| Phoebe's Story |
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Choosing a puppy Finally the choice was made for us when Tarka, a chocolate Labrador, was presented at the Whetstone surgery with difficulties giving birth. Though she needed a Caesarean, 5 puppies were safely delivered. After a lot of persuasion from the children we visited the breeder when Phoebe was 3 weeks old where Mr and Mrs Barker(the breeders), were extremely helpful. Both Phoebe’s mother and father were found to be in good health and most importantly the mother was nice natured with healthy hips and eyes (often a problem with inbred dogs). So the decision was made to purchase a Phoebe and a deposit paid! Preparation for the new puppy We all agreed that we wanted our puppy to be healthy and well-behaved. We realised that good behaviour does not happen by accident and so purchased some books on puppy training. The best book was the “Puppylopedia” by J.M Evans MRCVS (ISBN 1860542395). This gave us all the information we needed on how to look after our new puppy. We also got busy working out where our new puppy was going to live. Phoebe was going to live in the kitchen. We borrowed a stair gate to stop her going into the rest of the house and sourced a cage for her to sleep in. The cage would allow us to provide a safe sleeping area for Phoebe and also provide some security against damage (Labradors are good at chewing!). Please note that the cage is never used as a punishment and is only used as a safe area for her to sleep. When the day came for us to collect Phoebe we had already booked her an appointment at the surgery for her first vaccination. The breeder had also given us her pedigree paperwork together with the information on when she was due for her next worming. The first visit to the vet and her first vaccinationWe wanted Phoebe to be vaccinated when she was 8 weeks of age. This would mean that her second vaccination would be at 10 weeks. This would give us plenty of time to expose her to new noises, other pets and fully socialise her before 12 weeks of age.The period between 8 and 12 weeks is vital for socialisation and if she gets used to strange noises and events at this stage this will help prevent her from being nervous in later life. At her first appointment at the surgery vet Chris Morris checked Phoebe over thoroughly. (The first health assessment is the time when we can make sure that the heart and eyes are all fine and that Phoebe is free of any health problems). Chris also provided us with further information about how to manage a new puppy. This equipped us with the knowledge we needed to socialise her with other vaccinated dogs, when to worm her next and what food to feed her (Hills Science Plan for large breed dogs). He also gave us advice on training and flea control and most importantly what not to do. We were told not to allow her upstairs as this can damage her hips and not to let her out into public areas where diseased dogs may have been until one week after her second vaccination. Phoebe received her first priming shot against Leptospirosis and would come back to the vet practice in 2 weeks time for her second major vaccination against Parvovirus, Distemper (hard pad), Hepatitis and Parainfluenza. Phoebe weighed 7.2 kg at first inoculation. What a whopper! So far so good... the vet had reassured us that Phoebe was a healthy and happy dog. We had started her off with her vaccinations and had a better idea what to do next! Diet Dry dog food in addition to being part of a healthy diet is also an excellent training aid because it can be used as a tasty treat to reward good behaviour.The breeder had fed all the puppies on Hill Science Plan so there was no need for us the change Phoebe's diet. We had always fed our pets on Hills Science diet because “You are what you eat” and Phoebe would only grow once so giving her the best start in life was vital. Also it's a good idea to use a metal bowl as puppies like to chew all sorts of objects! The first few days Once we knew Phoebe was healthy and happy our next priority was to get her settled in to her new home. We had taken a small section of Vetbed bedding to the breeders a couple of days before we collected her. This allowed her to settle down in her new home quickly and comfortably as she was surrounded with the familiar smell of her bedding. Phoebe had been in a large cage for the first 8 weeks of her life and she immediately took to her new cage. This offered her real security and comfort as she took in her new surroundings. Toilet trainingAfter waking Phoebe was immediately taken outside. Puppies go to the toilet often and we encouraged her to go outside by using the phrase “do your stuff”.We used this command so that she would learn to link this with going to the toilet. All puppies respond to praise. Our plan was to “praise the good and ignore or reject the bad behaviour”. This plan can sometimes be hard to stick to because when the puppy does something wrong (as they often do) there is a strong temptation to tell them off. This can confuse the puppy as it can think that a telling off is actually praise with a louder voice! A solution to this dilemma is to reject the puppy by turning away without saying anything and we have found that this really works as a method of punishment. Phoebe hated it and quickly learned that to get praise she had to be good. By the third day Phoebe was toilet trained. One of the benefits of the Hills diets is that most of the food is absorbed and there is less “poop to scoop”! Everyone in the family had to be responsible for poop scooping and sometimes we also had to clean the odd accident in the kitchen. We were sure not to tell Phoebe off if this happened as dogs cannot link punishment with an event unless it occurs within half a second of the event occurring. We just got on with cleaning up her messes with the minimum of fuss! Introducing her to other peopleWhen visitors came to the house we asked them not to encourage Phoebe to jump up and to only fuss her when she was still and sitting down. This technique worked fine for adults but was not so good for the children. One of the real challenges appeared to be other people's children who tended to encourage Phoebe to jump up and pull at their sleeves. The best plan was to get them to pat Phoebe firmly on the back and then to roll her over, thereby putting her into a submissive position. This confirmed to Phoebe that despite the children's small size it was she that was lowest in the pecking order.Phoebe had a terrible habit of nipping at hands and feet. Again we all agreed that we would ignore this behaviour but praise her for good behaviour when she settled down. This worked pretty well and she soon learned that play biting with people was not much fun.Teething periods Phoebe’s special bottle as not recommended by the book or the vet!Puppies have a strong desire to chew anything they take a fancy to. There is nothing you can do about this instinct but you can limit this destructive behaviour by giving them special dog chews and toys that are designed for puppies or, as Phoebe’s favourite, an old plastic bottle! We were also certain to never left Phoebe in the kitchen by herself because we would have had very little left of the knobs on the kitchen drawers!
