The pup should be apparently in excellent health and condition having had a veterinary examination during the course of his inoculations, notwithstanding that ideally the pup should be traumatised as little as possible during its change of home. This is a very stressful period for some pups and great care should be exercised. Do not be concerned with the fact that pups will exhaust themselves in play very quickly and ‘crash out’ so to speak on the spot, ie sleeping within minutes. This is absolutely normal and it is also extremely common for the heart to over-react at times due to prolonged or additional excitement. As the pup grows these occasions become less and less until it learns to cope admirably with all situations it encounters.

The pup has left its litter mates having been wormed at 3, 4, 5 and 6 weeks old. Another worming at 8 weeks old should have taken place and thereafter 4 months old is recommended. No further worming should be required until the pup is 6 months old and then every 6 months thereafter. Your veterinarian should be able to provide you with suitable compound for this purpose. It is not recommended purchasing the variety from pet shops.

Inoculations

All necessary precautions should be taken as there is a poor recovery rate, and at best leaving the pup seriously incapacitated, from the canine viruses.

Dog licence

The dog licence which you have shown me should be kept up to date.

Toilet training

The easiest method is with papers and if this system is used training should be accomplished within weeks. If the weather is good the pup should be fed and kept outside until it has ‘performed’ and then you should shower it with praise. It learns quickly from ‘praise’. If in the home place the papers within reach of the pup, plenty of them to start with, and gradually reduce the number until one only is at the back of the door and eventually it waits at the door to get out. Do not stick the pup’s nose in any waste product; this is absolute nonsense and achieves little.

General training

Do not slap a pup with papers this is very cruel and achieves nothing except to teach the pup to be frightened of papers. To get a pup’s attention it is always best to use an enticement. To correct it lift the pup by the scruff of the neck and shake it, repeatedly saying ‘no’. This is what the mother does. (well obviously does not say ‘no’). Be consistent - do not let it onto a chair one moment and then chase it the next. Do not string sentences such as “oh! do not do that’ - just simply NO. One word commands will suffice and never say ‘come here and sit down’ - this is 4 commands to a dog. One word commands are all that is necessary - do not confuse the animal with more.

Feeding

Well this is crucial to the growth and development of the young individual. There are many excellent products, such as Royal Canin, Eukanuba, Hills, Beta, Bento, Pedigree, Purina Pro Plan and provided the right formula is obtained they are all very efficient. Through time if wished, one can feed meat or other dietary items. Be careful however, pups are wise creatures and if they get used to steak they will demand steak. Our pups are reared on Royal Canin Baby Dog starter food and then weaned on to Junior at around 12 weeks.

At times with the changeover of diet or indeed just at times, the pups stomach may become upset and diarrhoea ensue. Provided there are no other symptoms such as vomiting the following procedure is advised. Keep all food away from the pup, even though it wants it, and offer water only (not milk). Give the pup an appropriate dose of Kaolin and Morphine (or alternative) over a period of 24 hours. If the diarrhoea has stopped feed a little white meat and then perhaps some scrambled egg. Very little at a time. After another 24 hours you should be able to ascertain the extent the upset has cleared and then you can put the pup back to its regular feeding but very gradually with small amounts at a time. Do not worry about the weight it will soon put it on when back to normal. If however, there is blood being passed or projectile vomiting is taking place a visit to the veterinarian is essential. Do not add any extra vitamins to the feeding provided the proprietary recommended meals are being used. The pups body will expel any unnecessary vitamins such as calcium and in fact extra doses can do more harm than good.

Chewing

Provide the pup with his own toys and this should avoid problems of the destructive nature but you may have to be patient and wait for his teething period to finish.

Liability

Whilst we have done our best to ensure that the pups are free of hip dysplasia, haemophilia and epilepsy disaster can still strike. We undertake to try and replace the pup to everyone’s satisfaction provided veterinary evidence is available to us. It should also be noted that with hip dysplasia anything other than 0 is technical dysplastic. The breed average is around 20 but most dogs with a score of up to 40 provided there are no other factors involved can lead perfectly normal lives.

General

The puppy should have been presented to you with pedigree, kennel club registration and can be transferred for the appropriate fee on the certificates. We also recommend you continue with your personal insurance cover when the free insurance cover which has been provided in the purchase has expired. All reputable breeders should be available within reason to answer any queries you may have regarding your new pup. In the following pages we have attempted to cover some of the ‘little’ problems encountered with pups and hope that the narrative will be of help.

Most problems that arise are toilet training, chewing and noise. These are dealt with although there is always one which has not read the rule book and improvisation may be necessary.

