OUR PUPPY PROGRAM

Puppy Wellness Packages
There are two different vaccination packages available for your new puppy. The one you choose depends upon the age of your puppy and how many distemper vaccines it will need to complete its series. Puppies should be vaccinated for Distemper/Parvovirus starting at weaning and boostered every 3-4 weeks after until they are at least 14 weeks old. The rabies vaccine is given when they are at least 12 weeks old, usually in conjunction with the last distemper vaccine.

Puppy Plan 2: For puppies over 10 weeks and up to 1 year of age;
Includes 2 Distemper Vaccines

Puppy Plan 3: For puppies less than 10 weeks of age;
Includes 3 Distemper Vaccines

Bothl Plans Include the Following:

• 4 Weeks of Puppy Kindergarten for dogs under 6 months of age
• Telephone consultations about medical/behavioral problems for a year
• Puppy Care Kit - which includes the first month of Heartworm preventative
• Rabies Vaccine
• Nail trims for the first year
• Stool examination (and one recheck if necessary)
• Nemex 2 Deworming Medication

A spay or neuter may be added at an additional savings and all packages will require payment in full at the time of purchase.

Also if you purchase a wellness package we are offering the following services at a savings of 10% for the first year.

• Lyme Vaccine (a series of two vaccines)
• Bordetella Vaccine (a series of two vaccines)
• Heartworm and Tick Panel Test at 1 year old
• Monthly Heartworm medication, Flea and Tick products
• The first yearly stool sample

Bordetella Vaccine

The reason this disease seems so common, and is even named "Kennel" cough, is that wherever there are a number of dogs confined together in an enclosed environment the disease is much more likely to be spread. The same is true with the "colds" spread from human to human... they are much more likely to occur in a populated, enclosed environment such as an airplane, elevator, or office. All it takes for infection to occur is a single source (infected dog), an enclosed environment, and susceptible individuals in close proximity to the source of the infection. Infected dogs can spread the organisms for days to weeks even after seeming to have fully recovered!

If you are planning on taking your puppy for boarding, grooming, dog park, camping, obedience classes or any place else where a group of dogs are, you may want to consider vaccinating for Bordetella.

Yearly Stool Sample Checks
People can get roundworms and hookworms from dogs and cats. Infections transmitted from animals to people are called zoonotic infections. Having your puppy tested for intestinal parasites (with a stool sample) at an early age is very important. We recommend starting your new puppy on a preventative program that treats and controls both heartworms and intestinal parasites. The Center for Disease Control recommends annual stool sample exams on all pets because of the risk of zoonotic infections.


Puppy Kindergarten
"Sit”, “Down”, “Come”, “Over”, “Through the tunnel” and “Good dog” are a few of the words you will hear on a Tuesday night at Colonial Terrace Animal Hospital. As we listened to our clients and read about the number of puppies who were surrendered to a shelter or had to find a new home, we realized we needed to help. As a solution, for more than 15 years the clinic has offered Puppy Kindergarten classes for puppies less than six months of age.

We were looking for a kind and positive training method. Fortunately, Dr. Ian
Dunbar was lecturing in Platteville at that time on how to successfully develop
puppy classes. Many people feel that Dr. Ian Dunbar’s positive training method and emphasis on early socialization has changed the course of dog training. Based on his method we introduced our own four-week puppy kindergarten class. Our emphasis was on the following: socialization with other puppies and people, housebreaking, communication, chewing, barking and digging … all of this being done off-leash. Some aspects that we have developed and included in class are the body massage technique, beginning agility to help introduce puppies to new situations, and the discussion of health issues. We talk about the importance of brushing teeth, fleas, ticks, heartworm disease and what constitutes an emergency. Our goal is to make learning fun and to get your puppy started on the right track.

Housebreaking
The first challenge new puppy owners must face is housebreaking. While there are many methods, one technique that works well is crate training. It is based on the premise that most dogs won’t soil their own sleeping area, so the crate or kennel is used to confine them when the owner is unable to keep a close eye on the pet, such as at bedtime.

