is under anesthesia: We only use the safest gas anesthetic. We use pre-anesthetic and induction medications that minimize the amount of gas anesthetic needed, and provides circulatory support. We provide pain medication during surgery to lessen discomfort felt by the patient after surgery. Pet s heart rate and blood pressure are continuously monitored with a Doppler heart and blood pressure monitor. All pets are monitored by a skilled, trained, and experienced Animal Health Technician. Pre-anesthetic blood work Your pet looks healthy, and has been given a clean bill of health by the veterinarian. So why would we consider doing a blood test? Even young animals can have underlying problems with their major organs that can t be detected by a physical exam. A blood test lets us know how the major organs (kidneys, heart, liver etc.) are working. Most young animals will not have a problem in their lab work, in this case it gives us a base line for what s normal for your pet in case there are future problems. A small amount of pets do have problems that would lead us to change the types of anesthetic or pain control drugs used, or to postpone the surgery all together. Intravenous Fluids IV fluids are delivered through a catheter. They have many benefits, including: Supporting the kidneys. The kidneys excrete the anesthetic drugs, and IV fluids make it easier for the kidneys to filter them out. This helps your pet recover from anesthetic faster. Blood pressure. Anesthetics can lower an animal s blood pressure. IV fluids help keep blood pressure at a normal level. Hydration. Because pets are fasted before surgery they can become a little dehydrated. IV fluids help alleviate this. Quick access to a vein in case of an emergency. If an emergency does happen, every second counts. If an IV catheter has already been placed, we will have instant access to a vein to deliver emergency drugs.
Play Biting Why is my puppy nipping and biting family members? Although often thought to be a teething behavior, nipping, mouthing and biting in young dogs is generally a form of social play. Teething is more likely to involve gnawing or chewing on household objects. The first thing you must do is to provide a regular daily routine that includes ample opportunity for play. Social play with people could involve controlled chase and retrieve games, as well as long walks or jogging. Many dogs also enjoy engaging in tug-of-war type games, which may be an excellent outlet for play biting, providing the games are directed toward appropriate play toys and objects (see below). However, if the puppy's play becomes too rambunctious or aggressive, these games may not initially be acceptable. Puppies need to learn to inhibit the force of their bite, commonly known as bite inhibition. This is something they start to learn while with their littermates. It is one reason that puppies should not go to new homes until 7-8 weeksof age and they have had time to practice social skills with other dogs. In addition, after puppies have been adopted into the new home, it can be extremely beneficial to have regular interactive social play periods with other dogs or puppies in the home or in the neighborhood. How can I stop play biting? Provided the dog is receiving adequate play, attention and exercise, you can turn your training to bite inhibition. One of the things that puppies need to learn is how much pressure from their jaws causes pain. Without this feedback, a puppy does not learn to inhibit the force of its bite. Because all dogs can and will bite at some time, this lesson is vital for human safety. How is this lesson taught? When puppies play with each other, if one puppy bites another too hard, the bitten puppy will yelp, and may also stop playing and leave. This sends the message to the puppy that its bites were too hard and if it wishes to continue to play, it needs to be gentle. However, people often do not send this message to their puppy. In the beginning, some owners might allow their puppies to chew and bite on them without reprimands and the puppy assumes that the behavior is acceptable. Children appear to be most vulnerable because their attempts at stopping the biting may not be properly timed or sufficiently abrupt to stop the puppy from biting. In fact a child's response is often seen by the puppy as an invitation to increase its level of chase and play. Adult supervision or a head halter for training (discussed below) should help to insure more immediate success. The message people should send is that mouthing and chewing on hands is painful. All family members must consistently follow the rules for the puppy to understand and learn what is considered desirable behavior and what is not. However, regardless of the technique, you cannot expect the play biting to cease until you first insure that you are giving regular and sufficient opportunities for play. If the puppy begins to play bite or chew and tug on clothing, ignoring the puppy or walking away is the preferred response. Sometimes an "off" command can be helpful to indicate that social interactions will cease if
