Puppies – General Healthcare

Dental Care is an important part of your dog’s care. By brushing their teeth on a regular basis, you can avoid general anaesthetics and dental procedures when they are older. There is no substitute for brushing whatever the dental chew adverts may say. You should be aiming to do this 2-3 times per week. Gradual desensitisation will be required.

Head to Tail is a great way of acquainting you and your puppy. You should try to do this every evening to get your puppy used to being handled, paying particular attention to areas that they don’t normally like being touched. These include their mouth, ears, eyes, feet and trousers of the leg.

Foreign bodies are serious and occur when a chewed inedible item gets stuck either in the throat or gastrointestinal tract. This almost always requires surgical intervention and can prove fatal. We would advise therefore to supervise your puppy at all times with toys etc and place in his/her crate when you are busy to avoid such occurrences.

Diet

There are many different diets on the market. It is important to feed your puppy a complete food that will include all the nutrients they need for their development and ongoing good health.

Given the chance, a puppy will try and train us to offer them nicer foods by not eating what they are given, so once you have chosen a food you must stick to your guns!

Ensure you feed puppy food for as long as the brand recommends, advancing to junior or adult as indicated on the packaging. Always check the packaging for daily feeding amounts. Its a good idea to keep 20-40% aside to use as treats for training or putting into interactive toys.

Puppies should be fed at regular intervals to assist with toilet training and any uneaten food should be removed within 20 minutes and offered at the next mealtime. Puppies up to 3 months should be fed four times a day, 3-6 months need three meals a day and after 6 months reduce to twice daily. Continue twice daily for the rest of their life for optimum digestion.

We are always here to give advice regarding diet. Many dogs are overweight which causes health problems, especially in later life, so its important to start with a healthy diet that can continue throughout their lifetime.

Exercise

Generally speaking puppies need short bursts of exercise. This should be varied between lead and off-lead walking, toy play with the owner and play with other dogs. Too much exercise could lead to bone and joint development problems especially with larger breeds. Mental stimulation is also tiring so frequent short training sessions will help with excess energy.

House Training

Your puppy has just started to learn the basic principals of house training. They shouldn’t want to toilet in their bed, but sometimes accidents do happen.

Its important that you recognise the signs like circling or reversing before faeces is passed. If your pup starts to do this inside the house, quickly put him outside and remember to give LOTS or praise if he goes outside. Your puppy will learn to associate good things with toileting outside.

Puppies learn from attention and will continue things that focus your attention. DO NOT SCOLD your puppy for mistakes. Just ignore them and clean up the mess. The praise for doing the right thing is enough to house train your puppy. Always put your puppy outside after a meal and praise him if he toilets outside.

We are able to give advice and help on other areas of basic training or recommend specialists if more focused training is required.

Neutering

Most dogs can be neutered at around six months however, this can vary by breed so best to check with your vet.

With a bitch you need to wait at least three months after a season, although neutering can be carried out before their first season.

Neutering your dog will reduce the risk of various cancers and behavioural issues. They can be a little more prone to putting on weight but this can be managed with diet.

Training classes for your puppy

We recommend you book as early as possible, even if your puppy has not had their second vaccination as classes book up very quickly.

Training is an investment and some of these classes may seem a bit expensive, but it is definitely money worth spending. A well-behaved dog is a pleasure and training classes will stop, or at least help prevent, behavioural issues in the future.