Puppies and Young Dog Advice
Before allowing your puppy to be in a room unsupervised check that there are no wires or cables that he can access and that childrens toys are not left out and all house plants are out of reach as many can be poisonous.
Ensure that anti freeze is stored securely it is fatal when ingested but has a sweet smell and taste that is appealing to animals,
In the garden ensure that there are no small gaps in fencing and that any ponds are covered and remove any slug pellets you may have used prior to getting your puppy, the same goes for weedkillers and rat poison, your puppy is like a new baby and to an extent should be treated as such (children poke things into plug sockets puppies poke their tongues into them the result is the same)
Remember that when your puppy wakes up he immediately needs to empty his bladder so take the opportunity to help along his housetraining routine by at this time picking him up and carrying him forward facing outside and standing with him until he goes followed by lots of praise then allowing him back inside. By the same token he also needs to go when he has just eaten and the same applies, a little time spent standing outside in all weathers waiting for your little darling to relieve himself pays dividends. If you are with him you know when he has done what he went out to do and are able to praise him immediately and also it will not take him long to twig that when hes been he gets to come in (which will be all the more appealing to him especially when its raining/cold) don’t be tempted to train your puppy to go on paper (except the paper in his crate which should be removed when his bladder is big enough to go all night) it only tells the puppy its ok to do it in the house and you will only have trouble later.
Never leave your dog unattended outside shops or even in the garden in just a few minutes a puppy can get into all kinds of scrapes or worse be stolen. Some breeds are unfortunately quite a commodity within the criminal fraternity and are easy to steal as they are so friendly.
Make it a family rule that there is always at least one closed door between the puppy and the outside world, children especially younger ones who are not used to having a dog around don’t always shut doors behind them, the importance of this should be instilled into them and they should be asked to start telling you when they are going out so that you can check they’ve shut the door and the whereabouts of your puppy/dog it is too late when you dog has run away or worse been knocked down and injured or even killed,
Always remember do not allow your puppy to do anything when hes small that you don’t want him to do when hes big, it may be funny seeing your puppy play with your clothing, it is no fun having a full grown labrador or mastiff clinging on to your shoe lace like grim death. Or destroying the entire contents of your wardrobe.
It is your responsibility to ensure that games are played within the bounds of good manners, encourage sociable and acceptable behaviour and do not pose a threat to the dog or his human companions by getting out of hand or encouraging dangerous or antisocial actions. It is also your responsibility to ensure that your puppy/ dog plays with safe, well designed and well constructed toys that do not pose a threat to the dog's health or well being.
We train our children from an early age according to the rules of our society. Puppies similarly need to learn that they too must obey societies rules, training in this respect should start before they leave their mother with the discouragement by her of hard biting and dominant puppy behaviours which is why a puppy should not be removed from its mum before at least eight weeks of age.. The new owner is responsible for building on these patterns of good behaviour started by its mother but where the puppy has been removed too early that task will be made more difficult. With an older puppy or dog perhaps from rescue, where no effort has been made by previous owners or the dog has spent considerable time in kennels unsupervised the new owner may have to start from scratch, especially with house training and good manners.
Puppies should be taught what does and what does not constitute acceptable behaviour from the start and should not be indulged because they are "only puppies", for example we don' t allow toddlers to hit people or animals even though they are often instinctively violent if frustrated, so neither should puppies be allowed to bite even though they do so from instinct rather than malice. Children often like to play rough and can be quite violent to each other, this may be natural but sensible adults discourage such behaviour because it is not acceptable in our society, similarly some dogs like to play games of physical dominance, but as we do not want dominant behaviour or physical one upmanship from our dogs we should strongly discourage this type of play between dogs and people.
A popular misconception is that puppies only chew/destroy things when they are teething, this is a LIE, puppies start to chew when they are teething they cant help it and the two key ages for this are five months and eight to ten months which is when a habit can form which can last far beyond the teething stage until corrected, there are several other reasons for chewing.
The three main reasons are; boredom/anxiety, teething or diet.
Boredom/Anxiety
The action of chewing releases endorphines which subdue a stressed dog, which means that chewing can actually be relaxing and provide therapy.
Teething
A teething dog (up to about 12 months) can get relief, as a baby does, from chewing to ease the gums.
Diet
A dog that has a diet which is insufficient in fibre can try to find it's own source of fibre. Carpets, door frames, furniture and cardboard/paper are the likely suspects as the dogs tries to supplement it's own diet and find roughage.