the biting continues. On the other hand, playing with the puppy when it is not attention seeking, nipping or biting is the goal. In fact, all forms of play and attention soliciting behavior should be ignored, as these might escalate into more intense biting If all family members are consistent in their responses, the puppy should quickly learn that play biting actually leads to inattention rather than play. If you teach your puppy to sit or lie quietly before each play session, you should soon have your puppy trained that these behaviors, and not play biting, will be rewarded with a play session. If ignoring the puppy and walking away does not stop the biting, then you will need to work on discouraging the behavior. Having a leash attached at all times during interactions and play can be an excellent means of preventing undesirable behavior, as well as prompting and teaching desirable behavior. Another technique is to emit a sharp "yip" or "ouch" as soon as biting begins so that the puppy backs off. Remember any contact with the skin should lead to an immediate cessation of play and attention. This sends the message to the puppy that the bites are painful and that biting will cause play to be terminated. Another option is to use a sharp "off" command while briefly pushing forward with the hand to back the puppy away (no hitting). Alternately, a sharp "off" and quickly backing away can be effective. Using a verbal cue such as yip, ouch or off is intended to interrupt the behavior and indicate that play and attention will now cease. This training usually works for those family members that are a little more forceful and assertive, and who are immediate and consistent in their training. If the puppy persists, chases or immediately repeats the behavior, closing a door and walking out of the room can help to teach the puppy that biting leads to immediate inattention. What if yelping does not help? Other techniques are often suggested for play biting. Some involve harsh discipline, like slapping the puppy under the chin or forcefully holding the mouth closed. Remember, pain can cause aggression and cause the puppy to become anxious, fearful or perhaps more excited. These techniques also require that you grab an excited puppy, which is not an easy thing to do! Some puppies may even misinterpret the owner's attempts at punishment as rough play, which in turn might lead to an increase in the behavior. Physical methods are therefore not recommended. Owners who cannot inhibit the puppy with a yelp could consider a shaker can, water or air spray, noise alarm, or ultrasonic device as soon as the biting becomes excessive. The loud noise or spray is used to startle the puppy, which will likely back up and stop biting. When that happens the puppy should immediately be praised and gentle play and interactions resumed. The use of a head halter with a remote leash attached allows the puppy to play and chew, but a quick pull on the leash can immediately and successfully close the mouth and stop biting without any physical force. By simultaneously saying "no biting", most puppies will quickly learn the meaning of the command. As soon as the puppy stops and calms down, the owner can allow play to resume, as long as biting does not begin again. This is one of the quickest and most effective approaches to stop the biting and get immediate control of the muzzle and mouth, and is useful for owners that are not gaining sufficient verbal control. Remember that play biting is a component of play behavior in puppies. Play is a
form of social interaction. Realize that your puppy is trying to play with you, even though the behavior is rough. Also remember that each puppy and each breed has a different level of intensity or a slightly different form in which play is exhibited so try and match the length and type of play to the needs of the puppy. Be certain that you are the one to initiate attention and play often enough to meet your dog's needs. If you allow your puppy to initiate play and attention sessions, then these may escalate into more intense attention soliciting or even play biting if you subsequently try to ignore the behavior. In addition, you should be able to end each session before it becomes too intense. One strategy is to use a command such as sit or down, and reward the behavior with a chew or feeding toy. Another is that if the play gets too rough, immediately end the play session and leave. Social withdrawal can be a very powerful tool. Leave the puppy alone long enough to calm down. If upon your return the wild playing begins again, leave again. Although it is tempting to pick the puppy up and take it out of the room, your puppy may interpret this interaction as additional play and the biting may continue as you carry the puppy to a confinement location. Keep track of which types of play seem to get the puppy too excited and these should be avoided to help prevent biting behavior. Can I play tug-of-war games with my puppy? Games of tug and pull can be a good way for the puppy to expend energy while playing with family members. In this way the puppy can be given an acceptable outlet for pulling, biting and tugging rather than on the clothing or body parts of people. In addition, the tug of war game provides an opportunity to teach the puppy to give up toys on command. However, tug of war games are only acceptable if they remain under your control, and if play biting and over exuberant behavior do not increase. Select a few tug toys for playing this game and be certain that you are the one to start each session. It might be best to keep the toy(s) out of the puppy's reach until its time to play the game. Throughout the play session, if the puppy gets too excited or begins to grab hands or clothing, have the puppy settle down and give up the toy before allowing play to continue. Food rewards can also be used at the outset to encourage the puppy to stop the give up the toy. At the end of each tug session, teach the puppy to give up the toy and reward with a favored chew or feeding toy. If successful, this type of play provides you with a means of controlled interactive play, as well as teaching the puppy to give up the toy on command. Following each play session, give the puppy some down time. Try and use a crate or confinement pen with object play toys (food stuffed toys, chews) that have been saved for confinement time so that the puppy can play with the toys or take a nap until the next scheduled play, exercise, training or elimination session is due. Debra Horwitz, DVM, Diplomate ACVB & Gary Landsberg, DVM, Diplomate ACVB Copyright 2009 Lifelearn Inc. Used and/or modified with permission under license.
