When Puppies Have a Difficult Start in Life
Being a puppy, an infant of the canine species, should be a time of nurture. The love of the mother and siblings make puppies feel safe and protected, allowing the puppy to develop without worry. But our puppies do not often grow up with their biological family.
Most usually puppies are separated from their mother and littermates far too soon. They suddenly find themselves without the main security figure in their lives. When we take them into our homes, we should remember this. It is our responsibility to provide a warm environment that fills this gap and makes them feel secure again.
We should all be very careful as to what advice we follow with our dogs. Especially when we are talking about puppies: we must be extremely alert and double check any advice that we read or receive, because it will condition their whole life. You will find quality puppy-related reading material that we recommend at the end of this article.
In this article we will tell you about Óscar’s journey, a puppy who was lucky to meet the right people on his path.
From the very start, Óscar was in a difficult situation. He is a Podenco and Border Collie mix that had to be separated from his mother very early, at 6 weeks of age. This by itself can be a huge handicap for any baby. Óscar found his human family who decided to contact an ethical dog specialist and help them to raise Óscar well. There were areas of Oscar’s life that needed addressing, such as walking equipment, sleeping arrangements, walks, feeding routines and methods, activities and so on … and just after a few weeks we started to see progress. Óscar was sleeping much more, feeling calmer and more secure. What brought this progress? A few simple things we write about below.
When considering what your puppy needs there are a few musts:
Warmth and security when resting
Think about how puppies sleep when they are with mum and brothers and sisters. All together, sharing their warmth and touching to feel safe. When they come to your home, try to create a situation that is as similar as possible to make the transition easier. Sleeping alone in another room or in a crate will not benefit that sense of security that we are after. Instead it will make the puppy more anxious. She will need a variety of beds with different textures and temperature variations, and most importantly, access to her new family.
Length of rest
If healthy adult dogs need between 14 and 16 hours of sleep a day, puppies can sleep much more. This is normal and beneficial.
Don’t put off buying good walking equipment for later when the puppy is fully grown.
Having the right equipment is important now. Allowing the dog to move freely their muscles and joints will make them develop correctly and aid the puppy’s balance and coordination. With a good harness and long leash your puppy has a much better chance of growing the way she should.
Nutrients are the building blocks of the body
A puppy should have plenty of quality food and fresh water every day. We should never make our puppies work for their food, so ditch the fussy containers that make your dog’s feeding time labour intensive and provide a meal that they enjoy without worry. Puppies are growing and learning with an amazing speed, which uses a lot of energy. This is why they need several meals a day, starting with four or even five, and then gradually reducing to two or three. The quantity we feed can be abundant - our puppy’s opinion is more important than how much the package tells us to feed.
Walking times should be planned carefully
When it comes to activities, puppies need to take in a little at a time to learn and develop well. The same goes for walks. Puppies can start going on very short daily walks when they are around 3 months of age. A general rule will be to increase the length of the walk by 5 minutes every month. This can vary a little depending on each dog, but we should never take our puppies on walks they are ill prepared for mentally and/or physically. The body takes time to grow and so does the brain.
Meeting other dogs that are good teachers for our puppies
Puppies benefit greatly from spending time with stable adult dogs that teach them good habits in the dog world. Humans cannot do this, only another dog can, and that is why it is so important to choose walking partners that have the qualities needed for teaching. And in time take our puppy to social walks.
Let’s go back to Óscar and his real-life problems. At 9 weeks of age, Oscar could not settle, wasn’t sleeping appropriately and was biting all the members of his family pretty hard. There were several things that were being done that were incompatible with the lists above. This was not because his humans didn’t care, in fact it was the opposite. They love this pup to the moon and back, but they received the wrong advice.
So, they started the process of reversing the effects of what had been done, by sleeping with Oscar. Such a simple and life changing moment. On the first days it was difficult to get him to calm down but soon the ball started rolling and change happened. Think of it as retraining your nervous system. From one that is hyperalert and in overdrive to one that copes better through challenges that life throws at us. This of course takes time, it is not like a switch that we can turn on and off but rather a way of living.
Then there were other changes to his walking times, walking equipment and feeding routines. Slowly teaching him to be his own self by stopping and observing the world around him. Giving him time to make decisions and slowing everything around him to a level he could cope with. This gave him the stability he needed to be able to cope even with the cats in the house who used to overexcite him a lot.
Recently Óscar started to join social walks. On the very first occasions he just came and met some of the dogs at the end of the walk, then followed by calm sessions and treat searches. He then started walking with the group for part of the walk. I am amazed at the individual he is becoming, such a wise dog and still so young. And I can’t wait for Óscar to discover his full potential, surrounded by his family and friends.
Of course some of the things that Óscar is going through are normal growing up and developing challenges, but check and check and check again who you listen to regarding your puppy’s wellbeing. If it sounds too harsh, it probably is.
The foundation is the most important part of a build, without a solid base what we construct on top, may be compromised.
Reading materials:
How to Raise a Puppy: A Dog-centric Approach, Stephanie Rousseau and Turid Rugaas
Leti, The Smiling Leash Team
