Puppy Guide
Hints & tips on puppy care and training
NT U O C DIS ers Vouch e Insid
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Your NEW Puppy Bringing your new puppy home is an exciting time, there’s so much to think about and do. To make things a little easier, the Just for Pets Puppy Guide is jam packed full of useful hints and tips to help you settle your new addition in as easily as possible. There’s also loads of great vouchers for fantastic savings on all those essentials that a new puppy needs. The team at your local Just for Pets Store are there to help too, they can offer expert advice on feeding, worming and flea control as well as helping you choose all the things that you are going to need. Socialisation is an important time in your young puppies life, to help with this, Just for Pets stores hold regular puppy parties where pups can meet and play with others. Parties are run by experienced and trained team members and all stores have toy boxes so your puppy can learn to share with others. As well our store teams offering great, practical advice and help for new puppy owners, selected stores have VacciPet clinics offering microchipping and low cost vaccinations (all vaccinations are standard medicines agency regulated) to protect your puppy from illness.
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Try to collect your pup early so he has the whole day to get used to his surroundings before settling for the night
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A Puppy’s First Night Getting a puppy can be very exciting but it is important to start the bed-time routine early for best results. Make sure that the puppy has had plenty of stimulating play and toileting opportunities. It is important to start as you mean to go on; so if you would prefer your puppy not to sleep in the bed with yourself, don’t allow this on the first night either. We recommend a crate as this is a very positive area “The puppies den” and not to be used as a place of punishment. It is an area the puppy can feel safe and secure. Ideally the crate should only be large enough to allow space for sleeping and a water source only, which is why some larger crates come with a divider so you can purchase the correct size for the breed at its adult size but minimise access; this will help prevent soiling accidents as puppies are often very clean and will not soil their own beds. You will obviously need to provide access to a toileting area so the puppy can relieve itself during the night. It is a good idea to provide the puppy with plenty of comfort; ideally a blanket or plush toy would have been taken when collecting the puppy and rubbed on the dam to provide a familiar smell. Toys that mimic the mother’s heartbeat are also available which will provide comfort and familiarity and help to ensure a decent night of rest.
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Provide the puppy with plenty of comfort; ideally a blanket or plush toy
Products like Adaptil, which is a synthetic copy of the dog appeasing pheromone; a wellbeing hormone, will naturally provide comfort and support for your puppy or herbal versions are also available often containing valerian which helps provide tranquillity and minimise anxiety. It is important that you do not let the puppy work out that you will respond to any crying and whimpering that may go on during the night. If your puppy is unsettled, only enter the room when there has been a slight pause in the crying, ,this way you are responding to a positive behaviour and they will not begin to associate that every time they cry you will come to them. If the puppy does happen to have an accident during the night it is important not to shout or smack your puppy. Instead calmly take the puppy to relieve itself in the toileting area, clean up any mess and prepare a nice clean comfy bed once again before settling your pup down again. Some puppies will sleep through the night better with a companion dog to snuggle up against. It is not advised to allow the puppy access to other pets like a cat coming through a cat flap late at night which may cause stress and make the puppy unsettled.
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Feeding your Puppy When you first bring your puppy home a responsible breeder will normally provide you with at least 7 days of the food that is currently being fed. It is normally best to keep the puppy on this for the first couple of weeks as a sudden change of diet can cause stomach upsets. After this initial period you can gradually change the brand if you wish by gradually introducing the new food slowly over 7-10 days. To begin with your puppy will probably need 4 small meals a day, this can be reduced to 3 at around 12 weeks, and 2 meals by 6 months old. They can carry on with 2 meals a day for the rest of their life. Smaller meals throughout the day are easier to
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It is best to stick with one good quality type of puppy food and not add any supplements (unless instructed by your vet) as over supplementing can be harmful to your dog
digest and ensure that energy levels don’t rise and fall erratically. If being fed a dried kibble, many puppies prefer the food to be slightly moistened with warm water, as your puppy grows you can gradually add less water and make the food progressively drier. The amount of food that puppies eat will vary depending on their
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Leave your puppy to eat in peace, taking the bowl away while it is eating causes anxiety which can lead to food aggression. If you want to be sure that your puppy grows up comfortable with you approaching during meal time you can add a small amount of food to its bowl while it is eating so it sees you as a benefit.
breed, energy levels and lifestyle, so it can take a while to get the amount correct, however, reading the feeding instructions provided on the packaging will give you a good starting point on the amounts that your puppy needs. Overfeeding can cause digestive problems and pressure on their joints if they gain too much weight too quickly. Regular weighing of your puppy will ensure that you continue to feed the correct amounts as it grows. There are many diets to choose from; Dry complete foods, semimoist, tinned, or raw diets, as well as small breed, medium breed and large breed foods. It is important to give the correct breed size food to your puppy as the diets are specifically tailored to size
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Dogs are creatures of habit and generally like to be fed the same food at around the same times each day
that your puppy will grow to. For example, a small breed puppy could be fully grown by the time it is 12 months old but a larger breed may continue to grow for up to 18-24 months and needs a diet that will reect this longer growth period.
