FEEDING

Bringing home a new puppy is almost like bringing home a new baby, there are some very important things that need to be in place when we arrive. Make sure you know what type food the breeder was feeding us and how much. It is better if you don't change our food right away, it will upset our stomachs. If you want to change food make sure you do it gradually over several weeks this way our bodies have time to adjust to the change and we will do just fine. My pet recommends that you feed the highest quality dog/puppy food that you can afford. It is true that you get what you pay for, a high quality dog food is easy for us to digest, keeps our coats shiny and helps our bones and muscles grow correctly. Lynne feeds me Purina Pro Plan Performance Chicken and Rice Formula, it is a fairly new formula designed with us hard working pups in mind. My pet has fed Purina Foods to all her critters for as long as she can remember with great results.

Another very important part to our diet is to feed us dry food, wet food can be mixed at first if the breeder was doing so. Dry food will help us maintain good dental health, it is nutritionally balanced, and our stools will not have the offensive odor that you get when feeding wet food. Also, when you feed a high quality food the need for supplements are not necessary. It is not true that we need variety in our diet, we are not like people in that regard. The same dog food everyday is fine with us, feed us puppy formula until we are one year old and then you can switch us over to adult formula. My food is adult food now, the new performance has more of what I need than regular puppy food. My pet does not recommend that you feed a high protein dog food if you are not working and playing hard with your pup. When working we need the extra energy and calories so we can run faster, swim farther and play harder. We are much like people in that regard, the less you do the less calories you burn the harder you work the more you need and the more you burn.

A lot of people ask my pet how to feed puppies, a good rule of thumb is 3 times a day for the first 3-6 months. We will need to be fed 2 times a day from the time we are 6 months to 1 year old and then once a day after that unless we are hunting or working hard. If an adult dog/pup is hunting all day it is good advice to stop at mid day and feed them and give them a break this will give them extra energy so they can continue to hunt without tiring so quickly. Then at the end of the day feed them again this will keep them well nourished if they are going to hunt several days in a row.

Feeding dishes and placement are very important as well, make sure that our dishes won’t be in the way or moved often, we like them in the same place. My pet uses stainless steel non-skid bowls for me, they are easy to keep clean and I don’t have to chase my dinner every night and spill my water all over the floor. Did you know that plastic bowls can turn yellow and chocolate Labs nose’s pink, it is called a "Dudley Nose". Some Labs are born with a pink nose but others have dark nose’s and the plastic will turn them pink. Yellow Labs are also prone to having a Dudley Nose in the wintertime this is not caused by plastic but genetics and will turn back dark in the warmer months. 

INDOOR OR OUTDOOR KENNELS

OUTDOOR KENNEL

Next you will need to decide where we are going to stay when we come home with you, will we be outside or inside. If outside you will need to make sure we have a safe place to stay, for instance a hand built lot or chain link kennel. We will also need a good doghouse with bedding and it’s a good idea to put down gravel in the front of my area. Gravel drains well and will keep pup up off the ground when it’s muddy and it will help keep your feet clean when you come in to feed and give us water. Make sure we have plenty of water that can be reached and not turn over, a 5-gal bucket is not a good choice to begin with we can get in it and drowned. Yes, a puppy can drowned in a bucket of water if they get in and can’t get out.

INDOOR KENNEL

My pet, Lynne, and many other hunters will raise their new pup in the house, a wonderful and necessary addition to your home is a kennel/crate, we need our own space and a kennel is a great way to start. We have one in both of the vehicles I ride in and one in the house, this keeps me safe on the road and at home. Some people think kennels are cruel but they are just the opposite. All canines have an ancestry of wolves, our great grandma and grandpa 4 begillion years ago were wolves. We are still pack animals and love a dark den like place to go to sleep and get a little quiet time, a kennel is all those things and more. My pet uses Petmate Products, they have a full line of kennels in every size, shape and color. Petmate manufactures a full line of pet care products for all your animals, they have kennels that fold up, airline kennels and even a "soft kennel" that goes up in a matter of seconds and has it’s own carrying case! They also produce kennel covers so their wire kennels look nice in your home, my kennel cover in the house is blue and tan and fits nicely over my Deluxe Edition Wire kennel, it makes my home very cozy. www.petmate.com