Some useful information
The Ulster German Shepherd Dog Club
Secretary: Karen Milliken, 31 Killinchy Road, Comber 028 91 873501

The German Shepherd Dog League of GB Secretary Carole Lester,
The German Shepherd Dog Breed Council (publish a quarterly magazine on the GSD) Secretary: Sheila Rankin, 95a Shepherd Hill, Harolds Wood, Essex
The Kennel Club, 1-5 Clarges Street, Piccadilly, London W1Y 8AB
The Irish Kennel Club, 36 Greenmount Office Park, Harold Cross Bridge, Dublin 6W

SOCIALISATION

The importance of the above is manifold in that today’s society demands that we as humans conform, everything must be in its slot and ultimately this leads to the situation whereby there is a place for everything and nothing should be out of place. Not wishing to remonstrate about the direction that the modern, educated world is taking we are still left with the irrefutable fact that the demands of today call for the dog to be socially acceptable to the human race. What exactly does this mean! Interpreted literally it means that the dog should not:

• Bark
• Defecate
• Greet anyone
• Run free
• Shed
• Fight

Society is happy for the dog to perform as:

• Blind leaders
• Deaf hearers
• Guards (under control)
• Experimental material

The dog loving public oddly enough is not quite in the minority, having, of the overall pet owning population, 25% of the share. However, the greater majority see dogs as a nuisance and at best something to run around a yard. So how do we deal with this situation. We simply have to ensure that our dogs, in as far as we possibly can, do not cause any reason for complaint as unfortunately the law and everything else is very heavily weighted against the poor dog. Even the cat and horse have more support than the dog.

So these issues have to be tackled by educating the dog. Buying the book and setting it in front of it does not seem to work, so how do we overcome this?! The sooner the indoctrination begins the better. If we can start with the pup and teach it a few of the do’s and don’ts then we will have a sound base to build on.

The most essential part of socialising a pup is to train it how to behave with:

1) People
2) Other dogs

Most of the behavioural components required for both of these are similar. The dog should not bite, snap, bark at, jump on or run away from people or other dogs. The most accepted type of attitude society calls for is for the dog to ignore everything else around it and just pay attention to its owner. This state of learning can be achieved ultimately with the older dog if its learning habits are channelled carefully from the beginning.

Coercion in training should be avoided at all costs; but there may come a time with some very obstreperous dogs when mild force may be the only answer as against a permanent visit to the vet.

So pups are very much like young children; adult dogs are much like older children - very little change! When we are attempting to do anything with the pup try and imagine what it is thinking and remember your childhood. Being a devil was always fun and you, the perpetrator never saw any harm in your devilment. The pup is exactly the same it cannot understand why it should not do certain things or indeed more important how to avoid doing these things. It is up to us to show the pup the right way, ie to make it more socially acceptable.

We should not be so concerned with getting the pups to perform precise obedience but rather to teach them the acceptable levels of behaviour and how to integrate into the canine world of the adult dogs and more importantly how to interact with the human race. What may seem very simple to an individual may be very difficult to another. For instance some children are frightened of the dark, others are very daring in the dark. But would you with a frightened child lock it in the dark room to cure it! I think not, so punishment is not the reward with dogs either. We must at all times be precise and attempt to use the same commands. They are very clever at noticing routines and will anticipate what you are going to do next before you even know it.

So we must start by teaching the pup to be tolerant and not frightened or aggressive towards dogs or humans. This is achieved by praise when it is doing what you want and stern handling when it is not.

Some of the habits of dogs most disliked by humans:

Barking dog

Most dogs bark unfortunately. This is their method of communication. Yet; in some areas of England there has been bylaws passed that prohibit the dog from barking!! No-one as yet seems to be able to get the dog to read the bylaw though so it is not sure how this is going to be implemented. But let us try and tackle the dog which barks, whines, generally makes a noise consistently.

Many things need to be taken into consideration not least of all the age. Here we will deal with the young pup.

The major reasons dogs bark is:

1. Attention
2. Fear
3. Aggression
4. Play
5. Boredom

1, 4 and 5 can sometimes be interlinked. As the pup is after attention in order to play which breaks the boredom. 2 and 3 are intrinsic characteristics of the dog and have to be handled in a disciplined manner.

The problem with the dog who barks primarily for attention is that even scolding it gets the dog the attention it craves. So use reverse physiology perhaps let it see you so that its attention is drawn to you and not the other way around; but do not make of it. Keep using such methods or drawing its attention without paying attention to it and eventually it will become bored with you and prefer to do other things.

With pups play and boredom are frequent offenders causing the pup to bark. It is learning and gets excited about everything. Let it have plenty of toys of its own and try to give it attention at the ‘danger times’ ie when it wakes from sleep, before it is settled down for the night and first thing in the morning. A regular amount of play and interaction at these times will teach the pup his habits and he will soon learn when the time for play which relieves boredom take place and thus his routine will become established without a lot of noise during the intervening periods.

