Diet

PUPS IN THE KITCHEN

Torian & PKs first birthday party.

Explanation

Dry Food :   

Any high quality dry food such as  Pedigree Advance Growth (ideal for pups kept indoors),

 "Supper Coat" puppy, Pro Plan Puppy, "Bonnie Working dog", or any quality dry food. 

Meat : 

 Any fresh semi lean meat from a pet store or butcher.

Milk :   Use only a small amount of milk or Yoghurt plain 

Vitamins : 'Petvite', 'Farramo' or 'Keylomin Organic'.

Calcium :  'Ossal', 'Troy' or 'Sandoz'.

Worm Tablets : 'Canex', 'Canex-plus' or 'Drontal'

All the above are good products and you may choose any of them.

 This is an average diet for an 8 weeks old pup.

·        MORNING  :  ½ cup dry food soaked in warm water and 

                     mixed with some Yoghurt.

·        NIGHT  :    3/4 cup of dry food mixed with 50 grams of meat. (add vitamins and calcium if required.)

   Slowly increase food as puppy grows. 

Never allow your pup to become overweight as it may cause bone troubles, keep the pup lean and athletic looking  (NOT THIN) until it reaches 12 to 15 months old. Do not leave any uneaten food with the pup, always make sure your pup has fresh clean water available to it at all times.

You may drop breakfast at 5 or 6 months old. Remember when you drop a meal to add the food to the next meal so that the pup is still receiving the same amount of food.

Worming

Worm your pup every two weeks until three months old, then every month until six months old then every three months after that.  Use 'Drontal' or 'Canex-plus'.

Start your pup on heartworm prevention such as 'Heartgard'.

At 13 weeks old take your pup to the vets for its booster vaccination. When the pup reaches 4 ½ months old it will start to teethe. Make sure it has plenty of Brisket bones to chew on to help remove the baby teeth and make sure the new set comes through with no trouble.

Exercise is an important part of growing a strong healthy pup but it is important not to over work a young pup as it could cause lots of problems to the pups health & structure.  As a rule you should have some quality play time with your pup every day, such as tug o war & rolling a ball for it to chase, 10 to 15 minutes is usually enough.   When going for a walk make sure that you don't go too far, but if you do, carry your pup or stop and give it a rest before continuing.  Slowly increase the amount of exercise as the pup grows. (Remember not to expose your pup to other dogs until it has had its 2nd vaccination).

 Exercise your dogs brain, train for at least 5 minutes every day.

This is an explanation of some of the commands that you and your pup will learn when it gets older BUT it is a good idea if you learn them  first so that you will be familiar with the actions. 

You need to practice these commands & actions without a dog.

The first step in dog training is for you and the dog to be able to communicate. In order to do this a number of set commands and precise signals are taught to the dog and these must also be learned by the owners. Below is a list of commands & signals for you to learn.

HEEL: This command tells the dog that it must walk beside your left leg. With the dog sitting in the HEEL position (alongside your left leg), Command HEEL in a firm voice simultaneously give a signal with your left palm above the dogs eyes and sweeping forward in the direction you are about to walk also step off with your left leg at the same time. ( the left hand and left leg always tells the dog that it is going with you.) When you come to a stop you must always stop on your left leg and bring your right leg up to it, ( This tells the dog that it must SIT.)

STAY: This signal is given with the palm of the right hand brought in a sweeping motion towards the dogs face and stopping directly in front of the dogs eyes. Hold it for a second and say in a firm voice “STAY” and step away with your right foot first. (The RIGHT hand and leg tells the dog that it is not coming with you.)

DROP: This signal is also given with the right hand in a sweeping motion from the dogs nose to its toes saying DROP in a firm voice. ( We use the word drop instead of down, as down is used too much in every day language and this might confuse the dog.)

SIT: Say SIT in a firm voice, there is no hand signal given.

RETURN IN THE DOWN STAY: The COME command is only used when the dog is walking around or in a sit position, NEVER FROM A LYING DOWN POSITION as this is the dogs most stable STAY position. In the down stay always return to your dog by walking past, behind and around to the side so that you end up with your left leg alongside your dogs right front leg.

COME: With the dog in a sit stay position command STAY and walk to the end of the lead turn and face the dog, call COME in an excited voice whilst raising both of your arms above your head and quickly returning them to your side. When the dog reaches you command SIT.

FIRM VOICE: A firm voice is never an angry voice, it should never have emotion in it.

If you practice these commands every day, you and your dog will have a much better understanding of each other.

HAPPY TRAINING!!!