Sleeping timesLike small children, puppies require plenty of sleep and we encouraged Phoebe to rest for a couple of hours during the morning, afternoon and early evening. We used a blanket to put over her cage when she was asleep to ensure that she wasn't distracted from drifting off. On her first night in her new home she awoke and cried. We reassured her and put her back in her cage and she went back to sleep within half an hour. The real trick was not to pay too much attention to her when she woke so she didn't associate waking with treats. We were happy that she soon settled in to her routine as we had no plans to wake up every 2 hours through the night!Teaching to “sit” We followed the advice in the 'Puppylopedia'. Before Phoebe was fed, the bowl was put above her head and combined with the “sit” command. Surprisingly, this technique worked really well and she quickly learnt that sitting nicely was followed by food. Sitting on command was also really useful for controlling any problems with jumping up.
Jumping upMost puppies will jump up – great fun when they are puppies but not so great when the puppy becomes a 35 kg adult dog and you happen to be a 3 year old toddler! We decided that we all would train Phoebe not to jump up from the start. We had taught her to sit within 2 weeks so as soon as she jumped up we would turn around and ignore her and tell her to sit. As soon as she was still, we then heaped loads of attention on her. Again this worked very well. Surely puppy training can’t be this easy? The trick was to make sure everyone did the same especially the smallest children and visitors.The second vaccinationPhoebe was now 9.3 kg! In a short period of 2 weeks we had got her toilet trained, she was well on her way to learning the sit command and had got fed up with jumping up and biting.At the second vaccination Chris Morris was happy with her progress. She was healthy and ready for her second vaccination. We also had her microchipped as an extra protection if she ever got lost and surprisingly she didn't even feel the injection. Phoebe was now used to wearing a collar and the local pet shop had a facility for stamping out a “dog tag” with our address and phone number. In hindsight we should have put the Vet’s telephone number rather than our home number as this would be of no use if she got lost whilst we were on holiday.We also decided to treat her with a 'spot on' wormer flea preparation that we bought from the Vet. This would keep her free of worms, fleas and mites every day. The treatment keeps working for a full month and is very safe. Roundworms can cause blindness in children and I wanted us all to “poop the scoop” without fear of becoming infected with roundworms. Fleas are always a problem if you have cats so preventing them seemed a good idea as well in one easy treatment.Nobody said having a dog was going to be cheap but given the fun that Phoebe has brought having her in our family is so much more satisfying than playing computer games.Teaching her to come back to a whistle Phoebe at full pelt returning to whistle (and biscuits!)We contacted a specialist dog trainer who specialises in training Labradors and they suggested that we bought a high-frequency whistle. Apparently this frequency is the one that Labradors hear best and when we give 2 short blasts Phoebe comes running back to the nearest human she can see - not always the one blowing the whistle though! We give her some Hills biscuits from her daily ration as a treat when she returns. Her sense of direction and ability to pick up where sounds are coming from is improving but it is still not great at 12 weeks.The puppy party Phoebe was booked in for a puppy party at the practice. This group is run regularly by some local dog trainers and nurses and is an excellent method for new puppies to meet other puppies and be introduced to general training concepts. Unfortunatley, the week that we were booked to attend the class was cancelled as there were not enough puppies. We did however receive a pack of goodies which had some very useful advice in it. This included information on how to socialise Phoebe ranging from hearing police sirens, fireworks, motorbikes and experiencing fish in tanks, sheep, horses, people wearing glasses, postmen, people in Halloween masks. Phew, we had a lot to do!