To control barking through fear or aggression the methods used are similar. The dog must be taught to respect you and your wishes more than his own instincts. Training the dog in his stress situations to be properly behaved will eventually cure this. It will not make the dog less fearful or aggressive but just more controllable. To control general barking for no apparent reason there are two methods one can employ. The dog can be taught to bark (yes) and once this exercise is learnt it can then be controlled. Simply by saying No or any other suitable word you want to use when you end an exercise. This method means that you have turned what the dog was doing itself into something you want the dog to do or not do. You now control the dog and not the other way around. The method of teaching the dog to bark can be learnt in obedience training.

The alternative is to shock the dog into not barking. If the dog gets a scare every time it barks it starts to think twice. One method of chastising the dog without actually hurting it or interfering in any way with its future capabilities for training, is to use water. The sound of water and the very cold effect afterwards has an almost magical effect on the auditory senses of the dog. One must be ready for the event. Have a bucket of water handy, stand hidden in a convenient very close by spot and when the dog starts to bark throw the contents of the bucket immediately at it and shout very loudly NO. With most dogs this is only necessary perhaps once or twice. With the hardened barker more attempts may be necessary or a stepping up of the volume of water with the dog left to suffer a bit in his wet surroundings.

No one method of teaching a dog is correct there are many and varied ways and each owner must be able to assess his own pet and put into action the remedy for the problem. But owners must learn to be consistent and not proceed half way along the cure and then give in. Barking and noisy dogs are a big, big reason for many owners selling their dogs or worst still sending them to the big house in the sky.

Defecate

Not a pleasant subject, but one nevertheless which appears to cause absolutely everyone concern. Dogs are not allowed to perform this very personal act on a pavement, road, park, beach or any place where the human species is situ. All other animal life can perform this act at will without any risk of interference.

The faeces of the dog are blamed for toxicarnus, smell, unsightly and many serious diseases in children. In fact the most common cause for disease in humans, young or old, is through the cat or fox. Both these creatures pollute and cause more harmful excreta, full of worms, than any other domestic animal (I label the fox domestic as it freely roams our cities and lives in our gardens). The flea for instance which can be found on dogs or humans is 99.9 times out of a 100 a cat flea. They are prolific suppliers of the flea as indeed is the hedgehog. However, I digress. Frankly it is impossible to prevent the dog from having an accident in some of these sacred places. The only thing one can do is to carry a plastic bag or poop scoop. The best method is to teach your dog to ‘go’ in his own back garden and then dispose of it hygienically in the proper manner. This is at least, one facet that you can do something about by careful husbandry.

Greet anyone The reason I put this heading in, is that it is the natural instinct of the dog to jump on people they like in order to lick their face. This is the natural greeting of dog to dog and the poor dog thinks it is giving the human a compliment by attempting to lick the face. Of course, we do not like this and even less do the dog hating public. So once again we have to retrain our dogs to be unnatural. Instead of greeting in their own fashion we ask them to ‘cower’ by sitting at the human’s feet or totally ignoring them entirely.

Run free

This carries the same penalties and problems as the greeting but with the added problem that no-one wants the dog near them or their children at all. This is human space not doggy space. Really there is no answer to this one. The only way one can take a dog into this situation is either on the lead or at heel. Not very satisfactory to either party. If one has a car and is prepared to drive miles a wilderness may be found where the dog can romp to its heart’s content.

Shed

The coat of the dog is made to protect it for its various purposes in life. We the human have decided that these purposes in life are no longer necessary. Its usefulness is getting less and less in the human world. So no-one wants hairs all around the house or themselves and types of coats are now being bred into strains that do not shed. This can only be detrimental for the dog long-term.

Fight

Yes, well apart from the dog that fights through sheer aggression, which would have to be controlled via strict training and control, there is also the circumstances in which even the most placid of dogs will fight. The dog that fights because of aggression can be dealt with by training as in the barking dog through aggression ie strict obedience control. Sometimes dogs fight for odd reasons. Dogs that normally get on together fight. Females in season will fight in order to ‘win’ their suitor. Males likewise will fight if they feel they have competition for their advances. Jealousy can cause fights. The one thing that people get excited about is the big dog fighting the small dog. Unfortunately quite often it is the small dog that starts the fight, however generally there is more noise than hurt. Once again however, to control the fight instinct the steps are, to be wise to your dog’s particular situation, needs and if you know they will react in a certain situation, avoid that situation like the plague. In other words be ready, anticipate and control.