Introduction To Your New Puppy
Introduction To Your New Puppy
Congratulations on the new addition to your family! Your English Cocker has the potential to be a beautiful, loyal, playful, loving household companion. Here are some important things to remember if your English Cocker puppy is to achieve his or her full potential:
1. English Cockers need regular grooming. Right now your puppy doesn’t have a lot of hair, but as he grows in size he will develop lots of coat. English Cockers should be combed or brushed out daily and should receive a full bath a minimum of once a month. You should plan to groom your English Cocker or take him to the groomer at least every other month. Please remember, an important part of grooming is keeping ears clean, nails trimmed, and teeth clean. We give weekly whole, raw turkey necks to our adult dogs to help keep their teeth clean. This works great! If you prefer to brush teeth daily, that will also work. If you do not work to keep your dog's teeth clean, you will eventually need to have your dog's teeth cleaned yearly at the vet's, which is expensive and requires anesthesia.
2. Your puppy has been eating Origen puppy food. You will be given several days worth of food to take home. Your puppy is currently used to eating three times a day. Morning, afternoon, and evening. Please continue feeding your puppy three times a day until he is sixteen weeks old and then switch to twice a day, morning and evening. Your puppy should be fed twice a day at least until he is a year old.
3. Please make an appointment to take your puppy to see your veterinarian. This is important not only for your puppy’s health, but also so that your vet can develop a good relationship with your new puppy. Make sure this first vet visit is positive and painless. Your English Cocker should see the vet at least once a year. English Cockers are generally extremely healthy dogs, so often this visit is just for a general check-up. When you take your puppy to the vet for his/her initial exam, be sure to carry your puppy in and out of the vet's office and take a towel from home to put down on the exam table. Do not allow your puppy on the floor inside of your vet's office or on the ground outside where dogs make have gone potty. Until your puppy has received his final set of vaccinations, the veterinarian's office is one of the most dangerous places he will visit. Sick dogs visit the vet, including those with parvo and distemper.
4. Your puppy may need flea and/or heartworm preventative depending on the area where you are located. Climates that freeze often during the winter are less likely to have fleas. Mild climates (such as our climate here in the Pacific Northwest) often have fleas in abundance. Your puppy is not guaranteed to not have fleas. I use Frontline Plus flea preventative on all adult dogs living with me. I use this every two months and I have absolutely no problems with fleas. I don’t consider it safe for puppies under 16 weeks however and my puppies often travel to areas outside of my yard for socialization. It is possible that your puppy may have picked up fleas during a trip somewhere, so please do speak with your vet about a flea preventative such as Frontline Plus or Advantage. Mosquitoes carrying heartworm heavily populate some areas of the US. Heartworm is transferred from dog to dog through the mosquito. This is a very dangerous parasite, which can cause heart damage and eventually death. I highly recommend giving monthly heartworm preventative if you live in an area considered to be at risk. I recommend HeartGuard, which is very safe and tastes like a treat. WA State has had very few heartworm cases and it is considered to be a heartworm free area. I do not know how long that will be the case, as heartworm cases are rising rapidly in the US.
5. Your puppy has received his first vaccinations. You will get a copy of his vaccination record. We recommend a full schedule of vaccinations as a puppy (6-8 weeks, 11-12 weeks, 15-16 weeks.) Your puppy should not be exposed to strange dogs (meaning dogs who you do not know the living situation and medical background of. Your friends' vaccinated dogs are perfect for safely socializing your new puppy) until all of these puppy vaccinations are given. We recommend a booster DHLP-P vaccination at a year of age and from then on we vaccinate with DHLP-P every three years. We do not recommend the Bordatella vaccination, unless for some reason it is required by the facility that you take your puppy classes from. We have found the bordatella vaccination to be fairly useless and many other breeders have had the same experience. Please discuss this with your veterinarian. Many veterinarians are now familiar with what is called a “reduced vaccination schedule.” Please do not give yearly vaccinations, which is a very outdated practice and goes against all recent research as the the length of time that vaccinations last for. Over vaccinating your dog can actually be harmful and is linked with the increased incidence of autoimmune diseases in dogs. Please follow your state’s guidelines for rabies vaccinations.
6. Your English Cocker needs regular exercise. English Cockers enjoy swimming, running, chasing, playing fetch, playing tug, and many other games. Simply taking your English Cocker for a walk twice a day with a retractable lead will provide a good amount of exercise. Please remember as a puppy your English Cocker will be VERY active and need lots of play time with you. Your puppy should be exercised in a way that is not harmful on his/her joints. Offlead exercise is ideal. Do not take your puppy jogging for long distances or biking until at least 18 months of age.
7. Last, but not least, the biggest investment you can make in this puppy is that of a good obedience training class. You and your puppy will seriously benefit from taking advantage of a good puppy kindergarten or household obedience class. Find a class that believes in a positive method of training. English Cockers respond well to training as play, not as punishment. Even if you feel you have the knowledge to train this puppy yourself, a good obedience class will provide lots of socialization for your new puppy. If your puppy is given the chance to learn new things and interact with other dogs and people at a young age, you will have a fearless, loving, outgoing English Cocker as an adult.
We highly recommend the following schedule for classes:
* A initial puppy kindergarten class at under six months of age. This will provide excellent socialization opportunities.
* A basic obedience class at 6-9 months of age.
* An Off-Lead obedience class or a rally obedience class at 9-12 months of age.
Please remember that good owners make great dogs. You will only get out of your dog the effort that you put into your dog. Classes are a lot of work and may seem useless if you think you already know how to train your dog, but they provide a distracting environment, feedback from an instructor, a weekly outing for your dog, and great socialization. People who have dogs from me report that they LOVE to take class. Taking a class with your dog is a gift that you can give yourself and your dog. I cannot stress enough how much benefit is to be achieved from taking a positive, rewards based class with your English Cocker, no matter the age. Have you considered clicker training or agility training and never tried it? Now is a great time!