RAISING A PUPPY幼犬饲养（转-翻译中）

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Puppies spend all their time eating, playing and sleeping. (Oh, and that other thing that creates loads and loads of laundry!) By week 5 the pups likely will have moved from two meals to three a day. Of course, they still get most of their nutrition from Mom. Some people push weaning early so they can get the mom back in shape for the show ring. Puppies separated from their littermates too early often don't develop appropriate "social skills," such as learning how to send and receive signals, what an "inhibited bite" means, how far to go in play wrestling and so forth. Play is important to help puppies increase their physical coordination, social skills and learning limits. Interacting with their mother and littermates helps them learn "how to be a dog" and is also a way to explore ranking ("who's in charge"). Most puppies seem to be duking it out right now over who will be top dog. They posture over each other. Mom will usually go knock them over and start cleaning them to let them know who is truly boss!

It is best to let Mom decide when she has had enough of them. Since the pups can get out of the whelping box now, you will need a separate X-pen set up that only Mom can get into. This gives her a place to go if she does want a break from them. The pups have sharp little teeth just erupting. They are starting to play with the toys in the box. Chewing on each other and the softer rubber toys. They will learn from each other how sharp those teeth are and not to bite too hard.

You will need lots of toys which you can rotate for the puppies. The rubber toys can go in the dishwasher with the food pans, the cloth and fuzzy ones go in the laundry with the whelping box pad in order to keep them clean.

I don't know many adult Dobermans who tolerate nail cutting without a fuss unless they have been trained from day one and even then they don't like it much. The pups find effective ways to squirm and make it difficult from the start!

Puppies are very predictable

They wake up and they have to go potty. They eat then have to go potty. This is important to remember when you take a puppy home. If it wakes up from a nap - take it outside quick! Once the puppy is finished eating... again, take it outside. If you don't let the puppy have a chance to make mistakes, it makes housetraining so much easier. Tell the pup how good it is when it goes to the bathroom outside. If the puppy goes inside, roll up a newspaper and swat yourself over the head three times! You should have been watching for the cues that would have told you it had to go out.

Temperament

Here is the age old question: Is temperament the result of heredity or of environment? You have already done your homework into the backgrounds of the sire and dam; you've checked on temperament, trainability and stability. The job does not stop here. Do you want to take a chance that the greatest factor is not environment?

In a litter, you are lucky to get one or two good show dogs. You may even get a future top obedience or agility dog. Every pup should have a super temperament because 90 percent of the litter will end up in pet homes. Their owners will not care about how many titles the parents won, at what age they got their first major, or how many tries it took them to get their CDX titles. These people care that their dogs will be wonderful additions to their family.

When a reputable breeder plans a breeding, they devote almost all of their time to the raising of the litter. It does not matter how wonderful and independent a mom your brood ***** is, you still have a full-time commitment with each litter.

You should start working with the pups when they are 3 days old. Take each one and put it through a series of five exercises known as Neurological Stimulation In brief, this is a series of exercises that stimulates pups in a way they would not otherwise experience at this early age.

Once the pups have their eyes open and start to venture out of the whelping box, the fun begins! Over the years, many breeders have developed their own form of a "puppy playground", designed to introduce the pups to sound, texture, movement, vibration and music. It often includes "swings" made from carpeted milk crates that hang from the ceiling. The pups quickly find these and they are not bothered by the swinging movement when they are in them. Often you may even find the swing jam-packed with pups sleeping and gently rocking! You can also have low, padded and carpeted seesaws. The pups first reaction to these is usually to be startled when they walk up the low ramp and it moves under their weight. However, the puppy urge for exploration gets the best of them and soon you see 6-week old pups trying out their "sea legs" and balancing on the middle of the sea saw like expert agility dogs.

Play is important to help puppies increase their physical coordination, social skills and learning limits. Interacting with their mother and littermates helps them learn "how to be a dog" and is also a way to explore ranking ("who抯 in charge").

The playground also can include a variety of tunnels made of tall kitchen trash containers with the bottoms cut out. The pups race through these, roll them around, and then all pile in for a nap. There are also ramps of various materials and textures, milk jugs, hanging fleece toys and short steps made by stacking large wooden blocks.

One object that the pups love is a fleece octopus with squeaky arms. It hangs about five inches from the ground, from a rope that has a long line of sleigh bells attached to the top. The noise it makes! There can also be low mirrors on the walls and an assortment of balls, toys and chews in the puppy room.

At about 6 weeks you could try introducing the pups to water, under supervision of course. Just take an extra large Vari-Kennel bottom, line it with rubber bath mats, and fill it with three inches of warm water. Place this in the puppy room, with a couple of rubber balls floating in it. The boldest pups are soon in there! There is no pushing or forcing; just let them go at their own pace.

