Breed Books
SAFE AREA. I like to use the puppy Exercise Pen for my puppies (see picture above). It gives that a safe environment when I cannot monitor them as well as teaches them what their boundaries are. I put a soft bed or a Pipe Dreams bed, chews, soft toys to cuddle with, water bottle affixed to side of pen, food affixed to side of pen (puppies like to tip bowls over), and a plastic storage box with potty pad inside. At night, I put the puppy in a plastic cage appropriate for their size with bedding soft toy and water bottle affixed to door. Puppies can get into lots of trouble if they are left unsupervised, so it is necessary to put them in a confined area to keep them safe. This is just a temporary place until the puppy is older, less mischievious and hopefully housebroken!
PUPPY PROOF YOUR HOUSE.
You should consider that a puppy has an absolute right to chew whatever they can get at in your absence. You must put the puppy where either it cannot do any damage, or you do not care about the possible damage. Puppies can eat kitchen cabinets, destroy furniture, chew on carpet, and damage a wide variety of other things. Besides the destruction, the puppy may well injure itself, even seriously.
A good solution to this is a puppy Exercise Pen. The Exercise Pen is either metal or plastic sides that the puppy will be confined in but yet have the ability to "learn" - you should put in a bed, food, water, toys, and a potty area (I like a plastic storage box with potty pad). At night I put the puppy in a plastic cage with bedding, soft toy to cuddle with and water bottle on door.
Please put your pup in an environment it can't destroy. Puppies are too immature to handle temptations. Depending on the breed, most dogs begin to gain the maturity to handle short stints with mild temptations when they're about 6 months old. Consider the analogy with a baby, where you keep it in a crib, stroller, or pen if you are not holding it.
It is essential to puppy-proof your home. You should think of it in the same way as child-proofing your house but be more thorough about it. Puppies are smaller and more active than babies and have sharp teeth and claws. Things of especial concern are electric wires. If you can get through the puppy stages without having your pup get a shock from chewing a wire you are doing a great job! When puppy proofing your home, get down on your hands and knees (or lower if possible) and consider things from this angle. What looks enticing, what is breakable, what is sharp, etc. The most important things are watching the puppy and, of course, putting the puppy in the exercise pen when you can't watch it.
Another step in puppy proofing is house proofing the puppy. Teach it what is and isn't chewable. The single most effective way to do this is by having a ready supply of chewable items on hand. When the puppy starts to chew on an unacceptable item (be it a chair, rug, or human hand), remove the item from the puppy's mouth with a stern, "NO!" and replace it with a chew toy and praise the puppy for playing with the toy. If you are consistent about this, the puppy will get the idea that only the things you give it are to be chewed on! Don't stint on the praise, and keep the "No!" to a single calm, sharp noise -- don't yell or scream the word.
There are some products that can help make items unpalatable and thus aid in your training. Bitter Apple and Bitter Orange (available at most pet stores) impart a bitter taste to many things without staining, etc. You should not depend on these products to keep your puppy safe, but use them as a training aid.
A short checklist:
* Breakables up out of reach
* All wiring and cords put out of reach behind furniture, or encased in hard plastic flexible tubing (available at hardware stores, can be cut to size) to slow puppy down
* Anything small enough to be swallowed (pennies, bounce balls, shoelaces, bits of paper, socks, nuts, bolts, wire) removed from the floor
* Block access behind furniture wherever possible
* Put childrens toys and stuffed animals away
Puppies and Small Children.
Keep puppies and very small children apart or under close supervision. Small children do not understand the need for keeping fingers out of puppies' eyes or refraining from pulling painfully on their tails, among other problems. So keep children 6 years or so and younger away from the puppy until it is grown, for the safety of the puppy and child.
Teach your children how to approach a puppy or dog, to prevent being jumped on. They should understand that they should put out their hands below the pup's chin, to keep it from jumping at a hand above its head. They should not scream or run away, as the puppy will then chase the child.
There are several books dealing with children and dogs. Try Jack and Collen McDaniel's Pooches and Small Fry, published by Doral Publishing, 800-633-5385 or Amazon.Com - http://www.amazon.com/Pooches-Small-Fry-Parenting-Skills/dp/0944875378. This book is full of good suggestions for teaching both children and dogs how to behave with one another.
