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STAY…Is a Great Thing!

Written by Pam on May 12, 2015

We have just returned from our wonderful veterinarian’s office where the pups each had their 6-week examination, vaccinations and lots of those ‘show-off’ moments. Everyone is healthy and doing great. Our vet has filled out our brag sheets that list out the puppies vaccinations/notes/etc. Please ask to see them when you join us this weekend for pick-a-puppy.

At HGT we want all our pups and dogs to live joyful, free and long lives! In this blog we want to discuss things that are good for your puppy and those things that we would never consider getting – even if it was offered free.

First and far most is the food that you feed your HGT puppy. You want a food that is nutritious, one that is balanced with the right amount of fat and protein for a growing pup, one that does not contain any gluten – and if possible one that comes delivered directly to your door. I have lugged many many breeder bags and I want to give my back a break – so we have decided on Life’s Abundance for all these reasons. Life’s formulas have been developed by a veterinarian, they are all gluten free and have never been recalled. Anything that you order from Life’s Abundance can be shipped directly to your door and you have the option of an autoship – so you can constantly get a revolving shipment as needed and only when you need it. We are very happy with the results of feeding our pack Life’s Abundance. We are so happy with this formula, we wanted to do a little something – more – for our HGT families who are now purchasing a puppy from us. If the HGT family buys Life through our website and keeps the puppy fed only Life’s products, we will honor a 1.5 year health guarantee on the puppy instead of a 1 year. The orders need to be placed through our website under the Eat&Be Well tab, so that we can track the orders and to ensure our pups are being fed the very best food.

Water bowls!!! When purchasing a water bowl for the puppy, it needs to be a higher stainless steel bowl or a hanging water bottle dispenser. The pups love to walk right into the water, it is fun, it is new but it makes the water dirty and truly unpalatable – and it could potentially make the puppy sick, so to make sure the water is always clean – please think about these products. The puppies are now used to both products and have learned to drink from both. Stay away from the hard pretty plastic bowls – some can be made from hazardous recycled materials and can crack from the water and cause problems.

Next we need to make sure that everyone that reads this blog – does not purchase ‘anything puppy‘ for our Labradors or the Goldens. Even as puppies, they have the instinctual need to chew – and they will chew and chew until a puppy toy is broke into many pieces. This is DANGEROUS as the pup can swallow a piece of this toy. If you need to purchase anything for your puppy, think about the largest KONG toy – it will last a long time, you can fill it with recipes that I will provide to you. You can also get very small stainless steel bowls – and they will have fun chasing them as well as mouthing them, and eventually they will bring a bowl to you as a subtle reminder that the kibble should be coming… You can also get long strong rope toys but you need to still supervise them while these rope toys can come apart over time. Please Please stay away from purchasing Nylabone. These chew toys come in all cute shapes and sizes, but they break apart quite easily and if ingested the puppy will need emergency surgery to save its life – we have been there – and because of our wonderful vets, they got us in within a moments notice and saved one of our dog’s life. Your puppy only needs a few very rough “ruff” and tough toys but most importantly … They truly only need you!

Vaccinations! Here at HGT we vaccinate our dogs and our puppies. Today, your puppy had its first series of CORE Vaccinations: Distemper, Hepatitis, and Parvovirus, at its 6-week mark. The next scheduled vaccinations should be set for 8 or 9 weeks. Your puppy should receive a series of vaccinations at 3-4 week intervals in order to insure they are developing a protective immune response on their own. Please start thinking about a veterinarian that you like and trust. You might even want to schedule a puppy examination with your vet now to get on his/her calendar. You will need to discuss the schedule of vaccinations with your vet, but I feel strongly about just vaccinating with the core selection of vaccinations. There are NON-Core vaccinations that might be suggested. This is your decision but first please look into the side-effects of the non-core before allowing the pup to receive them. The only Non-Core that I would be receptive to doing would be that of the Bordetella Intra-Nasal. This is a intra-nasal spray used to prevent Kennel Cough. If your puppy is going to go to early socialization classes, then I would recommend getting this. Also it is important NOT to let your puppy go to public parks or on hikes until they are fully vaccinated and/or after 16 weeks. These are HGT’s strong recommendations for ensuring our puppies STAY for a very long time just by keeping them – healthy – happy and safe! Enjoy, Pam