Puppy Resources

Thank you again, and congratulations on your Ca' Rigada Deutsch Drahthaar! In addition to preparing your puppy to go home with you, we hope to support you and your puppy going forward. We are always happy to consult with you on any matters concerning your puppy. Below we have collected some of the best resources we have found for you to start out with your new dog and Drahthaar. Recommended to both the very experienced and newer people; we find we always come back to many of these. As always, please do not hesitate to be in touch with any questions or to discuss.

General Puppy Raising, Behavior and Training

Food and Nutrition for Large Breeds

Puppy Shopping List

GENERAL PUPPY BEHAVIOR & TRAINING

Before and After You Get Your Puppy by veterinary behaviorist and trainer Dr. Ian Dunbar, PhD, DVM

Click here for the link to download the free PDFs of these books. The combined hardcopy or eReader version can be purchased from Amazon. Dr. Dunbar has also provided most of this in webpage format in the Dog Training Digital Textbook.

Potty Training
Separation Anxiety Prevention
House Destruction Prevention
- You can raise a puppy with minimal to no damage to your home.
Acquired Bite Inhibition
- All dogs bite; the critical factor is how hard they bite. This is believed to be determined by 14-16 weeks of age. Please review this section and ensure your puppy completes his or her bite inhibition education.
Crate / Confinement Training
- Somewhat counter-intuitively, the more you crate/pen/confinement train now, the more freedom your puppy will have later in life. Properly confinement trained puppies can typically have run of the house at a year - some earlier!

Dr. Dunbar is BIG on socialization, and for good reason. The one caveat is that you should be aiming for QUALITY over QUANTITY.

For striking the balance between socialization and vaccine safety, please read the statement released by the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior:

https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Puppy_Socialization_Position_Statement_Download_-_10-3-14.pdf

General Puppy Raising, Behavior, and Training

FOOD AND NUTRITION FOR LARGE BREED PUPPIES

Large breed puppies (typically defined as those whose adult weight will exceed fifty pounds) require a specific large breed puppy diet to ensure the appropriate growth rate for their large frames. This is a major factor in reducing the likelihood of orthopedic disease. Please look for a puppy food that is AAFCO certified for large breed puppy growth, and read the first link below to understand the danger of any calcium supplementation at this age in a large breed puppy. You will also understand from the below why we STRONGLY recommend providing DHA by supplementation for your dog (Omega-3 oils are highly unlikely to survive kibble processing well).

https://todaysveterinarynurse.com/articles/giant-expectations-nutrition-for-the-large-breed-puppy/

https://www.instituteofcaninebiology.org/blog/we-can-reduce-the-risk-of-hip-dysplasia-now

Bit more layman’s terms here (scroll past the food recommendations):

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/best-large-breed-puppy-food/

We are always happy to vet foods with you, just send over an e-mail.

Food and Nutrition