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Don’t feed your puppy from your table or your plate as this will encourage attention seeking and begging behaviours.
When choosing a diet, whatever budget you have there is food available that will suit your puppy. Premium and Super Premium foods have higher quality and more digestible ingredients than lower cost foods, and while they seem more expensive at the outset, they often require less food to be fed and work out more economical, and because the ingredients are more digestible they also result in smaller and firmer stools.
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Clicker Training Advice The clicker is a small but extremely effective tool in the training of any animal; in particular it is very helpful when training basic commands to your dog. It is easier to use a clicker effectively if you understand how it works as a training aid.
Clicker Training your dog
How it works
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Clicker training works using the concept of operant conditioning– using the animals likes and/or dislikes to modify its behaviour. A reward (usually food and sometimes play) is given when the animal exhibits a desired behaviour (for example, sitting or rolling over) to encourage it to perform that action more often. Timing is important in operant conditioning in order to mark the correct behaviour; however it is very difficult to give your dog a treat at the exact moment he/ she rolls over! So a clicker is used as a secondary reinforcer, meaning that it marks the behaviour at the minute it occurs and lets the dog know it has done something desirable and a reward is on its way. But in order for this to work, first the clicker needs to be in his mind.
Before the clicker can be used, your dog needs to be conditioned to what the clicker means. You can achieved this by the following:
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Ensure that you have a supply of your dog’s favourite treat, chopped up into raisin-sized pieces. Cheese or frankfurters often work well, but it is up to you to decide what your dog likes best. Choose a place to train your dog where he will not be distracted. Press the clicker and immediately offer your dog a treat. Repeat this process several times, until your dog is looking eagerly at the clicker in anticipation of the treat. Once your dog is looking for the reward after hearing the sound, he is conditioned to the clicker. Now your dog is clicker trained and you can start training, sit, stay etc!
Training the ‘sit’ command Stand next to your dog with a treat in one hand and the clicker in the other, and let your dog sniff your hand so that he knows there is a treat hidden in it. Slowly raise your hand (with the treat inside) from in front of your dog’s nose to up above his head. His head should raise upwards, lured by the treat. As this happens, his rear end should lower. Click and treat for any movement of
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the dog’s rump toward the floor. Repeat this process several times, each time slightly prolonging the amount of time before you click, so that the dog’s bottom is getting closer to the floor. Using this method, your dog should eventually be resting his rump completely on the floor before he is clicked and treated; this is the desired ‘sit’ position. Once your dog is reliably being lured into a sit, the treat lure can be removed. Instead, use an upward sweep of your arm, hand cupped, palm upward, to signal to your dog to sit. Still remember to click and treat when your dog does the behaviour you want! Now it is time to introduce a verbal command. Before you raise your hand in the sit signal or cue, say the word ‘sit’ and proceed as before. Repeat this several times in a row. Now you can try the verbal command without the hand signal. Give the ‘sit’ verbal cue and wait. If the dog sits within 20-30 seconds, click immediately as he sits, and treat. Remain at this stage of training, rewarding every response to the verbal command until your dog sits immediately on command. 8
Your dog is now trained to sit! Important - don’t expect to achieve these results over night! Training takes time and patience. Depending on the dog, it may take days or weeks of training to teach your dog to sit. It’s important to persevere; you will get there eventually! And more importantly - have fun clicker training!
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When you first start training stop after a successful response to avoid your puppy loosing interest. Keep sessions to 5-10 minutes until your puppy has an improved attention span.
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Dog Food
For Every Stage of a Dogs Life!
Your Puppy’s First Collar and Lead The first few weeks of your puppy’s life in a new home can be quite stressful, so it is your job as a responsible owner to make him/her to feel as happy and comfortable as possible so that they grow into a well-mannered and balanced companion. Your puppy’s collar and lead should be of suitable size depending on breed and age but a good rule of thumb is a 2 fingers width for the collar, this should mean that it is unable to come over the puppy’s head but not too tight restricting breathing. Leads for puppies should not be too heavy as they will weigh the puppy’s neck down or too long as you will want to train your puppy to walk to heel. All members of staff in your local Just for Pets store will be able to advise or fit a collar/lead for your new arrival and bringing them into store is a good way to get them used to everyday sights and sounds, (make sure your puppy is fully vaccinated before letting him on the floor or mixing with other dogs). Soft weave collars are good for puppies as they are easily adjusted and are made of soft material so will not irritate the puppy’s neck. Microchipping is now a legal requirement for all dogs over 8 weeks old and this can be done in most Just for Pet stores. Personalised identification tags are also available in all Just for Pets stores so please pop in and a member of staff will be happy to help. Many puppies would have never worn a collar or been taken for a walk until now so it is important to get them used to this at an early age to avoid problems later on. When you put your puppy’s collar
on he may feel a little restricted and uncomfortable and try and get the collar off. So give him lot of praise when he calms down and reward him with a treat, some puppies will not be phased at all but remember, reward good behaviour and ignore bad. Young puppies should never be left unattended with a collar on at first in case they get themselves caught on anything. Now you have your puppy used to the collar it is time to take him for a walk! Practice this in your garden first so when you go out on the roads you already have some kind of control. Attach the lead to the collar and follow the puppy round at first so he gets used to the feel, then start encouraging him to follow you round the garden if he stops when he feels pressure on the lead encourage him to go forward and reward with a treat and lots of praise. Remember never drag your puppy if he is refusing to move. Training sessions should be short and sweet and never end on a bad experience. Once you have mastered walking in the garden it’s time to go out into the big wide world. Remember get your puppy used to cars, lorries, strangers and other dogs from an early age. Never use extendible leads until your puppy has learnt to walk to heel and consistently does not pull on the lead.
