http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc7J_xIiJOM

…  Anne

…  Anne

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCfgfJiLeNE

…  Anne

…  Anne

Cyda’s puppies

A comfortable bed (a hard plastic bed is fine and is easily cleanable) filled with vetbed or warm, washable blankets.

If puppy is to sleep in a crate, buy one big enough for adulthood, with room for puppy‘s bed, food, water, a toilet pad, and toys.  Covering the crate will exclude draughts and give puppy a nice warm “cave” to rest in.  At night, it may help to put a warm water bottle wrapped in a towel under the blankets, and a ticking clock in the room simulates mothers heartbeat.

Children must learn from the start that puppy is not a toy and must be allowed time to rest unmolested.  A tired puppy who is being “played with” may show his displeasure and bite.  This is never the puppy’s fault.  He may, however, learn from that experience that he can control humans that way, and you have a problem.

Do not be tempted to let puppy sleep in your bedroom unless you want that for the rest of doggy’s life – bad habits learned early are hard to break.  Do not play with puppy just before bed-time to “tire him out” – this will only make him hyper and he will not settle.  Be prepared for broken sleep over the first few nights.

React calmly but firmly when settling him down. Close the door and wait to see if puppy settles.  If not return to him with the same calm attitude, settle him down again and leave the room.  This may need to be repeated, but the intervals of quiet should get longer until puppy realises he is getting no-where and goes to sleep.  At this point you can quietly return to bed for a well earned rest.

Safe chewable toys – soft toys will quickly be destroyed – but rubber toys will help puppies through the teething stage.

Bowls for food and water.    Please ensure water is available to the puppy 24/7.  I once knew a lady who only provided water when she fed her puppy on the grounds that it made him pee!!!  Wake up!!!  That’s what puppies do!!!

House-training can begin immediately.  Take puppy outside on waking and after eating. Stay with him and praise him when he performs, using a word or phrase which he will start to associate with toileting.  The word can be any word, but try to avoid “Good dog” unless you want him to pee every time you praise him!  Choose a word which will have no other associations for the puppy … like “toilet” “go now” or “perform”.  The dog does not understand the meaning of the words he merely associates the sound of the word with an action.  This will need to be repeated every time the puppy needs to “go” and you should soon achieve results.

Always make training a pleasant experience, using treats to reinforce your delight at a positive result.  Never use negativity, scolding will only lead puppy to pee in “secret places” which you would not wish him to use.  Getting cross never achieves the desired result, perseverance with positive training will always win through.

…  Anne

It is important that your pet is insured from the word go.  Every puppy that leaves a breeder and is registered with the Kennel Club should come with 4 weeks free insurance – see www.kcinsurance.co.uk  During this period you will be contacted by them to enquire whether you wish to continue after the free period.  In my view you should shop around.  This insurance may not be the best in the world but equally it’s not the worse either but whatever you choose please insure your pet at this stage.

Why? You may ask – there is nothing wrong with puppy?

The reason is that any ailment, condition that puppy suffers between now and when you do take out insurance with not be covered by the insurer.  They call it a pre-existing condition.

So unlike your energy supplier, credit card supplier etc., switching is not a good idea.  Hence I recommend that you get it right from the start.

So what should you look for when picking pet insurance?

Firstly, look for “cover for life”.  There are some insurers out there who will give you cover for one year and at the end of that time will not continue to insure any condition for which you have already  claimed.  So look for the best value and make sure it is “for life” and for each and every condition.  Insurers will not cover routine treatments like fleas, worms and regular annual vaccinations.  As an example, read about Fin and his allergies on http://www.heronbank.co.uk/fin/.  When we rescued  Fin at three years of age, we immediately got him insured, but he is not insurable for his pre-existing conditions (his allergies), but thankfully he is for anything else – like his anal gland problem – and the day he ate a dead blackbird!

I say thankfully because vets don’t know what to charge these days (sorry vets!!).  His treatment for his anal glands rose rapidly in the direction of £1000.  Fortunately we only pay the policy excess of £70 plus 10% of the balance which works out at approx. £150.

It is not the purpose of this blog to recommend any particular insurer but we have found MoreThan very competitive see https://www.morethan.com/Process/Pet/PetYourQuote.aspx.  Anyone living in the Kirklees area could do well to check out insurance promoted by our vets, Donaldson and Partners, see  http://www.donaldsonandpartners.co.uk/insurance/.  In addition to meeting all the criteria I have indicated above, they also give discount vouchers for routine treatments -  a case of prevention as well as cure.  Yes I know they are our vets – so why don’t we use their insurance  -  pre-existing conditions!!

I hope this has gone some way towards simplifying the complex insurance issues we all need to address these days.

…  John

“He’s getting along fine.  He comes out of his pen a couple of times a day when I clean him out and feed him.  He walks round and inspects the rabbits and cats, rubs round my legs and purrs loudly.  He’s met some of the other cats and has not reacted badly.  He’s shy with other people, but not aggressive or anything.  Mind you, in saying that, I made the mistake of trying to lift him to get him back into his pen the other day – and he bit me.  My fault entirely, as I should have read his body language better.  He’s a super boy, and I am very tempted to keep him.”