Crate Training Every puppy needs to learn the skill of resting calmly in a crate. This skill will be needed at the veterinary hospital, for traveling, and for restricted activity due to illness. It's also a lifesaver for many young dogs during the destructive chewing stage that starts at several months of age and can last until age 2 to 3 years in some breeds. After a dog has become trained and reliable in the house, the crate will often be needed only for specific reasons rather than everyday use. One critical situation that can call for bringing out the crate again is separation anxiety. The ability to relax in a crate can save a dog's life during this crisis. Usually it works best to crate the puppy in your bedroom when you're sleeping. If you want the dog to share your bed, wait until the adult temperament emerges. Then if it turns out the temperament is not suited to bed privileges, you will not have the difficult job of teaching the dog to stay off the bed. Teaching a puppy to stay off the bed from the beginning is much easier, both for you and for the pup. People tend to make the mistake of giving the puppy attention for making noise in the crate. When you do this, you confirm the puppy's instinct that being alone is death (it would be, in the wild), and that calling for help will bring someone. Having the crate in your bedroom for sleeping tends to help because the puppy can hear, smell and possibly see you. Not being alone, the puppy usually finds it easier to get used to the crate. Your sleeping helps set the scene for the puppy to sleep, too. Keep the puppy on a good schedule of food, water and outings so the puppy's body will have the best chance of making it through the night without a bathroom break. If the pup does need a break, make it very low-key with dim lights and soft voices and no playtime. If you completely avoid going to the puppy when the puppy is making noise, problems usually pass quickly. But make no mistake, lost sleep comes with the puppy-adoption territory! Don't miss the chance to start your puppy off right, or you will lose a lot more sleep over a longer period of time, because crate-training will take much longer.the worst thing to do is let the puppy yell for a long time, and then go to the puppy. Doing that teaches the puppy to persistently make noise in the crate. It communicates to the pup that you want to be notified with lots and lots of noise! It also causes the puppy enormous stress that can become a lifelong response to being confined in a crate. Adult dogs in this stressed state can break out of crates and badly injure themselves. This is not the future you want for your puppy. What you want the puppy to discover is that nothing bad happens from being alone in a crate. You also want the puppy to learn that it's okay to let you know of a need, but you will not come in response to loud racket. Check on the puppy after the puppy has become quiet again. If your puppy isn't making it through the night without a potty break, schedule it so that the puppy doesn't have to wake you up and ask. Realize, too, that the puppy's body will awaken and need to potty whenever someone in the household gets up. That person or someone else will need to give the pup a potty break.
