Bringing your puppy home can be an exciting and overwhelming time!   Here are a few things we think you may want to know as you adjust to and help train your new family member.

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SOCIALIZING YOUR PUPPY

• Socializing your puppy appropriately is one of the MOST important things you can do to set up your family for a friendly, easy-going, and enjoyable pet!  Some studies say the window of opportunity to socialize your puppy closes at 18 weeks of age. So, things they have not discovered are safe/okay as a puppy may become a trigger for fear-based aggression as an adult dog.  You can train a dog to stop fear-based aggression, and it is much easier to set them up for success by properly socializing your puppy. 
• Your puppy will come to you with socialization started 
• Make sure you continue this by placing the puppy in different situations, noises, surfaces, etc
• It is MOST important that the puppy have NEUTRAL experiences with new things.  The encounter does not need to be positive, neutral is the goal. 
• If your puppy acts scared, ignore it. Do not comfort your puppy or you are approving the scared behavior. Do not force the puppy to engage past their comfort level.  Allow them to back away or pause.  
• It may take several exposures to something for them to identify it as safe.  For example, our puppy was terrified of the gravity-fed water bottle we use. As it ‘glugged’ she would bark ferociously at it.  We ignored the behavior. We did not comfort her or encourage to interact with it, we simply allowed her to eventually realize it was a neutral object that would not cause her harm. This process took over a week as she was initially very startled and scared by the sounds.
• Puppies will go through fear periods and go backwards on many things as maturing (same as young children). 
• Do not over stimulate your puppy when you get them to a new home. 
• Remember, This is a PUPPY. Too Much Too Soon is not always a good thing. 

FEEDING AND WATERING

• We feed Life’s Abundance All Life Stages Dog food.  This formula is perfect for both puppies and adult dogs.  Life’s abundance also carries a puppy specific food and the nutritional content is extremely similar to all life stages.  If you order on auto ship one bag will cost around $80 and should last you about 2 months.

• Your puppy is eating approximately 1 to 1.5 cups a day.  For each meal, put the food bowl down for the puppy or place it in the puppy’s crate, give the puppy 15 minutes to eat, take up food and save for the next meal or training.
  • Puppy will eat about  1/2 cup food  around  6:30 – 7am  
  •  Feed  1/2 cup food again at 1:00pm until 12 weeks 
  • Feed last 1/2 cup food about 6:00 pm 
• Water should be made available all day until four hours before bedtime for the humans
• ALSO READ ABOUT RESOURCE GUARDING BELOW!

CRATE TRAINING

• Crates are an excellent way to keep your puppy safe and feeling secure when you need to leave for a little while.  We have started crate training at our home and you should still expect your puppy to object to being confined in their crate.
• A FANTASTIC rule is to shoot for 10 positive experiences in the crate for every 1 negative experience.  Some examples of positive experiences are: 
  • Always feed your puppy their meal in their crate
  • Only give special chew items like bully sticks in their crate with the door closed.  If they want out, let them but they can’t have their chew unless they are in the crate with the door closed
  • Put fun toys in the crate and have them go in and out to get them
  • Sit next to the crate and pet/love your puppy while they are in it.  
• When you have decided the puppy is tired and needs to take a nap in their crate, close the door and do NOT open it if they are crying.  Wait for them to be quiet for 10 seconds before opening the door.   You don’t want them to “train you” to open the crate whenever they make a lot of noise! 
• When you first get the puppy out of the crate in the morning don’t allow them to push the door open.  Ask for them to sit and wait calmly for a couple seconds before allowing them out.  Train them that calm and peaceful behavior gets them what they want.  