Supervision and activity are the best ways of dealing with chewing problems as is the purchase of a crate and good quality dog toys especially those which make your dog think or keep them interested we have found that Kongs are fantastic especially when stuffed with food then frozen, a bit like teething rings for dogs, Dogs especially love them and they do not destroy them as readily as other less robust toys
Ensure that anti freeze is stored securely it is fatal when ingested but has a sweet smell and taste that is appealing to animals,
In the garden ensure that there are no small gaps in fencing and that any ponds are covered and remove any slug pellets you may have used prior to getting your puppy, the same goes for weedkillers and rat poison, your puppy is like a new baby and to an extent should be treated as such (children poke things into plug sockets puppies poke their tongues into them the result is the same)
Remember that when your puppy wakes up he immediately needs to empty his bladder so take the opportunity to help along his housetraining routine by at this time picking him up and carrying him forward facing outside and standing with him until he goes followed by lots of praise then allowing him back inside. By the same token he also needs to go when he has just eaten and the same applies, a little time spent standing outside in all weathers waiting for your little darling to relieve himself pays dividends. If you are with him you know when he has done what he went out to do and are able to praise him immediately and also it will not take him long to twig that when hes been he gets to come in (which will be all the more appealing to him especially when its raining/cold) don’t be tempted to train your puppy to go on paper (except the paper in his crate which should be removed when his bladder is big enough to go all night) it only tells the puppy its ok to do it in the house and you will only have trouble later.
Never leave your dog unattended outside shops or even in the garden in just a few minutes a puppy can get into all kinds of scrapes or worse be stolen. Some breeds are unfortunately quite a commodity within the criminal fraternity and are easy to steal as they are so friendly.
Make it a family rule that there is always at least one closed door between the puppy and the outside world, children especially younger ones who are not used to having a dog around don’t always shut doors behind them, the importance of this should be instilled into them and they should be asked to start telling you when they are going out so that you can check they’ve shut the door and the whereabouts of your puppy/dog it is too late when you dog has run away or worse been knocked down and injured or even killed,
Always remember do not allow your puppy to do anything when hes small that you don’t want him to do when hes big, it may be funny seeing your puppy play with your clothing, it is no fun having a full grown labrador or mastiff clinging on to your shoe lace like grim death. Or destroying the entire contents of your wardrobe.
It is your responsibility to ensure that games are played within the bounds of good manners, encourage sociable and acceptable behaviour and do not pose a threat to the dog or his human companions by getting out of hand or encouraging dangerous or antisocial actions. It is also your responsibility to ensure that your puppy/ dog plays with safe, well designed and well constructed toys that do not pose a threat to the dog's health or well being.
We train our children from an early age according to the rules of our society. Puppies similarly need to learn that they too must obey societies rules, training in this respect should start before they leave their mother with the discouragement by her of hard biting and dominant puppy behaviours which is why a puppy should not be removed from its mum before at least eight weeks of age.. The new owner is responsible for building on these patterns of good behaviour started by its mother but where the puppy has been removed too early that task will be made more difficult. With an older puppy or dog perhaps from rescue, where no effort has been made by previous owners or the dog has spent considerable time in kennels unsupervised the new owner may have to start from scratch, especially with house training and good manners.
Puppies should be taught what does and what does not constitute acceptable behaviour from the start and should not be indulged because they are "only puppies", for example we don' t allow toddlers to hit people or animals even though they are often instinctively violent if frustrated, so neither should puppies be allowed to bite even though they do so from instinct rather than malice. Children often like to play rough and can be quite violent to each other, this may be natural but sensible adults discourage such behaviour because it is not acceptable in our society, similarly some dogs like to play games of physical dominance, but as we do not want dominant behaviour or physical one upmanship from our dogs we should strongly discourage this type of play between dogs and people.
A popular misconception is that puppies only chew/destroy things when they are teething, this is a LIE, puppies start to chew when they are teething they cant help it and the two key ages for this are five months and eight to ten months which is when a habit can form which can last far beyond the teething stage until corrected, there are several other reasons for chewing.
The three main reasons are; boredom/anxiety, teething or diet.
Boredom/Anxiety
The action of chewing releases endorphines which subdue a stressed dog, which means that chewing can actually be relaxing and provide therapy.
Teething
A teething dog (up to about 12 months) can get relief, as a baby does, from chewing to ease the gums.
Diet
A dog that has a diet which is insufficient in fibre can try to find it's own source of fibre. Carpets, door frames, furniture and cardboard/paper are the likely suspects as the dogs tries to supplement it's own diet and find roughage.
Supervision and activity are the best ways of dealing with chewing problems as is the purchase of a crate and good quality dog toys especially those which make your dog think or keep them interested we have found that Kongs are fantastic especially when stuffed with food then frozen, a bit like teething rings for dogs, Dogs especially love them and they do not destroy them as readily as other less robust toys
