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10 Things You Should Know About Your New Puppy

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Just about everybody loves a puppy.  What’s not to love?  Okay, maybe there are a few things — like accidents in the house, chewing your things, nipping…

Here are a few things that you should know about your new puppy:

1.  When you bring your new puppy home he doesn’t know very much.  He’s spent most of the first weeks of his life living with his mother and siblings, who are dogs.  That means he knows some basic dog things, like how to whimper and bark to get attention.  He knows how to poop on papers.  His breeder may have taught him a few things but there wasn’t time to teach him very much.  Your puppy is pretty much a blank slate.  It’s up to you to teach him everything he needs to know.

2.  Your puppy is a little animal, not a small person in a furry suit.  He has animal instincts and will always react as an animal when he doesn’t know what to do.  That means that your puppy can bite and scratch and hurt somebody if he’s not supervised and trained.  He needs training while he’s young so that he doesn’t grow up to be a badly-behaved dog.

3.  Puppies need socialization.  Socialization is the process of introducing your puppy to the big, wide world and everything in it.  Your puppy needs to go places, see new things and meet people.  He should learn that new things and new people are good.  Socialization teaches a puppy to be confident and helps him later in life.  Puppies that are well-socialized tend not to develop behavior problems later on.

4.  You should begin training your puppy early.  You can train a dog throughout his life but it’s always easier and advisable to start training a puppy when he’s young.  Teach your puppy good manners and some basic obedience skills like Sit and Come.  You can take him to Puppy Preschool or Puppy Kindergarten classes where he can learn some simple obedience and enjoy some socialization at the same time.

5.  Your puppy will most likely chew on things so you should try to “puppy proof” your house as much as possible.  Put away your shoes and other things that he can reach.  When your puppy chews on things take them away.  If you catch your puppy in the act of chewing on something he’s not supposed to chew on, you can correct him (no physical punishments).  Otherwise, if you don’t catch him, you should let it go.  There is no point in correcting a puppy or dog for something that has already happened. Your puppy or dog won’t know why they’re being corrected.

6.  Puppies may nip, bite too hard when playing or simply get too raucous.  When they do, you should stop playing with them and ignore them.  If they continue, you should call a time-out.  Time-outs work with puppies just as they do with children.  If your puppy nips you, you should yelp and let him know it hurts.  If he even touches his teeth to your skin, yelp and don’t play with him.  If you stop playing with him whenever he tries to nip he will stop nipping.

7.  If you have children teach them that they can’t mistreat a puppy.  Tell them not to stare at a puppy or otherwise make the puppy uncomfortable.  They puppy may lunge at them.  And, if they run away screaming from a puppy, the puppy will chase them.  Not all kids are happy about that fact.  Children under six should be supervised when they play with puppies.

8.  Puppies may whine and bark and whimper for attention.  Sometimes you will have to ignore them, especially if you want to get any sleep.

9.  Do make sure that your puppy gets all of his vaccinations on schedule.  See that he takes heartworm preventive and flea medication if he needs it in your area.  Your puppy’s health and well-being depend on proper veterinary care.  You should also make sure that you are feeding him a good dog food with meat protein sources.

10.  Puppies are adorable and they will make you do whatever they want.

Those are a few things you should know about puppies.  Have fun with your puppy and may he (or she) grow up to be a wonderful dog.

10 Things You Should Know About Your New Puppy courtesy Dog Articles.

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How Do Dogs Get Tapeworms?

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Worms aren’t a very pleasant topic but they are something that you should know about if you have a dog.  You may hear about different kinds of worms and wonder how your dog can get them.  How does your dog get tapeworms, for instance?

Dogs get tapeworms from eating fleas.  Fleas ingest tapeworm eggs and when your dog eats the fleas he eats the tapeworm eggs, too.  They then happily hatch out inside your dog.  A single tapeworm can grow to be four to six inches long in your dog’s intestine.  The tapeworm’s head attaches to the intestine.  As it grows it is followed by many little linked segments.  These little segments look like rice.  They break off and your dog passes them when he uses the bathroom.  You can sometimes see them in his stool or they can catch on the fur around his rectum.  A single tapeworm may have 90 of these segments.  Each of these segments contains more eggs for the tapeworm.

