Every Monday, I will be sharing with you posts from my favorite canine care author Nicole N S Mackie. She is the author of a great book entitled “Living in Harmony with Your Puppy”. She runs a website about canine care at www.shalvaholistics.com . Check it out! I really enjoyed reading her book, filled with wisdom and just the right information for every canine owner.
Continued from a previous post here.
Stress Reduction Techniques:
Provide basic needs of warmth, shelter, food, water, closeness, toilet opportunity
Good relationship with your puppy, allowing him to be in the house with you as part of the family, not left alone outdoors
Involve puppy in calm family activity, not highly active
Allow your puppy to make his own choices
Speaking calmly, use body language rather than saying NO, ie splitting up, going between or using other calming signals
Moving slowly and not fast
Curve around your puppy when approaching and not directly into his space
Allow puppy to approach you, rather than you approaching him
Nose-work and brain-work games
Hide your puppies treats or meal around your yard or in your house for puppy to find.
Massage
Calm music if your puppy likes it
Give your puppy blankets, toys or anything else he might likes to use for comfort or to play with.
Plenty of rest and sleep during the day and at night
Never waken your puppy from sleep, especially rem (dreaming) sleep, when you see jerky movements or even barking during sleep.
Space, your puppy will need his own space
Using calming signals to communicate with your puppy
Using stuffed Kongs daily or other type of chews, you can also provide your puppies meal in the Kong provided the meal is moist.
Walking on a long loose lead
Correct amount of exercise for puppies age and breed
Daily short, calm slow walk, allowing puppy to sniff and explore away from other dogs or humans
If you want your puppy to walk with other dogs, allow your puppy to walk only with calm mature dogs he is familiar with
Avoid giving your puppy a high fat, high sugar diet which places strain on the adrenal glands
Correct diet for you individual puppy, see veterinarian or canine nutritional therapist. They can also provide you with the correct supplementation for your puppy if need be.