Health:  Your new puppy has been wormed several times using a product called Strongid which is commonly used by veterinarians for treatment of puppy worms.  However, puppies continually reinfest themselves and require routine worming to keep parasite free.   Should your new puppy ever have soft stool, the first step is to have a stool sample run.  It should tell you what the problem is, and the veterinarian will best know how to remedy the situation.  Other factors that can play a part in upset bowel would be changes in water and food, as well as ingesting table scraps or other things which puppies aren’t supposed to eat. (Table food is a no-no!) Things we strongly recommend you look into are additional vaccines for kennel cough (every 6 months) and lyme disease (if planning to visit wooded areas) as well as once monthly preventatives for worms and fleas.  The preventative will make your life much easier, as you will never have to deal with the hassle of a flea infestation.  It usually costs about $8. To $10.00 per month, and is well worth it.  Also, don’t forget your supplements!  All of our dogs are required to have the NuVet Plus vitamin once daily for their whole life.  It’s a requirement of the health guarantee, and is easy to give and inexpensive to buy.  Just call the toll free number, (800) 474-7044 and request order #75074.  Easy as that, you will have your order within a few days.

Feeding:  Your puppy has been fed a quality food before it was even born by way of its mommy.  We find that quality foods are an excellent source of nutrition, and strongly recommend that you keep your puppy on a quality food such as this for the duration of its life.  We do however recommend these foods if you should desire to switch:
Premium Foods, available mostly at specialty stores:
Eukanuba Medium Breed Puppy – this is an excellent food, what we consider to be the cream of the crop.  It’s one of the best on the market. (And therefore most expensive.  You will find some information on Eukanuba in your puppy kit).

Purina Pro Plan- on the same level as Eukanuba, but is the Purina equivalent.
Nutra Nuggets or Diamond Pet foods:  Available at Costco or Petco, is a good medium-range food.

Avoid “grocery store” brands such as Alpo, Gravy Train, Kibbles n’ Bits, etc.

Your puppy is accustomed to eating “free choice” meals whenever it was hungry.  Siberians do not usually eat much compared to other breeds, and you may notice that sometimes it will want large meals, and other times may not be hungry at all.  If your puppy is an outdoor dog, you can continue this type of feeding, using a large bowl or automatic feeder to allow it to eat at will.  However, if your puppy is an indoor dog, you will want to regulate its food intake to help with the housebreaking process.  The following diet is good to start off with until you get your own routine going.  Feed three times per day, each feeding about ½ cup of dry kibble.  The first two feedings can be dry, with nothing added.  For the third feeding, you can add a little warm water and 2 tablespoons of plain (unflavored) yogurt.  You can feed all three meals dry, however yogurt adds bulk and improves coat condition and digestion.  At this time, all puppies are good eaters, however some puppies with age will become pickier about eating.  At about four months you can switch to two feedings a day, of much larger portions.  It is better for your puppy to eat two good meals twice a day than to pick at three.  Your veterinarian will be able to tell you if you’re feeding enough to your puppy by gauging its body condition.  It’s better for your puppy to be slightly thin than overweight.  You want to be able to feel the ribs through the coat, but not to the extreme.  Water should be available to your puppy at all times during the day, however at night you may want to restrict consumption to help with housebreaking.

Housebreaking:  This requires persistence and patience to accomplish.  Your goal is to teach your puppy to potty in the proper place, so keep in mind that getting the puppy to go on command is very helpful.  Do not discipline a puppy for going in the wrong place unless you catch it in the act.  A puppy won’t relate the act of going with the punishment after the fact.  Unless you catch it in the act, you will just be teaching the puppy to be scared around urine or stool.  If you catch the puppy going in an inappropriate place, then correct with a stern “NO” and snatch the puppy up.  Run for the door, and put the puppy outside in the area that you want to be used for its bathroom.  Make a big deal when the puppy finally goes in the right place.  Pet the puppy, and give it lots of affection to let it know that it did the right thing.  The biggest part of housebreaking is to avoid accidents in the first place.  Don’t let the puppy have the run of your home.  Use a crate, and anytime you aren’t playing with the puppy it should be either outside or in the crate.  Letting the puppy run around is just asking for trouble.  Here’s the sample schedule that I like to use for a very young puppy.  Older ones can go longer in between.  

6:00am- let puppy out.  This means open crate, pickup puppy and run for the door.  Place puppy in the “correct” place, and wait.  Shouldn’t take too long, as puppy has been holding it all night and probably has to go pretty bad. After going potty, praise him and go back inside.  Then have about 15-20 minutes of good playtime (whatever your schedule allows) followed by a meal and water to drink.  Watch puppy eat, or at least stay very close by.  As soon as he turns away from his bowl, go back outside.  Puppies only have so much “room” inside.. and once they eat something, their system forces out waste.  So, go back outside and wait.  Don’t fuss over puppy prior to him going, or else he will be distracted and not want to go.  You want to give him the impression that you have ‘work’ to do and that he’s not going to be getting kisses and love until he’s finished.  If you say anything, have it be a command like, “go pee” or whatever you want to use.  Oh, and always use the SAME command, so that he will learn it and know what it means.  Now you can go to work, or leave for awhile, whatever you’ve got planned.

