Here is a short list of advice we have found to be helpful.
Diet
We encourage you to choose a high quality dry puppy food to begin with. Less expensive brands tend to use a high content of grain fillers and a low concentration of poor quality meats, which are an essential part of every canine’s diet. Some brands that your puppy has already eaten are: Orijen and Acana. Your puppy has been receiving one cup of kibble, three times per day with a few spoonfuls of cottage cheese or raw ground beef.
On occasion we also feed our dogs a high quality, raw meat blend that we obtain from Creston Valley Meats. It is a combination of raw beef and chicken, and/or tripe. We feed a mixture of half raw with half kibble. This is beneficial especially during hunting season.
Many dog owners feel uncomfortable handling raw foods and should in that case find a high quality kibble such as one mentioned above.
If your puppy becomes ill or bored with the kibble, you can change the brand by mixing some of the original brand into the new brand. Some dogs can also become ill with a sudden change of diet. By mixing the old food with the new, you allow the dog’s system to adjust to the new diet. You can also add a small portion of canned food to the kibble to encourage appetite. Other foods that can be fed to dogs follow: Cooked rice (no salt), oatmeal, pasta, ground beef, cottage cheese, plain yogurt, bread. We sometimes feed these foods to a dog that is too thin or to a dog that turns their nose to everything else. We also like to give our dogs raw carrots, zucchini, apples, bananas, broccoli stalks and celery for snacks.
Foods that can be dangerous to dogs: Chocolate, avocado, beer, nuts (especially walnut and macadamia), grapes and raisins (can cause a dog to have renal failure), onions, raw garlic, candy (especially containing Xylitol), caffeine, medicine.
We also advise you not to give your dog rawhide chews. Our veterinarian tells us he sees dogs that have rawhide wedged in their mouths and throats regularly. We prefer to give our dogs cow hoof chews (which can be smelly and must be thrown out as soon as they become small enough to be stuck in the mouth/throat) or whole, raw bones. The whole bones (once they have been dried out) are nice because they can be filled with good tasting stuff, and can serve as entertainment in the crate at bedtime. (I like to put unsalted peanut butter in them.)
Crate/Potty Training
Your puppy has already been introduced to the crate if he/she is 10-12 weeks or older. We have found that this method of potty training is effective and reduces stress to the puppy as well as the owner. To start, make sure that puppy eats early in the evening and does not drink water just before it is time to go to bed. Take puppy outside for the final potty break and really take the time to let puppy sniff around. When it is cold or wet out, take a coat! Many times I have spent 20 minutes in the rain with a puppy that thinks of nothing but getting dry only to have them squat as soon as they come into the house. When you put puppy in the crate, have a treat and a toy ready. You will find that the puppy will look forward to that treat and jump readily into the crate. For the first few nights puppy will undoubtedly make a fuss. Don’t give in. If you have given the pup a fair opportunity to relieve itself, there should be no reason to let him/her out before morning. If you can’t sleep because of your puppy’s objections, try to find a spot in the house where it isn’t too loud. Don’t put the puppy so far away that you can’t hear it at all. The success of crate training will depend on your ability to take the puppy out (early in the morning I’m afraid) as soon as s/he whimpers in the morning. It is essential that you immediately carry the pup to the lawn (or potty area) as soon as you hear it cry or groan. Generally this will happen anywhere from 3am to 7am. If the puppy is allowed to soil the crate more than a few times, it will become more and more difficult to convince them that you will actually come to let them out- at that point they will give up and soil themselves readily. You can put the pup back into his/her crate until you are ready to rise. The crate will become a rest place for your puppy. In families with children, we like to refer to the crate as an off limits area. When the puppy is tired, s/he can retreat to the crate for down time. When the puppy is young it will be up to you to anticipate when s/he will have to relieve itself. Here, we take turns about every 20 minutes. When you find the puppy squatting, don’t yell or rub his/her nose in it. This will only shy the puppy and cause it to piddle when you bend down to pet him/her or pick him/her up. We find that if we calmly say “no”, “outside” and pick him/her up and take them straight to the lawn, they quickly catch on. If it is a favorite rug, Nature’s Miracle is a great product for removing pet stains. White vinegar is also effective.
What to watch for:
Your puppy has been accustomed to living with a large pack of dogs and puppies. Even though s/he has been well socialized with people and children s/he may still exhibit some signs of stress for only a day and up to a couple of weeks. Some signs include:
-Shaking, yawning and scratching
-Refusing food and treats or refusal to open mouth
-Licking lips, drooling and sneezing
-Diarrhea and vomiting
-Avoiding eye contact, keeping tail between legs or acting shy
-Exhibiting over activeness or under activity.
If your new puppy should show any of these signs, keep the level of stimulation (this includes well intentioned, enthusiastic children) to a minimum for a few days and gradually introduce him/her to new things/situations.
Should any of these signs persist beyond a couple of days or seem extreme (such as excessive diarrhea) please consult your veterinarian and give us a call.
Preventing Parvovirus
Parvovirus is an extremely contagious disease that infects and kills thousands of puppies each year. Even though your puppy has received one or two vaccines in our care, s/he is not yet immune to Parvo. Your puppy will not achieve immunity to this disease until s/he has had his/her third vaccine and reaches 16-20 weeks age.