SocialisationPhoebe was now 11 weeks of age and was now safe to go out after her final vaccination one week earlier. Up until now Phoebe’s world had consisted of the back garden and the vet's surgery.We had got her used to wearing a lead in the garden. The next step was to train her to walk to heel when outside. This was a lot more difficult, as every lamp post and bush offered new opportunities to smell and get distracted.Phoebe meets a motorcyclistWe purchased a 5-metre long flexi lead. This allowed us to provide control at a distance and whilst allowing her to interact with other pets and people from a distance. In the first week we made a real effort to expose her to a wide range of different noises including cars, motorbikes, water and people in different clothes.Training her to walk to heel A puppy that pulls on the lead can be very tiresome and a fully-grown 35 kg adult Labrador would be a nightmare. We wanted Phoebe to be well trained on the lead so that both the children and even granny could take her for a walk.As with all training you have to start young.Food and praise are very powerful motivators for puppies and we continued to used the Hill’s biscuits as a reward when she walked to heel. The trick seemed to be to put the biscuits in your hand and use this as a way to get her to focus on you whilst talking to her and using a phrase that she would identify with when walking to heel.We used the word “close” and combined this with slapping the thigh. This noise of the thigh slap, the word “close” followed by her walking to heel for a few steps was rewarded with a biscuit.When Phoebe pulled forward on the lead she was pulled back and then the whole procedure was repeated. If you don’t attempt the heel training early the dog gets addicted to pulling on the lead and walking your new pup will become an endurance exercise which may become dangerous in icy weather.By 13 weeks after a fortnight of heel training Phoebe seemed to be getting the idea and was walking well to heel as long as there are no other distractions such as other dogs.Off the lead walking. By 13 weeks of age we had some confidence that Phoebe was obeying the whistle, able to understand the need to stay “close” when walking and we felt she was ready for walking off the lead.She had learnt that we had food in our pockets and that we would provide praise for her. What is really important to understand is that if your dog runs away you shouldn’t call its name and then punish it when it returns. If you do this they then associate their name with punishment which is not helpful. The dog's name must only be used in association with praise. The dog whistle is really helpful for off the lead walking as this seems to work really well in getting Phoebe’s attention.
Off the lead and childrenThe first toddler she met on a walk she bowled over. No one was hurt but the toddler was not impressed. Although she only weighed 12 kg at this point she was the equivalent of a 4 wheel drive and could easily bounce up. Puppies seem to delight in meeting other people (good) but are also good at jumping up (bad). Whenever she approaches children we put her on the lead but also talk to the child straight away. Children seem to dangle their hands at mouth height and then pull them away. The best technique seemed to be to get the child to fold their arms, for us to get Phoebe to sit and then get the child to pat her on her back or tummy (rather than round the head). This seems to stop the “play biting”Socialisation challenges  Phoebe adopted an aggressive stance with other dogs in the park and the size of the dog did not seem to matter. The temptation was to remove her from the situation but we decided she had to learn the hard way.The smaller dogs were intimidated by her but the larger dogs with a few growls and threats sorted her out. It is really important that puppies know where they stand in the pecking order. If you pick the puppy up at this stage and try and protect it they never learn. How often do you see small toy dogs in their owner’s arms barking at every dog in the street?Phoebe attempts to dominate smaller dogs……and larger dogs. See the raised hackles!
Obedience trainingFor 6 weeks Phoebe was signed up to an obedience course at Wits’ End in Aylestone. This allowed her to receive specialist training on how to sit, stay, return to base and puppy socialisation.The course was well worth the investment and has helped Phoebe to become a well-trained puppy who is now well behaved most of the time!Car Travel
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Peter Orpin, one of our vets, has had a new addition to the family - a new puppy, a chocolate Labrador, called Phoebe. 
One of the problems we see at the surgery is dogs with signs of joint injury in the first few months of life. We also see arthritis in older dogs especially in the hip and shoulder joints. Excessive strain on the joints in the first few months of life is thought to be an important reason why arthritis develops in later life. For this reason we built a ramp for Phoebe to access the car cage. This allowed her to easily get in and out of the car without fear of damaging her joints. Ramps can be home made like this one or purchased from pet stores or internet pet suppliers.
