Preventing problems right at the start

We are both great believers in DAP, so both pups had DAP in the car with them on the first journey home, and were given DAP near to their sleeping place in the new home. The effect was amazing with Harry. He only had a short journey to our house and was quite interested in the new home, but he was also pretty tired. Every time he fell asleep we moved him into his indoor kennel and he stayed there quite contentedly with his DAP diffuser running in the background.

Those first few weeks were a bit of an eye opener for me, as I had forgotten what it is like to have a young puppy in the house. Initial problems we had were:

- Housetraining.
- Jumping on and yapping at the cats.
- Waking up to need to go to the toilet during the night.

Of these three the last was probably the least important but the most difficult to cope with. Pups have a tiny bladder so they need to go to the toilet very regularly. Rather than let them learn to whine and complain to be let out it is probably better to have set times when you take them out. After any meal or nap puppies will need the toilet, and then every hour or two in between. So we began by letting Harry out three or four times each night until we could see the times when he most needed to go. Gradually we reduced the number of toileting times during the night and let him sleep longer. There were a couple of overnight pees or poos in the crate but this was only a minor issue. Around the house he was very good, but occasionally we missed the signs of what I call “poo tail” that indicate when the pup needs the toilet. This is when the puppy sniffs around the floor a lot with its tail held horizontal but slightly stiff and with a bend in it around the base. I will have to take a picture of poo tail to chow you what it looks like!

The methods Sarah and I use for settling puppies in and housetraining them is in the booklet for the Sounds Sociable CD.

The big problem for us was the cat bothering that Harry persisted in. He grew up with a couple of cats, but they were elderly and not really interested in the puppies. So they tended to stay out of the way and the pups only saw a limited amount of them. Our cats aren’t young, they are about 12 years old, but they are pretty sprightly and playful usually. They really like dogs and will openly greet any dog that comes to our house. Some dogs find this terrifying! Unfortunately both cats took the same approach wth Harry. They came up to him and rubbed against him, sat with him when he was resting etc. How charming and lovely we all thought, but Harry decided that this meant that they were going to be his new playmates. He tried throwing his toys at them and pouncing on them, and when they just ignored him and walked away he chased and barked at them. For him, the moment when he finally got them to run was a revelation; now he had an interactive toy! From then on he would bark at them every time he saw them. They would run a little because they were startled, and he would run after them. Fortunately he was badly coordinated and slow so the game rapidly fizzled out. Had he first met them when he was a few weeks older I think this would have been a really difficult situation. As it was we just spent a lot of time distracting him on to other forms of play when he bothered the cats, and within about 3 weeks e gave up on pestering them. Now good relations are restored and at 8 months he gets on very well with the cats. They groom and rub against him, sleep next to him and he licks them when he sees them in the morning or after a walk. I just love watching him with them, as it is really magical to see animals trying to find ways to communicate with each other.

What other problems have we had?

Harry is a much noisier and more easily frustrated puppy than Ronnie, our last male lab. I think he is generally quite precocious, because he has barked since very young, started cocking his leg quite early and is much more switched on than other dogs we have had. Ronnie was an amazing dog, but he seemed to mature slowly. He seemed to pick things up by watching and then copying, whereas Harry just blunders in. They are very different characters, and I think Harry shows a sophistication at 8 months that has quite surprised me. He is very sensitive to the frailties of people and other dogs. If they are up for a game he runs around with them, but if they seem a bit vulnerable he will try to win them over and is very gentle. Considering that he gives the impression of being the typical Labrador who bursts in like a bull in a china shop, his behaviour with people and other animals is very impressive.

The barking has been a nuisance so we discourage it whenever he barks during games with us or our other dog. Over time this has really improved.

The other minor problem was play-biting. If you were on the floor Harry might rush in and start to mouth around your face and neck. Not hard or painful, but badly coordinated and it could easily have taken someone’s eye out because he really had no idea what he was doing. When he first did this about a week after we got him, my initial reaction was one of horror. We have lots of friends with small children and I just imagined what it would be like if he ran at and bit one of them in play. In a lot of books you will see quite confrontational methods for dealing with play biting. Often they talk about scruffing and “alpha rolling” puppies to show them who is boss. This is a disaster. Pups only have one way to pick up and hold things, they don’t have hands and unfortunately their baby teeth are sharp. They don’t mean to do any harm during play, so it is really over the top to use punishment to stop this kind of behaviour. Harry showed no interest in play biting other than when someone was sitting or lying down on the floor, so we went through some basic training exercises to teach him to control his playfulness and interact. I also decided to spend a lot more time on the floor at his level so that I could influence the way he behaved. Given how fast he was growing it was often alarming to have a fat, toothy puppy hurtle at you with his mouth open ready to bite! The solution was incredibly easy to be honest, and didn’t require any punishment at all. Not even a cross word. What Harry wanted was some attention and close interaction. He wasn’t sure what the rules were so he tried play. All I did was to redirect him into a calmer behaviour every time he came towards me. Essentially this just meant steering his head away so that he could not bite my face and then stroking and gently cuddling him until he calmed down, which usually took only a few seconds. As soon as he realised that my being on the floor was not an invitation to play he stopped. It probably took less than a day to begin to get this message across to him, and a week later he showed no interest in play biting in these situations. It just shows how effective you can be when you are careful and consistent. No shouting or confrontation was necessary.