A kennel can be a very useful training tool, you can think of it as a playpen for pups. If you are diligent you can house break us for the most part in about 2-3 weeks and if you need to keep us safe during the day while you are out, in the kennel we go. You don’t have to worry about what we are tearing up or getting into while you are out. You know that we are safe and that everything will be where you left it when you get home. One thing to remember a kennel should never ever be used as punishment, it will make us afraid of our new home and it can cause problems in the long run. If I don’t like my kennel how am I going to safely ride in the truck or go stay with grandma when Lynne is our of town? Where will I spend the night, locked up in the bathroom to eat a hole in the cabinets and drink all the cleaner that is under it? Then you will have a huge vet bill and cabinets to replace and in your eyes it will all be my fault when in reality it’s yours for causing me to be afraid of my kennel.

You need to decide where you want the kennel when we come home and keep it there, mine is in the living room. My pet slept on the couch the first few weeks so when I needed to go "potty" during the night she would take me out. This way I was taught to not use my kennel as the potty and I have never had an accident in it. I could hold my bladder all night by the time I was 10 weeks old (from 10:00pm-6:30am) so when my pet started sleeping in her bed again I was still in my place and I never knew she was gone.

When I came home from the breeder (Stacey West, owner of Fowl Creek Kennels) I was already use to a kennel, riding in a dog trailer and being handled a lot. Some of us don’t have the same up bringing. Be patient with us the first few weeks, the kennel will be a new experience for us so we may cry a little the first night or two. Remember if you come get us every time we cry we are training you to do this and we will never do anything but cry every time you put us in it. If you will leave us alone and let us cry it out we will learn that this is where you want us to be and that it is a really cool. By all means put us in a blanket or a rug, my pet prefers something she can wash while I am still small. You need to remember that we are babies and we can’t hold our bladders all night to begin with so something you can wash often is better than a bed you will have to throw away. A nice warm water bottle wrapped in a towel feels like our littermate and a ticking clock on or by our kennel at night is soothing as well. You can also put in a few hard rubber or nylabone type toys in with us, that way I can chew on something if I get bored and you don’t have to worry about me swallowing it. Don’t forget the kennel cover for pups kennel in your house, it feels like a den and I even go in mine during the day and have a nap, my pet leaves the door open when she is home. Petmate makes some great mats for our kennels I have a big one that has sheepskin on one side and the cover is removable for washing. We keep my mat in the den where pet works, she has taught me that this is my place to sleep in the den and will put the mat in my kennel when I get older and stop trying to chew it.

HOUSE BREAKING

Now for potty training, some of us catch on quicker than others, again the kennel will help you with this. One thing that will help is by feeding us separate meals, like my pet advised. If you "free feed" us, leave food down 24/7 you will never know when we ate or how much. Usually we will need to go to potty anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour after we eat. The quality food you feed us will also make a difference, if you feed a poor quality food we will have to go often and our stool will be loose. This can be corrected with a high quality food, we will usually have a bowel movement after each meal and the stool will be solid. Let me tell you if your pet has to clean up an accident in the house they don’t get as upset if your stool if firm but try to remember to tell them when you need to go out.

You will need to take your puppy out every one to two hours while you are at home. Take them to the same place in your yard every time and tell the to "Potty" or use a word of your choosing. If pup don’t potty bring them back in after about 5 minutes and sit with them on your lap for another 5-10 minutes then try again. The reason for siting them on your lap is more than likely they will not use you for the potty. Make sure that when you take them out to potty you do not use this as a play session. Pups learn quick and if you are playing with them every time you take them to potty they will ask you to go every few minutes so they can play. This is not fun when you ask your "pet" to go out at 2am and all you wanted to do was play. Our owners don’t understand this behavior and don’t like it, they don’t understand that they are the ones that taught us this behavior.

