Information that will help you and your new puppy

Information that will help you and your new puppy.

All the information below was obtained from research on the internet, talking with other breeders and some from my experience over the years with trial and error.  There are many wonderful training books out there and alot of information on the internet.  I encourage you to do research and in the end do what works best for you and your puppy.

Feeding methods

There are two methods you can use to feed your puppy: free feeding and scheduled feedings.  Free feeding is when dry food is left out all day and the dog eats as it wishes.  Scheduled feeding is when you give the dog food at set times of the day.  With Ridgebacks you are best off feeding your puppy on a schedule.  Ridgebacks are known to over eat if they have access to open bags of food.  This can cause serious gastric problems with your dog even resulting in death.  Starting your puppy on a feeding schedule is very important.  It better controls elimination and helps maintain a good nutritional balance thru out the day, including sugar levels.  Feeding twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening is recommended by most breeders and vets.  Pick your feeding times and try to keep to them as much as possible.  When the puppy reaches a year old you can then feed once a day.  I recommend to continue to feed 2 times a day only because it satisfies their hunger and they will be less likely to go looking for food on your counter and in your garbage.

Dog Food Formulations

Premium pet food tends to have a higher nutritional value.  In particular, foods such as Science Diet, Eukanuba, Nature’s Recipe, ect.  This means you can generally feed your dog a smaller amount of food.  Also, they tend to be highly digestible which means that there is less waste to clean up in the yard.  For these two reasons, many people feed their pets premium foods.  But the decision is yours and many healthy, happy dogs have been raised on plain Purina Dog Chow.  Read your labels, know your dog food products.  There are different kinds of dog food out there.  Some are formulated very precisely for different periods in a dog’s life, and what is appropriate at one stage is not appropriate at another.  Others are generically formulated up to the growing puppy level.  Puppy food is packed even higher with extra nutrition.  Many veterinarians and breeders (particularly of larger breeds) recommend that you NOT feed it for the first year as is recommended on the bags of food.  They recommend that you feed puppy food ONLY for the first 6 months of age and then switch to adult food.  The nutritional formulation (especially the extra protein and calcium) can actually cause problems in puppy development.  The problem tends to be with growth of bones vs. growth of tendons, ligaments, and muscle.  The growth rates are not the same and so the connections are strained and if the dog jumps wrong or is playing too hard, the connections can be torn.  This typically happens in the front shoulder and requires surgery and several months of confinement to heal.  The added calcium in puppy food may deposit on puppies’ bones causing limping and lameness.  I recommend you feed your puppy a puppy food for the 1^st 6 months.  Follow the recommendations on the puppy food bag and also use your own judgment.  If you start to see ribs than feed the puppy a little more.  On average you will be up to 4 cups in the morning and 4 cups in the evening by the time they reach 6 - 8 months old.  When the puppy reaches 6 months of age you will then need to switch to adult food and gradually start decreasing its food.  On average by a year old you should be down to 2 cups in the morning and 2 cups at night.  Once again use your judgment, if you start to see ribs increase the food, or maintain the same amount for another few weeks and then start to decrease the amount again.  My basic rule of thumb is if I see ribs, maybe an outline but not the entire rib, I will increase my feedings.  You DO NOT want an over weight  Ridgeback, it causes many health problems for the dog and also decreases their life expectancy.  If you have questions consult your veterinarian. 

Crate Training Your Puppy

Crate training your puppy may take some time and effort, but can be useful in a variety of situations.  You can use the crate to limit his access to the house until he learns all the house rules, during times you are away from them and it also helps with house training your puppy.  A crate is also a safe way of transporting your dog in a car, as well as a way of taking him places where he may not be welcome to run freely.  If you properly train your puppy to use the crate, he will think of it as his safe place and will be happy to spend time there when needed.

You will need an x-large crate or larger with a divider and a blanket for the puppy to lay on.  When you set the crate up put the divider in it, leave only enough room for the puppy to lay down comfortable.  This will help the puppy to not potty in its cage, they do not like to sleep where they potty.  As the puppy grows move the divider. 

