Changing
homes is a stress on a puppy's immune system whether it be across the
world, or around the corner. If your puppy arrives with diarrohea, recognise
that essential body fluids will be lost if not corrected immediately.
A simple dose of peptisol or scourban will nip any potentially ongoing
illness in the bud.
RECOMMENDED FIRST
FEEDING
Cooked chicken, (MINUS BONES) rice and carrots for the first
twenty four hours. If stools are not firm, extend to forty eight hours.
Any changes in diet should be made GRADUALLY over a period of a week.
If your puppy arrives ravenously hungry, don't give a huge meal, but several
small ones over a few hours, to prevent tummy upset.
am : beef or chicken
cooked with rice/pasta and vegetables and garlic
2 x weekly: take raw
leafy vegetables such as silverbeet, or lettuce leaf, and raw carrot plus
one raw egg, including shell and blend in your blender. Add a dollop of
raw unsweetened yoghurt and serve. Raw oatmeal presoaked is sometimes
included.
mid day : raw chopped
beef mixed with dry weetbix or crumbled wholemeal bread or toast
afternoon snack :
of EITHER cheese, or sardines, or chopped soft boiled egg, cottage cheese,
or small pieces of fruit such as banana, peach, apple, mandarin, grapes
etc. A raw baby carrot is a great chewbone. Although most dogs enjoy fruit,
they will eat just one or two pieces, not the entire apple etc.
evening: raw chicken
breast or thigh, OR raw beef or lamb rib bones.
Labradoodles are not
usually greedy eaters. Up to at least eight months of age whilst they
are growing rapidly, they should be allowed to eat as much as they want
at each meal. If the occasional puppy does tend to put on fat, then the
food intake should be restricted.
10 weeks to 16 weeks...............three
feeds per day.
16 weeks to 6 months...............two
feeds per day
Any time from six
months onwards, one of the two meals will be refused by most young dogs.
This is when they should be changed to one meal daily.
Fresh clean water
should always be freely available. A few drops of apple cider vinegar
in their water is a blood purifier cleanser and is very good for them.
Remember that your
new puppy will be missing its siblings and the reassurance of cuddling
up with its litter mates to sleep. Rumple up the bedding, and add something
like some rolled up old sweaters or similar, to simulate the way puppies
sprawl all over each other to sleep. A ticking clock, or music softly
playing can be helpful.
Often Puppies are raised with music and radio playing. So these sounds may help
your new puppy to relate to something familiar in its strange surroundings
when left alone for the first time at night. ... those long lonely nights
when puppy must be wondering if you are ever coming back again!
Lucky
puppies get to sleep in their backet beside your bed, where they know you
are close by. This can gain you some precious sleep and is comforting
for your puppy.
ABOUT SLEEP .....
Yours too! What worked for us was to place our puppy beside our bed. During the night, if our puppy whimpered and
we were sure that she does not need to go to the toilet outside, we would just dangle our
fingers into her bed. Poppy used to lick them, feel reassured and then go back
to sleep. If you follow this advice, you will also get a good night's sleep as well!
You'll be surprised how quietly and contentedly your new baby will settle
for the night, with the comfort of your presence nearby.
How quickly your puppy
becomes 'clean' indoors depends entirely on how vigilant YOU are. Prevention
is far better than cure. Restrict the area your puppy has to run around
in indoors. One room is all you can properly supervise. If you put some
of puppy's droppings in a particular part of your back garden, you can
train your puppy to use the same place every time for doing its toilet.
Carry your puppy straight outside to this spot.
If your puppy is weeing
inside, after being left outside for awhile, then she hasn't been out long
enough. Just increase the time. DON'T PLAY WITH YOUR PUPPY during toilet trips.
Praise when your puppy relieves herself outside, and then bring her back in again.
Do NOT rub her nose in any mistakes.
Puppies need to go
to the toilet at some predictable times such as after waking up from a
sleep, after eating or drinking, after anything exciting....and then some!
If your puppy is sniffing
the ground, walking in circles, seems a little unsettled, and you are
not sure if she wants to go to the toilet or not, this is our advice to you...
When in doubt.......
Best go OUT !!
