Raising Hannah by L P King

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. THE ROLE OF COMPANION ANIMALS

What is a companion animal?

Recognition of companion animals.

What can a companion animal do for you?

2. TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT YOUR LIFE

Are you ready to commit to having an animal?

Consider the pros and cons.

How honest are you?

Is your family ready?

Are you mentally and physically up to the task?

Your physical environment is important.

3. CHOOSE A BREED THAT IS BEST FOR YOU

Big dog or little dog?

Pure bred or mutt?

4. WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Puppy or mature dog?

Things to heed.

Physical attributes and temperaments.

5. FAMILY INTEGRATION

Bringing a puppy home.

Educating the family.

Animal and human needs.

What can you expect from this new relationship?

6. SETTLING IN

Getting used to each other.

Toilet training begins immediately.

To Bed!

7. DOGGIE BASICS

Collars, identity disks, leashes, beds.

The importance of a name.

Early vocabulary training.

8. HYGIENE

Bathing options.

Control of fleas.

9. FIRST VET VISIT

The place of vets.

Dog restraints whilst travelling.

How often to visit the vet.

What the visit to the vet will entail.

10. LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER

Who's the boss?

The role of discipline.

Puppies have to be taught manners.

11. LET DOGS BE DOGS

Is school in or out?

12. LEARNING TO WALK

Who's the leader?

The importance of being consistent.

Play or work?

Walking is the reward.

13. PUPPY PLAY AND THE ROLE OF TOYS

How puppies learn.

Role of the senses.

Toys discussed.

14. TEETHING

Soothe those sore gums.

"Chews" to aid teething... and your sanity.

15. AS YOUR DOG DEVELOPS

Moods.

Quirky personality traits.

Pups are delicate - dreaded diarrhoea.

16. NUTRITION

Commercial food versus a natural diet.

Puppy recipes.

Supplements.

17. WORMS

Chemical preparations or natural alternatives?

18. THE NASTIES

Creepy, crawly, bitey nasties to avoid.

Keep a good first aid book at hand.

If in doubt, off to the vet.

19. DE-SEXING

What to expect.

How to cope with a dog in season.

20. AN ONGOING COMMITMENT

Training and learning never stops.

Use common sense.

Before you know it...

Excerpts from Raising Hannah by L P King:

I came back into the room to find Hannah sitting up on the lounge like a person, her back legs delicately crossed and the contents of the plastic bucket containing the remains of the broken terracotta pot-plant spilled in her lap. With a smile that would melt snow she kept her eyes on me as she carefully picked the pieces of terracotta out of the dirt and put them to one side. Dirt spilled onto the fresh covers of the lounge she was not supposed to sit on and dribbled down onto the floor. Twice I had taken the bucket from her and twice she had gone out into the garage to retrieve it. Stand-off time, kiddo.

So, exactly what does stand-off time mean with a 9 month-old German Shepherd who is as big as a horse?

The health of a puppy is as much of a challenge as it is for a human baby. They need proper nutrition and vitamins, especially during the period of optimum bone growth. Much has been said about commercially produced puppy food. Be very careful, a lot of it is just garbage, full of toxins and who knows what else. I fed Hannah a special dry puppy food for a few days. Let's just say that little exercise set untold precedents in the ablutions area. Basically, pooh, pooh and more pooh...

I decided it was best to stay with the diet I had formulated for my previous dogs, only with more mush. Those milk teeth don't handle chewing hard things very well. Fresh food is definitely best and a blender is a must. I'll take some time out now to tell you how I prepared the food. Hannah certainly seems none the worst for it.

There are so many things to think about with young animals. Like babies, you have to be one step ahead of them all the time. The emergencies I have described here have all been experienced by us and I can assure you it is every bit as stressful for you as it is for the animal. You must stay calm and just do what you have to do in cases like this as the animal will quickly pick up on it if you drop your bundle and freak out. I would suggest that you purchase a good book on Animal First Aid and there are many around.

Well, this little supplement was the greatest surprise for me and within about five days I noticed a difference in Hannah. I'm still giving it to her. It contains linseed, wheat germ, kelp, lecithin, cereal products, molasses, nutritional yeast and natural flavours. Here's what some of the ingredients do:

Puppies are always hungry, just like your teenage son they can clean your refrigerator out in record time. You must know when to feed and when not to feed.

There could be other reasons for diarrhoea . Like, have you changed the diet? Has the pup been getting into things outside it shouldn't? Like eating leaves and bark? Has the pup got worms? This is very important and I'll talk more on this later. Has your husband been feeding it liquorice (don't laugh)? Did you give it the left-over boiled cabbage from dinner last night? It's a myth that you can just feed a dog any old thing just because it is a dog. Food that we use to promote certain, shall we say, body functions in humans, have the same effects on dogs. I would strongly recommend that you never, ever, give the left-overs from your super-dooper homemade pumpkin soup.

Like humans, dogs learn through play and you should never underestimate the role of the senses in your dog's development. You'll be eternally frustrated by the dog's desire to touch everything you touch, smell everything and generally stick its nose in anything and everything. If you find it playing with something you'd really rather not have it playing with, you'd better have a battle plan ready. So, it's got your best scarf which it stole from your bedroom. One tug on that scarf and it's good-bye silkworm. This is where a squeaky toy comes in handy. One squeak and the dog is distracted, at least enough for you to retrieve your scarf. Basically, if you want to take something away from them, give something in lieu. The little dear needs to be occupied, just like a little human.

That brings me to puppy pre-school and dog obedience classes. I appreciate that such things are de rigueur in some sectors, but for us it has never been practicable. Classes are too hard to get to for a start and we never know what our schedules are going to be like so to commit to something like that is impossible. I see people out walking with their dogs. They have obviously been to school and relish showing off what they have learned. Trouble is, they both look absolutely miserable. I'm happy just to get through a walk without getting my arms pulled out of their sockets. Leastways, that's how it was in the early days. We've learned a lot since then , but we did it our way.

Impossible, you might say. Wrong, I say.

Now you've done all the preliminary stuff, it is time to settle your puppy into the scheme of things. My attitude towards animals is that I love them dearly but that we live together and we each have to learn to live with each other. Does that make sense? Well, I have a life too and that means that any new member of the family is going to have to learn to fit into that lifestyle. I am the one doing the looking after and the providing for, not the other way around. Dogs are quite OK with this attitude and since they are pack animals, even welcome it. Dogs like to know where they fit in; life is much easier that way.

Hannah knew about Toot. She knew when he was sick and, although she wasn't with us when he died, I'm sure she knew what had happened. Hannah respected Toot and she never bothered him or tried to play with him the way she does with Nooby, our 7 year-old cat. Not bad going for a baby Shepherd.