Don't trick a puppy about the crate. Give a treat when the pup goes in, but don't be sneaky about shutting the door. Don't put the puppy into the crate when the puppy is sound asleep, to wake up trapped in a crate. That can cause the puppy to distrust both you and the crate. Be careful not to abuse the crate. When you are at home and awake, supervise the puppy in person rather than using the crate. Puppies need exercise, mental stimulation and guidance from you in order to grow up healthy and happy. Too much crate time is not humane. Puppies sleep 14 hours a day or so. If the crate time is scheduled so the pup can use it for sleeping, that's ideal. Make the crate a pleasant place to rest. A few safe chew toys and a treat can help the puppy relax and drift off to dreamland. Everyone in the household can sleep better with a crate-trained puppy. THE CANINE BEHAVIOR SERIES By Kathy Diamond Davis Author and Trainer
House Training How long will it take to housetrain my puppy? All it requires are a few basic rules to house-train puppies within a short amount of time, sometimes as little as a few days to a few weeks. This does not mean that the puppy will be able to be trusted to wander throughout the home without eliminating. What the puppy should quickly learn is where it should eliminate, and the consequences of eliminating indoors when the owner is supervising. However, anytime your puppy is unsupervised and eliminates indoors, this can further delay successful housetraining since the puppy will have learned that there are alternate indoor elimination areas that can be used without untoward consequence. The goal of housetraining is to encourage and reinforce desirable elimination. Do not focus on trying to teach your puppy where it is not allowed to eliminate, as there are literally hundreds of locations in your home where your puppy might have to be deterred. What site should I choose? It is advisable to select a site that has an easy and direct access to the outdoors. Puppies may more easily learn where to eliminate if a single location is used. Over time, the location, the substrate (surface underfoot) and the small amounts of residual odor help to establish a more regular habit of returning to the area. If you do not have immediate access to the outdoors (e.g. high rise living) or if your schedule requires that you leave your pet longer than it can control itself, you might need to train your pet to an indoor litter area. If this is your best option, you can follow the same procedures outlined below, but will instead take your pet to its litter area, rather than to the outdoors. Paper training, discussed below, is another option. However, it may be more difficult to train your pet to eliminate at one site (e.g. indoor litter) and also expect it to eliminate in other sites (e.g. outdoors). How do I housetrain my puppy? To housetrain a puppy quickly and efficiently, follow the steps below: A. Puppies have a strong urge to eliminate after sleeping, playing, feeding and drinking. Take your puppy to its selected elimination area within 30 minutes of each of these activities. In addition, although some puppies can control themselves through the entire night, most puppies need to eliminate every 3 to 4 hours during the daytime. With each passing month, you can expect your puppy to control itself a little longer between elimination times. The puppy should be taken to its elimination area, given a word or two of verbal encouragement (e.g. 'Hurry up') and as soon as elimination is completed, lavishly praised and patted. A few tasty food treats can also be given the first few times the puppy eliminates in the right spot, and then intermittently thereafter. This teaches the puppy the proper place to eliminate, and that elimination in that location is associated with rewards. Some puppies may learn to eliminate when they hear the cue words ('Hurry up').
B. If you take your puppy to the elimination site and your puppy is only interested in playing and investigating the environment, take the puppy indoors after about 10 minutes and strictly supervise him until you can try again, approximately each half hour. Always accompany your puppy outdoors so that you can be certain that it has eliminated. When you first start house training, be certain to reward elimination immediately upon completion and not when the puppy comes back indoors. C. When indoors, your puppy must be supervised so that you can see when it needs to eliminate and immediately take it outdoors to its elimination area. One of the best techniques is to leave a remote lead attached. Should pre-elimination signs (circling, squatting, sneaking-off, heading to the door) occur, immediately take the dog to its elimination site, give the cue words, and reward the puppy when it eliminates. If the puppy begins to eliminate indoors you must be supervising so that you can immediately interrupt the behavior, such as with a verbal reprimand or shaker can. Then take the puppy outdoors to complete elimination at the proper site. Rather than use punishment to deter undesirable elimination, the goal is to train the puppy where to eliminate though supervision and rewards. Watch the puppy closely for signs it needs to eliminate and soon the puppy will learn to exhibit these signs to get your attention that it needs to go outdoors. D. When you are not available to supervise, the puppy should be confined to its confinement area. Be certain that your puppy has eliminated, and has had sufficient play and exercise before any lengthy confinement. Establish a daily routine that helps your puppy learn when it is time to play, eat, exercise, sleep, and eliminate. If the confinement area is small enough, such as a pen or crate, many puppies will have sufficient control to keep this area clean. This means that when you come to release the puppy from confinement, it must be taken directly to its elimination area. Puppies will generally avoid soiling their crate if they use their crates as a sleeping or play area. However, puppies that are anxious or distressed about being confined to the crate are likely to soil. In addition, if the area is too large the puppy may soil in a portion of the confinement area. If the puppy needs to be left for longer than it can control itself, it should be confined to a small room or pen where paper is spread over the floor for elimination except for a corner that contains the puppy's bed and feeding area. Once the puppy starts to limit its elimination to some selected areas of the paper, unused areas can be taken up. For owners that intend to continue to use paper for training, the puppy should be supervised when released from confinement, and returned to the paper (and reinforced) for elimination.