When you take your dog to the vet (and this is one reason why you should take your dog for an annual check-up), your vet can identify these little white links as tapeworm segments.  Sometimes these links will show up in a fecal exam, but there is no guarantee that a tapeworm will conveniently break off when your dog is at the vet so your vet may not find the segments when he does the fecal exam.

Over-the-counter wormers for dogs do not work on tapeworms.  You will need a prescription wormer from your vet to kill the tapeworms.

A tapeworm can infect your dog for a year or more.  They rob your dog of the nutrients that pass through his digestive system.  Your dog may have abdominal discomfort, he may be nervous, and he may vomit.  If you notice these signs in your dog, even if you don’t see the rice-like segments of the tapeworm around your dog’s tail or in his stool, take your dog to the vet and tell him that you suspect your dog may have tapeworms.

Tapeworms can be passed to humans so it’s very important to kills these parasites as quickly as possible.  Beefing up your flea control will help prevent tapeworm infestations from getting started.  If your dog has had tapeworms you will also need to treat your yard and home.

If you have a puppy, most vets will offer worming when your puppy has his series of puppy shots.  Make sure that you get this worming for your puppy since it will take care of any tapeworms that your puppy may have when you first get him.

There are other worms and parasites that can bother your dog but most of them can be killed by over-the-counter wormers for dogs, with the exception of heartworms.  Make sure that you get your dog tested annually for worms with a fecal exam to find out if he has any worms or parasites.  Your vet can answer any questions you have about parasites and your dog.

How Do Dogs Get Tapeworms courtesy Dog Articles.

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Can You Catch A Disease From Your Dog?

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We all love our four legged friends, but is there a possibility we may catch something from them?

Most everyone is familiar with tales of rabid animals, dogs included. Animals that foam at the mouth, go insane and are more than willing to bite. Chances are, you’ve never met a rabid animal, but you’ve certainly heard of one.

If you’ve ever been bitten by a dog, you’ll know that one of the things they have to do is rabies testing on the animal to make sure there is no way you could contract the disease from the bite.

Obviously, if there’s this much concern, there is definitely the potential for you contracting an illness or disease because of your dog.

Rabies is what is called a Zoonotic Disease. Derived from the Greek word “zoon”, or animal, and “nosos”, or ill, zoonotic diseases are diseases that can be transmitted from a wild or domesticated animal to a human (or vice versa).

While these diseases are relatively rare, they are still something to be considered when approaching strange or stray dogs as well as when handling your own.

Even if your animal does not appear to be ill, he could easily have a parasite you aren’t aware of. For example, hookworms can be present in the feces and (consequently) the salvia of an otherwise healthy dog without your knowledge. If you or your child were to let your dog “kiss” them while he is infected with hookworm, it could very easily be spread to you or your child. This demonstrates the importance of worming your animal early on and making sure your animal has regular check ups.

Hookworms, rabies, salmonella, roundworms, fleas, lyme disease, tapeworms, giardia, ringworm and other bacterial, fungal and parasitic illnesses are zoonotic and can be caught from your animal.

The best solution here is preventative maintenance. For one, always be sure to take your animal to the vet for regular check ups and for his routine vaccinations. If your animal is not sick, there is no way you can catch a sickness from him.

Also, do not handle animal feces directly. Always wear gloves or use a doggy poop bag when handling your animal’s waste. Also, always be sure to pick up any animal waste in your home quickly if there is the potential for your child to come in contact with it.

Wash your hands frequently when handling any animal. At the very least, be sure that wash your hands in between handling an animal and eating or touching your mouth in other ways. Use caution around strange dogs. Even if they appear healthy and friendly, they way very well be carrying a parasitic or fungal infection which could be contagious to you.

While it seems like there is much to be wary about in terms of your animal (or other animals) infecting you, remember that the list of zoonotic diseases is very short in comparison to the number of diseases you can catch from another human. As long as you are sure to worm your animal, treat them with flea/tick treatment if necessary, take them to regular vet check ups and stay hygienic when handling animals, you have very little to worry about.

Can You Catch A Disease From Your Dog courtesy Dog Articles.

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