OES Mini Manual 2001 - Old English Sheepdog, Puppies, OES ...

Home Puppies Contract
LadyKin® Old English Sheepdogs Created By: Dr. Sandra Crowne 2108 Notre Dame Drive, RR#1 St. Agatha ON N0B 2L0 Canada Tel: (519)634-5548
Fax: (519)634-5001
E-mail: dearbear_at_ladykin@yahoo.ca Dear New Puppy Parents: Now we agree that weI have the right dog for you, WeI would like
you to have and consider the following information:
We believe your pup to be mentally and physically healthy, and
suitable for a lifetime as a family member, but I would suggest that
you have your vet examine her (or him) within a week of the pup's
arrival. If you then agree that he is indeed the pup for you, he is
yours with my guarantee to his second birthday against disorders such
as hip dysplasia that both your vet and mine consider to be of an
hereditary nature. The pup is not to be used for breeding purposes
(unless we have a show/co-own-breed contract, which is a whole other
ball game) so must be neutered/spayed. Should you not wish to keep the
dog, OUR CONTRACT REQUIRES THAT YOU MUST CONTACT ME for refund,
replacement, or other arrangement appropriate to the particular
circumstances.
FEEDING
Your pup may be fed any of the premium adult diets such as Purina Pro
Plan products, Eukanuba Lamb and Rice, Nutro Lamb & Rice, MediCal,
Iams, Science Diet, Techni-Cal, and others, so settle on one that is
reasonably easy to buy in your neighbourhood. My dogs are on Purina
Veterinary Formula Large Breed Puppy food for the first year (or until
they start to get chubby, whichever comes first), at which time they
graduate to Joint Mobility formula (same brand). These contain NO
citric acid, and "fat" is not in the first four listed ingredients.
Bear in mind that grocery store dog foods meet minimum nutritional
requirements, while the premium diets contain OPTIMUM ingredients.
They cost a bit more, but it's worth it. There's no need to add other
foods or vitamin supplements. Indeed, doing so may upset the
nutritional balance of his diet, and may cause him harm. I give very young puppies several meals a day: By 6 months your pup
would be fed twice a day. I'd offer 2 cups per meal at the moment and
adjust the amount based on her appetite. You might have to make
adjustments from day to day or even meal to meal. If 4 cups daily
total is patently insufficient, give a third meal. This is not usually
necessary after 6 months of age, but be prepared to go up to about 2
cups of dry kibble thrice daily as he continues to grow. In order to
avoid the risk of life-threatening gastric torsion (see below), never
over-fill even an adult dog's stomach. You will not ever, therefore,
feed more than 2 to 2.5 measuring cups of food at a single meal. Add just a little water to the dry food because it'll help the stomach
to empty more quickly, cutting down the high risk time for bloat
(gastric dilatation) and torsion of the stomach. See the BLOAT
section. I suggest you continue to feed him twice a day throughout his adult life
since two small meals are safer than one large one. Older dogs may need
less. I have a three year old who maintains perfect weight on 3/4 cup twice
a day. If you have trouble deciding on how much to feed, please call me, or
consult your veterinarian. Please note that weI use LARGE breed puppy food. The experts at the Ontario
Veterinary College suggest that there are strong environmental influences
in the development of hip dysplasia, and advised me years ago to keep
puppies on this (your pup was weaned onto Purina Pediatric at the age of
five weeks, and will be switched to large breed food soon after eight weeks
of age). The rationale is that they'll reach their full growth potential
anyway, but they'll do so more gradually thus giving their muscle
development time to keep up with the bone growth, so their hips have a
better chance. It is therefore also important that the puppy has the
exercise she needs to develop and tone his muscles, and that he not run
wildly up and down stairs or on slippery surfaces that might cause him to
fall or do the splits and wrench his developing hips. The best exercise is
brisk, on-leash walking. You should be doing that frequently and regularly
at least as long as his bones are maturing . . . up to 15 - 17 months of
age. *******
The following are some tips that I find valuable and would like to share
with you. You might wish to seek your Vet's opinion about some of these: *******
GASTRIC TORSION or BLOAT (GVD) N.B. There is recent research that suggests our old ways of trying to avoid
bloat are not enough, and may indeed be harmful. For instance, bloat is
more likely to happen if you feed kibble containing citric acid as a
natural preservative, and the risk is four-fold greater if you add water to
a food that contains citric acid. Who'd have thought lemon juice dangerous
to dogs? The risk is also heightened if your dog food lists fat among the
first four ingredients. For more information, and a calculator to assess
your dog's risk of getting this horrible condition, go to
www.vet.purdue.edu/epi/dietrisk.htm
www.vet.purdue.edu/epi/clbr.htm
www.vet.purdue.edu/newsletters/1999/fall/gdv.htm A GOOD RULE to help avoid the gastric torsion I mentioned when I advised
you never to overfill the dog's stomach is to make sure the dog does not
have heavy exercise within an hour before or two hours after eating a meal.