Picking a puppy

Sarah and I both have “new puppies”. I got mine first and then Sarah had to follow! Harry, my 7 month old brown Labrador, was got for me by my wife as she could see that I was still pining for my last dog, Ronnie, who died a couple of years ago. The experience has been both a shock and a joy, as I had completely forgotten how much effort goes into raising a puppy. Sarah’s pup, Quaver, is a four month female black flat coated retriever. We want them to meet up soon, but as we live at opposite ends of the country this may have to wait for a few more weeks. Sarah will update on progress with Quaver but for now I will give you a run down on Harry.

We got him at around 8 weeks of age, which is the best time to get puppies. In the UK it is currently against the law for a breeder to sell puppies before the age of 8 weeks (Breeding and Sale of Dogs Act), even though the general view is that 7-8 weeks is the optimum time to place puppies in their first home.
The guidelines on how to choose a puppy have changed a bit over the years, and so far there is not much scientific evidence that puppy personality can be used to predict adult personality. So very bold and confident puppies do not grow into “dominant” dogs, as people used to imply.

Picking puppies can be a bit of a lottery but there are certain things to look for or avoid. Partly this is to do with observing the puppy and partly the environment the puppy grew up in. The best environment for puppies to be reared in is within a domestic setting with plenty of visitors including well behaved and gentle children. The worst environment to rear puppies in is a kennel or outbuilding, because in these settings the pups will not have come into contact with normal every day sounds, sights and smells that make up the typical domestic home. There are ways around this, and really good kennel breeders will make a lot of effort to overcome the intrinsic inadequacies of kennel breeding. They may bring the puppies into the house daily, play CDs of noises (like Sounds Sociable) to them and make sure that they have plenty of human contact. So kennel breeding is not a disaster, but you need to be absolutely sure that the breeder has put in the right amount of effort to prepare the puppies for later life. I regularly get asked about “puppy farms”, and my response is that they are not good. However, my definition of what a puppy farm is may differ from what you expect. To me a puppy farm is somewhere that pups are bred in kennels or outbuildings without proper socialisation. This is just like intensive farming because the breeder has made no effort to prepare the pups at all. To them it is like growing carrots or cabbages.

My advice would be to ask the breeder where the puppies are bred before you go to see them, and if you find out they are in a kennel or barn then ask about socialisation. If the breeder sounds unconvincing then don’t even bother to see the puppies. If you do go to see them then there is a risk you will find a really unpleasant environment and feel obliged to take one of the pups just to get them out of there. This is very laudable but all it does is support breeders who sell a cash crop of badly reared puppies. They will go on doing this as long as people buy the pups, and this will lead to years of misery for owners and dogs alike. If you find out that a Kennel Club registered breeder rears their dogs like this don’t be taken in with walls full of rosettes and cups, because you would be better going to an amateur breeder who does socialisation properly.

If you do go and see puppies you need to be able to make a judgement on the litter as well as which puppy you take. Looking at the litter as a whole will give you an impression of the kind of experience the puppies have had and whether they will make good pets. At 4-8 weeks old healthy puppies should be happy, confident and playful. They should approach you and want to investigate you, but then go back to interacting with their mum and littermates. None of them should not be timid or fearful. So look at the whole litter and if some of the puppies are timid or fearful then go no further. Don’t take any of the pups. Likewise, if the mother barks at you, this can be a sign that she has behavioural problems and the puppies may turn out the same. We do see maternal aggression in some bitches, so occasionally a well behaved mum will become aggressive as a result of her hormonal balance. However, if pups have seen their mother barking at strangers they are far more likely to show the same behaviour when they grow up, so bitches with maternal aggression can be a problem.

Normal behaviour in well socialised puppies is to approach a new person and investigate them. When the pups meet you they will probably come over to see who you are, but if they have met plenty of other people this approach will be relatively calm. Pups who get very overexcited have usually not met many people before, so this can be an indication of poor socialisation.

Once you can see that the litter is behaving in a normal way, you can start thinking about which puppy to choose.

The best rule to follow is to choose a puppy who has an interest in you, is relatively independent but is also quite happy to play with his if her littermates and ignore you after a while unless you try to join in. This kind of puppy is emotionally stable and confident, and is likely to make a good pet.

As you can imagine, booth Sarah and I asked the breeders of our puppies to take special care over certain things to make sure that our puppies turned out well. The pups were all reared indoors and played the Sounds Sociable CD several times each day. They were taken into the garden and allowed to feed with their mother there. They met other dogs and unfamiliar people from very early in their lives, and were taken to different homes so that they got used to new places. So by the time we picked them up they had already had a terrific grounding during their early socialisation period.

The saddest moment with taking Harry home was the last time he played with his mum. She is a really lovely dog and the two of them had a terrific game together for about 10 minutes just before we took Harry home. It was heartbreaking to separate him from such a lovely mum, but that’s the reality of having a puppy. It does stick in your mind though, and makes you want to do the very best for your puppy from that moment forward.