Why does my puppy refuse to eliminate in my presence, even when outdoors? Puppies that are disciplined and punished for indoor elimination rather than reinforced for outdoor elimination may soon begin to fear to eliminate whenever you are present, regardless of the location. These puppies do not associate the punishment with indoor elimination; they associate the punishment with the presence of the owners. For some puppies, standing quietly off to the side may allow them time to eliminate. It is best if you can be close by, but each puppy is an individual and some may need more space than others before feeling comfortable enough to eliminate. What do I do if I find some stool or urine in an inappropriate spot? There is no point in punishing or even pointing out the problem to the puppy. Only if the puppy is in the act of elimination will it understand the consequences (rewards or punishment). In fact, it is not the puppy that has erred; it is the owner who has erred by not properly supervising. Put the puppy elsewhere, clean up the mess and vow to supervise the puppy more closely in the future. How can I teach my puppy to signal that it needs to go out to eliminate? By regularly taking the dog outdoors, through the same door, to the same site, and providing rewards for proper elimination, the puppy should soon learn to head for the door each time it has to eliminate. If you recognize the signs of impending elimination and praise the puppy whenever it heads for the doorway, the behavior can be further encouraged. Puppies that have been interrupted or reprimanded on one or more occasions as they begin to eliminate indoors, may begin to try to sneak away, whine or show some form of anxiety when they feel the urge to eliminate but cannot escape from the owner's sight. If you can pick up on these cues, and take the puppy directly to the outdoors for elimination and reward, the puppy may consistently begin to show these signals when he or she needs to eliminate, and may even begin to take you to the exit door. Further into the process, some puppies can be taught to ring a bell or bark to let you know it needs to go outside to eliminate. For either of these to be effective, you first must constantly supervise your puppy so you can see the signs of a full bladder or bowel (restlessness, agitation) and quickly take them to the exit location, ring the bell or get them to bark and go outside. Over time the puppy should learn that the signal would get the door open. However, do not rely on signaling until it reliably happens or the puppy will end up eliminating indoors instead
When will I be able to trust my puppy to wander loose throughout the home? Generally you will want your dog to have been error free around the house for about a month before you can begin to decrease your confinement and supervision. The first time you leave the puppy unsupervised should be just after taking the dog outdoors for elimination. Gradually increase the length of time that your dog is allowed to roam through the home without supervision while you are home. If the dog has been able to go unsupervised for a couple of hours without an "accident", it might then be possible to begin going out for short periods of time. Of course, if the dog still investigates and chews, then confinement and supervision may still be necessary. Debra Horwitz, DVM, Diplomate ACVB & Gary Landsberg, DVM, Diplomate ACVB Copyright 2009 Lifelearn Inc. Used and/or modified with permission under license.
Puppy Socialization What is socialization? This is the period in a puppy's life where it develops relationships with other living beings and also learns how to behave and act in new experiences. While socialization takes place throughout the first year of life, the first 12-16 weeks seem to be the most important time for young puppies to learn about their environment. This critical period is when the puppy develops social relationships with other dogs and with other species, including humans. Therefore, this is not only the optimal time for the puppy to spend time learning to communicate and play with other dogs, but is also the most important time to have human contact (as well as exposure to other species with which it might live, such as cats). The balance between socialization with other dogs and with humans can perhaps be best met by having the puppy stay with its littermates and mother in a home where there is also human contact up until about 7 to 8 weeks. Then, it can be adopted into the new human household, where it can hopefully continue its socialization with other dogs (i.e. if there are dogs in the family or through puppy classes). Two other important aspects of a pup's development are "habituation" and "localization". What is habituation? As all animals develop there are numerous stimuli (sounds, smells, sights and events) that, when unfamiliar, can lead to fear and anxiety. Habituation is the process whereby dogs get used to repeated stimuli, and stop reacting to them, provided that there are no untoward consequences. For habituation to occur, the owner should avoid reinforcing any undesirable responses such as fear. What is localization? Localization is the process by which the puppy develops attachment to particular places. Why are these processes important? To reduce the possibility of fearful responses as a puppy grows and matures, it is essential to expose young puppies to many stimuli (people, places and things) when they can most effectively socialize, localize, and habituate to these stimuli. Early handling and events that occur during the first 2 to 4 months of life are critical factors in the social development of the dog. Dogs that receive insufficient exposure to people, other animals and new environments during this time may develop irreversible fears, leading to timidity and/or aggression.
