Rosco & Sally Pups 2022

The puppies are six months old today! I hope everyone is going well 😊

Took Roy and Wasabi down to our first local agility comp for the year :) Had a look around and a game of tug!

Salt is visiting for a couple of hours :)

Wasabi flies off to his new home next week!

Kids are starting to lose their teeth - time to slow down on tug training, especially once those molars start going in a couple more weeks, we've got sore mouths. Expect the chewing to escalate, and offer plenty of opportunities to chew on things they're allowed to chew on (bones, bully sticks, etc) - it'll save your furniture and your sanity!

They turned 16 weeks old this week! Everyone should have had their last core puppy vaccine (ie parvo, distemper, infectious hepatitis), so we're down to the final few days before we're out and about everywhere. Parvo is quite prevalent in Townsville and it's very long lived in soil - in perfect conditions (shady, damp, no frosts) the virus can remain infective for many years, so it's a real balancing act between socialisation during their critical period (which is so important!) and disease risk (parvo can be fatal even with treatment, and has long term effects on their gastrointestinal tract and socialisation).

I've done my best to get the kids out and about in low risk situations, I know I play it safer than some and riskier than others. It's always a tough call, and in my opinion has to be an individual decision driven by knowledge of your pup as an individual and their intended lifestyle. Most of my kids have gone to sporting and working homes, where their confidence and resilience in challenging environments will be a huge factor in their quality of life, so it makes sense to err on the side of socialisation. My Roy in particular will be expected to spend quite a bit of time sitting on stalls and doing demos in crowds of people and dogs (🤞!) so it's really important to me that he's comfortable and confident in those environments, and that's so much more easily achieved through good quality socialisation in his critical period (aka socialisation period) than at any other time in his life. I have always and will always have both rescues and purpose bred dogs, and so much of what I work on for months with my rescues could've been built in just one or two events in puppyhood.

Sorry for the wall of text, have had a few questions and comments about this! Especially within the veterinary industry, we get so focused on the medicine and the tragedies we see every day, I think we sometimes lose sight of the big picture of quality of life for patients and clients, which is hugely behaviour driven.

Joey in the paper :)

The Australian Army’s latest four-legged recruit may be adorable but he has some mighty big paws to fill in a dangerous profession. See the adorable photos: 👉 https://bit.ly/3JDlTB6

Roy and Wasabi graduated puppy preschool last night :)

They have been taking it in turns to come to class.

A quick visit from some fluffy friends ❤️

Roy tagged along while I taught Nosework tonight.

He was just perfect ❤️

Wasabi's turn at puppy preschool!

Roy - disc dog in the making?

Then there were two.

Roy at the front and Wasabi at the back :)

Safe travels home to Cairns, Salt!

Roy had a great first night of puppy preschool with Training With Hart 😄

Wasabi's turn next week!

Salt, Roy, Wasabi and Sally ♥️

♥️

Salt and Wasabi

Trips around the local markets for Roy and Wasabi this morning :)

We all know it's so important to socialise puppies, but what does that actually mean?

To me, it's about thoughtfully exposing our pups to the kinds of objects, experiences and situations we expect to be part of their adult life, at a level that builds their confidence, and in a way that sets our expectations for their behaviour in those contexts. It's an opportunity that only happens once in their lives, in their critical socialisation period - the exact time window varies between breeds and individuals, but in my kelpies it's usually from 5 to 13.5 weeks. It can end as early as 10 weeks (common in German Shepherd Dogs) or as late as 16 weeks (reasonably common in toy breeds). Things they encounter during this window become part of the fabric of everyday life with only one or two exposures - to try to make an adult dog genuinely comfortable (and not just behaviourally suppressed) with those same things takes a whole lot more time and effort, and sometimes won't ever get to the same point that they could've with just one or two good, careful exposures as a young puppy.

Of course there is a balance against disease risk with an immature immune system, but that means you choose your socialisation carefully and minimise the risk, not that you don't do it. There's not much risk with carrying a dog, going for car rides, visiting places that don't get unvaccinated dogs (or that are disinfected), placing him on hard surfaces that regularly get full sun and sitting him on rugs, especially when that pup is kept up-to-date on vaccinations. The whole point of the puppy vaccination series is to allow safe socialisation - if you're going to completely bubble wrap your pups then you may as well just give one jab at 16 weeks and save some cash (you'll probably need it for a trainer later 😏).

Does every puppy need to go to the markets? No, of course not, especially if that's not the sort of environment you will ever put your dogs in as adults. But in our case, Roy will likely do training demonstrations offleash in places like this (for example, at the Townsville Pet Expo), and Wasabi is going to live somewhere with a much denser human population, where walking in crowds will be part of his everyday life.

Toppl time! Sardines today 😋🐟

Full of essential fatty acids. Omega 3s in particular have been shown to improve trainability in puppies. Pups have had a daily omega 3 supplement since they were 6 weeks old (Antinol Rapid).

Tug!

With the pups well and truly weaned, Sally really enjoys spending time with them ♥️

The boys have all been sleeping in crates overnight for the last few days. They're doing really well.

All of these boys are going to sport homes, so being happy in a crate is an essential skill. It lets them rest, relax and nap between turns in training and competition, and keeps them safe while left unattended. They will all travel and sleep away from home, so their crate makes a portable bedroom and helps them get good quality sleep on the road.

Crating puppies at night can also be a big help with toilet training, as well as setting good sleep patterns (and not having 2am parties).

Crate training in progress for Roy 👍

This is his first time being crated on his own, other than in the car or at home. He's doing perfectly!

A quick pet shop visit and trolley ride for Roy ♥️

Cafe dog training in progress 😝

Now I'm down to just 3 pups, I'll spend more time getting them out and about one on one.

Then there were four.

Best wishes to the families taking their pups home today - you're all great people and your pups have great lives ahead of them. Reach out if you need help - the earlier the better. Good luck with the first night ♥️

PS: Green ears are ink from their WKC tattoos. The excess will wear off.

Look at these two peas in a pod last night 😆

Orange is staying with me and Rumble is heading home with Lucy today.

Some of the pups are heading to their homes tomorrow - it's my last day with them.

I'm going to miss them, but they've got great lives ahead of them ♥️

Pups went for a visit to 3CER, where their uncle Archie (Sally's brother) works as an explosives detection dog. Mr Purple is going to join him!

Pups all had a ball, though some were more interested in soaking up pats and digging holes than playing 😆

Hanging out with Dimple :)