You can also put different textures in the puppy room such as rugs, slick floor, newspapers, rubber ring matting. If you have access to any you can use iron dumbbells for the pups to use to get a boost up when getting back in the whelping box. The inside of the box has pig rails. The pups step on those to get out. There are no rails on the outside. The dumbbells are the same height as the pig rails and they won't budge.

Each puppy also gets individual attention every day during which they experience a variety of activities. They may drag around a short leash, go for a ride in the car, or have their toenails trimmed.

The playroom setup enables the breeder to sit and watch the puppies for hours to see which are the most adventuresome, which have the quickest recovery time, and which are more hesitant. This helps to decide on the homes that will be best for each one.

About puppies and retrieving

Puppies will carry nearly anything they can get hold of, including your good shoes, gloves, the children's toys, and your newly-planted rosebushes. Severe scolding now, or vigorously discouraging the retrieving instinct, will quite likely result in a dog hesitant to retrieve for you later in obedience training. A much better solution is to call the puppy to you (go to him when necessary), praise him gently for delivering and releasing the forbidden object, and immediately give him one of his own toys to carry and play with. If you chase him while screaming and scolding, he will only run away with the object ... and next time, may just quietly take it away to be more thoroughly "investigated".

The instinct to retrieve, and the commitment to carrying things around is in almost every puppy regardless of breed. In case some of your buyers plan to do any sort of obedience work, proper development and encouragement of this instinct in the puppies will be a firm foundation for the willingness to work with and for a person. Use a small, soft object that's easy for the puppy to carry such as a rubber ball or a knotted sock. Show it to the puppy and move it in a wiggling motion that will entice the puppy by awakening the chase instinct. Don't move it too quickly as puppies often don't follow movements that are too fast or abrupt, and it is important that they maintain eye contact with or "mark" the object. While the puppy is watching the movement of the object, or attempting to take a hold of it, encourage it with soft but excited words such as "Get it! Good puppy!" and toss the object a foot or two away. Use words of encouragement such as "Fetch it! Good puppy!" as you call the puppy back to you with the object, hold the puppy gently while you praise it again both verbally and physically, and don't take the object away too soon. Many puppies are reluctant to give up their "catch", and run away from you with it instead of bringing it back. Resist the impulse to run after the puppy, and run away from it instead, clapping your hands, and calling the puppy by its name; this should once again initiate the "chase" instinct. Take the object from the puppy very gently (praising all the time), and let it retrieve again immediately. When the game is over (and two or three retrieves is plenty), take the object from the puppy, hold the puppy there for few more seconds of praise, and then release it.

The pups play hard in spurts throughout the day and night. They will fall asleep just as fast as they wake up!

I don't want anyone to get the idea this is a breeze, or that there is money to be made! . There are lots of hidden costs, and also the more obvious ones. A lot can be said about counting the cost of raising and showing the parents into the cost of the litter. I won't even go into that part of it. I see showing and training with dogs as a very expensive hobby. A show weekend easily runs over $200 just on entry fees, hotel, gas. That's a flea bag motel that takes dogs, vendor hot-dogs, parking, entry fees, and no frills! Breeders rarely count any of the costs of showing, training or putting titles on either parent but there is indeed a huge expenditure in that area.

Are we having fun yet? Think you want to try this at home?

Breeding dogs can be a wonderful event. You've got a great looking animal which is very special to you, and you have found a great looking mate who is also wonderful, and between the two of them, you reckon that you can produce some wonderful pups.

Unfortunately, the reality of life is that while beautiful puppies can result, in a large number of cases events happen during the breeding of a dog that far outweigh the much-wanted puppies.

A lot of people think that breeders make a lot of money And sometimes that thought alone is enough for some people to put their beloved friend at risk. Most reputable breeders have yet to make money out of breeding.

When you breed your dog, you put her at risk. Yes, she can die giving birth, and you don抰 have time to grieve since you will be raising orphaned pups.

Regardless of how much experience you have, you can still have disasters.

Death of just one pup, even in a large litter, can be heartbreaking. It's almost impossible to get a fading puppy to survive, and you can lose a whole litter to fading puppy syndrome.

