The importance of responsible breeders

Hi pawfriends it's me Luna again! This time I would like to write a little bit about the impawtance of responsible dog breeding. The current lockdown situation has lead into a tremendous amount of new pup owners. If you are thinking of getting a (second) pup please check out your breeder before you buy!

Currently there are a lot of scam breeders going around because of the puppy popularity it even happened last week to my humans when they where walking wif me in the park. A random person came and told them: "I have pups for 250 euro if you want one call me and come pick it up." As you can imagine mum was super angry.. He didn't cared at all who we where, he didn't showed the parents of the pups etc., the only thing he said is pricing and his phone number if we wanted to have one. This is clearly the kind of breeder you don't want to come from! 

Let's start with the short definition of a responsible breeder in my eyes:

Responsible breeders are people with great love for the pups that have educated themselves with specialized information such as historical research, behavior, bloodlines, heritable defects and temperament of the breed of their choice. They also educate and screen potential buyers and keep providing support if the owner needs this. Breeders that care keep connected and supervise the dogs they bred during their entire lifetime. Last but not least they never breed for making money because they know that with the time and effort they will spend on educating and caring for the pups they will not make profits out of this. 

 A responsible breeder:

• Screens and fully tests the breeding dog's for any heritable diseases
• Avoids at all time inbreeding
• Keeps the pups in a warm and clean family environment with enrichment and place for the pups to play
• Can tell you why she/he choose the mother and father combination and what are the characteristics of both parents
• Bases breeding frequency on health of the mother (max. 1litter/year)
• Complies with all applicable laws and will gladly show you their breeding license and registration papers of the dogs
• Will take back any animal of their breeding in case owners can't take care of the dog anymore (this can be temporarily when the owner is injured for example or permanent when the owner died or any other reason that might apply)
• Never sells puppies to dealer or pet shop
• Let's you visit the pup as many times as necessary before moving permanently to new home
• Asks you a lot of questions and talks with you about the future of the dog (Will the dog be used for sport, herding, does the breed fit with you?) And also gives you the space to ask all questions you have about them
• Provides a clear purchase contract and gives you the time to read it before you sign
• Chips and vaccines the pups and provides all health care needed

Now after reading all this you can maybe understand why mum sterilized me, it was never her plan to get pups from me from the beginning even though I am her favorite dog ever. Even if she would like to breed one day in the future she would have to educate herself so so so so much more and pick up the best pawsible parent combination ever. The mission of breeding should ALWAYS be "breeding to improve the breed" and not just get pups out of your dog.

Big paw from me,
Luna 🐾

Potty training your pup

Hi furiends! It's me Luna again! As most of you may know I am already 5 years old but there was a time that I was a mini puppy that didn't knew how to poo outside the house, my mum would like to give all the new puppy owners an idea how I was potty trained, my mum was lucky enough to be with me at home the first weeks after I managed the potty training I would go for short periods of time in the crate. Please keep in mind this is our personal experience and each of us pups is unique!

If you go with your pup to the dog school or vet most of the time the first thing you will hear is ' take the puppy outside if he peed in the house'. The truth is that this kind of 'punishment' is not working for puppy's. It took a while for my mum to realize how she could easily convince me to do my thing and make this a positive experience instead of telling me that "I was a bad puppy" when I peed indoors.

First of all it is impawtent to observe your pup daily as much as possible, most pups show some 'signals' when they feel they have to pee or poop. I would start walking around in small circles for finding the spot, other dog's may start crying/barking, scratching the door,.... Experts suggest to start training your dog around 12-16 weeks old.

How my mum teached me:

We where living in a house with a garden at the time. After several months we moved to an apartment without outside garden so I had to adapt to this with different way's.

Garden training:

This one was the most easy for me as a pup. The first weeks the moment my mum would see me turning small rounds she would pick me up and carry me to the 'dog spot' in the garden. She was staying there with me until I would do my wee. Honestly the first times I was making her wait very long and sometimes also while it was raining. 😜 Afterwards she would start screaming from happiness and bring out my favorite toy, honestly I thought she was a little crazy. 😂 After a while she would take me out on random times of the day and I realized this is my potty time. 

In the house without garden: 

When we moved to the apartment without garden I was struggling a little more not only did I had to go outside to pee but also this time it was in an environment with distractions and on a leash?! Mum trained me already inside the house on a leash and would carry me to the field next to our apartment. We would go out every 2 hours. The difference was now that I can not walk free and other dog's off leash would try to distract me. Mum was always telling the owners to not let their dog's play with me so that I could focus better. In the beginning it was really difficult focusing on doing my potty training instead of playing and biting my mum's shoes 😂 My mum was standing patiently giving me the vocal command and ignoring my attempts to play. After I would do my wee she would play with me, throw my toy and bring out cookies! 

Puppy pads: There is this thing called 'puppy pads' to use inside the house. For me personally I would only use it the first couple of weeks when the pup is too small to go outside (before the vaccinations). My pawrents decided that they would instantly teach me to go outside to avoid creating the habit of peeing in the house. Ofcourse there happened some accidents the first couple of weeks but your pawrents should just clean it up and keep going with a smile. 😊

Most common problems:

-Pup keeps peeing on the same place indoors after an accident: This may be caused by the smell that stayed after cleaning use specialized household products for pets (pet stain cleaners)

-Accidents happen often during the day: Take your pup more out in the beginning, recommend after eating/drinking, when the pup wakes up from a nap, after playing indoors and ofcourse always first thing in the morning and last thing at night before sleep. Also controlled feeding might help, don't give your pup unlimited portions of food but structured feeding moments. 

Ps. Tell your pawrents this: Great things take time! 

Paw Luna 🐾🐶