HOUSEBREAKING 101 

1. Get a “clicker” and/or use the word “YES” when your dog is outside and has eliminated click and treat 3 times very quickly. You are trying to capture the timing to teach the dog outside is where to go. Do not let your dog run around or take more than 1 step before you click and treat 3 times with a higher treat than a training treat. 
2.  Pick up your dogs “cues” to what behavior/ritual they have right before they go potty. There is about 3-5 patterns they give you. You must find what they are. It could be a slight as a look in your direction. It could be that the dog starts to waddle before they eliminate. They could circle a few times. Some try and sneak off. You have to find the guess so if you see them inside you know exactly what to look for. Watch them every time they go to the potty for about a week solid and you should have at least 3 of the 5 cues by then.
3.  Know what they are consuming by charting the food and water for a week. Make a chart from Monday to Sunday and from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. Put a Symbol for pee and a symbol for poop. Chart the food and water intake of your dog for a week. You will start to see what their schedule is. You need to know what the intake to know when they will eliminate.
4.  Make a line on the water bowl with a wax pencil or a crayon. Keep the water level the same always so if they drink a little or a lot, you will know how many pee-pees are expected from each time your dog drinks water.
5.  Measure the food out exactly with a small measuring cup so you will know exactly what your dog has consumed. Do not mound the cup level it off every time.
6. There is an umbilical cord [the leash] between you and your dog if they are inside till your dog is housebroken. You have to look at your dog as a 6-month-old crawling baby without a diaper on. You would never let a crawling baby out of your sight!!
7. Introduce the word that means go potty. Just one word for both functions. Since you will be watching your dog’s rear for a week you will know what the cues are. As you can see this behavior or ritual they do right before they eliminate you should start saying the word. I make the word sound exciting but not distracting. As they are eliminating I say with a monotone voice “good potty” then the second they are done I explode in excitement. Remember dogs pair things together. We want them to pair the word with the desired behavior. 
8. Only if you catch the dog in the act can you scold them. If they are going to the bathroom I say “NO” in a strong voice. Just loud enough to stop them from finishing. I scoop them up and take them outside and start saying the potty command. Remember Alphas do not hold anger!!
9.  Changing the imprinting from a flat surface to a textured surface is difficult but can be done. At this point in housebreaking, you have to prevent the mistake from happening. You need to set a timer for every 20 minutes if your home and take the dog out. Remember you have to look at your puppy as a 6-month-old crawling baby without a diaper on!!! So you would never let a baby out of your sight at that age so you do the same with a puppy.
10. After your dog has eliminated DO NOT bring them immediately back inside. Play with them for at least 5 minutes so they do not associate eliminating as the trigger that takes them away from being outside.
11. If you are consistently having problems, be sure to rule out medical first. Some dogs have urinary tract infections and that is the cause of constant urination. The medicine that they prescribe for a cure also will cause them to drink more water so you will have to be aware of that factor also.

RESOURCE GUARDING IN PUPPIES

•  Guarding things they consider valuable is a very normal, natural and necessary part of dog behavior. After all, survival is often based on being able to successfully get and hold onto things such as food. People guard resources as well, including houses, cars, and jewelry. However, for a dog to live safely and happily in a home he or she needs to clearly understand that guarding against people is not only unnecessary but also inappropriate.
• Some dogs seem to have a stronger genetically based propensity towards resource guarding than others. But, as with most behavior issues, it is usually a bit of nature and nurture that plays a part. Some dogs guarding issues also seem to stem from the simple fact that they have been allowed by their people (albeit inadvertently) to guard things. For example, a young pup who is allowed to consistently grab things and run off to the corner to chew on them may well come to think that doing so is his or her right and if someone tries to take something back a battle of teeth on hands may ensue.
• We all love our dogs so much that we usually give them just about everything they want in life for free. They can jump on us or the couch for attention, they have a basket of toys at their disposal, we serve them meals and water even if they jump madly about barking at us. In some of these cases a dog who is temperamentally inclined and is allowed to be pushy may make for a dog who basically takes control of what he or she wants in the home.
•  So, it is important to be careful not to ‘kill with kindness.’ That is, not to indulge your dog to a point where you allow a potentially serious behavior issue to develop. Any dog will be even that much more loveable when they have a clear understanding not to guard resources against people.
•  As with any behavior problem, it is always easier and safer to focus on prevention rather than cure. If your dog is already presenting signs of having a resource guarding issue it is advisable to seek the assistance of an experienced, reward-based trainer to help you in person.
• In order to prevent resource guarding issues, we need to condition our dogs to not only tolerate but actually like something that doesn’t necessarily come naturally to a dog. In this case, to respond promptly when we request them to give up objects.
• See, “Puppy Management & Training” below for specifics on how to train away from resource guarding tendencies.

