Vaccinations

Vaccinations are necessary to protect your dog against 3 infectious and fatal viral diseases: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis & Canine Parvovirus.  These vaccines are given in combination with a vaccine for Canine Cough (Canine Parainfluenza, and Bordetella Bronchiseptica).

In kennel & litter situations vaccines which protect against Canine Coronavirus and Leptospirosis icterohaemorrhagiae are given in addition at 6 and 12 weeks.

Puppies:

6-8 weeks: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis and Canine Parvovirus vaccination (C3).

Or:

In litter situations: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis and Canine Parvovirus vaccination (C3) and Canine Coronavirus and Leptospirosis icterohaemorrhagiae (C₂i).

12-14 weeks: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis, Canine Parvovirus and Canine Cough Vaccination (C5).

Or:

In puppies vaccinated at 6-8 weeks with C3 and C₂i:

Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis, Canine Parvovirus and Canine Cough Vaccination and Canine Coronavirus and Leptospirosis icterohaemorrhagiae (C7).

16-18 weeks: Canine Distemper, Canine Infectious Hepatitis, Canine Parvovirus and Canine Cough Vaccination (C5).

Adults:

All adult dogs require an annual health check.  As part of this check a C5 vaccination booster is given.

Deworming

Most puppies are infected with worms. Puppies should be regularly dewormed and their droppings carefully disposed of.

Deworm puppies every 2 weeks until 12 weeks of age with a good quality ALL WORMER, such as Drontal, Milbemax, Pyraquantel or Popantel.  Drontal is available as a liquid for very small puppies.

ALL WORMER’s should then be given at 12 weeks, 16 weeks, 6 months and then 3 monthly

for life.  Alternatively Interceptor Spectrum is given monthly.

Beware of supermarket brands, as many of them do not control all types of worms and require large numbers of tablets to be given. Please ask for our advice.

Heartworm

Heartworm is endemic in Melbourne.  It is spread by Mosquitoes.

To prevent Heartworm your dog should receive either:

-          Palatable monthly Interceptor Spectrum, or Sentinel Spectrum tablets.

-          Monthly Revolution or Advocate spot-on drops. 

-          Proheart SR12 annual injection.  Proheart is most useful for dogs which are difficult to give tablets to, or for owners who have difficulty remembering to give monthly tablets. Proheart is usually given at the annual health check.

When a dog misses its heartworm prevention dose that was scheduled, please contact the clinic for advice regarding testing or the appropriate course of action.

Feeding

Puppies 6-12 weeks old should have 3-4 meals per day.

Puppies 12 - 16 weeks old should have 2-3 meals per day.

Puppies 4 - 12 months of age should have 2 meals daily.

After 12 months, adult dogs can be fed once or twice daily.

We recommend the premium quality dog foods, Hill's Science Diet and Eukanuba.  Both of these foods are of very high quality and are completely balanced for your puppy.  They are low in salt compared to supermarket foods which are high in salt to make them palatable.  They have the correct balance of oils and nutrients to give a nice shiny coat, and optimal nutrition for growth and development of your puppy.  They only contain the type of meat specified by the ingredients label on the packet and have very little indigestible matter, meaning less faeces and less smelly faeces.  Supplements should not be given with these foods.

Puppies should not be given milk, as lactose intolerance is common in dogs.  Weetbix are commonly given to young puppies during weaning.  There is no need to continue this as it has no nutritional value for your puppy except for a high carbohydrate load.

Raw meat is not recommened due to the increased risk of food poisoning.  Raw meat, even of human quality is extensively handled and processed and commonly contains high numbers of bacteria which can make your puppy ill.

It is best to give a mixture of canned and dry food.

Avoid giving your puppy a wide variety of foods.  This only makes your puppy a fussy eater.  If they are always given something different they will keep waiting for that something better. 

It is best to train your puppy to eat when food is given and not to graze.  This helps to show early signs of illness if the puppy/adult dog refuses food.  With a grazing animal it may be a longer period of time after the animal begins to get ill that it is noticed it is not eating.

Raw bones once weekly are ideal for your puppy to clean their teeth.  Uncut marrowbones and brisket bones are ideal for medium and large breed dogs, and chicken wings and necks for small breed dogs.  Raw bones shouldn’t contain an excessive amount of meat as described above.

NEVER FEED COOKED BONES.

Always provide plenty of fresh water.

Calcium supplements

Calcium is needed for healthy bone growth and is most important in larger breeds.  Calcium supplements are not required for animals on premium puppy foods

Desexing of dogs

Females (Spey):

Should be desexed at 6 - 7 months of age.

