This week we will be welcoming a new puppy into our family, a sparkly eight week old, milk smelling, bundle of fluff, fun and in all probability with very sharp baby teeth!
We have welcomed a variety of new dogs into our family over the years from puppies, to older dogs who we have rehomed, all of whom have been lovingly incorporated into our home and onto our sofa.
Bringing home a new puppy is always an exciting time, it's like a whole new world unfurling in front of you, suddenly there's a whole host of possibilities being laid at your feet. You start to consider all the adventures you are going to have with your new family member and the (hopefully) long life that stretches in front of you both.
There are always the bits you forget such as those razor sharp teeth and the accidental wee's and poo's. Then there is the sleep deprivation, the midnight toilet run, along with the early morning alarm call. But there are also the bits you definitely don't forget, the gorgeous cuddles with a sleepy, warm and content gently snoring furry puppy snuggled deep into your neck, as they blissfully fall asleep (even if it is just for an hour or two!)
A puppy comes with a new weight of responsibility, ensuring that you give this new life on earth, the best start to the world that you possibly can. There are the usual things to consider, like making sure they get the best and most suitable nutrition, that they have a safe and quiet place to sleep and nap and that they get careful and staged exposure to an exciting new world.
Not forgetting the vitally important things to consider, such as checking that the non-slip mats around the house cover every inch of floor and that there are ramps to get over the step at the back door.
We will be doing the usual (hilarity inducing) crawling around on all fours checking for any tasty looking cables to chew on or for any ill-placed items that have graduated back to the floor level, after not having a puppy for a few years.
Then comes the new exercise timetable, as the puppy will not be able to come out with the older dogs on walks for quite some time. This can be a challenge with a multi dog household, ranging from the ages of 3-15, but the physical development is as vital and time sensitive as the social development. Instead our puppy will be introduced to the world of "sniffari's" which will be taught by our 15-year-old husky Tsula, who is capable of studying each blade of grass in forensic detail! This is actually a vital skill for our dogs to learn, the aim of a walk is not just to get from point A to point B, but to coin the well known phrase, the aim is to "enjoy the journey".
Giving dogs an opportunity to turn on their most powerful skill and to use their olfactory senses is such an important part of their development. By allowing your dogs to sniff or scent the environment around them, can help to lower their heart rate as well as providing them with vital mental stimulation.
It enables them to gather information about the world around them, as well as getting to know the other neighbourhood dogs. This gives dogs an opportunity to "meet" each other, without having any physical encounters. By weeing whilst out on a walk, they are leaving an important message for the other dogs too and announcing their arrival on the block!
This is why it is vitally important for us to walk slowly with our puppies, to give them time to sniff and to take time to engage with their environment.
The other important reason to walk slowly is to ensure our puppies are able to walk at their natural walking speed, and not at our human, much faster walking speed! We need to build our puppies from the inside out, this ensures that they develop the cross lateral strength to be able to walk in a natural four time gait and not learn to 'trot' alongside us. Trotting is often a gait dogs will choose to keep up with our human walking speed, as it is a diagonal gait and easier and faster to keep up with their human, but does not develop the cross lateral development of a four time walk.
It is a fact of life that our puppy, like most, will need to learn to walk happily on a leash. However, consider what we ask our puppies to do when on a leash. Walk in a straight line. Is that a problem? Well it could be when we consider all the natural movements our puppies have been used to doing with their littermates. They have been climbing and playing with each other, turning in lots of different directions and weaving between each other in order to get to the “milk bar”from the moment they were born. All of these natural varied movements build strength, flexibility and natural physical and neural connections that enable dogs to be capable of a wide range of functional movements.
Much of a dog's functionality we take for granted when they are young, but like most things, if you stop using it, you lose it, so they can gradually lose their natural movement patterns, along with strength and flexibility.
Walking on a short leash, takes away a dog’s choices to move in different planes and we therefore need to ensure they have the opportunity and are actively encouraged to explore on a long leash (when safe) over lots of different terrain.
It's also important that our puppies as well as our rehomed dogs, gain fitness and strength at an appropriate pace. Young dogs running with older dogs or those taken on walks which are too long, will often overstretch themselves in adrenaline fuelled games of tag. This can lead not only to injuries but also to over tired puppies who come home and start doing zoomies around the house, leading us to believe that they need even more exercise, when in fact they are over stimulated.
Growing your puppy into an adult healthy dog is something which we are passionate about at Galen Myotherapy and it is what prompted Julia Robertson to write her book of the same title.
Julia's book is an essential addition to anyone's library, whether you have a puppy, a rehomed dog or if you work with dogs. It includes some interesting sections on functional anatomy to help you understand why it is important to avoid some exercises and the huge advantages of including some key activities into your puppies daily life.
Julia’s book centres on ensuring that puppies are exposed to appropriate games and stimulation to develop into a physically and mentally well balanced healthy adult dog.
By ensuring that our puppies' needs are met, promotes their development into a calm and well rounded adult dog, ready to tackle all your new adventures together.
Eager for more puppy related information? Read more in this blog and Julia's book using the links below:
If you’re looking for more advice or have concerns about your dog’s health, please get in touch with us. We would love to chat with you about how we can help your dog.
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