PUPPY MANAGEMENT & TRAINING

 Management is a way of preventing problems from being practiced but also a way to help your dog understand that you control a valuable resource, i.e. his access to you and your home. Management is something we practice every day in many ways with our dogs, including in the form of walking them on a leash to keep them safe. When working on preventing behavior issues, management should be used intensely at first and then may gradually decrease depending on your dog’s progress. For example, once you feel confident your dog is happily releasing things when you ask him or her to, you may choose not to use on leash supervision anymore (assuming your dog is housetrained and doesn’t have other behavior issues you are also trying to prevent or resolve).

On Leash Supervision: When you are home and can supervise your dog keep him or her on a leash tethered nearby or while you hold it or step on it. This way you have a gentle and effective means of maintaining control. For example, if your dog is off-leash and grabs something inappropriate to chew on you would have to chase after him or her to get it back. This scenario is likely to reinforce many inappropriate behaviors including playing keep away from you and guarding.

Short Term Confinement: When you can’t your dog let him or her rest quietly in a crate, exercise pen or pet safe room.

Controlling Resources- Perhaps the most important part of any training protocol, controlling the things your dog wants in life is the first step in getting him or her to understand why paying attention to you and figuring out what you want is important. A dog that gets everything he or she wants in life for free is likely to have a hard time understanding why you (and listening to you) are valuable.

 Doggie resources are: 

1. -Food 
2. -Toys
3.  -Attention 
4. -Life Rewards (anything else you can think of your dog wants such as walking out the front door, being allowed to play with other dogs, sitting on the couch, etc.).

Get control of all of these things by not allowing your dog free, unlimited access to them and use training skills such as sit, down, come, etc. as a way to show your dog how to earn what he or she wants. That is, ask him or her to sit before getting a tummy rub, to hand target before getting dinner, to shake before going out for a walk, etc.

Training – Once you have focused on developing good management skills as outlined above you are ready to move on to working on specific anti-resource guarding exercises as a preventative.

1. Chew Toy and Bone Sharing – With your dog on a leash present a chew toy. Offer the chew toy to your dog to investigate and chew on for a moment while you hold one end. After a few moments, take it away and offer your dog a tiny, tasty treat from your other hand. As you progress with this game you can let go of the chew toy and gradually allow your dog to chew on it for longer before you take it away and give a treat. This is a simple, but wonderful interactive game for you and your dog. By continually taking objects away and replacing with an object/toy/treat of equal if not greater value your dog is sure to look forward to you doing so.
2. Food Bowl Bonuses – When you have time, hand feed your dog at least part of his or meals. This way you can put a bowl on the ground with a few pieces in it, reach to take it away and offer a piece or two from your other hand. You can also reach towards the bowl as after you place it down and toss in some food. You should also work with bonus, high value treats that you can offer occasionally when you reach towards the bowl.
3. Practice in Many Places, with Many Things – Playing these trading games as many times as you can in as many different environments and with as many different things as possible is a great way to help your dog learn to want to share everything!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4507021

If puppy bites….. 

• Say NO very firmly if this does not work…. 
• make a big deal of the bite by saying OUCH loudly. if this does not work…. 
• Try a small scruff shake and say NO firmly 
• You can also try methods where you have puppy on its back and you hold the mouth firmly closed and say NO.  This correction should be very brief.  
• Buy or Borrow “How to raise a puppy you can live with” a fabulous book for ALL dog owners! 

If puppy barks…. 

