Dog Care | Cat Care | Spay & Neuter Information

The Pet Lover’s Guide to Your New Dog

What You Need | Gettting Acquainted | Care and Feeding | Training | FAQ

Thank you for adopting your dog! Not only have you helped save a life, you are about to embark on one of life’s most rewarding experiences — sharing your life with a dog!

What You’ll Need
Dog bed with washable cover
Food dish
Water dish
Dog food
Collar and ID tag
Leash
Chew toys
Dog brush
Dog treats for training and rewards
Dog house

Getting Acquainted
First impressions are important for dogs, so early experiences in a dog’s new home tend to leave a lasting impression. You can do a lot to help your dog feel secure in his new home.

Your Dog’s Special Person
Assign a particular family member to be your dog’s special person. A dog needs a leader, someone to play with, who will feed and exercise her. Dogs are highly social; they love to be around people all the time. Dogs can still be happy even if they have to spend time alone. But it is important that all of their needs are taken care of. So while one person does not have to do all the exercising, cleaning and feeding, one person should be responsible to ensure that all of this get done — each and every day.

Your Dog’s New Home
Keep your dog on the leash when she first comes to her new home, and take her around the house. Show her each room, where her food and water are, where her bed is, where her toys are, and where the yard is. Introduce her to any family member she has not yet met. Take her outside and wait to see if she needs to go to the bathroom.

Introducing Your New Dog to Other Pets
Most dogs view the arrival of another dog as an invasion of their territory. To get off to a good start, have short, fun sessions with the dogs. Play games, go for walks, be generous with doggy treats. Let the dogs know that when they are together, they are going to have a great time. When you are not home, keep the dogs in separate rooms for the first few days if possible, until they are comfortable with each other.

Don’t forget your old friend in your excitement over your new dog. Dogs may feel jealous or threatened. Your resident dog may revert to some long-forgotten behaviors like chewing or territory-marking to express her negative feelings. Punishing her for them will only alienate her more, and reinforce the feelings she is upset about. Nothing will bother her more than seeing all the attention and affection that she’s used to getting now going to the new dog. Right now give your old dog more attention and praise than you do the new one.

A dog meeting a cat should always be leashed. Supervise the encounter, and watch your dog for signs of aggressive behavior. Curiosity is normal, but a dog who lunges at a cat is not safe to be off-leash with the cat. If the dog gets along OK with the cat, but the cat looks scared, let the cat retreat to a safe place until she’s willing to try again. Never force an encounter.

Kids and Dogs
Your children need to understand some basic facts about dog behavior. Read the next sections aloud to your children.
* Dogs do NOT like to be squeezed, picked up or have their tails pulled.
* Dogs are sensitive to loud noises and sudden movements, and will feel threatened if they are chased, stared at, or lunged at.
* Dogs do NOT like to be disturbed while they are eating.

How to Meet & Greet a Dog
Although dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years, they still retain some of their old instincts. They can be territorial, defensive of food, determined to dominate other creatures, and just plain boisterous — because that’s how dogs act. Even the meekest little dog has a tiny bit of wolf still in him.

To understand how to meet and greet a dog, you have to first think like a dog — to see things from their point of view. A child may greet a dog by running up with wide eyes and a broad smile, crooning soft words and giving the dog a hug, and the dog may snarl or snap. It’s easy to say the dog attached without provocation.
However, things look very different from the dog’s perspective. The child was baring his teeth, which can be a sign of hostility in the dog’s world. The soft sounds may have sounded like a growl, which is not a friendly gesture. The child was running — just the way a dog attacks another dog. Friendly dogs approach each other slowly, offering plenty of time for sniffing & learning each other’s scents.

Finally, the child hugged the dog, which the dog interpreted as physical domination. All in all, this could be a very scary encounter for the dog.

Until your new dog becomes comfortable with your family, children should:
* Stand quietly and allow the dog to approach them.
* Not stare directly into the dog's eyes.
* Wait until the dog sniffs the child’s outstretched fist.
* Gently scratch the dog’s cheek, mimicking the way members of a dog pack greet each other.If your new dog seems nervous, give him some time to adjust. But establish the rules early in a fair and positive way.

Establishing a Routine
Establishing your routines right away makes your new dog feel secure and settled. Establishing rules lets the dog know what’s expected of him right from the start. Establish an exercise routine, a feeding time, a training routine, and grooming routine. All of these will strengthen the bond between you and your dog. Above all, take time to play with and just be with your dog. Sit on the floor next to him and scratch his ears or chest. Watch TV together, play with toys, take walks, and talk to your dog.