As soon as you get your puppy home start putting it in the crate for short periods of time, also feed the puppy in the crate for at least a week.  Never put a water bowl in the crate because the puppy may knock it over getting his bedding wet.  Try to put the crate where it will stay, the puppy will get confused if you move it all over the house.  The only time I would suggest moving it is at night if you want the puppy to sleep in your room.  Remember to make the crate a happy place, don’t punish the puppy by putting it in the crate.  When the puppy is older you can use the crate as a time out/punishment but not until it is comfortable and feels safe in the crate. 

When asking your puppy to go in the crate always praise them when they walk in by themselves. 

Night Time With Your Puppy

Your puppy wants to be with the rest of the “pack” at bedtime.  This behavior is highly adaptive from the stand point of dog behavior.  When a puppy becomes separated from its pack it will whine, thereby allowing it to be found and returned to the rest of the group.  This is why so many books on puppies and dog behavior strongly recommend that you allow your puppy to sleep with you in your room or in its crate, or with other dogs in a room to reduce the likelihood of crying at night.

If your puppy whines, first make sure it doesn’t have to go outside to eliminate.  This means getting up and taking it outside.  If it whines again, don’t take it outside, bang your hand on the crate and say something like “NO, SLEEP” or “NO, QUITE”.  If the puppy continues to whine, try giving it a toy or chew toy and simply ignore any continued whining.  If you don’t reinforce the whining by comforting it, it will eventually learn to settle down.  Also, be sure to have a vigorous play session just before you are going to go to bed.  This should tire the puppy out and it will sleep much more soundly.

Your puppy will come with a stuffed animal that has been exposed to its siblings smells and your breeders smells on it.  I recommend to only give the puppy this toy at night for at least a week, and in the morning put it back in the zip lock bag to keep the smells stronger.  These familiar smells from the toy will help to comfort the puppy at night.  Once you start giving this toy freely the puppy will chew it, play with it and eventually destroy it, so keep it intact as long as you can for comfort at night time for your puppy.

Potty Training Your Puppy

First and foremost you need to be consistent and patient with your puppy.  Taking your puppy outside at the same times every day, using the same door and same routine will help to not confuse your puppy.  You should take your puppy outside 10 - 15 times a day between 8 and 12 weeks of age.  The more you take them out the less accidents they will have.  The key to success is the timing of IN and OUT.  Young puppies take IN food or water and usually within 15 - 20 mins need to potty.  Here are the basics of simple potty training routine for a puppy.

Take him outside- and stay outside with him till he is done or a long time has gone by with no results:

Ÿ  As soon as he wakes up in the morning

Ÿ  Right after he eats or drinks

Ÿ  Right after he wakes up from naps

Ÿ  Right after taking him out of his crate

Ÿ  Any time he dose the potty dance

Ÿ  Right before bedtime

Ÿ  One time at night and only if he whimpers

Praise him with a happy, playful voice every time he potties outside.

When he is done don’t take him back in the house right away.  He is likely to notice that the fun of being outside ends abruptly once he goes potty and this is not an idea you want him to come up with.

When the puppy does have an accident inside quietly clean it up in a matter of fact way.  This isn’t the time to yell or punish him, essentially pick him up and take him outside and ignore him while you do the cleanup.  You can tell him "NO" to reinforce right from wrong.

You are building a relationship at the same time you are teaching him one of his first lessons.  So remember he is in a different place with strangers and he is learning to trust you, so practice patience.

Reinforcing Good Behavior

Puppies want your attention.  They will do a lot to get that attention, even if it is negative.  So if you scold your puppy for doing things you don’t want it to do and ignore it when it is being good, you are reinforcing the puppies to do things you don’t want it to do.  Ignore the bad things or stop it without yelling or scolding, again use the simple "NO" to reinforce right from wrong,  and enthusiastically praise it when its doing good things, even as simple as sitting or laying down quietly or chewing on one of its toys.  This is sometimes difficult to do, as it is reversing all your normal reactions.  But it is very important and you will end up with a puppy that pays attention to you and your reactions and will be happy to do what you want it to do because it will understand you better.

