Taking Puppy Home
This page is a work in progress, with the intention of helping your new puppy settle in as quickly and quietly as possible. Check back regularly for interesting information
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All of our puppies come with a life time of backup service, no one can guarentee a pup is going to be healthy all there lives, it is our intention to keep our lines free from these faults and defects.
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All Kobelco puppies have had the best possible upbringing , they have been wormed, frontlined and handled by the whole family from the minute they were born, they have been socialized with our other dogs, introduced to cats and swimming, as well as heard lots of load noises ( we live next to a railwayline on the beautiful Bellinger River). We recommend that you contact your vet as soon as you order a puppy to arrange a puppy preschool class for your new family member, for their socialization and for your training on how to train . It is advisable not to take your puppy to any public place until they have had their 12 week vaccinations, as there immunity from the needles does not kick in until this time. Stop Press: there is a new vaccination available called a Protec C4- ask your vet do they have it, it is given at 10 weeks and allows socialisation 2 weeks earlier than the normal 12 weeks. |
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Basic Training Only one person should be responsibly for the initial training of you pup.Dogs hear syllables not sentences!!!!! For this reason you only need to use one word per command ie Sit. Your dogs name becomes the command Come. In the photo to the right the word puppy is used!! |
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Sit To get your pup to sit use a piece of food ie sausage , place it in front of his/her nose and run it along his/here nose toward there head, they will automatically sit, use the word sit once only each time you so this. |
Drop To get your pup to drop, from the sit position hold a piece of food infront of his nose, run the food down toward the ground vertically from his/her nose they will automatically drop to reach for the food, use the word drop. You may need to rest your hand on the shoulder ever so slightly just to make him/her move toward the ground. |
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Retrieving Labradors were bred to retrieve, and so they automatically retrieve from around 6 weeks, to continue on, we train our dogs to retrieve on command only ie, make them sit, throw the ball, say leave, then when you are ready say fetch, reward them with a tid bit as soon as they come back and say give whilst placing to treat in their mouths . |
Food Refusal Food refusal is also very important, if you have children in the family you dont want your lab thinking that what your 2 year old has is for them. The best way I have found to do this is start when you get your puppy and have taught him/her to sit, hold them firmly and place their dinner in front of them, say leave and make them wait a few seconds at first, gradually build on the time waiting until you no longer have to hold them at all, say OK when they are allowed to eat. |
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Lead Training Its now time to introduce the lead, the best way is to let them inside and attach the lead to their collar whilst eating, they then associate this with a good thing ( food). Let them walk around for 5-10minutes (supervised) for a couple of days before you even begin to lead them. Again have some food handy and place it in front of them whilst you walk slowly forward. Your pup will be an expert on the lead in no time at all. |
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Chewing Puppies love to chew, its one of the ways they explore things just like us humans do, its very important from a young age to show your puppy what is and is not acceptable to chew. ie he/she must be taught that it is OK to chew thier toys but not OK to chew your hand, the minute they chew your hand verbally scold stop play immediately, tell them to sit then praise them for sitting and resume play |
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"The words in white become your dogs language that he understands." HAPPY TRAINING, A WELL TRAINED DOG IS A PLEASURE TO HAVE AROUND. Puppies learn more in the first 16 weeks than at any other time in thier lives.So this is the perfect time to teach your new puppy good behaviours that will stick with him or her for life. |
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The rest of this page will have useful information on it with regards to the growth of your puppy. |
Parasites At Kobelco we believe a parasite free dog is a happy one, and also believe that a lot a problems that dogs can have are due to poor management of internal and external parasites eg, dogs can develop skin problems due to flea infestations or pass some worms onto humans that can actually send us blind if untreated. For this reason we worm all our puppies every 2 weeks for the first 4 months of there lives, and then every 2 months for the rest of there lives. We frontline all our dogs and puppies every 2 weeks in the summer months to control fleas and ticks and every 4 weeks in the winter months . |
Diet We believe that all labs should be fed a good quality puppy food for the first 12 months, the reason being is that when they get older if they have been fed a balanced diet there bones will be much stronger, hip dysplasia has been linked to poor diet and environmental factors as well as being a hereditable factor. Pet food manufacturers spend a lot of money making sure the dry food is a complete diet so there is no need to add any supplements to there diets .Can food is approximately 80% moisture so they need to eat a lot more to satisfy hunger, thats a lot more doggy do to clean up also. We use and recommend Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy , it is all natural and the pups seem to thrive on it. They should be fed twice a day as much as they can eat in five minutes, then take the food away ( Labs will eat themselves to obesity if you let them).Your lab should always have a waist line !!!!!! We also give our puppies uncooked chicken frames whole, and lamb flaps uncooked, every other day this aids with keeping teeth nice and healthy. As well as this we recommend your dogs eat raw fruit and vegetables, ours love carrot, advocados, manderines and bananas. At this point I would like to stress that dogs were once wild animals and did not have anyone to cook for them, they also only ate what could be found in the wild and their guts are designed for natural and raw food!!!! I wonder if all the problems of todays dogs are related to all the preservatives they are given in there food!!!!!! I dont think our lab we had when we were growing up ever went to the vets except for vaccinations.