Care and Feeding

Feeding Your Dog
We recommend name brand dry food (generic dog food contains a lot of useless filler) twice a day, with fresh clean water out at all times. A regular feeding time will make bathroom breaks easier for you and make your dog feel more secure. Don’t feed your dog leftover chicken or pork bones, as they can splinter into his mouth or stomach. Your dog should look fit and trim. If you can see his ribs, he’s too thin. If you can’t see his ribs at all, he’s too fat. Change the dog’s portions accordingly, but avoid sudden drastic changes in the amount or type of food he gets.

Shelter
When your dog is outside, she must have adequate shelter from cold and rain, and drinking water. This is required by law.

Grooming Your Dog
Frequent brushing helps keep the fur clean and reduces shedding. Brush for short periods at first, and give lavish praise or offer food treats as a reward.

Spending Time With Your Dog
Your dog should be a part of everyday family activities, and a period should be set aside each day to spend quality time with him, such as playing ball or going for a walk. Daily exercise of some kind is necessary, but you don’t have to run or walk for miles. A dog can chase a ball or a stick. Keep in mind that heavy exercise with dogs under the age of two can do permanent damage to their growing bones and muscles.

Keeping Your Dog Healthy
If your dog has not yet been examined by a veterinarian, take him in for a check-up and rabies shot. Your vet may also recommend a heartworm test and a fecal check. Dogs and puppies who are at least 8 weeks old need an initial series of three distemper/parvo shots about 3 weeks apart to achieve immunity; after that, they need a booster again in a year, then three years after that. Distemper vaccinations cost about $20 at the vet. You can also buy the vaccine at feed stores for about $4. Rabies vaccination can be given at 3 months of age; the second year booster will last for 3 years. Rabies shots cost about $18. Local vets offer rabies clinics twice a year with rabies shots for $7, with discounts on other shots.

Here’s a tip: If you keep the rabies tag on your dog’s collar, you can be traced if he gets lost. Your dog is entirely dependent on you for her health and well-being A dog who receives adequate nutrition and periodic veterinary examinations is likely to be healthier.

Spaying or Neutering Your Dog
Having your dog altered early in life reduces the risk of urinary problems and cancer, lessens the dog’s desire to roam and mark territory by spraying urine, keeps him away from your leg, and makes him better behaved around small children and other pets. It is NOT true that dogs should have one litter first or that it makes dogs fat and lazy. Pet owners make their dogs fat and lazy!

Over 6,000 unwanted dogs and cats are killed at our county shelter every year! Please be a responsible pet owner and get all your pets altered. Local vets drop their prices 20% twice a year. The Humane Society offers low-cost spay & neuter (704 636-5700).

Fleas
Flea collars are not effective. Liquid drops such as Advantage (for fleas) and Frontline (for fleas and ticks) work very well; they are applied once a month. Frequent vacuuming of your household & washing your dog’s bedding will reduce fleas. Insecticides applied to your yard can help too. Don’t let your dog get the insecticide on her feet, where she might lick it off. Water it in thoroughly.

Keeping Your Yard Clean
Feces is the most common cause of these diseases:
* Parvo virus is one of the deadliest diseases in dogs. The virus attacks the digestive tract. Severe fluid loss through diarrhea and vomiting can lead to death. The virus can stay in the ground up to 7 years!
* Whipworms and hookworms are blood suckers, tunneling into the intestine. Vomiting, diarrhea, and weight loss are common. Hookworms can spread to humans.
* Roundworms can affect the lungs and the digestive system, with typical signs being vomiting and diarrhea. Roundworms can spread to humans.
* Giardia & coccidia are parasites that cause severe diarrhea in cats, dogs & humans.The best way to prevent these, and the many bacterial infections dogs can get from stools, is to remove feces at least weekly (more often if possible) and keep current on your dog's shots, fecal examinations, and deworming. Also pick up waste before a rain, which breaks up the feces and allows the worms and germs to spread into the dirt.

Heartworms—A Miserable Death
Your dog needs to be tested for heartworms, and then receive a monthly preventative. Heartworms come from mosquito bites. They live inside the heart and block up the blood vessels. Symptoms are coughing, fatigue, labored breathing, and weight loss. The dog will go on to develop heart failure, and lung and liver disease. A dog with heartworms can be treated, but it is dangerous and expensive.