By "heavy" I mean exercise hard enough to make the dog flop down, panting.
This is particularly important after eating, since running and jumping with
a full stomach makes it easier for the gut to twist around on itself.
Another risk activity is rolling the dog over from one side to the other:
If you need the dog to turn over, stand him up then ask him to lie on his
other side (vets are taught this so they don't get sued because of
accidentally causing a torsion). Do not use raised food bowls. Beware of the dog who suddenly seems reluctant to move and looks
uncomfortable; has a belly that feels firm or hard to the touch, as if it's
bloated; the gums become dark pink, almost purple. There may be repeated
retching without significant vomiting. Should some or all of these signs
appear, get the dog to a vet QUICKLY. Minutes count. The longer between
torsion and surgery, the greater the chances that the dog will not survive.
Think ahead--know how to access emergency veterinary services in your area.
Consider pet insurance--many wonderful pets are put to sleep because their
owners cannot afford the veterinary treatment they need in an emergency.
TREATS
There have been instances of dogs choking on or developing bowel blockages
from pieces of rawhide and Pigs' ears. As a matter of fact, anything that
potentially could cause choking could also block the intestine if it gets
down far enough. The dog does not have to swallow huge chunks to cause a
problem: Rawhide and similar treats are indigestible; little chunks can
accumulate and eventually build up to cause a blockage. If you must give
your dog rawhide it's best to choose the kind that's made from compressed
flakes so that it will disintegrate more easily if it becomes lodged in her
throat, ?sophagus, or intestine. (I avoid rawhide completely--there are
other fun things in life!) Try celery or carrots sliced longitudinally, or
use thin apple wedges or halved grapes (handy for hiding pills in!). Cut
"RollOver" into 3mm cubes--if you're using them as a training tool you'll
need the pieces to be pretty small otherwise you'll end up with a fat (but
obedient!) pooch. You may also use cheese to train, (I like mozzarella
string cheese best), but make the pieces tiny so you don't hand out large
total amounts. RECIPE Training Treats: Quarter Red Hots longitudinally then cut them into
small pieces . . . you can get 70 to 100 from a single wiener . . . wrap
them in paper toweling and dehydrate them in the microwave, stirring them
every one to two minutes. Because I use food lures and rewards a great deal in the early training
stages (and, far more occasionally, later) I do not want to be compelled
only to use junk food for this purpose. A useful trick I have adopted is as
follows: TIP Instead of just feeding the dog, I measure out the appropriate amount
of kibble into his dish but don't put it down for him yet. First I take a
handful of the kibble pellets, put them in my pocket, and have a little
fun'n'games play training session with the pooch, using his ordinary dog
food both as training lure and as reward. This works because he's hungry.
When he's spent a few minutes being the Smartest Dog In The World (they all
are, you know), I tell him how superlatively wonderful he is, put water on
his kibble, set the dog dish down and let him eat. Bones are an absolute NO-NO! Any bone, big or little, cooked or raw, may
cause serious gastrointestinal harm to your dog. The exception is the hard,
sterilized bones that cannot be broken. They're sold in pet supply stores,
and will keep your pup busy for hours if you stuff some yummy treat like
cheese inside. Even these are not good if the dog spends his time chewing
on the bone itself rather than merely trying to extricate the stuffing, for
it's easy to crack teeth on such bones. Better to stuff a Kong toy or a
Buster Cube. I recycle large-mouthed plastic peanut butter jars. A smear of
peanut butter or Cheez Whiz inside the jar keeps Fido busy for ages. People food is generally not a good dog treat on a regular basis. I must
admit that I allow my house dogs to lick people plates, just for the taste,
but I never give them any appreciable quantity of people stuff for fear of
upsetting the carefully calculated nutritional balance of their dog kibble.
The best meat treat I can think of is to let them share a ca