What can I do to improve my chances of having a social, non-fearful dog? A) Puppy Selection The genetics of the breed and of the parents in particular play an important role in how sociable, playful, fearful, excitable, or domineering a puppy becomes. Choose a breed and parents (both male and female) that have the type of behavior that you would like the puppy to have. Of course, there is a great deal of variability between individuals, so that breed and parental behavior will not always be indicative of what the puppy will be like. If the parents have been previously bred together, the behavior and health of these siblings from previous litters may provide additional insight into how your dog might grow and develop. B) Puppy assessment Although you should avoid selecting puppies that are shy, withdrawn or fearful, selecting a friendly and non-fearful puppy does not ensure that this behavior will persist into adulthood. "Little or no predictive value has been found in assessing puppies under 3 months of age..." In fact, little or no predictive value has been found in assessing puppies under 3 months of age, since these puppies are still developing their social skills and many problem behaviors do not begin to emerge until sexual or social maturity. However, as puppies age these criteria do begin to become more reliable. C) Early handling Puppies that are stimulated and handled from birth to five weeks of age are more confident, social, exploratory, faster maturing and better able to handle stress as they develop. Puppies obtained from a breeder or home where they have had frequent contact and interaction with people are likely to be more social and less fearful as they develop. Puppies who have spent a large amount of time in pet stores or confined in cages may not have had the environmental stimulation needed to easily transition to a new home. D) Primary socialization There is a sensitive period in the development of most species when they develop social attachments with their own and other species, independent of punishment and rewards. In fact, both positive and negative events seem to accelerate socialization. The events that occur during this socialization period determine the puppy's future social partners, as well as the species with which it feels comfortable. By recognizing the critical time frame in which canine socialization develops, you can help to ensure a healthy social attachment to people and other animals, including other dogs.
The primary socialization period for dogs begins at 3 weeks of age and is already diminishing by 12 weeks. Peak sensitivity is at 6-8 weeks. Fears begin to emerge around at 8 weeks of age, so that beyond 12 weeks of age, fearfulness may surpass sociability. Although there is a great deal of variability between breeds and individuals, dogs should be socialized to as many people, animals and situations as possible before the sensitive socialization period begins to wane. However, regular social interactions should continue through adulthood so that puppies do not regress and become more fearful as they grow and develop. The 6-8 month period appears to be another important time where social contact should be maintained, or social skills may diminish and fear may escalate. To help develop a healthy social relationship with other dogs throughout life, dogs should maintain their social contacts with their mother and littermates until 6-8 weeks of age. What is the best age to obtain my new puppy? Since it is critical for the puppy's development to interact, observe, play and learn with members of its own species, the puppy should remain with its mother and littermates until about 7-8 weeks of age. Then when placed in the new home, social contacts can be expanded to new people and species while still in their primary socialization period. Also by this time puppies will begin to develop preferences for elimination sites, so that this is a good age at which to begin house-training. What can I do to assist my puppy in its social development? Generally, there should be little problem with a puppy that is less than 12 weeks of age developing healthy and lasting attachments to the people, sights and sounds in its new home. Your puppy is most likely to become fearful of stimuli that are not found in its day-to-day routine. Make a conscious effort to identify those people and situations to which the puppy is not regularly exposed. For example, if there are no children in the home, you might arrange regular play sessions with children. If you live in the country, make a few trips into the city, so that the puppy can be taken for walks on city streets, or through neighborhood plazas. Conversely, a puppy that grows up in the city might become fearful or aggressive toward farm animals that it was not exposed to during its early development. Introduce your puppy to as many new people and situations as possible. People in uniforms, babies, toddlers, the elderly, and the physically challenged are just a few examples that might lead to fear and anxiety unless there is sufficient early exposure. Similarly, car rides, elevators, stairs, or the noises associated with traffic, trains, airplanes, or hot air balloons are some examples of events and experiences to which the puppy might be habituated. One way to facilitate the introduction of the puppy to new situations and people is to provide a reward such as a favorite toy or biscuit each time it is exposed to a new stimulus. Having a stranger offer a biscuit to the puppy will teach it to look forward to