Also, make sure you really praise us for going to potty where we are suppose to, you can even give us a treat when we get it right. Treats are a great way to let us know we have done exactly what you wanted. Just remember to be patient, we are babies and sometimes accidents happen. If we really get to playing hard with you in the house we forget to ask to go out, try to remember to take us out after we have been playing hard for several minutes. If we have an accident in the house, scold us and take us out if you catch us in the act, we need to know that this is not acceptable. If you don’t catch us and find it later don’t drag us to it and stick our noses in it, we won’t understand and it will cause a terrible infection in our nose. Just clean it up and try to figure out why this happened, maybe you didn’t watch us closely enough or gave us to large an area to play in.

Some pups will bark or whine when they need to go out, I don’t, I just go sit by the door and patiently wait. My pet tells me that I should say something but I think the silent starring approach is better. I have a few 4-legged friends that ring a bell that hangs on the door. Every time their pet takes them out they ring the bell and say "potty". My canine friends catch on to this very quick and learn to ring the bell with either their nose or their paw. I still like the silent approach better it keeps my pets on their toes.

VETERANIRIAN CARE

Vet care is probably the most important part of having a healthy pup from the beginning. Your owner should have an appointment for you within a week of bringing you home. Make sure you get the vaccination records from you breeder on what shots and worming pep had already had. We will have regular puppy visits until we are around 4 months old. Each puppy visit will consist of the following:

• A Physical Exam
• Being weighed
• Temperature taken
• DHL-P shot (Distemper/hep/lepto/parvo/ (and my vet adds corona)
• Eye, ear, mouth exam
• Stool Test (for worms)

When your puppy is 4 months old they will receive their rabies vaccination and Bordatella, commonly called kennel cough. If you are going to kennel your pup or have it around dogs Bordatella is highly recommended. With proper Vet care you and your pup will be off to a good start and will have a happy long life together.

The Vet’s office can be a very scary place for any dog especially pup, so here are a few tips that can make each visit a good experience.

Take time every day to look in pup’s ears, mouth and at their eyes. Rub their feet and toes, their tummies and tails, this will get them use to being handled and it won’t be strange to them when they have this done by the Vet. It is also a good idea to stop by your Vet’s office for a social visit every now and again. Take pup in and let them give her/him a treat and pet them, the people at the front desk are usually very happy to do this and the Vet will come out also if they are not to busy. This makes for a good experience for both pup and the Vet, only stay for a few minutes and be on your way. Pup will learn that this is a great place to go and that everyone there loves them.

Some owners only ride their pups/dogs in the car when they are going to the Vets office, they never get to go on a joy ride or a trip to the field. This sometimes causes us to relate the car with the Vet and all of us don’t like the Vet, they give us shots. This is one of the reasons dogs get car sick, you would get sick to if every time you were put in the car you ended up at the Vet’s office. If you will take us for short rides to get us use to the car/truck we will learn to like if quickly. Make sure you get us out and give us the opportunity to potty and do some snooping when we get there. This will teach us that when we get in the car/truck we get to go to new places and you play with us when we get there. One word of warning, please don’t take us with you if you are going shopping and you will be leaving us in the car. It gets hot in a hurry even with the windows cracked. Think of it this way, could you stand to sit in a parked car with a fur coat on for 30 minutes or an hour??? If not don’t take us, leave us at home in our kennel we will be much happier and safer there.

I hope I have answered some of the questions eveyone has about their new pup. I will be bringing you information on early training, introduction to water and retrieving fun in the up coming additions and some cute pictures of me and some of my friends as well. I hope you have enjoyed this addition of "The Nightly New", until next time.

Until next time, keep your nose in the wind,