The first step is choosing the proper sized kennel for your pet. It should be big enough for the pet to stand up, turn around, and lie down in. A common mistake is to have a kennel too big for your puppy, which allows them the opportunity to have accidents in one corner and still sleep in another. If the puppy is soiling, all bedding should be removed from the crate during training. It is not necessary to buy multiple sized crates for your growing puppy. Many now come with partitions that can be removed later, or portions can be partitioned off with boards or blocks.

After finding the right sized kennel, the next step is getting your puppy on a schedule. The puppy should be taken directly outside first thing in the morning and every time it is let out of the kennel, gets done eating, playing, or sleeping. It is not unusual to be going out every half an hour with very young puppies. You must always go outside with your puppy until the housebreaking process is completed. This way you can make sure the puppy has actually eliminated and can properly praise the puppy. Immediately after the puppy has eliminated, offer it words of praise, and even a small treat, such as a Cheerio or Fruit Loop, to positively reinforce the behavior. If the puppy has not gone after ten minutes, take it back inside to the crate, wait thirty minutes, and then take it outside again. Repeat the process until it has successfully eliminated outside. After properly praising the puppy, you can then bring it back into the house and allow it some closely supervised playtime. Consistency is important, so always try to use the same door, go to the same area of the yard, and keep feeding times and bedtimes routine.

Eventually the supervised playtime will increase and the puppy will be given more freedom around the house and granted access to more areas of the house. It is important to allow your puppy time to rest in the crate at periods of the day. Puppies play hard and sleep hard, and need time to refresh, just like babies. Most dogs that have been crate trained will always go to the crate to nap and at bedtime because it is their safe, quiet place. The are many benefits to crate training. The first is a housebroken dog, but also it is a dog that travels well in a crate, and a puppy that can be confined properly while you are away so it can’t hurt itself or damaged its surroundings.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: How can I get my puppy to tell me she has to go outside?
A: Not every dog will scratch the door or bark when it needs to go outside. Some dogs just adjust to the schedule you have set and learn to wait until they are taken out, or learn by watching other dogs in the household. Some may come and stare at you, or start to sniff around. That is why it is important to pay attention to their cues and learn how your dog is communicating. One method that seems to help puppies that will routinely go to the door and have an accident, without barking, is the bell technique. It works by hanging a bell on a string on the door handle down to nose level for the dog. Every time the dog is taken out the door to eliminate, the dog’s nose is touched to the bell to make it ring, so the dog eventually associates him ringing the bell with the door being opened so he can go outside. The sound of the bell ringing is your cue that he needs to go out.

Q: How long should it take to train my puppy?
A: Every puppy is different, so try not to get discouraged when someone tells you their puppy was trained in a week. This is by far not the average. Most take weeks to even months to be trustworthy dogs. As long as the puppy is gradually improving, you are probably on the right track. If things seem to be getting worse instead of better, than call us and we can make suggestions to tweak the training process.

Q: My puppy urinates several times in an hour, and is having accidents in the crate. Help!
A: If you have taken the bedding out of the crate, made it small enough, and are still finding a soiled puppy most of the time, then it may be a health problem, not a training problem. Urinary tract infections are fairly common in puppies, and can make housebreaking nearly impossible if untreated. If a puppy is stooling in the kennel, then a fecal examination is recommended to rule out parasites that can make it difficult for a puppy to hold it in when he has the urge to go. Call us today to schedule an appointment for a urinalysis or fecal examination if your puppy is having these types of problems.

Q: The breeder said the puppy was paper trained, so how do I get him trained to go outside?
A: Many breeders paper train because with a litter of puppies, it is much easier than trying to take them all outside so frequently. You should never try to paper train and outside train a puppy at the same time; it is too confusing for the puppy. Start by taking the puppy outside immediately when you bring it home. It may help to bring a few newspapers outside initially, so it gets the idea, but don’t put newspapers inside, unless you want to always have a paper trained dog. Use the crate training method as described above, and gradually eliminate the papers all together. Some people use litter boxes with toy breed dogs, like Chihuahuas, especially if they live in apartments or are gone for long days.