What to do when bringing my puppy home is the question to be asked – and below are some suggestions that have been working best in our experience.
Forming a relationship with your puppy is the number one thing to do!
A puppy is like a baby that does not know anything, which is a huge advantage to do the right things from the start.
Usually people don’t realize that they say “no” to the puppy much more than “yes”.
Just imagine you meet somebody for the first time, and all he does is telling you what NOT to do, because you are trying so many things that are new to you.
Not only do you depress creativity, but how would YOU feel about that person?
Would you like him? Would you do things for him?
The answer is very clear!
But that is exactly how people that are new to owning a puppy interact with him!
If you could find a way to communicate to your puppy which activities actually are rewarding, he will definitely do more of those- thus, he will already have less time to spend doing the activities that YOU do not prefer.
Instead of saying “no” to unwanted behaviors, you should ignore them completely.
Of course there are behaviors that are not going to sease, because they are so much fun within themselves.
Chewing shoes, scratching the carpet, ripping into wires, etc
Instead of saying “no” , we suggest to MANAGE those situations by:
Don’t give the opportunity to chew wires (close the door to the room wires are hanging down to the ground)
Put your shoes in the closet or up high.
Put food out of reach.
Don’t have the kids run around and attract the puppy to chase and nip at them.
Get a chain leash and make chewing on the leash undesirable on its own.
Feeding your Puppy
While in our care, your puppy has been eating Eukanuba Puppy Food Large Breed. If you are planning on changing brand, it should be done gradually. Provide a mix of the two, the new brand slightly increasing every meal. Switching brands abruptly, will definitely upset the digestive system!
Puppies should be eating two to three times per day.
Free feeding is NOT recommended.
Your puppy should be on a puppy food until the age of around nine months. The amount of food varies, as every dog has different speed metabolism. The amount suggested on the bag of the food can only be a suggestion. Your puppy’s food amount should start out with a total of two cups total per day. Since he has been fed together with his littler mates so far, it is difficult to estimate a specific amount of food. Now, is he eating all of that you give him? Is he leaving some? Adjust accordingly. If he leaves some feed him a little less. If he eats all of that you give him, you might increase the amount very slightly. Dogs are always hungry. As you adjust food amounts, watch his physical appearance. A puppy should not be in heavy weight. It is hard on his joints and ligaments and can cause in proper development especially on hip and elbow joints while they are growing.
On the other hand, he should not be skinny either. If a dog is too lightweight and is effected by a stomach bug that depresses his appetite, he should have some reserves in his body he can rely on.
It is highly recommended to supplement with NuJointPlus and NuVetPlus. Order code: 29060
Watering your Puppy
A dog of any breed and age should have access to water at all times if possible. Massive water intact cause by deprivation can cause problems such as vomiting or bloat!
Providing water outside of the house is a challenge as it bears some risks of contamination the water with Giardia. Especially in Arizona, birds drink from the fountain in the yard, the horse troff…and the doggy dish. Chances are that the birds will eliminate themselves into the water, and then the dog drinks it!
To avoid the risk, we do recommend to find a shady location of a faucet and attache a lixit to it.
Puppy Potty Training
Potty training is easy if you follow certain rules.
Just as us humans, dogs have a schedule to be followed.
He should be given the opportunity to go potty:
1) When he wakes up
2) Shortly after eating
3) When he had been crated for some time and is getting restless
4) Before he is going to be crated for a while
A major rule is:
Do Not leave your puppy roaming around the house unobserved, especially the first day! Leash him. So you can take action once you recognize first signs of him/ her preparing to go potty. You should lead him outside immediately. If you have an area of preference you would like him/her to relief at, take him to that area and wait.
The first potty experience will set the train on the track.
We have had numerous dogs that came to us for training, going through the process.
Walking down the street as signs of needing to go potty were recognized. Once he went potty in a certain area, all we needed to do was taking him back to the same area, and he would relief.
Some dog owners prepare a certain area in their yard that they wish their dog to go to. They mark off a corner by putting different surface out, such as sand or gravel. The rest of the yard might be turf or grass that they don’t wish the dog to go potty on.
Think about this process….what would happen if his first relief is happening on the rug inside the house??????
Exactly, it will identify the rug as the spot to go to, once he went on that spot.