It is a good idea
to restrict the puppy's access to any but one room at a time - the room
you are in, so that you can pick up on puppy's telltale sniffing at the
floor when it wants to go outside. Quickly scoop up the puppy, and CARRY
it to your chosen spot in the back garden, where it will soon become a
habit for puppy to consider its toilet place.
Dogs are very social animals that make wonderful pets. However, with the
lifestyle and schedule of a lot of families these days, dogs need to learn
to spend lots of time at home alone. Too much freedom is the major reason
that puppies get into trouble. A puppy that is left unsupervised to wander
about, investigate and destroy things will have a difficult time learning
how to behave properly in your home.
Young puppies under
twelve months of age should not have 'forced' exercise, such as jogging
for miles, or very long walks on the lead. The mechanical movement of
enforced exercise at the same pace is not natural to a puppy, which will
frequently change from gallop, to trot, to walk, and flop down from time
to time when given the opportunity. The mechanical dynamic of a puppy
being forced to maintain the same pace on a lead before it is fully developed
can cause damage to loose ligaments and immature joints, especially in
heavier breeds of dog. Free exercise, where the puppy can change from
walk, to romp to trot, are fine, as well as shorter periods on lead, for
training etc.
Maximum on-lead exercise
-
From 10 wks to four
months old..............
twenty minutes on lead once daily, plus romping
at free will.
From four months to
eight months........ up to an hour daily as long as some free time is
interspersed with the on lead.
Eight months to twelve
months......A full hour on lead once or twice daily plus romping.
No jumping off high
places, no frisbee, or agility until after twelve months of age.
Stairs Danger!!! Slippery
Polished Floors...Danger !!!
Running up and down
stairs, jumping off high places, and slipping and sliding about on polished
floors, or tiled surfaces, can cause irreparable damage to young forming
joints as can keeping a puppy behind a high door, with say, a peephole
that encourages the dog to stand on its hind legs for hours at a time
to see over or through the gate. Dogs are a four legged creature which
are not conformed physically to spending a lot of time on just two of
their legs.
Failure to observe
these things can induce HD and other joint problems even in a healthy
puppy.
Lead training should
start as soon as you get your new puppy home, at between eight and twelve
weeks of age. Short sessions in your back garden, with plenty of praise
and the occasional treat will soon have your new puppy wanting to follow
along at your heels. Once vaccinations are complete puppy can go out into
public places.
Young puppies have
a natural desire to follow your feet and to come running to you. Make
the most of this whilst it still comes naturally to them. Why wait until
they are six months old, much bigger and have to be hauled around by force,
or jerked back to your side, because they have had 'free rein' for too
long and have developed their exploratory instincts?
Your young puppy may
not need grooming, but it is still a good idea to teach it to either stand
or lie down for grooming. This desensitises the puppy to being handled
all over, so that later on when its beautiful coat will need some attention,
it will be a natural and pleasant procedure for the both of you. Place
your puppy onto a HIGH place, bench or table, tie up if necessary, and
be firm, but patient. Occasional treats do help to make it a process that
your puppy will soon enjoy!
ABOUT JUMPING, NIPPING
AND BITING
When very young puppies
play with each other, they growl, snarl, bite and nip. It is also their
way of establishing who is leader of their (sibling) pack. If they try
this out on an older dog, or their mother, they will be scruffed soundly
and put back into their place.
To a puppy, it must
seem that no sooner do they begin to understand the game when the goal
posts are moved ! When in their new family, their 'pack' has changed to
you and your family. So they may need to start all over again.
Young children often
play roughly with a puppy, and so the puppy treats the child the same
as it would treat a sibling. Although natural, this must be stopped very
quickly. Because nipping soon turns into biting and in an adult dog can
be dangerous. Simulate the behavior of other dogs, which the puppy will
understand. Grasp its scruff with the loose skin behind each ear and shake
soundly, growling all the time in the meanest and LOWEST voice you can
muster. (don't shout). The instant the puppy stops, then gently stroke
its face and head, and use soothing and calm words in a pleased tone.
Puppy will catch on very quickly. But the praise when it stops is as important
as the shaking and growling when it is nipping or playing too roughly.
Children
should always be supervised when playing with a puppy. If they are too
young to understand, then the puppy should be put in the crate or separate
room for several hours each day for much needed rest time and 'space'
from the excited playing with the children.