[译文一]
吃、玩、睡占据了幼崽的所有时间。（哦，还有一件事，就是不断地为洗衣店制造负担。呵呵~）5周龄以后的幼犬，一天人工喂食一般要从2餐增加到3餐。当然，即便如此，母犬仍然是它们每天所需营养和能量的主要来源。一些人倾向早点断奶——这样的话，可以有利于母犬体形的恢复，达到犬展的要求。幼犬过早离开它们的小伙伴，不利于“社会化技能”的妥善发育。比如象学习如何发出和接受信号；“不许咬”的含义；角力游戏中应该掌握的力量分寸、户外活动的范围。游戏对于提高幼犬的肢体协调能力、社会化技能以及建立领地概念非常重要。和母犬及小伙伴之间的交互影响，可以帮助它们学习“如何成为一只狗”。这也是它们探究阶级地位（谁是老大？）的途径。此时，大多数幼犬似乎正在以武力的形式来确定谁是头狗。它们相互示威。母犬经常不断地教训、清理它们，让它们知道：谁是真正的老大！

[译文二]
最好让母犬来决定，什么时候她已经受够了这些崽子，叫它们离开。从这些幼犬能够跑出产箱的时候开始，你需要为母犬搭一个只有她能进入的围栏。这样的话，她就可以在她想要躲开幼犬纠缠的时候，有块安静的地方。幼犬正在长出尖锐的牙齿。它们开始在箱子里玩耍，用牙齿来对付小伙伴和塑胶玩具。它们会从“对手”那里体会到牙齿有多厉害，不能咬太狠了。
你需要为它们准备大量的可重复使用的玩具。塑胶玩具不错，可以和食盘一起放到洗碗机里清洗。绒毛玩具要保持清洁的话，就要和产箱垫子一起送到洗衣店了。
我不清楚，很多成年的杜宾竟然能在断甲时若无其事，除非它们被训练过，即便如此，它们也不会喜欢被剪断指甲啊。幼犬在这种时候，往往会拼命蠕动挣扎，来阻止那“惨痛”事件的开始。

[译文三]
幼犬行为非常有规律。
它们睡醒后要小便，吃完了要小便。你要带一只幼犬回家，这很重要。它打个盹，一睁眼，赶紧把它带到外面！它一吃完，同样赶紧把它带到外面！如果不是你给它犯错误的机会话，定点排便对它来说太简单了。告诉在外面上厕所的它有多棒。要是它在室内排便的话，你该卷起报纸使劲敲自己脑袋三下！你必须要时刻观察那些暗示的行为。它们会告诉你：你要带幼犬出去了。

气质

这是个多年的老话题了。到底是遗传的结果？还是环境的作品？（呵呵~~这个问题，我在CPN曾为此争论的不可开交。想不到老外也在争论。——译者注）即便你已经分析了幼犬的父母，调查了它们的气质、可训性和稳定性，工作还没完。您能忽略环境——影响气质的最重要的因素吗？

一窝幼犬，你得到一只或两只出色的SHOW狗是幸运的。你甚至可能得到未来服从测试或敏捷测试的上榜犬。90%的幼犬会做为宠物落脚到普通家庭，每只幼犬都会有一个与众不同的气质。它们的主人并不会关注它们的父母赢得多少称号，在什么年龄的时候拿到的第一个MAJOR，或者多少次测试它获得了CDX头衔。这些人在意的是，它们的狗为他们家庭增添了美妙。

[译文四]
当一个负责任的繁殖者计划一胎繁殖，他们会投入几乎全部的时间去照顾小狗。无论那产崽的母犬母性多好、多自立，你仍然要全程照顾每一只幼崽。

你应该在幼犬3天大的时候，开始介入照顾它们。为每只狗进行一系列5种锻炼，比如简短的神经刺激——这些系列锻炼，是在这个年龄阶段，幼犬获得外界刺激经历的唯一方式。

当幼犬睁开眼睛，尝试爬出产箱的时候，乐趣来了！多年以来，很多繁殖者营造了各自不同的“幼犬游乐场”，为幼犬提供环境声音、材料质感、运动、震动和音乐锻炼。“幼犬游乐场”经常会包括用牛奶箱从天花板上吊下来做的“秋千。幼犬会很快发现并待在那秋千里乐此不疲。你会经常发现那秋千上，幼犬象果酱一样挤一起睡觉，而且，秋千还在轻微地摆动。你还可以用零角碎料，制作低矮的翘翘板。从低的一端走上去，翘翘板会随着它们的重心的移动产生运动。幼犬第一次接触，通常会很惊诧。幼犬的探究的欲望得到极大的诱惑，你会很快发现，6周大的时候，它们竟然会尝试做“SEA LEGS”动作，在翘翘板中间保持着平衡，身手敏捷。

[译文五]
玩，对于帮助幼犬提高身体协调能力、社会化技能和学习掌握交往分寸非常重要。和它们的妈妈以及小伙伴的接触可以帮助它们学习“如何成为一只狗”，也是它们探究阶级地位（谁是老大？）的途径。

游乐场也可以设置用废旧的炊具拆掉底部来制作的各种管道。幼犬从中间穿过，推着四处滚动，还可以拥在一起在里面打个盹。里面还可以用各种材料搭成高低错落的坡道，放进织物、牛奶瓶、绒毛玩具，用木块搭成台阶。

wolf

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