…  Jan

Drummer

Winston

Drummer is a confident little cavalier, quite full of his own importance and doesn’t like to take “No!” for an answer.  He just keeps pushing boundaries.  In that respect he is very reminiscent of Winston, our first stud dog.  At 8 weeks old, when we thought all the puppies were playing safely in the back garden, we got a phone call from a neighbour across the close to say that all our puppies were in her garden.

Winston had dug his way under the fence, gone “exploring” and taken his “pack” with him!

Carys and Winston with pups

I remember one Christmas, when we had taken the dogs to Clumber Park for a long walk, Winston suddenly took off.  Shouting was to no avail.  We followed him as fast as we could, and then saw the reason for his sudden “disappearance”.  He had found a very interesting bitch, a springer spaniel if memory serves.  I apologised profusely the the bitches’ owner, and was told “She’s in season”  to which I replied “and He is a stud dog” – with ambition!  I do wish people wouldn’t walk their in season bitches where others walk their dogs!  I really couldn’t blame Winston for his disappearing act, and he was always good at producing excellent puppies.  Lets hope Drummer is the same!

I know that Drummer is just the right temperament for a stud boy, and I look forward to training him in the “Noble Art of Stud Work”, but I expect him to be quite a handful!

…  Anne

What to Expect - Depending on the puppy’s attitude, the puppy will either be into everything at once or the puppy will be scared and timid. If your new puppy is all over the place, you will have to increase your supervision and make sure that you have effectively puppy-proofed your household. If your puppy is shy and timid, try to quiet the household and let the puppy get to know the home, and you, on its own terms, avoid eye contact with the puppy, speak softly.

Excitable and nervous puppies and puppies that have just been separated from their mother and siblings, will often bark and wine more than usual. You can expect a lot of barking and whining in the first 48 hours of bringing the puppy home.

As the puppy gets used to its surroundings and new home, the barking and whining should calm down.

Puppy puddles and accidents will more than likely occur multiple times. Excitable and nervous puppies are especially prone to having accidents. Prepare yourself with plenty of newspapers, clean up tools, and if possible restrict the puppy, at first, to an area without carpeting. A change in environment and especially a change in diet, can cause the puppy to experience diarrhoea or loose stools. Good breeders will normally give you some food which the puppy is used to. This will minimise the problem. Introduce new food gradually, mixing it with the food which puppy is used to first in small quantities then in larger quantities over about a week.

If the puppy has diarrhoea, make sure that the puppy is getting enough liquids and decrease the amount of food the puppy is getting. If the diarrhoea does not begin to improve within 24 hours, take the puppy to the veterinarian and have the puppy checked.

Preparing Your Home for a Puppy.

A new puppy in the house can cause quite a whirlwind of excitement, chaos, and confusion. These little energetic fur balls want to explore, taste, experience and test everything around them. To reduce some of the disarray of these moments, and to keep your new puppy safe, here are a few ways to prepare your house for a new puppy. Puppies are a lot like babies that are crawling and learning to walk; they get into everything. You will need to puppy-proof your home to keep your puppy safe from injury and harm and to keep your household items intact.

• Check electrical cords. It is not uncommon to see puppies with oral cavity burns brought about by chewing on electrical cords. Either restrict access to rooms with loose cords, or make sure the puppy is closely supervised. Additionally, most pet product retailers offer cord guards that can help alleviate the problem.
• Secure loose furniture. Delicate items, such as picture frames or lamps, can be knocked to the floor by an uncoordinated puppy. If glass breaks, shards can become embedded in paws or fall directly onto the puppy. Heavy items, like a hot iron on the edge of an ironing board, are very dangerous, and strings hanging from blinds can also be sources of potential injury.
• Keep any medication out of reach. Ingestion of prescription or over-the-counter medication can be fatal for a puppy.
• Restrict access to cupboards. Investing in a cabinet child lock can prevent puppy access to harmful garbage and cleaning products.
• Check the yard for small items and chemicals. Toxic plants and flowers? Is the garage accessible and if so are toxic items like antifreeze and oils up on shelves? Walk around the areas that the puppy will be visiting and look for things that are in their reach.
• Invest in a baby gate. If you have certain areas of the home that you do not want the new puppy in, invest in a baby gate or two.

Before you bring the puppy home, purchase some items that your puppy will need. Plenty of toys, chewies, a sleeping bed or crate, blankets, and food and water dishes should all be ready at the house. Having these items at the house before the puppy arrives will help the puppy to immediately learn where to sleep, eat, what to chew on, and what to play with.  If you have very young children in your household, talk to them in advance about the puppy’s arrival. The children will need to know to watch for the puppy so they don’t step on it, to keep the doors closed so the puppy does not escape, and how to interact safely with puppy.

…  Anne