Your Ronin Boxers Puppy

Before leaving Ronin Boxers your puppy will have been through many things to help prepare them for their new home. However your puppy arrives home with you they will be experiencing a lot of new things for the first time so be patient with them. If they are apprehensive allow them to explore in their own time (perhaps starting with a trip outside for potty!) let them look around in their own time and do not "reassure" them with quiet words or stroking, they will interpret that as positive reinforcement for acting apprehensively.

Vaccinations

Puppies are vaccinated and vet checked before going to their new homes, and will be due for vaccinations at 9 and 12 weeks. Your puppy will come with a vaccination booklet with the date of when their next one is due. They are not fully protected until 7 - 10 days after last vaccination. Your vet will advise you which vaccinations are appropriate for your area, you may want to cover the puppy for Kennel Cough and Leptospirosis as well as the standard vaccination.

Worming

Your puppy will have been wormed at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks of age. You will need to worm them at 10 and 12 weeks, then they will go onto the longer intervals as indicated by the brand of wormer you use. From 12 weeks on a suggest using a quality brand of all wormer such as Drontal or Endoguard.

Flea Treatments

Just prior to leaving your puppy will receive a Frontline plus treatment for fleas. Frontline is easy to use, is water fast and lasts for at least 2 months. It kills fleas in all their growth stages and fleas in the environment. It is a very effective treatment but it is important to treat all the dogs and cats in the household. Your puppy will be due for another Frontline treatment at 4 months old, I suggest the top spot type treatment as it is much less messy than the spray.

Puppy Preschool

This is great fun for puppies, educational for humans and it is a neat way to meet people who have puppies the same age. We recommend these for all puppies! We've taken 8 puppies to different preschool courses now and have always enjoyed them. It is a good idea to talk with your vet about going to preschool before your puppy comes home as you may need to book well in advance. Also take your puppy lots of interesting places with new sounds and sights.

Feeding

The saying "you are what you eat" applies equally to puppies as it does to humans. What you feed your puppy is what grows the bones and tissues that they will have as an adult. Your puppy has had the best start possible, continued attention to their diet will help ensure a long healthy life. Your puppy has been eating Proplan Puppy Large Breed, this is prepared for them by soaking it with water. Because of the effort involved in chewing dry biscuits with such little teeth, puppies may not eat their dietary requirement. Introduce the dry biscuits slowly, part of a meal and then perhaps one meal a day.

When your puppy first arrives home they may not be eager to eat, this can be due to distractions or the lack of competition the litter provides. Feed the puppy somewhere free of distractions, possibly in their crate if they have one. Give them their food for 10 minutes and if they are uninterested take it away. Do not give the puppies free access to food! This can go either way, it may make them fussy or they may over-indulge.

In theory puppies need 4 meals a day until 12 weeks. Feed three times a day until six months and then twice daily.

If you are interested in feeding your puppy on a natural raw diet we can also help with this. We can even prepare a "raw raised" puppy for you. Get in touch if you would like to find out more, there is more work involved but when done correctly dogs can do very well on this type of diet.

Bones

Raw bones, such as brisket bones are wonderful natural exercise and stimulation for puppies. Raw chicken necks, wings and carcasses can be a really nice treat for dogs. Raw chicken wings are a little known secret for helping correct bad breath in dogs!

Never feed cooked bones, these can splinter and cause a lot of damage. Not to mention the vet bills that can go with it.

Water

Fresh water should be available at all times. Remember to check that your boxer can reach the bottom of the container, sometimes a container can be half full but a dog is unable to reach the water due to their head size, height or neck length.

Chocolate

This is toxic to dogs even in small amounts, please don't feed it to your boxer.

Bee stings

This is very important. Boxers are allergic to bee stings. Signs of a sting often are a swollen head, hives, itching. Often bee stings aren't a big deal, but it can be a little scary the first time you see your boxer with one. Check inside the mouth and around the face for the sting, it will help a lot if you can remove it. Watch carefully for swelling in the mouth or throat, or any signs of breathing problems if this happens take them to the vet immediately if this happens. If it is only hives and swelling around the sting site for adult dogs you can give a child's dose of claratyne or phenergan. (Halve that for a puppy.) If you have trouble getting the hives to go down the vet can give them an injection to get them down fairly quickly.

Teaching your puppy to recall

Boxers can be naughty about not coming back when off the lead. This starts at home. When your puppy is coming to you anyway, say their name then "come". Always be excited and have treats handy to reward them every time they come to you.

For going out I suggest always keeping them on a long line (about 3 metres of rope) for the first 3 or 4 months. They will be safe from harm, they don't over exercise themselves and you can control the recall. Only call your puppy to you when you know they will come, otherwise you are just teaching them to ignore you. Wait until your puppy is focused on you, say their name and then "come." If they do not come you can tug on the rope to give them the idea. Be really positive and excited, and give them a food reward as soon as they come. Sometimes it helps if you crouch to their level, wave your arms, be a fun target! To start with you use it like a long leash, then as they get older let them drag it behind (be careful you don't have them anywhere they'll hang themselves!!) and you can grab it before getting them to come back.

Remember, recall starts at home and you can practise it 20 or 30 times throughout the day!