Puppies arrive in their new homes with an abundance of charm, and they all seem to come into the world knowing exactly how to use it to beguile their new owners. They have all kinds of wonderful characteristics, some of which are the very reasons you chose the pup you did—playful exuberance, a sweet face, and a soft, warm body to cuddle. In fact, being taken in by your puppy’s charisma may just be what marks the start of a lifelong friendship. The memories of naughtiness fade, but the charm remains. Puppies also come “complete with batteries,” and are ready to absorb their environment like a sponge. A pup learns from every gesture of your arms, legs, face; from your tone of voice; from how you speak to others and how differently you speak to him. Your puppy has an inner clock that quickly resets to his new household’s routine—when to wake up, when to eat, when Johnny leaves for school, when to go to sleep. Everything. And he learns it all in a matter of days! What you teach, how you teach, and when you teach will determine what kind of adult your puppy will become. If everyone in the household races to answer the phone, one ding-a-ling will be the starter’s gun for the puppy, too. On the other hand, you can (and should) teach your puppy to sit and stay when you are on the phone. Note I used the word “teach” rather than “train.” Teaching allows your puppy to participate in the learning process. You teach and the pup learns. Training is essentially robotic. Soldiers are trained. Circus animals are trained. It’s the “don’t think, just obey” method, and it should not be used on puppies. A year from now, if you’re considering competitive obedience, you may decide to go that route, which is okay because by then your puppy will have learned how to understand your instructions. The puppy has so much to learn that he may become sloppy about house rules, only because he is in such a hurry to know it all. It is your responsibility (in addition to basic care) to maintain consistency in enforcing the rules and disciplining your puppy. And by “discipline” I mean positive teaching, not punishment. Each person in the family needs to know and use the same “action” words (sit, come, off, etc.) in the same tone of voice, and require the same outcome, or else the puppy will be confused. Teaching your puppy is truly not complicated, and I’ll go into it in detail later in this book. Puppies, like these Siberian Huskies, have a lot to learn. It’s your job to be their loving teacher.
Preparing for Your Puppy There are a few things that should have been taken care of before you brought the puppy home, but it’s not too late to do them today! The first is to locate a veterinarian (your pup’s second-best friend). You can often get a referral from your pup’s breeder or from friends, relatives, or neighbors who take good care of their dogs. Call the veterinarian to make a getacquainted appointment. In some areas vets are overloaded and can’t take on new patients, and you may have to ask for yet another referral. Do not be intimidated. If you do not care for the doctor’s manner, personality, office personnel, or anything else, change vets! Call your local canine control officer or town official to find out at what age your puppy will require a license and what other local laws apply to dogs in your town. A license tag and proof of a rabies vaccination is usually required for dogs 6 months of age or over. That tag, along with an ID tag, should be worn on the dog’s regular collar (not the training collar) for identification. Many towns now have leash laws, for example, that require your dog to be leashed whenever he is out in public. Many also require you to pick up after your dog. Ignorance of local ordinances can result in stiff fines. There’s a lot to do to get ready for a new puppy like this Australian Shepherd.
Identifying Your DogIt’s a terrible thing to think about, but your dog could somehow, someday, get lost or stolen. How would you get him back? Your best bet is to have some form of identification on your dog. You can choose from a collar and tags, a tattoo, a microchip, or a combination of these. Every dog should wear a buckle collar with identification tags. They are the quickest and easiest way for a stranger to identify your dog. It’s best to inscribe the tags with your name and phone number; you don’t need to include your dog’s name. But tags can fall off or can be taken off, and as they age they can also become illegible. There are two ways to permanently identify your dog. The first is a tattoo, placed on the inside of your dog’s thigh. The tattoo should be your social security number or your dog’s AKC registration number. The Canadian Kennel Club requires all dogs to be tattooed with the breeder’s registration number. The problem with tattoos, though, is that wherever you choose to tattoo the dog (usually it is done in the inner thigh), you must always keep that area free of hair or the tattoo will not be visible. The second form of permanent ID is a microchip, a tiny transponder, about the size of a grain of rice, encased in sterile glass. It is placed under the skin of your dog’s shoulder by the veterinarian and remains there forever. Each chip has a unique number. When a microchip reader (not used by most canine control officers in animal shelters) is passed over the transponder, it reads the chip’s number. Microchips are becoming more and more popular and are certainly the wave of the future. A microchip or a tattoo number is useless by itself, though, which is why you must register the number with a microchip recovery service. The American Kennel Club has one, called the Companion Animal Recovery (CAR) program, or Home Again. When you register with any service, the number is stored in a database with your contact information and pertinent information about the dog. The information will also include your veterinarian’s name and phone number along with a contact you designate if you are unreachable. You’ll also need to do some shopping for your puppy, and I’ll talk about that in chapter 2. But if you haven’t already taken care of the things mentioned in this chapter, put them at the top of your “must do” list for tomorrow.
What Is the AKC?The American Kennel Club (AKC) is the oldest and largest purebred dog registry in the United States. Its main function is to record the pedigrees of dogs of the breeds it recognizes. While AKC registration papers are a guarantee that a dog is purebred, they are absolutely not a guarantee of the quality of the dog—as the AKC itself will tell you. The AKC makes the rules for all the canine sporting events it sanctions and approves judges for those events. It is also involved in various public education programs and legislative efforts regarding dog ownership. More recently, the AKC has helped establish a foundation to study canine health issues and a program to register microchip numbers for companion animal owners. The AKC has no individual members—its members are national and local breed clubs and clubs dedicated to various competitive sports.
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