Acclimatization and Socialization. Accustom your puppy to many things at a young age. Baths, brushing, clipping nails, cleaning ears, having teeth examined, and so on. Taking the time to make these things matter of fact and pleasant for your puppy will save you a world of time and trouble later in its life.
For example, every evening before the dog eats (but after you have put its bowl down), check its ears by peeking in the ear and touching it with your fingers. Do this every evening until the dog stops fussing about it. Continue to do it and you'll always know if your dog's ears are okay.
Brushing is important, especially for double coated or long-haired dogs when they begin to shed. A little effort now to get your puppy to enjoy brushing will save you a lot of trouble later.
During your puppy's first year, it is very important that it be exposed to a variety of social situations. After the puppy has had all its shots, carefully expose it to the outside world. Take it to different places: parks, shopping centers, schools, different neighborhoods, dog shows, obedience classes--just about anywhere you can think of that would be different for a little puppy. If the puppy seems afraid, then let it explore by itself. Encourage the puppy, but be firm, not coaxing. Your favorite dog food and supply store (unless it's a pet store) is a good place; dog shows are another. You want the pup to learn about the world so that it doesn't react fearfully to new situations when it is an adult. You also want it to learn that you will not ask it to do anything dangerous or harmful. Socializing your dog can be much fun for you and the dog!
Do not commit the classic mistake made by many owners when their dogs exhibit fear or aggression on meeting strangers. DO NOT "soothe" them, or say things like "easy, boy/girl," "it's OK..." This serves as REINFORCEMENT and ENCOURAGES the fear or growling! Instead, say "no!" sharply and praise it WHEN IT STOPS. Praise it even more when it allows its head to be petted. If it starts growling or backing up again, say "no!" Be a little more gentle with the "no" if the dog exhibits fear, but do be firm. With a growling dog, be much more emphatic and stern with your "no!"
If you are planning to attend a puppy class (and you should, they are not expensive) ask the instructor about her/his views before you sign up. If socialization is not part of the class, look elsewhere.
Don't Be Surprised When...
Your puppy doesn't seem to pick up the idea of whining at or going to the door to tell you it needs to go to the bathroom. Many puppies do not begin this behavior until they are four or five months old.
Your puppy does not seem to pick its name up quickly. Sometimes it takes several weeks before you consistently get a reaction when you say its name. (Be careful not to use its name in a negative sense! Clap or shout instead.)
Your puppy does not seem to be particularly happy with verbal praise. You need to pair verbal praise with physical praise for a few months before your puppy understands and appreciates verbal praise.
Your puppy falls asleep in the middle of some other activity. Puppies need lots of sleep but since they are easily distracted, they sometimes forget to go to sleep and so will fall asleep at bizarre times: while eating, chewing, or even running.
Your puppy twitches while sleeping. This indicates healthy neural development. Twitching will be most pronounced for the first few months of the puppy's life, and slowly diminish thereafter. There are many adult dogs that continue some twitching. Expect muffled woofs and snuffling noises, too.
Your puppy hiccups. Many puppies hiccup. The only thing to do is wait for them to pass. Don't worry about it, they will outgrow it.
Puppy Biting. Courtesy of Joel Walton, jwalton@access.digex.net: If you watch a litter of puppies playing, you will notice that they spend much of their time biting and grabbing each other with their mouths. This is normal puppy behavior. When you take a puppy from the litter and into your home, the puppy will play bite and mouth you. This is normal behavior, but needs to be modified so you and the puppy will be happy.
The first thing to teach your new puppy is that human flesh is much more sensitive than other puppies and that it really hurts us when they bite. This is called bite inhibition. A puppy has very sharp teeth and a weak jaw. This means that the puppy can cause you to be uncomfortable when mouthing or puppy biting you, but can not cause severe damage. An adult dog has duller teeth and a powerful jaw. This means that an adult dog can cause significant damage when biting. ANY DOG WILL BITE GIVEN THE RIGHT OR WRONG CIRCUMSTANCES ! If a small child falls on your adult dog and sticks a finger in the dog's eye, you should not be surprised if the dog bites. If you do a good job teaching your puppy bite inhibition, you should get a grab and release without damage. If you don't, you may get a hard bite with significant damage.