• Do not allow your puppy to train YOU or your children to “come” whenever they bark!   A noisy dog can be a real annoyance.   Wait until the puppy is silent for at least 10 full seconds before responding to something they want (getting out of a confined space, coming inside, getting a toy, etc)
• Spray water bottles are the best and least damaging form of training. 
•  If the puppy cries in the crate and will not be quiet… 
  • Does puppy have to eliminate?  Wait for the puppy to be quiet for a few seconds before getting them out of their crate to go outside. 
  • Is the puppy bored and wants to play?  Wait a full 10 seconds for the puppy to be quiet and then take out for some supervised play.
  • You can cover the crate like you would a bird if the puppy does not quiet 

 If the puppy tries to chew on something you do not want them chewing on… 

• Say “good puppy” and tell the puppy to bring you the object.  This will stop the puppy from chewing by positive means. 
• You will get tired of your puppy bringing you everything but it will stop chewing up things
• Be sure to have appropriate items to chew on readily available.  

If the puppy chews on furniture… 

• Say no and give it a chew toy 
• NEVER use old shoes or socks for toys (puppies cannot determine which are used and which are new) 
•  put bitter apple or hot sauce on object 
•  crate puppy when you leave the house so both your puppy and your stuff is safe 

If the puppy runs after and bites at children… 

• Puppies will think of children as littermates 
• When children are running it makes the puppy think of a fun game 
• When children greet puppy make sure it is from above so the puppy sees them as alpha (dominant)
• For the first few weeks, until alpha positions are enforced, make sure children do not play with the puppy on the floor this will make the puppy not see the children as alpha and will think it can “boss” them around 
• If children are old enough, once and adult has established resource gaurding training allow the children to help.  If the children control the resources, they earn the puppy’s respect.  ALWAYS supervise children and puppies.  Neither one has enough sense to be left alone with each other for long periods of time!

Coprophagia (Poop Eating)

Puppies can quickly pick up bad habits AND they can quickly be trained away from them.  Be sure to stay on top of this issue if it occurs.

Here’s an awesome video with great information on coprophagia (dogs eating poo)  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=462838914665347 

In addition, here’s an article posted by the AKC:  https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/why-dogs-eat-poop/ 

A few notes:

More common than you would think 1:6 puppies eat their poop or the poop of littermates.  SUPER GROSS, I know.  Why?   Here are just a few of the potential causes:  When mom is doing an excellent job she cleans up regularly after the puppies by eating their poop.  Occasionally she will regurgitate her food to share with her puppies and they will get a taste of poop in her regurgitated food. Or, while they are observing her clean up they may decide to try it.  Most puppies will grow out of this by 9 months old. 

What you can DO about it:

• FIRST and most importantly, Keep an eye out for this issue!  Do not allow your dog to potty without supervision (you should be treating it regularly immediately after a potty anyway).  Also, keep an eye out for poop in the yard and clean up frequently! 
• Training. Work hard on the commands “leave it” and “come.” One simple exercise is to teach your dog to come to you for a food treat as soon as he has eliminated. That way, the dog will develop a habit to run to you for a tasty tidbit, instead of reaching for the revolting one on the ground
• Aversion training:  If you catch your puppy going for the poop quickly and sternly correct the puppy with a loud “NO”.   When the puppy is older you can reinforce aversion with a shock collar, however most vets do not recommend using a shock collar until they are much older.   Hopefully by staying on top of this while they are young it will not be an issue by the time they are old enough for a shock collar! 
• Supplements: There are a few various approaches of things to add or supplement to your dogs diet to attempt to make their poo less appealing.  These things include adding pineapple, pumpkin or product supplements like:  FurroLandia No Poo Treats. (Can be found on Amazon)
• Sprinkle something unappetizing on poo to cause aversion like meat tenderizer, or cayenne pepper (check with your vet before doing this
• Consider adding more protein to your dog’s diet or changing to a higher quality dog food with increased protein content.

PUPPY HEALTH

First, just a couple things…

#1. DO NOT ALLOW YOUR PUPPY TO RUN AROUND ANYWHERE OTHER DOGS HAVE BEEN THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW UNTIL ALL VACCINATIONS ARE FINISHED. This includes airports, dog parks, pet stores (examples are Petco and PetSmart), basically anywhere your puppy can contract Parvo, any other virus’ and canine flu. Even though your puppy is vaccinated, it does not mean your puppy will not get it, just that they might live through it.

