Puppy in your house. Vladimir Gavrilovich Gusev

Before getting a dog
The author, like all avid dog breeders, simply cannot imagine life if it is not adorned with communication with a four-legged friend. Nevertheless, when asked if my friends should get a dog, I often answer in the negative. A dog in the house is both care and responsibility for a living being, which will fall not only on the lover himself, but on his entire family. A dog in a house where at least one of the family members does not love him is always unhappy. Moreover, it becomes a bone of contention, a source of trouble.

But even if all members of the family want to get a dog, you need to weigh a lot. A dog is not a toy, we keep him for years of his life. Selling or transferring it to other hands is always or almost always a trauma for the owners and the animal itself ... When getting a dog, one has to somehow build a mode of one's being, taking into account the pet's mode of life. Here and early rise, and walks, and the difficulties associated with spending holidays or going on business trips. In the meantime, the puppy is growing, for months you have to wipe endless puddles, clean up piles, replace a gnawed telephone wire, a broken device, learn how to put model shoes in a closet, or even change damaged wallpaper in an apartment ...

The issue of acquiring a dog can only be solved by the whole family, after weighing and discussing all the problems. So you've decided...

Criterias of choice
A good, thoughtful choice of dog will provide you with years of pleasant intimacy with a loyal and unburdensome creature. Otherwise, the pet will become a source of difficulties and even major troubles that can permanently extinguish interest in dog breeding in a novice lover.

Is it worth getting a purebred dog? Maybe take a cross, or even just a mongrel who does not know kinship?

An avid lover of a certain breed will answer this question unambiguously. Sometimes he speaks contemptuously not only about a purebred pet, but also about all breeds other than “his own”. Such fanciers tend to attribute intelligence, the ability to accept training, and faithfully serve their master to only one breed. But these wonderful qualities are characteristic of the entire canine family. And the poet was right when he wrote: “It looks like a simple mongrel, but the heart of the purest breed ...”

When choosing a dog, a novice dog breeder must first of all determine the purpose of its acquisition. There is a whole group of breeds created for guard duty, to protect herds from predators and intruders, others are not so reliable protection, but invaluable helpers in grazing. There are many highly specialized breeds used for hunting, but perhaps the most common are breeds designed to accompany a person in everyday life, to be his friend and companion at home and on the road.

The giants of the canine family are very impressive: Great Danes, St. Bernards, Newfoundlands, Caucasian Shepherd Dogs and even large mestizos. But before getting such a dog, you need to calculate how much it will cost to feed a dog weighing 60–80 kg, estimate your ability to restrain the throws and fury of such a pet, determine how much it will “fit” into the interior of a small apartment. It is no coincidence that dogs of medium and small sizes are most widespread among modern lovers.

The existing selection criterion is the length and texture of the dog's coat. A short-haired pinscher, boxer or similar dog will be unhappy when kept outside in frosty weather, and may die from the cold. The fluffy, elegant coat of bird-like dogs with a thick weightless undercoat is very beautiful, allows you to endure any frost and is quite acceptable in a house with stove heating, where dogs shed only at certain times. But the same coat with year-round shedding of dogs in houses with central heating requires constant care and cleaning from the floor, furniture and clothes, even with daily brushing of the dog.

In recent years, a group of wire-haired breeds has gained particular popularity: terriers, schnauzers, etc. The dense, wiry coat of these dogs gives them an original, in their own way attractive appearance. But the main thing is that such wool perfectly protects the dog from cold and heat, moisture does not hold on it, and the dog almost does not litter with it when kept in an apartment, since the old, dying coat is artificially removed by periodic trimming (pinch) 2-3 times a year.

German shepherds and collies have always been distinguished by a wonderful attitude towards contact with a person. This feature allows them to get used to a variety of conditions and owners.

However, all these characteristics are conditional, since along with typical representatives in each breed there are also individuality.

Raising a four-legged friend
A good dog, a devoted friend and irreplaceable helper, cannot only be bred, trained or trained. She must be brought up.

Proper upbringing of a puppy from an early age is the main condition for the subsequent development of the required qualities in it. Education is primarily aimed at the normal formation of the nervous system, as well as the development of a number of skills necessary for the life of the dog itself and the convenience of communicating with it.

A small puppy gradually learns to walk, run, overcome steps, uneven ground. On walks, in play, in communication with other animals and humans, flair, hearing, eye, coordination of movements are gradually formed, in a word - the puppy turns into a harmoniously developed animal. Before entering training, he must get acquainted with the world, learn a lot of interesting, indifferent and even dangerous objects, phenomena, living beings, remember thousands of different smells.

But this happens only when they work with a puppy every day, take him for a walk, teach him the simplest tricks and skills.

In the development of the psyche of living beings, including dogs, there is a certain staging. Catch up in the process of raising a puppy is often impossible. That is why in kennels, hunting farms and negligent dog breeders, where dogs sit for months without walking, training and training, you so often meet animals with an improperly formed nervous system, cowardly, quickly tiring, stupid in training and hunting.

Proper upbringing of a dog from the age of one month prepares its psyche for the loads that service to a person requires.

Another task of education is the gradual development of obedience, necessary in everyday life and hunting techniques.

This is especially important for a dog that will live in an urban dog breeder's home. And here it is absolutely necessary from the very first hours after the appearance of the puppy in the apartment to take the right direction in his upbringing.

Puppy in your house
It is better to take a puppy from the mother in the morning on Saturday, Sunday - in a word, a day free from work. In this case, the baby will have time to get used to loneliness, to a new environment in a day, get tired of the flow of new impressions and will not disturb you with plaintive cries. This will help and litter, smelling of your pet's native nest, in which he was wrapped, taking away from his mother. And the mother's warmth on the new bed will be partly replaced by a heating pad with hot water, placed in the evening under the same bedding.

The first thing to remember for the owner of the puppy and his family is how to properly take the baby in his hands. The puppy is still small, its muscles and ligaments are weak, and if you drag it, picking it up under the front paws, it is very easy to disfigure it for life by dislocation or severe sprain. You need to take a puppy with both hands at the same time, picking up under the chest and buttock, or from both sides, capturing the chest area, and not the stomach. The puppy is impulsive and wiggly, you need to hold it firmly so that the baby does not break out and plop onto the floor. It is better to squat to the puppy yourself and not to lift it unless absolutely necessary.

From the first day, do not allow the puppy to do what you will not allow an adult dog - climb into bed, onto the sofa, beg for food at the table, stand on its hind legs, leaning on the person with its front legs ...

To do this, you have to endure whining on the first night; send the puppy to a place or to another room while the owners are eating; bend down to the puppy yourself when you need to caress him or give him a treat and slightly squeeze his hind legs when the puppy puts his front paws on you.

Puppy place. In urban conditions, the puppy is given a place in a quiet corner of the room away from the radiator and not in a draft. For lying, it is best to have a mattress stuffed with hay, straw or cotton wool, covered with oilcloth or polyethylene, over which they put on pillowcases made of light colored fabric that can be replaced after 3–5 days. It is better if such a mattress does not lie on the floor, but on a low (10–15 cm) stand.

Washing a puppy, and even an adult dog, with soap is undesirable. The purity of the coat is achieved by frequent bedding changes and regular combing of