Once that experience has been made, any anti dog odor spray will not help. He has found the bathroom spot!
The effort being put forth in the first few days- will pay off for life!
Do NOT make the mistake and praise your puppy while he is going to the bathroom. You might make a connection that praise has something to do with going “potty” and soon he will eliminate himself when you praise him. The best thing to do is to say “potty” while he is going, or once you can predict that he will go. Signals are learned before the behavior is predictably happening, or during the behavior itself. That explains clearly why you should NOT praise him during the act.
It is common of course to let him out of the crate if you witness him having an accident in it. Warning! On rare occasion we have seen dogs purposely eliminating in the crate in order to be let out to freedom!
It is recommended to have a grid insert floor that fits your crate perfectly to prevent him from having to sit in a mess. Be advised never to leave a collar of any kind on him while crated. Especially with the grid floor, he could hang himself with the collar getting caught in it.
Socializing your Puppy
Some puppies need more attention to this matter than others. If your puppy shows signs of shyness with other dogs or people, you should definitely consider exposing him as early as possible. Make sure that animals he is exposed to are not overwhelmingly above his own size and do NOT display ruff or even aggressive behavior toward him. Don’t go to a dog park. The environment has to be completely controllable.
Socializing your puppy with people should be geared to YOUR personal goals of his purpose.
If you are steering toward having a service animal, you can’t introduce enough people in different environments to him providing absolute positive experiences.
If you are steering toward having a protection dog, socializing with too many people (especially in your home), can definitely hinder the development of protective instincts.
Grooming my puppy
German Shepherds should be groomed twice per year. Spring and fall are the main times when they shed their coats. Use of deshedding shampoo is recommended. If he is then dried with a forced blow dryer it is easy to just blow the dead hair off.
Puppies might need a bath more often as they might have accidents in their crate. The use of doggy- versus human shampoo is recommended as human shampoo tends to dry out the coat and skin.
Be sure to clean his ear once a month to avoid dirt to accumulate and cause an ear infection. His nails should be cut every four weeks, depending on whether he walks a lot on hard surface and grinds his nails naturally. Use a human toe nail clipper to trim the tips off.
Puppy crate training
It will be necessary to crate the puppy during night time or other times nobody is available to supervise. Introducing the crate in a positive way is highly recommended. Make him feel good about going in the crate by tossing treats into it. Do not lock him up right then. Since he doesn’t like to be locked up, he will perceive the treat being tossed as a vicious trick, and it will only work for a few times. How to crate train a puppy.
Choosing the kind of crate. Wire crate or plastic crate?
Wire crate:
Optimum air ventilation- removable bottom pan (easy clean)- some are sold with adjustable divider that enables to start out with “puppy” size, and expanding as the puppy grows-offers a two gate option that makes crate training easy
Plastic crate:
Less ventilation- contains hair (especially useful for car transportation)-does not have an expansion panel
How does my Puppy learn his name
Puppies do NOT come with a language processor!
Just like a baby learning how to speak. A baby is presented with an object, and the name that we wish the object to be associated with is displayed. For some reason, parents are always very specific when going through the process of teaching words. They don’t speak in sentences while teaching a name to an object. As in “look here this is called a bottle”.
Have your puppy close to you, and have a small treats loaded in your hand. Do not show the treat. Just say his name loud and clear- and give him the treat. No action is required on his part. He hears his name (which he has no idea what it is YET) , and just hearing the word a treat becomes available!
After repetitions he learns that the particular word is the announcement of the treat coming. Once the association is established, he will be running to you to receive the treat, once he hears the word.
Puppy Vaccination Schedule
Your puppy has been vaccinated by schedule recommended by Revival Animal Health
A vaccination passport is given to our puppy buyers at the time of pick up. This very document should stay with the puppy for lifetime. When a shot is given, the label is pulled off the bottle, put into the record and dated. Everything is in ONE place. If a Veterinarian is utilized to give vaccinations to your dog later on, please ask him to put the labels into the document and date it. By the time a puppy is sent home, he had two puppy Parvo shots and one 5 in 1 shot. The 5 in 1 shot should be boosted four weeks after the first one. 5 in 1 means immunization against Parvo, leptospirosis, Hepatitis, Parainfluenza and Adenovirus. A Rabies shot should be given at 4-6 months of age.