It is simple to teach a puppy bite inhibition. Every time the puppy touches you with its teeth, say "OUCH!" in a harsh tone of voice. This will probably not stop the puppy from mouthing, but over time should result in softer and gentler puppy biting.
The commands necessary to teach a puppy NOT to mouth, are easy and fun. Hold a small handful of the puppy's dry food, say "take it" in a sweet tone of voice, and give the puppy one piece of food. Then close the rest of the food in your hand and say "off" in that same sweet tone of voice. When the puppy has not touched your hand for 3 to 5 seconds, say "take it" and give the puppy one piece of food. We are teaching the puppy that "off" means not to touch. You should practice this with the puppy.
After a couple of weeks of the above training, here is how you are going to handle puppy biting or mouthing:
Unexpected mouthing (you don't know the puppy is going to mouth, until you feel the puppy's teeth):
"OUCH!"
Expected mouthing (you see the puppy getting ready to mouth you):
You say "OFF" before the puppy can mouth you.
The puppy is mouthing you because of a desire to play.
You have to answer the question, "Do I have time to play with the puppy now ?" If you do, then do "sit", "down", "stand" or other positive 'lure and reward' training. If the answer is "No, I don't have time for the puppy, right now." then you need to do a time out (Exercise Pen, or otherwise confine the puppy, so the puppy can't continue to mouth you and get in trouble.
The above training methods have been modified from information that I learned from Dr Ian Dunbar in his puppy training seminars and from his excellent video 'Sirius Puppy Training' which is available by calling 510-658-8588.
Reinforcing Good Behavior. Puppies want attention. They will do a lot to get that attention -- even if it is negative! Thus, if you scold your puppy for doing things you don't want it to do, and ignore it when it is being good, you are reinforcing the wrong things. Ignore the bad things (or stop it without yelling or scolding) and enthusiastically praise it when its doing what you want, even if it's as simple as sitting and looking at you, or quietly chewing one of its toys. This can be difficult to do, as it is essentially reversing all your normal reactions. But it is very important: you will wind up with a puppy that pays attention to you and is happy to do what you want, if it understands you.
Teething. Around 4 to 5 months of age, puppies will start to get their permanent teeth. There are several things you can do, both to ease the pain and control the chewing.
* Make some chicken soup (low sodium variety or make it yourself) ice cubes and give them to the puppy.
* Soak a clean rag in water, wring it out and then freeze it (rolling it up helps) and give it to your puppy to chew on.
* Soften the kibble a bit with water.
* Discourage biting on your arm or hand for comfort.
Puppies lose their teeth in a distinct pattern: first the small front teeth come out. Then the premolars just behind the canines. Then the molars in the back come out (and you'll see adult molars behind those erupting as well). Finally the canine teeth come out. Sometimes the adult canines erupt before the baby canines have come all the way out.
During this time, some discomfort, including bleeding gums is to be expected. Your puppy will want to chew more during this period of time, but it may also be too painful to do so (hence the suggestions above). You will probably find few if any of the teeth your puppy loses, as puppies typically swallow them.
FOOD. Your puppy is currently eating Life's Abundance. Your puppy is "free fed" which means that they have food available at all times. I do measure their food out - 1/2 cup for breakfast, for lunch I remeasure another 1/2 cup taking what food is left over from breakfast and do the same for dinner. I do not add any food after dinner but allow the food left in bowl to remain overnight especially for the Maltese. We always send a sample bag of food with instruction sheet home with our puppies when they leave. It is best to keep your puppy on the same diet that it is used to so that it will not be subjected to too many changes at once. Changing to a different food can cause an upset stomach or diarrhea. Any switch in diet should be done gradually by mixing the old food with the new food.
NUTRI-CAL. This high calorie dietary supplement in a tube (looks like a tube of toothpaste) is a must have if you are bringing home a tiny size dog. It will help keep a tiny dog or puppy from going into hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). It is also a great source of extra vitamins for any size puppy. It will insure that your puppy is getting some good nutrition while it adjusts to it's new home. With a dime size portion on your finger, gently open puppy's mouth and scrape your finger on top teeth so that Nutri-cal goes on the roof of puppy's mouth. A small amount should be given 2 or 3 times a day for the first week or two, until your tiny puppy is settled in and eating well.
The following are informational links that will help you with your new puppy
