Video Call Training
Puppy Teeth
How Dogs Make Puppies
From our experience over the years we’ve decided that it would be beneficial to explain how puppies arrive on planet earth as many people are not completely clear on this and think they can (or we can) “order” a puppy somehow.
Female dogs come in “heat” usually twice a year. Heat is their short time frame when dogs can get pregnant. This is not always exactly the case. Sometimes it can be only once a year and the timing is also only an estimate. There is usually few days during each heat cycle when the male and female dogs can or will breed. This is also not a for sure thing. Sometimes the male will refuse to breed the female or vice versa. Sometimes it happens that the dogs bred successfully but for whatever reason the female did not get pregnant.
On top of that no-one can ever know how many puppies the momma doggie will have and on top of that no-one can predict how many of those puppies will survive and or will be healthy, and on top of that no-one can predict how many males and females of what colour will be born. Only mother nature can.
We have lifelong experience with breeding and training dogs but still can only use our best estimates based on our experiences in the past.
That is why when we tell our clients that they could expect their puppy in the fall, it is only our best educated guess. We can not “order” a large black and white male puppy to arrive on July 23rd for example, like many people are used to with material things online nowadays...
Dog Games
Dog Health Tests
Alright because this is becoming such a thing, same as running to a vet with every loose stool, I will shine some light on it. It will also become a bigger “thing” as vets can not do tails, ears and dewclaws now and this is such a nice sounding lobby. Everyone needs to get a health test for their dog, right? Wrong :)
Vet health tests hold a little value for me. When it comes to hip and elbow dysplasia I can see it has 0 effect on the results of your breeding and the health of hips and elbows of your puppies or the breed as a whole. That is a fact, no matter how you wanna twist it and that was a primary reason why I ended my long relationship with the German Shepherd breed and started with GSP and Belgian Malinois. This was a big step for me as GSD are sort of a heritage for me and I love them very much. And FYI all German Shepherd Dogs must have hip and elbow tests before breeding in Europe! Yet they are about the worst for it now besides Golden Retrievers. Explain that! Honestly, this is where this article should end. Even with all the testing, the issue is only getting worse so obviously it has no effect on breeding and genetic health of the puppies the way we see it.
Nobody was able to eliminate hip dysplasia nor know what and how it is caused. Imho mostly by inbreeding or line-breeding how people "nicely" call this sick practice. I have definitely never saw it caused by any environmental stress. Running or jumping, that theory has always been completely made up in order to present some sort of a smart-sounding idea and yet is so present online. (Which doesn’t surprise me) I have however seen many benefits to exercising your dogs vs leaving them to sit for the first 18 months without adding stress load on their body progressively.
We run all our dogs on our sled team and that is partially how we test our dogs for their health. That is how every breeder should test their dogs, by working them to see their limits! Because Xrays don't show much at all till the dog is fully matured anyways and if your dog can run 30-50 milers, and not be sore and be ready to do it again tomorrow, his hips are perfect. We also dock dive with our dogs and again, if they can jump over 20 feet, their hips are in top shape. Etc etc. But oh wait, most breeders don’t do much with their dogs besides talking a lot and feed them space food so they will tell you all about their health tests and how important they are ;)
I think heart test is the same as above, no point explaining much there except the fact that most veterinarians can’t really tell you much about your dog’s heart with a stethoscope. It has to be a specialist and even then, those results are sooo all over the place that there just isn’t much point to them at all as a preventative test. Again if you want to really test your dog’s health, you just have to do it with hard work and exercise.
So here are my two cents again :) Keep it simple lol. I know it’s hard to understand sometimes lol.
Puppy Biting
I think it is important to understand that they don't have hands like us humans and they use their mouth to interact with us and express themselves. People often perceive it as something bad and even aggressive (even tho the pup is only 8 weeks old). IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AGGRESSION nor future biting you really. They just want to play and that is how they know to do it. This biting will stop after they stop teething and if not then it is very easy to stop it later on. I very very seldom come across dogs that have so much self-confidence that they would be willing to bite me after they are maybe 6 months old. (a handful of times in my life and I have worked many titled Schutzhund and IPO dogs) On the contrary, most pet dogs that I work with have low self-esteem, even tho their owners think how macho their dogs are. Usually, it takes one bad look or one time to raise my voice (the right way, not a squeeky mad shriek) to make them stop.
Basically, your puppy is offering you a very handy way to constructively interact together and mould his temperament and selfesteem in the way you need to. The same goes for a tug of war. Play together and you be the judge of who wins when. I generally would let almost all pups and all GSPs win about 80% of the time. So take what he gives you and shape it to what you need it to be. For any of the police oriented dog sports this ideology is a complete must.
Generally the dogs that get into fights later are the ones that are scared because they have never been played with this way. Rough housing for fun with some system to it and learning to stop when they are told. Just like ALL the animals would do in the wild ;)
10 First Things ToDo with New GSP Malinois Puppy at Home
1. Take your puppy to Potty Outside after every time he Eats, Sleeps or Plays
2. Remember they need a lot of Sleep, even if you have to lock them in the crate
3. Don't Spoil your puppy. It won't do anyone any good, him or you
4. Kennel Train your pup
5. Feed about 3 times a day. Take away what he doesn't finish in 10 minutes and use it for next feeding
6. Go for next set of Vaccines about 1 week after you pick up your puppy
7. Your pup will have dirty ears. That's normal. Don't worry about it, they will clean themselves
8. Don't Bath your puppy. At least the first week or 2.
Don't Wash Your Puppy
GSP and Malinois Puppy adoption form
The form helps us place you with the best possible puppy for your expectations and life style. We always try to match our clients and their GSP or Malinois puppies to the best of our abilities.
Dog Poop
Feeding a GSP Puppy
Training a Little Puppy
Rescuing a Dog
How Much Exercise
Collar vs Harness
Separation Anxiety
Kennel Training
Potty Training
Don't Spoil Your Puppy
This is not a complex article, more of just a suggestion. Try not spoiling your puppy more then you have to :) I know it might be hard, but in the end, it will be all your fault when things go bad later on. See if you give your new puppy all the attention, cuddles and time in the world, he/she will be expecting that for the rest of his life because that is what he will think is normal and it is not possible. Your dog will need structure and rules and limitations in order to live happily in the human environment. It is not fair IMO to spoil your puppy for the first 2 months with you and then cut him off and start correcting him for what was once perfectly fine and maybe even "cute". Love your new pet, treat him good and with respect, but set your boundaries right from the start. This will prevent you saying 6 months down the road "we love him so much, but we can't give him the time he needs so we are looking for a new forever home for him". Please believe me on this...
Dog Food
My GSP seems too SKINNY. No, he doesn't. You are just used to Fat Dogs. GSPs are working and running dogs. They are lean, esp till they are 2 or even 3 years old and fill out a bit.
PROTEIN Level. It has been a "phat" lately to feed kibble with Protein levels in the high 30s to low 40s percent to pet dogs. I have seen many horrific experiences from feeding such food. Unless you live in the Yukon, your dogs live outside year round and run 10s of miles mushing daily, don't even think about it! I personally know several cases of allergies developed from feeding such high protein (IMO) diets and often it means life in agony or death out of mercy. For example, pure Chicken Meat has about 25% protein. Give this a thought for a while... My dogs often run 25km every second day with the sled in the winter and I feed 26% protein food. Take it or leave it, but I am serious about this paragraph ;-)