New Puppy due Wednesday

Hughesy84

Had his 1st injection. Also got a 4 week worming & flea treatment.

Back in 2 weeks for his next injection & chip.

Weighs 2.5 and in good health.

Food wise he's on Beta Puppy complete - that a good brand?

foreign_correspondent

Are these the ingredients?

Cereals (min 4% rice), Meat and Animal
Derivatives (min 4% chicken or lamb), Derivatives of vegetable origin (min 0.5% beet pulp), Vegetable protein extracts, Oils and fats, Minerals, Vegetables (min 0.5% chicory)

If so, it seems quite low in meat content, and 'meat and animal derivatives' is a bit vague.. it also seems quite expensive for those ingredients at £25+ for a 15kg bag... you may want to have a look at some others and compare - maybe have a look at CSJ puppy food, I have just swapped my dog onto CSJ and it seems to be good quality and good value for money...

suki1964

Hughesy84 wrote: »

Had his 1st injection. Also got a 4 week worming & flea treatment.

Back in 2 weeks for his next injection & chip.

Weighs 2.5 and in good health.

Food wise he's on Beta Puppy complete - that a good brand?

The general consensus on this and other forums is that most of the supermarket, easily available foods are not "good". Thats not to say that they are bad, just there are some foods better then others

You need to decide for yourself what you think constitutes a good food and what you can afford

Beta puppy is a complete and its made by one of the largest pet food companies in the world Purina. Now while their ingredients may not be the best in the world, they arent the worse and on the whole its not the worse list of ingredients out there

Dont get too het up on meat content - high protein diets can make the dog poop a lot or even make for a hyper dog.

My personal choice is for a complete thats made with real chicken ( not that mashed up chicken as I call it, the waste chicken from food production - or "derived" as the pet food companies call it)

Rule of thumb is if your pup is happy and healthy and is doing well on the food - why change until the time comes you have to change to a junior or adult? However if you are still getting sloppy poo and everything else is ruled out, then yes change the food. Theres a load of threads on this forum all dedicated to whats best to feed your pup, but as I say, you can only read up and make your own choice and trial and error

Hughesy84

suki1964 wrote: »

However if you are still getting sloppy poo and everything else is ruled out, then yes change the food.

We sorted that problem out....no water excess on his food now. Just his food with a bowl of water next to it - back to normal, a happy chappy and now learned where and when his food will be and also where to get a drink from :T.

At 8 week he is doing VERY well so far....Wee's & Poo's on command, 95% of the time outside, the remaining time (probably once every 1 or 2 days) - he will do it on his own cover (so not the carpet).

suki1964

Sounds like you are going great guns

Seeing as theres no poo problem now and pup seems happy on the food, keep him on it.

If you do decide to change for whatever reason, dont forget to change very slowly over about a week - just swapping a wee bit at a time.

Hughesy84

Next trick

How can I get him to behave with other dogs? He stays at the missus mum's when we are at work and they have a jack Rusell.

The JR is soft and probably scared of his own shadow - my pup however runs up to him and tries to play/ nip, however the JR just runs off. How can I stop him bullying the bigger dog and to be nice?!

UKTigerlily

Are you going to be taking him to training classes? Once he's had his second vaccinations & if you take him to classes he'll soon learn to socialise & greet nicely! Do you know any confident Dogs he could mix with? (Vaccinated only of course)

~Chameleon~

Hughesy84 wrote: »

Next trick

How can I get him to behave with other dogs? He stays at the missus mum's when we are at work and they have a jack Rusell.

The JR is soft and probably scared of his own shadow - my pup however runs up to him and tries to play/ nip, however the JR just runs off. How can I stop him bullying the bigger dog and to be nice?!

I know this isn't what you want to hear but I'll say it anyway for the benefit of anyone else reading and looking to get a young puppy

The behaviour you describe is absolutely normal puppy behaviour. If the pup was still with mum and siblings, which he should be until at least 12 weeks old, then he would be taught what is acceptable behaviour and receive a good old reprimand from mum when he overstepped the mark.

The JR isn't his mum and is probably feeling somewhat overwhelmed at this young whippersnapper coming into HIS territory and pushing him around and the more he's allowed to get away with being bolshy and nippy the more he will do it, thus taking on a dominant role. This could lead to behavioural issues as the pup gets older.

He would benefit greatly from being enrolled into a puppy training class (does your vet hold puppy parties?) and learn to socialise properly with pups his own age

Great news about the feeding and toileting though, he's obviously a very sharp little fella and learns quickly so you should have no problems when it comes to training him

suki1964

Have to agree - thats normal puppy behaviour and puppies can usually get away with it till they get about 6 months when their " puppy licence" runs out and other dogs snap back

So you need to be at puppy classes and socialising your pups with pups of his age


Its always difficult introducing a new pup to a household where there is an existing dog, esp if that dog has issues around other dogs already. In this case the JT sounds like hes not coping and cant hold his own on his own territory and you could be seeing some serious problems in a few months time

Hughesy84

UKTigerlily wrote: »

Do you know any confident Dogs he could mix with? (Vaccinated only of course)

Yeah my mate has a big Rotty that will teach him to calm down :rotfl:. I know its normal puppy behaviour, just wanted to know If I could get him to be good early and then the poor JR isnt worried about him. To be fair they were led together yesterday at one point.

The JR doesnt live with us....he's a big wimp and is scared of the cats ha ha! Anyway thanks for the advice - il get a bigger dog to calm him down 1st and then attend puppy classes!