Letters from readers:

Fighting Labrador siblings
require management

Hello,
Further to information on the Labrador puppies in our letter last issue: Bear (the German shepherd) is two years old and eats Nutro Large Breed Adult food and sleeps in a kennel inside the house. The two puppies are now about 10 weeks old and presently eating a mixture of Purina puppy and Nutro Puppy. We are almost ready to put them only on the Nutro food. They have separate kennels and also sleep in the house. We took the puppies to the vet for their booster shots and they are healthy and energetic little girls.

The puppies go out five or six times a day, sometimes alone and sometimes together. They romp and play all over the back yard. They seem to be happy. One of the puppies belongs to our neice but she works most of the day so the puppy is with us.

After you message to us we have no let the German Shepherd out with them a lot. We have also started feeding them at separate times and let them stay outside for about 10-15 minutes so that they can go potty. The one that gets fed second doesn't like it very much so we try to rotate who goes first. We leave water down at all times. We refill it about two times a day.

We would like to get a copy of your book for our library and after we read it will try to fix the things that we are doing wrong. We want our puppies to grow up healthy and happy and part of our family. The German shepherd needs a lot of attention too.

We would like to thank you for the time that you put into your message and the helpful hints you gave us. If you have any more ideas from our message please feel free to contact us again. - Victor and Terrie

Hello Victor and Terrie,
Thank you for your reply, I hope as you put some of the programme into action, you have seen some improvement in your puppies' behaviour already. My book should be published within the next month. When it is ready you will see it advertised at www.k9magazinefree.com and www.shalvaholistics.com

It is good to hear the puppies have checked out fit and healthy from your veterinarian. Also good to hear you are keeping the puppies away from your shepherd as much as possible giving him the space he needs. At two he is still very young and if he plays with the puppies and things get a little too wound up, he could do some serious damage to the puppies unintentionally, just because he is big and powerful and when they get wound up, dogs stop thinking about what they are doing.

Is there any reason you have chosen Nutro to feed your dogs? Have your dogs done well on Nutro in the past? I am not saying it is good or bad, just interested in peoples reasons for choice. However, just make sure the ingredients contain meat or meat meal as one of the first three ingredients and observe what type of cereal is being used. Also are there any additives, sugars, preservatives and colours in the food?

Some preservatives and especially colours can contribute to hyperactivity as they do with children. Take note of how the puppies behave within one hour after their meals. It is okay to feed the puppies together as long as one is not able to eat the other's meal (bullying). If one attempts such action it should be stopped or fed in a different room or behind a barrier.

You said your puppies go out five or six times for about 10 to 15 minutes to go potty and they are playing all over the back yard. It may look as if the puppies are enjoying themselves but 10 to 15 minutes of continuous play is far too much for puppies or any dogs. After just a few minutes puppies will become very wound up and find it difficult to stop the play without intervention by a human or a mature dog. You must stop play after a minute or two and not allow it to carry on or you will have problems with them greeting other dogs in the future and it will become very difficult for you to take the dogs anywhere.

They will end up wanting to run, lunge, pull and bark at every dog they see when out on a walk because that is what they are learning at home in their own back yard. Having the opportunity to practice this play behaviour five or six times a day is going to make this behaviour develop very strongly. Observe your puppies when they come in from play. Are they red eyed, are they panting, frothing at the mouth, drooling, unsettled, yawning, barking, wanting to play more, destructive, chewing, biting, hiding, cowering, drinking a lot, sniffing the ground, sitting looking worried or with ears back, paw lifting, whinning, blinking eyes a lot, turning away, grumpy, hyperactive? These are a few of the signs that would tell you, the puppies have had too much play. The more of these signs you see in your puppies, the more stressed they have become from the activity.

Try hiding nice treats around your back yeard when you let them out. Perhaps hide some of their dinner outside for them to find, so they are busy doing nosework activity together, rather than playing with one another and getting wound up. While they are outside, maybe hide a few treats indoors ready to find when they come in. Sometimes you could hide a few small pieces of sausage, cheese, fruit, vegetables or cooked eggs.

Sometimes you could spread something nice (cream cheese, peanut butter etc) onto tree trucks, fence posts etc instead of hiding the treats. Of couse you don't give as much food in their meals when they are having a few of these games, but believe it or not, these games use up a lot of enery. They are using their brains, their senses and it is also physical and emotional for them. They should settle quite well and rest after these games. They will be in effect using their brains rather than losing them. I hope this helps you a little further. - Nicole