Training Your Dog
A little love, patience, and training will solve most annoying behaviors. NEVER use punishment as a means of training, as this will only confuse the dog. Yelling, hitting and rubbing the dog’s nose in his mess are ineffective — and cruel. The dog does not understand what he did wrong, and doesn’t know how to avoid being punished again. Telling ourselves that the dog is acting “guilty” is just us trying to justify our anger. The dog is not acting guilty, he’s acting nervous because of the way you are acting. This is no way to bond with your dog!

Using positive reinforcement — rewarding good behavior right at the time it occurs — to motivate the dog to do what your want is very effective. These methods are fully explained in dog books and videos at your library, on TV’s Animal Planet channel, or online. Dog training classes are available at the YMCA, Salisbury Recreation Department, & at South Ridge Veterinary Hospital in China Grove.

Housebreaking
The success of housebreaking depends on the amount of time you spend on it. You need both to reward good behavior and to provide ample opportunity for the dog to go outside—first thing in the morning, right before you go to work, as soon as you get home from work, after a meal, and last thing at night. After a while, this can be reduced to about 3 times a day. Keep in mind that puppies do not start to have bladder control until they are about 5 months old.

Crate training is the easiest way to housebreak a dog. Crates are just plastic dog carriers. Dogs don’t like to soil their sleeping quarters if they have a chance to go anywhere else. Don’t get a really big crate where the dog can
eliminate in the back and still be able to move away from it. Start out putting the dog in the crate for short periods (no more than an hour for puppies) and then immediately take the dog outside to eliminate. Reward her right away when she goes in the right place. Tell her what a great dog she is; give her small treats. But if your dog goes in the crate, don’t punish her. You left her in there too long!

Never rub her nose in a “mistake,” or make her nervous about relieving herself in your presence. DO NOT leave your dog in the crate for extended periods of time because she will come to hate the crate and develop a whole new set of behavior problems to keep from being imprisoned in it.

Unhappy Dogs
All people would agree that physical abuse of a dog is a terrible thing. But there is a form of mistreatment far more common, devastating and painful to a dog — neglect. Dogs, like us, are pack animals, and need to socialize to remain mentally healthy. We are their “pack,” and they want safe shelter in a den with us — our home. The thwarting of these needs by isolating the dog in the back yard or a pen results in miserable, lonely dogs who may persistently bark or whine to plead for attention. These pleas are often met with hostility and resentment. Many people get cute puppies that grow up to be large, untrained and unmanageable dogs. Then the dog ends up alone in a pen, completely ignored. Dogs offer people friendship, undying loyalty, and unconditional love. In return they ask for nothing more than a sense of belonging. To banish a dog to the back yard permanently, while the rest of his family enjoy each other inside, is a betrayal of this loving pact — and no way to treat man’s best friend.

FAQs
" I just adopted a puppy who gets into everything. When should I start training her?"
Don’t ignore “cute” behavior that you won’t accept when she is an adult. From the beginning, establish rules that will apply when your dog is full grown. If you don’t want the grown dog sleeping on your bed, don’t let the puppy sleep on your bed. Teach your puppy to chew her own toys (not your shoes!) and to eat from her own bowl (not beg for scraps at the table).

"Some of my dog’s behaviors, like digging, chewing and barking, are really annoying. How can I change them?"
The first thing to realize that your dog is not being “bad. Many adopted animals have already lived with another person, so they often have established habits and behaviors. The second thing to realize is that dogs are not people in fur coats. All of the behaviors that point to a mentally healthy dog — digging, chewing, barking, chasing moving objects, scavenging — are frequently seen as problems. A lot of dog lovers spend a great deal of time and frustration, and cause a lot of confusion to dogs, by trying to keep the dog from acting like a dog. This doesn’t mean you should let your dog do all these things wherever he wants. Actively teach him to use other outlets for his behaviors. Provide him with chew toys, teach him to use a designated digging area, give him exercise and attention, and reward him for positive behavior.

"My dog pulls on the leash when I walk her. How can I stop this?"
You can get a special leash called a Gentle Leader that works like a halter on a horse. Harnesses can also be helpful in controlling a large dog. You can use treats to train the dog to walk by your side. We do not recommend choke collars. Dogs who get plenty of attention and opportunities to experience new things are least likely to pull. Make sure your dog has chances to visit other people and dogs.

Thanks go to Tompkins County SPCA andPetEducation.com