Desexing involves a general anaesthetic and surgical removal of the uterus and ovaries. It is not necessary or beneficial to allow the bitch to have a season or a litter of pups before she is desexed.

Desexing slightly lowers the metabolic rate of dogs so food intake needs to be adjusted for this.  That is an entire bitch will need more food than a speyed bitch.

Desexing has no harmful effects on the dog’s personality.

Advantages:

- Elimination of the problem of recurrent seasons.

- No unwanted pregnancies and unwanted puppies.

- Lower council registration fees.

- No risk of uterine or ovarian infection or cancer if done before 6 months. 

- Decreased risk of mammary cancer.

Males (Castration)

Should be desexed at 6- 7 months of age.  This involves a general anaesthetic and surgical removal of both testes.

Advantages:

- The dogs are less aggressive and less likely to roam.

- Lower council registration fees.

- Decreases the risk of prostate disease & cancer.

Bathing and grooming

As a rule bath your dog as often as it needs it and as infrequently as possible. Regular brushing is important to help maintain a healthy coat.

- For general bathing a mild shampoo such as Dermcare Natural shampoo, Dermacare Aloveen or Allergroom is ideal.

- Many cheaper and supermarket dog shampoo’s are rebottled human shampoos and are not recommended, they will damage your dog’s coat and skin.

- Dermcare’s Aloveen and Virbac’s Episoothe shampoo are ideal for frequently washed dogs.  They are very gentle on the coat and skin, yet have a good cleansing action.

Microchipping

Microchips contain a unique identification number which is permanently implanted in your pet.  The unique number is linked to your details on a national registry.

From the 1^st of May 2007 microchipping is now compulsory in Victoria.  The microchips are the size of a grain of rice and it is injected under the skin of your pet over the shoulder blades.

Microchips can help your pet return home safely.

Pet Tags

Identification tags can be made up to contain your pets identification details which is then attached to their collar.

House training

House training your puppy should start as soon as you get your puppy home. Take your puppy outside after it wakes up, before going to sleep, after feeding and playing.

Allow 5-15 minutes for the puppy to go to the toilet. Praise good results and then take the pup inside. Young puppies should be taken out during the night as well as they don’t have the bladder control to hold on overnight until 14-16 weeks of age.  Never scold a puppy for soiling inside, it will merely train them to soil inside when you are not watching.  It is important to regularly take the puppy outside, reward soiling outside and minimise inside ‘accidents’.  The puppy will then learn that it needs to go outside.   It you catch your puppy soiling inside, don’t scold it, but in a hurried voice pick the puppy up taking it out side saying ‘outside’ or whatever command you choose to instruct your puppy to go to the toilet; then reward the puppy.

The use of a crate as a bed to train the puppy can be helpful.  Set the crate up as a bed and this can be used to put the puppy in when you can’t watch it or during the night while you are asleep.  Puppies are unlikely to soil their bed so this will help minimise inside accidents.  The crate could be the puppies bedroom if you like, where he can go when he wants to be left alone, but should not be used as some sort of training/reprimanding item.

Training

Basic training to "sit", "come" and "heel" is advised to make your dog more controllable.  Use positive food rewards as much as possible.

Your dog should be made to sit and not start his meal until you allow it and you should always walk through a doorway before your dog.  You should be able to take food away from your dog while eating, and the same with a bone, and then give it back to him.  This develops the heirachy within your household.  This helps avoid creating a dominant dog.

The period between 8 - 16 weeks is very important in establishing behaviour patterns in your dog. Bad habits and any aggressive tendencies should be quickly controlled and eliminated.

Obedience schools and puppy classes are strongly recommended. Please ask for our advice.

“Four Paws Dog Training School” is highly recommended.

Ausdog Trainers and Bark Busters are recommended for difficult dogs.

Leads and collars:

Car harnesses are great to restrain dogs when travelling in the car only, they provide little control of your dog on a walk. 

We don’t recommend correction collars as they are commonly used inappropriately and can damage your dogs neck.

For the best control of your dog use the Black Dog head collars.  They are like power steering for your dog.  Unlike correction chains they don’t require pure strength to correct your dog, just a mild pull on the lead.  They can take a little while for the dog to get used to, but if they are placed on whilst the puppy is eating or getting some other sort of positive reward, then they get used to them very quickly.  Once your dog is well controlled and trained on a head collar then you can advance to a flat collar.  However, many dogs remain on a head collar which is of no concern.

Woven leads are the best, chain leads are to be avoided as they dig into your hand if your dog pulls and then reduce your ability to control your dog.