meeting people and discourage hand-shyness, since the puppy will learn to associate new friends and an outstretched hand with something positive. Once the puppy has learned to 'sit' on command, have each new friend ask it to 'sit' before giving the biscuit. This teaches a proper greeting and will make the puppy less likely to jump up on people. Be certain that the puppy has the opportunity to meet and receive treats from a wide variety of people of all ages, races, appearances and both sexes during the formative months and well into the first year of life. There will of course, be times when your puppy is in a new situation and you do not have treats. At those times, use a happy tone of voice and praise your puppy for appropriate responses. If your puppy seems to panic, back off a little and try again later, rather than aggravating the fear. Be sure to identify any emerging fear and work to revisit the situation slowly and gradually using favored rewards to turn the situation into one that is positive. Is it healthy to take my puppy out in public at such a young age? There is always a concern about the risks of taking the puppy out of its home before it is fully vaccinated because it may be exposed to an infectious disease before the protective immunity has developed. However, the benefits gained from these early public experiences can be enormous, and without them the risk of the puppy developing permanent fears or anxiety is a serious concern. One solution is to have people and healthy vaccinated animals visit the puppy in its own home, until it has completed its primary puppy vaccination series. A compromise is to take the puppy out to meet people and other pets in low risk environments. As long as you are following your veterinarian's recommended vaccination schedule, taking the puppy for walks along the sidewalk and avoiding neighborhood parks where stools and urine might accumulate is generally safe. Another valuable aid is to enroll the puppy in puppy socialization classes. If these classes are held indoors in a room that can be cleaned and disinfected, and all puppies are screened for vaccination and good health prior to each class, then these classes provide good exposure to people and other dogs in a low risk environment. In addition to insuring that vaccines are up-to-date and each puppy is parasite free, requiring that all puppies in the class have been in their new home for at least 10 days before enrolling will help reduce the risks of disease transmission. This time period is longer than the incubation period for most of the serious contagious canine diseases. Not only do these classes offer an opportunity for play and socialization with a variety of people and dogs, they also help guide the owners into proper training techniques from the outset. Recent studies showed that taking puppies to puppy socialization classes decreases the chances of relinquishing puppies and increases long-term socialization, thereby providing your puppy with better tools to cope with future situations. Debra Horwitz, DVM, Diplomate ACVB & Gary Landsberg, DVM, Diplomate ACVB Copyright 2009 Lifelearn Inc. Used and/or modified with permission under license.
Feeding Your Puppy Feeding Guidelines & Recommendations for Monitoring Growth Rates in Puppies 1. Do not feed free choice. 2. Feed controlled portions 3-4 times per day until the puppy is at least 6 months of age. Thereafter, 2-3 meals a day are acceptable. Remove any uneaten food after 20-30 minutes 3. Ideally, keep a log of daily food intake. 4. Weigh and monitor body condition every 1-2 weeks. Use a "walk on" scale for large puppies. Rapidly growing, large and giant breed puppies have a very steep growth curve; food requirements can change quickly in a short time. 5. Monitor body condition score (BCS). It is easiest if you can stand over the puppy and look for an obvious waistline behind the rib cage. With an ideal BCS, you should be able to feel the ribs but not see them and the waistline should be obvious. If too thin, the ribs and pelvic bones are seen and felt. If overweight, the waistline disappears and the ribs are harder to feel. If the puppy is beginning to put on too much weight or is growing too quickly, the daily amount of food will need to be reduced. 6. Feed in a quiet place. Some dogs eat too much or too quickly, especially in the presence of other pets or people. 7. Avoid feeding just prior to or just after exercise. 8. Feed healthy treats. Many treats on the market are very high in calories, fat and salt. Treats have to be taken into account when calculating how many calories the puppy needs daily, particularly for those pups that may be receiving lots of "rewards" at obedience class. Canine Medi-Treats are low in salt and calories. 9. Avoid supplements of any kind. Good quality puppy food is balanced in vitamins and minerals - don t upset the balance by adding calcium, raw meat, milk, bones etc. 10. Do not feed raw meat. Raw meat can contain a number of pathogenic bacteria and parasites that would be hazardous to your puppy s health. A complete raw meat diet is not a balanced diet and would have a large number of nutrient deficiencies. 11. Do not feed bones. Bones damage teeth. Bones and bone fragments can become lodged almost anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract. Copyright Medi-cal Royal Canin