For this reason it is important to discuss prevention with your vet when you take your new pup in for his/her first check-up. We advise you to not take your puppy to dog parks, pet stores or any places where people like to take dogs. Also, before allowing any friends or family to come visit with your puppy, ask them if they or anyone they know has treated or lost a puppy to Parvo. You might be surprised! Bleach is one of the only readily available products that will kill Parvo. A solution of one part bleach to 20 parts water sprayed on your shoes before you enter your car is ideal if you are forced to enter a risky area (such as an Emergency Overnight Veterinary Clinic that treats Parvo).
Car Sick
Around one in four of our puppies will be car sick to one degree or another when first introduced to riding in cars. Don’t worry; they will be accustomed before you know it. We drive with our puppies crated and with “car linens” (a bed or towel that you don’t mind being thrown up on and that is easy to launder), paper towels and a spray bottle with a mixture of water and white vinegar. If we have a trip planned, we do not feed the pup full rations that morning, be sure to make up for it later by feeding a snack when convenient. Short, frequent trips that end somewhere fun are a great way to teach the pup to look forward to getting in the car. Don’t be concerned if your puppy is reluctant to go to the car at first, this will change once s/he realizes that s/he gets to be in your company and go to exciting places.
Fox Tails
Fox Tails are grass seeds that can burrow into a dog’s skin and cause abscesses, can migrate and penetrate organs, can enter the ear canal and cause deafness, can enter the eyelid or eye duct and cause blindness, etc. There are many types of grass seeds that can do the same such as Spear Grass and others. It is extremely important that you check the pads of your dog’s paws and up between the toes every time you have him/her in an environment where these grasses exist. They cost our kennel hundreds in vet bills every year even though we are extremely careful.
If your dog begins to sneeze violently and frequently or begins to shake its head (often with one ear drooping or sort of collapsed) constantly, take him/her into the vet to see if there is debris in the nose or ear. If your dog begins to rub its face insistently on the ground/carpet/bed/etc. and rub at the face with paws, check his/her eyes to see if some material has worked its way under the eyelid.
Grooming/Bathing
The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is a wire-haired breed that sheds little. There is some maintenance required to keep the coat healthy and shedding to a minimum. To promote healthy hair growth and to remove “dead” hair, hand stripping is best. Shaving a Griffon’s coat with clippers will RUIN the coat. Shaving will cause the undercoat to come in first (more shedding later) and the top coat to come in weakly (taking away the harsh properties) and will take sometimes years to remedy. Shaving will cause your dog to be too hot in summer and too cold in winter.
Hand stripping can be done with the fingers or with a stripping knife (we like the Pearson coarse or medium best). The hair is gripped between the knife and thumb and pulled by the root (it does not hurt at all when done correctly). We intend to publish a video demonstrating the correct stripping techniques in the near future.
We do not often bathe our dogs as they are not a breed with an excessive body odor or oily skin. Typically the amount of swimming they do while playing in the yard is sufficient to keep them smelling fresh.
Your Griffon may or may not grow extra hair in the ear canal. If s/he does, it is best to occasionally pull the hair (sounds painful, surprisingly is not) to keep wax from building up around it.
When our dogs swim frequently we put a few drops of rubbing alcohol into the ear canal to keep it dry.
Check your dog’s ears occasionally for a “yeasty” smell or excessive wax. Should either occur, you can treat the ear with a Chlorhexadine ear wash obtained from your veterinarian. Speak with your vet for full instructions on ear wash use.
Rat/Mouse/Snail baits and other chemicals commonly around the House and Garden
Do not use Rat/Mouse Poison anywhere where your dog might come in contact with it. Many Snail baits, herbicides and fertilizers are also deadly. Anything that is lethal to mammals, insects or plants deserves scrutiny.
Keep in mind that anything you spray in the yard ends up on your dog’s paws and coat. If you don’t want him/her eating it, don’t put it down. Dogs lick their paws and fur frequently.
This is true of cleaning supplies. Everything that we use to clean and polish our tile, hardwood, carpet, linoleum ends up on our dog’s skin and in his mouth.
We have found that White Vinegar is a non-toxic alternative to many cleaning solvents. There are many other pet/baby friendly options available.
Oleander, Poinsettia and Bougainvillea are just a few plants that are deadly to dogs.
Do not use Cocoa Mulch in your garden, even though the labels say that pets aren’t attracted to the stuff there have been numerous reports of dogs eating it and becoming ill and/or dying as a result. Cocoa mulch contains theobromine, the ingredient in chocolate that can be fatal to dogs.
Anti-freeze is sweet and pets are attracted to it. If you allow your dog into the garage make sure that your car radiators are not leaking. Also, make sure that all chemicals and hazardous materials (such as power cords) are well out of reach.
Fleas/Ticks/Heartworm
We use Frontline mostly as a tick preventative. Ticks are vectors for many diseases that can cause long term damage and death in dogs.
For Heartworm control check with your veterinarian. We use Heartguard Plus, as this monthly treatment also treats roundworms.