Take care of your dog

If you have never owned a dog before, and your puppy has not yet arrived, you will be aware that you are about to begin an exciting new chapter in your life. Nothing will ever be quite the same again. Unless you have small children, life without a puppy tends to be relatively civilised. You can get up when you want to, go out for as long as you want to, take weekend breaks or book a last-minute bargain holiday. Within reason, you can do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it. You can leave cupcakes on your coffee table, and bacon on the kitchen unit, in the knowledge that it will still be there in ten minutes’ time. No one will disassemble your shoes or chew a hole in your favourite sweater if you forget to put them away. And the chances are no one ever leaves suspicious puddles on your kitchen floor, or underneath your bed. Your world is about to change. But don’t panic. Many of the adjustments you will need to make in your life to accommodate this new family member are just te...

Routines play an important part in keeping puppies contented, and the establishment of a new home den for your puppy is the first key to his happiness. So it is a very bad idea to collect a puppy when there is a lot going on in your life. All good breeders will hold on to a puppy for a week or two rather than have it go to a new home at a difficult time. Don’t be tempted to collect your puppy on Christmas Eve, or the day before your daughter’s wedding. And don’t take a tiny puppy on holiday with you. You won’t be able to settle him in properly and he is highly likely to become stressed and unwell. Your puppy is going to need your undivided attention for some time. If you work full time, it is a good idea to book your annual leave in time to spend it with your new arrival.

If you intend to go back to work full time during your dog’s lifetime, you will need to consider in advance how you will make arrangements for his comfort and welfare. It is beyond the scope of this book to advise you on whether you should or should not own a dog. But remember that a crate is not a suitable long-term solution for a dog left alone during the day on a regular basis. Other than at night, you cannot crate a small puppy for hours at a time. He will simply become miserable and/or learn to mess in his crate. If you have to leave your puppy on a regular basis, you have two alternatives. You can arrange for someone else to attend to his needs while you are away, or you can provide him with a proper outdoor kennel with a run. A properly constructed kennel has a place where a dog can stretch his legs, a place where he can relieve himself, and a sleeping area where he has shelter from the wind, sun and rain. There are, however, major drawbacks to kennelling a puppy on his own. Dog...

The most important toys you can buy for your puppy are Kongs. A Kong is a hollow and heavy rubber toy, which is extremely resistant to damage from chewing. Kongs come in a range of sizes, so you can start out with a puppy Kong and work your way up as he grows. You will need three puppy Kongs to begin with. One for him to chew, one for you to wash, and a third to be filled with food and frozen. You give the puppy the frozen Kong when you have to leave him alone for a while. This fulfils his need to chew and keeps him from getting bored and  miserable. You then pack the centre of one of your spares with soft food and freeze it. Rawhide chews are another chewing toy and, in theory, are edible. However, they make many dogs sick when the bits are swallowed, and a puppy must never be left alone with one as he could choke on the pieces that he pulls off. Rawhide chews and rawhide bones are ideal for keeping a puppy occupied while he is cuddled on your lap, and a diversion from biting your...

Before your puppy arrives, you need to decide where he is going to go to the toilet. This outdoor space needs to be puppy-proof. You do not want to be chasing your puppy around your neighbour’s garden with a torch at 3 a.m. because you didn’t fix the hole in the fence. Puppies can squeeze through smaller spaces than you might imagine. Some puppies are pretty good climbers, too. So make sure there is nothing against the fence that your puppy can use as a climbing aid to assist him in clambering over the top. Some puppies have the excavating capabilities of a mechanical digger, so don’t be tempted to leave your puppy outside unsupervised if there is no hard surface to prevent him tunnelling under the fence. And hedges, even thick ones, are not an obstacle to a puppy left to his own devices for very long. If you intend to allow your puppy the freedom of your garden, the entire perimeter needs to be secure, and you need to think about puppy-proofing what is inside it. Check that the puppy ...

Until house-training is well under way, you will need to restrict your puppy from unsupervised access to parts of the house that are carpeted. You will probably want to prevent him from going upstairs, too, as climbing steps at a very young age has been associated with joint problems. You can now purchase baby gates online fairly inexpensively and you may be able to find second-hand ones at car-boot sales or online. If you buy second-hand, make sure the gates have all four large screws that attach to each corner. These are needed to brace the gate against the walls, and are easily lost when old gates are packed away. For a very small puppy, you may want to attach a fine mesh wire to the gate itself to prevent him from squeezing between the bars, or put a board across the bottom. Most cats can walk between the bars of a baby gate or jump easily over the top, so this also makes a nice barrier through which the cat can escape when he has had enough of being bounced on and licked. You will...

A boisterous puppy rampaging around your car while you are driving is extremely distracting. Small dogs can also get under the pedals and prevent you braking or operating your clutch. And in an accident, an unrestrained dog can become a missile. So for safety’s sake, your puppy will need a secure place to travel in your vehicle. You can buy dog guards, which fit behind the rear seats and prevent the dog leaving the luggage area of your estate car or hatchback. However, these do not protect the interior of the luggage area from your puppy’s sharp teeth and from his urgent need to chew. Car crates are a better option. Travel crates can be purchased in a huge range of styles, and you will almost certainly be able to get one that fits neatly in the rear of an estate car. Saloon cars can be more problematic, and you may end up using a smaller carry crate initially, then transitioning to a dog harness on the back seat later. This isn’t ideal, because some dogs will chew everything in sight, ...