#2. DO NOT ALLOW YOUR PUPPY TO BE HELD NON STOP. Puppies that are excited about new families will forget to eat and drink. A puppy that is played with and held all of the time will run down and get sick from not eating a drinking. Puppies have a go go go attitude and need you to stop them sometimes. 

These are some, hopefully, helpful instructions for all of our puppy buyers.

Parvovirus

• I have never found another page to explain Parvo so well as this one. ww.marvistavet.com/html/body_how_parvo_infection_happens.html

Giardia 

• Giardia are protozoans, tiny, one-celled parasitic life forms with the potential to cause serious illness. Some dogs are carriers who show no symptoms, but others get sick and need treatment. 
• If the dog has an immature (puppy) or overburdened immune system, the trophozoites continue to multiply by dividing and can cause loose stool. 
• Suffice to say, however, that Giardia is an equal opportunity disease that infects several species of animals. It is said to be a water based parasite. 
• Example: Your dog drinks from a puddle of rainwater (oops, it now has Giardia)
• Very common and DO NOT PANIC.
• 96% of the time your dog’s immune system can fight it off. Sometimes not as puppies.
•  Symptoms: Produce feces that are soft, light-colored, and greasy. 
•  Treatment:  In a recent study, Panacur (Fenbendazole), which is approved for use in treating dogs with roundworm, hookworm, and whipworm, has been shown to be effective in treating canine giardiasis. Panacur is safe to use in puppies at least six weeks of age. 
• We believe in prevention! We have all of our puppies on Panacur (small doses) for a 7-10 day period before going to new homes. This is an excellent source for worming as well as prevention of this issue. 
• Does this mean your puppy will not get Giardia? No. It just means we have done everything in our power to prevent it.

Coccidia

• Another of those fun parasites that puppies can get…
• Coccidia are small protozoans (one-celled organisms) that live in the intestinal tracts of dogs and cats. They cause disease most commonly in puppies and kittens less than six months of age, in adult animals whose immune system is suppressed, or in animals who are stressed in other ways (e.g.; change in ownership, other disease present).
• As a puppy ages, he tends to develop a natural immunity to the effects of coccidia.
• A puppy is not born with the coccidia organisms in his intestine. However, once born, the puppy is frequently exposed to his mother’s feces, then the young animals will likely ingest them and coccidia will develop within the young animal’s intestines. Since young puppies, usually those less than six months of age, have no immunity to coccidia, the organisms reproduce in great numbers and parasitize the young animal’s intestines. 

What are the symptoms of coccidiosis? 

• The primary sign of an animal suffering with coccidiosis is diarrhea. The diarrhea may be mild to severe depending on the level of infection. Blood and mucous may be present, especially in advanced cases. 
• Most infected puppies are in the four to twelve week age group. The possibility of coccidiosis should always be considered when a loose stool or diarrhea is encountered in this age group. A microscopic fecal exam by a veterinarian will detect the cysts confirming a diagnosis.
•  It should be mentioned that stress plays a role in the development of coccidiosis. It is not uncommon for a seemingly healthy puppy to arrive at his new home and develop diarrhea several days later leading to a diagnosis of coccidia. 

 What is the treatment of coccidiosis? 

 Fortunately, coccidiosis is treatable. Drugs such as sulfadimethoxine (Albon®) and trimethoprim-sulfadiazine (Tribrissen®) have been effective in the treatment and prevention of coccidia. Because these drugs do not kill the organisms, but rather inhibit their reproduction capabilities, elimination of coccidia from the intestine is not rapid. By stopping the ability of the protozoa to reproduce, time is allowed for the puppy’s own immunity to develop and remove the organisms. Drug treatments of one to three weeks are usually required.

• Anywhere fecal matter is, Coccidia can be present. Vet Hospitals, Dog parks, Neighborhoods, etc.
• Flies can mechanically carry coccidia from one place to another. 
• The coccidia species of dogs and cats do not infect humans.
• Again DO NOT PANIC! This is mainly due to the immune system of the puppy not being fully developed.