Why We Feel Confident In The Food Products We Provide 1.The foods we provide are made at their own production centers, no other brands of food are manufactured there. 2. They source their ingredients as locally as possible and have rigorous contracts with these sources to ensure consistent and quality supply. 3. The production centers have state of the art equipment which screens incoming ingredients for contamination and also assesses nutritional breakdown. If a truck-load of incoming ingredients does not pass the multiple tests, it is turned away. 4. Only slaughtered, human grade animals are used in their diets. There are NO already dead animals rendered and used for these diets. 5. These food production centers are spotless and meet rigorous health inspections. The employees are all pet owners themselves. 6. They do beneficial food trials with animals to research the nutritional and health benefits their food provides. They maintain their animals in natural settings or use their own pets and data from outside hospitals. They do NOT do invasive or terminal experiments. 7. Diet pricing does fluctuate as cost of the ingredients fluctuate. These companies refuse to source cheaper, lower quality ingredients or change their formulations to fool clients in order to keep their pricing low. 8. They strive towards international accreditation for environmental standards. 9. They guarantee all of their diets 100%. Not only for quality but for palatability as well. 10. They have technical support staff made up of veterinarians and veterinary specialists who can answer any questions and will review your pets medical cases to ensure they are getting the appropriate nutrition.
Important Questions to Ask Your Pet Food Company Where do the products in their pet foods come from? Are any of the ingredients in their pet foods imported from china? If not where do they source their ascorbic acid? (vitamin C) Do they have their own manufacturing plant or does another company produce the food for them? Do they have quality controls to test the ingredients? The final product? If so what testing measures are they? Do they do testing on animals? If so, where, how, and what type of testing? Are any of these tests invasive or terminal? Are the meat sources slaughtered only? Or can already dead animals be rendered for the product?
Destructive Behaviour Why do dogs chew? Dogs, especially puppies, are extremely playful and investigative. While play with people and other dogs is an important part of socialization and social development, exploration and object play are important ways for dogs to learn about their environment. Therefore it is a normal behavior for puppies to investigate their environment by sniffing, tasting and perhaps chewing on objects throughout the home. Dogs that chew may also be scavenging for food (as in garbage raiding), playing (as in the dog that chews apart a book or couch), teething (dogs 3 to 6 months of age that chew on household objects), or satisfying a natural urge to chew and gnaw (which may serve to help keep teeth and gums healthy). Some dogs may chew because they receive attention (even if it is negative) or treats from the owners each time they chew, but by giving attention, the owners are inadvertently rewarding the behavior. Chewing and destructive behaviors may also be a response to anxiety. Dogs that are confined in areas where they are insecure may dig and chew in an attempt to escape. Dogs that are in a state of conflict, arousal or anxiety, such as separation anxiety, may turn to chewing and other forms of destructiveness as an outlet. How can chewing be treated? First, determine why the dog is chewing. If the dog is a puppy or young adult dog that is chewing a variety of objects in the household, it is likely that play and investigation (and perhaps teething) are the motives. Dogs that raid garbage and steal food off counters are obviously motivated by the presence and odor of food. Dogs that chew at doorways or the doors of a cage may be attempting to escape confinement while others may be chewing as an outlet for anxiety. Determining the cause and motivation for chewing is essential in developing a treatment strategy. One of the best ways to determining why the dog is chewing and how the behavior might be resolved is to keep a diary of the pet's daily activities to determine when and where it is chewing, what occurred immediately prior to the behavior and what do family members do when they catch the dog chewing. In addition, the diary can help to determine whether the dog's daily schedule provides enough enrichment and a regular routine that serves all of the dog's needs. Although the goal of treatment is to stop undesirable chewing, the focus should be on providing sufficient enrichment and outlets and in rewarding desirable behavior. If the chewing occurs while you are gone, setting up a videotape may help determine is anxiety is the cause of the behavior. Directing the chewing into appealing alternatives, providing sufficient play and exercise, and preventing inappropriate chewing are needed for the exploratory dog. You must also ensure that you are not inadvertently rewarding the behavior. Ignoring the dog, or using a device to interrupt the chewing may be useful for these dogs. With puppies, this behavior may decrease in time, provided you provide