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‘Control of Dogs Act’ states it is a legal requirement to have identity tags on your dogs collar showing:
Owners name, address and contact number
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Puppy Essentials Shopping List - to set you and your puppy up for a good start!
Crate Wee wee pads Bed (specific to breed) Bowls Toys (Kong, Nylabone) First collar and lead set Harness Food Training treats Wormer and flea products Toothbrush and paste Shampoo Brush Tag Vaccination Microchip Chew deterrent Stain remover
Shop this list online at...
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No appointment is necessary.
Your local walk-in pet care service Available In Just for Pets stores: Vaccination Clinic & Health Checks Microchipping In England, all dogs need to be microchipped by law
Prescription flea and worm control
Bring your pet to one of our friendly professional VacciPet clinics located inside selected Just for Pet stores. Affordable vaccinations, booster, flea and worming treatment, microchipping or basic health check for your cat, dog or rabbit. Call in during our opening hours and meet one of our fully qualified and accredited vets. (All the vaccinations are standard medicines
agency regulated.)
Take advantage of our NEW: Passport service and Rabies vaccinations service
Receive
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*show your completed vaccination certificate to a member of Just for Pets store staff to qualify.
In England, all dogs need to be microchipped by law. In limited Just for Pet stores visit www.vaccipet.co.uk for locations and clinics times or call
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Crate Training By their nature and instinct dogs are denning animals and most dogs will create their own dens, either by sleeping in corners, behind the sofa or maybe under tables. An indoor kennel (or dog crate as they are also known) is basically a secure area that should be slightly larger than your dog’s bed or basket. When selecting one, you should make sure that your dog has enough room to stand up and stretch his legs and to turn fully around. Indoor kennels can be very useful if you have a young puppy, they are somewhere safe you can put them if have to go out for a short while, so no wires, cables or furniture gets chewed and they can also be used overnight.
This way he learns that going into his indoor kennel is always a positive experience. Normally this introductory period should take no more than a week, but it can take longer in some cases. If you have children, teach them that the kennel is the dog’s safe haven. When he goes in on his own he must be left alone, again this reinforces that the indoor kennel is a place for safety and peace and quiet.
Training, or rather conditioning, a dog or puppy is fairly easy provided it is done correctly, especially if it is done from the first day home. If you are introducing the indoor kennel at a later date then the older puppy or adult dog should not be shut in until he is comfortable in it and uses it of his own free will. You can start to get your dog used to using it by placing some familiar bedding; toys and water bowl inside and begin feeding him inside without shutting the door. Once you notice that your dog is going in and out of the indoor kennel regularly or begins to go in it for a snooze then you can start shutting the kennel door while you prepare his food, this is so that he gets used to being shut in for brief periods. Then feed your dog his meal inside the kennel, again with the door closed. As well as feeding inside the kennel, whenever you give your dog a treat, make sure he is in the kennel to receive it.
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Dog crates are designed to replicate a dog’s natural den
Indoor kennels can also be used to help with house training, no dog wants to soil in its own nest and this is something that most puppies learn at a very early age. Whilst it is important that you accept that puppies defecate and urinate frequently and cannot be left for long periods without access to a proper toilet area, they can be put in an indoor kennel for short periods when you cannot supervise them properly. From there they can be taken out to their normal toilet area and rewarded when they relieve themselves. Just as with normal house training it is vital that you never tell your pup off for going to the toilet in his kennel, ignore him, clean up, and reward him if he toilets outside. This will increase the speed of which he is toilet trained as he will associate that he gets no attention if toilets in his kennel but is rewarded if he does it outside. Indoor kennels should never be used as a punishment, your dog or puppy will not understand why he has been told off and isolated from the rest of his “pack”. Continued use of the kennel as a means of punishment will lead your dog to make negative associations with it and that it is only to be used as a place to hide when you are angry. If you think that you need to put your dog into his kennel for a short period of “time out”, do so without appearing angry and make sure he has something nice to chew on. It should also be remembered that indoor kennels are not suitable for your dog to be in all day. When your dog is older and
is comfortable with being inside he should be left for no more than 3 – 4 hours at the most, while young puppies should only be shut inside for short periods of time. They should always have access to fresh drinking water. It is also recommended that collars be removed when they are inside to prevent them from snagging or catching on anything, and they should never be muzzled whilst inside an indoor kennel.
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Invitation to bring you and your puppy to a...
Puppy Party Pup p Soc y ial
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Please check with your local store for details.
A great way to socialise your pups, get FREE advice, tips and FREE treats! * your puppy must be happy, healthy and fully vaccinated.
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