What’s NOT Good – for your HGT Puppy!
Written by Pam on July 10, 2016
In many of my blogs I talk about all that is good, healthy and helpful for your HGT puppy. In this blog, I want to talk about what is not good for your puppy – things that you might never have know, things that you should tell your children, and things that we assume our pups will never venture out into. These are the things you should be concerned about when raising a puppy – no matter the breed – but I am specifically talking about our sporting breeds – the golden retriever and the labrador.
1 Treats:
Rawhide: You need to pass by anything that is made out of rawhide – made in China or the USA!!
There are two important reasons why I do not want you to purchase ANY rawhide product. First, let me just explain how the raw hide is created to keep the dog chomping for hours. These treats are all promoted as ‘all natural” treats that are good for chewers and to help keep your pup or dog entertained. The packaging never tells that the dog enjoys the rawhide to the point of swallowing such large pieces that they can become a choking hazard! What normally happens is that the puppy or dog will enjoy the chewing sensation and the artificial taste of the tough raw hide; but eventually pieces of the raw hide soften and seem to become more palatable. The pieces can be very large and when the dog swallows a piece, it can get lodged in their esophagus or if they are lucky enough to swallow a piece, the raw hide can become lodged in their intestine.
Now Let me just tell you a little about how the raw hide treats are produced. Producing rawhide begins with the separation of the animal hide. The top grain is generally tanned and used for leather goods, and the inner portion or the ‘raw’ goes to our dogs! The process used to separate the hair from the raw is all CHEMICALS – some poisonous residues that may show up in rawhide include arsenic and formaldehyde. There was an article I read recently that revealed that in China, dog skin was used for these raw hide treats! An ongoing investigation of the fur trade by Humane Society International, an arm of the HSUS, resulted in this information as was informed on their website: “In a particularly grisly twist, the skins of brutally slaughtered dogs in Thailand are mixed with other bits of skin to produce rawhide chew toys for pet dogs. Manufacturers told investigators that these chew toys are regularly exported to and sold in U.S. stores.”
All Stuffed Toys – Really – anything puppy toys:
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 or you can read from one of our blogs. 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… We just finished testing out two Tugg toys and they are amazing – the balls are very strong heavy-duty plastic and the rope is strong. Although like with all new toy-tests, you still need to supervise them while as the rope part of the toy can come apart over time.
Nylabone:
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!
2 For A Walk: It is important NOT to let your puppy go to public parks or on hikes until they are fully vaccinated and/or after they have the immunity of their 16 weeks. Around week 20 is a good gauge. There are so many things the pup can quickly lick or walk onto during a walk – that can ultimately cause it many problems – so play it safe wait until he is done with his vaccination regiment and then go for a walk.
3 Fertilizers: Keep the open bags away from your puppy. Puppies get into everything and if they decide to take a nibble of a fertilizer that contains any insecticides for killing grubs, snails, etc. can result in mild gastrointestinal signs (e.g., drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.) when ingested directly from the bag. (My concern is now and … later… we want our pups to develop normally without any complications now that could lead to heartbreak later…) If your dog eats some grass that had fertilizer applied to it, it rarely leads to serious poisoning; that said, more serious signs can be seen when the product is directly ingested (i.e., right out of the bag). If ingested directly from the bag, the results can include tremors and seizures.
Check the labels! The most important thing is to make sure it’s not a fertilizer that has more dangerous products in it – some may contain iron, which can result in iron poisoning, and less common types may contain very dangerous insecticides such as carbamates or organophosphates.
4 Foods – good for us NOT good for our pups:
NEVER – EVER give the pups: avocados, onions, garlic, chocolates, caffeine, raisins or grapes –
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