Socialization Is Very Important To Your Puppy

Accustom your puppy to as many things, places, people and other animals at a young age as you can.  Baths, brushing, clipping nails, having teeth examined, and so on.  Taking the time to make these things matter of fact and pleasant for you puppy will save you a world of time and trouble later in its life.  It is very important that your puppy be exposed to a variety of social situations at a very early age.  After the puppy has had all its shots carefully start to expose it to the new outside world.  Taking it to different places, parks, shopping centers, different neighborhoods, dog shows, obedience classes, just about anywhere you can think of that would be different for the puppy and also expose it to new people and other animals, especially other dogs.  If the puppy seems afraid, then let it explore by itself, encourage the puppy but be firm and let him know it is safe.  You want your puppy to learn about the world so that it doesn’t react fearfully to new situations or new humans when it is and adult.  You also want it to learn that you will not ask it to do anything dangerous or harmful.  Socializing you dog can be a lot of fun for you and your dog!  Do not make the mistake made by many owners when their dog exhibits fear or aggression when meeting strangers.  DO NOT “smooth” them by saying “easy boy/girl” or “its ok”.  This serves as reinforcement and encourages the fear or growling.  Instead say what it understands “NO” very sharply and praise him when he stops showing fear or growling.  Praise him even more when he allows its head to be petted by strangers.  If he starts growling or barking again say “NO” again.  But if he exhibits fear be alittle more gentle with the “NO”, but be firm. 

If you are planning to attend a puppy class, and you should, they are not expensive, ask the instructor about his/her views before you sign up.  If socialization is not a part of the class you might want to look elsewhere.

Puppy Biting

If you watch a litter of puppies playing, you will notice that they spend much of their time biting and grabbing each other with their mouths.  This is normal puppy behavior.   When you take a puppy from the litter and into your home, the puppy will play bite and mouth you.  This is also normal behavior, but you need to modify it quickly so you and the puppy will be happy.

The first thing to teach your new puppy is that human flesh is much more sensitive than other puppies and that it really hurts us when they bite.  A puppy has very sharp teeth and a weak jaw.  This means that the puppy can cause you to be uncomfortable when mouthing or puppy biting you but cannot cause severe damage.  An adult dog has duller teeth and a powerful jaw so they can cause significant damage when biting.  So you need to teach your puppy not to bite at a young age.  It is simple to teach them but you must be consistent with the training.  Every time the puppy touches you with its teeth, biting, say “OUCH” or "NO" in a harsh tone of voice.  This will probably not stop the puppy from mouthing you, but will over time result in a softer and gentler puppy biting. 

After a couple of weeks of the above training, this is how you should handle puppy biting or mouthing.  Unexpected mouthing, you don’t know the puppy is going to mouth you until you feel the puppies teeth, again say “OUCH”  or "NO" very firmly.  Expected mouthing, you see the puppy getting ready to mouth you, say “OFF” or "NO" firmly before the puppy can mouth you.  Remember the puppy is mouthing/puppy biting because it wants to play with you.  Make sure you also praise the puppy when it stops mouthing/biting you. 

Teething

 Around 4 to 5 months of age, puppies will start to get their permanent teeth.  There are several things you can do to both ease the pain and control the chewing.

Ÿ  Make sure you have plenty of chew toys available for the puppy

Ÿ  Give them ice cubes to chew on

Ÿ  Soak a clean rag in water, wring it out and then freeze it, rolling or twisting it helps, and give it to your puppy to chew on when its frozen

Ÿ  Soften your puppies food with a bit of water

Ÿ  Always discourage biting on your arm or hand for comfort

Puppies lose their teeth in a distinct pattern, first the small front teeth come out.  Then the premolars just behind the canines, then the molars in the back come out.  Finally the canine teeth come out.  Sometimes the adult canines erupt thru the skin before the baby canines have come all the way out.

During this time some discomfort, including bleeding gums is to be expected.  Your puppy will want to chew more during this time, but it may also be too painful to do so.  You will probably find few if any of the teeth your puppy loses, as puppies typically swallow them.