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Vaccinations There are currently 3 different vaccinations with the option of 8 different components within them. So which vaccine does your dog need? This should help to make your decision easier. C3 (parvovirus, distemper, hepatitis)- this part should always be given yearly. These 3 viruses are all deadly viruses, and parvovirus especially is still seen very commonly. We consider this to be the "core" or essential vaccination for all dogs. C5 (C3 + the 2 components of kennel cough)- kennel cough is not a fatal disease in its own right, but can lead to pneumonia if untreated and is quite debilitating. It is a very common disease and is picked up through close contact with other dogs. Our recommendation for your dog to have a C5 if your dog comes in contact with other dogs eg. on walks, at training, shows, or if your dog goes to kennels. If your dog is kept in your yard only, with no change of "meeting" other dogs through the fence etc., then a C3 is recommended.
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| Poisonous Plants
Plants poisonings are uncommon in pets, and we don't suggest removing all toxic plants. As an example, oleander is a very common plant, and oleander poisoning is very rare. However, knowing which plants are potentially poisonous, as well as knowing the signs to look out for, is important for your pets safety. |
Hip Dysplasia Hip Dysplasia is a common problem in large breed dogs, especially in Labradors/ Retrievers, German Shepherds, and Rottweilers, although any breed or cross breed may be affected. It is caused by looseness in the hip joint, which is a ball and socket joint. What this means is whenever the dog runs or jumps there may be an impact between the ball and the socket. This continual trauma can cause transient soreness, and will at an early stage cause severe arthritis. Once arthritis is present, there is nothing that can be done to reverse these changes. Prevention of Hip Dysplasia Hip Dysplasia is caused in one of three ways 1. It is genetically inherited, there are certain lines of labradors that are known to produce HD. 2. Diet related, being fed a diet which lacks balance 3. Caused by environmental factors such as over exercise during growth periods, or not resting after an injury. Kobelco labraodors has been breeding sound dogs for over 15 years. We are now into our 5th generation of healthy animals. We attribute this to our selective breeding program, and also the fact that we generally only breed from each bitch once or twice.We have good hip and elbow scores back 3 and 4 generations in our lines. Labradors current average for hip scores is 12.17 out of 106 (1/5/09) It is ideal to have no parents or grandparents carrying hip dysplasia genes. A dog that is genetically prone to hip dysplasia may be prevented from having severe problems by controlling their diet. Equally, a dog that is not genetically prone to hip dysplasia can develop it if not fed properly in the initial months of its life. Exercise can also play an important part.
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Recently, there have been several reports of dogs eating a shrub often called morning, noon and night, or yesterday, today and tomorrow which have caused severe illness and even death. This plant, whose botanical name is Brunfelsia australis, is a shrub which grows slowly to around 2-4m tall and 2m wide. The foliage is dense and medium green in colour. When the flowers first open they are a violet colour, fading to lavender blue and then white, with the three colours present on the bush at the same time. The brown berries in the plant contain alkaloids that are very toxic to dogs. Once ingested, the berries cause severe diarrhoea, vomiting, and salivation, then muscle tremors, fever, staggering, seizures then death. Only small numbers of seeds are required to cause all of these signs. There is no "antidote" for the toxin. Treatment involves hospitalisation, stomach pump and intravenous drip, and medications to control the seizures until the poison has been flushed through. This will often take days and complete recovery can take weeks. It is only the brown berries that are toxic, and it is recommended that these be removed from the plant when they appear each year.