10:00-12:00-Time for a break.  Again, open crate and go directly outside, carry him if it’s more than just a step or two.  Withhold praise until the deed is done, then be very happy and friendly and tell him how good he’s being.  Now you go back inside and repeat the playtime and feeding from the morning.  The reason we aren’t hanging around outside a lot at first is because often times if he thinks you are going to be outside for awhile, he’ll start taking his time and lounging around.  This is okay sometimes, but not when you’re in a big hurry and trying not to be late to work.  Okay, so after a potty and lunch break, and potty again then it’s back to the crate and back to work.

4:00-5:00pm- Honey, I’m home!  Great, now you’ve got the afternoon to spend with your buddy.  Repeat the above steps, straight outside to potty, then back inside for play, and give his final meal now, not right before bed.  After he’s shown that he can go quickly outside, now you can play some outside if you like…he will want to destroy your flowers and make goggle eyes at your neighbor’s cat.  For the rest of the evening, plan on taking him out no less than every hour for a quick pee break.  This seems extreme at first, but that’s how often some puppies pee…and better outside than all over your floor.  For every week that goes by, you can extend it by a half-hour or so…until gradually puppy is good for a long time indoors.  If you get tired of playing with puppy, and need to do something besides potty patrol, place him inside his crate and leave him with a good toy.  Just make sure he’s getting SOME play every night.  He’s already being locked up all day, and that’s hard on a little pup.

10:00pm- time for nightie night.  One last potty break, and a little love.  You don’t want to give too much affection right now because it will make it too rough for puppy to quietly say goodbye.  Just follow the instructions under “crate training”, and say goodnight and walk away.  

This schedule won’t work for everyone, but the basic idea is that you take him outside frequently…and keep a close eye on him.  Stick with it, and you’ll be housebroken in no time. 

Do I need a crate?  YES!  Crate training is invaluable for training a new puppy.  The crate will keep your puppy out of trouble when you are unable to watch it, and assist in housebreaking.  Puppies are reluctant to potty where they sleep.  The crate should be small enough to give the puppy a ‘closed in’ feeling, so that he doesn’t just make half of it his bathroom and half his sleeping area.  If you buy a crate large enough for him as an adult, you can easily block off half or however much by using some sort of barrier, like a box or a piece of mesh.  For puppy training, we recommend a plastic VariKennel instead of a wire crate.  The reason is that puppies are fairly smart, and some will back up to the wall of the wire crate and poop out onto your carpet.  A plastic Varikennel is easy to clean, and if you do have an accident, you can carry the whole thing outside without spilling anything on the carpet.  Do not keep water in the crate.  It can easily be tipped over, making a big mess.  Also, if a puppy fills up on water at night, he will have a hard time holding his bladder until morning.  

How do I start crate training?  At first your puppy will probably HATE the crate.  He is scared, and wants to go back to living with his family.  Since that’s not an option, he’s going to want to be with you at all times.  However, if you stick with it for just a few days, you’ll have a happy puppy that doesn’t have to be underfoot constantly.  Make the crate experience positive.  Start by taking a cookie or a favorite chew toy and putting it in the crate (with puppy watching!).  Then use a phrase like “Go to bed!” in a pleasant tone.  If puppy goes in by itself, fine.  If not, then help it inside and close the door.  Then say “bye bye” and walk away.  Do not sit there and talk to puppy, do not pet it through the bars, and do not hang around where it can see you.  Whatever you do, DO NOT let the puppy out if it cries! Leave the room and go do something else.  A back laundry room, bathroom or garage work well for this.  Just make sure you can get outside fairly quickly from wherever you choose.  I like to leave a radio playing softly on some type of soothing music.  Wait for puppy to cry it out.  This will take awhile with some puppies.  Come back in about an hour and if you can sneak in without puppy seeing you and starting crying, that’s ideal.  Otherwise, if puppy is yelling and crying and being a pain…try saying “NO!” in a slow, low voice, or slap the top of the crate to startle puppy and stop the racket for a moment.  Then, (QUICKLY!) before he starts again, open the door and say “good puppy” and let him out.  Then, PICK HIM UP and go directly outside to go potty.  Anytime puppy is in its crate, go straight outside or else you’ll have an accident.  I promise.  It happens every time.  You can play and be friends outside…don’t just let him frolic around or you’ll have puppy pee (or worse) everywhere.  Remember, if you wimp out and let him out when he’s crying you will extend the crying period.  Don’t put a lot of junk in the crate.  Puppy only needs one chew toy and perhaps a towel. (I don’t even use the towel, just the chewy)  Anything else is just more stuff to be dirty if puppy soils the crate.  Crates are an excellent training tool, but do not abuse the crate by keeping the puppy in it excessively.  After being cooped up all night and then part of the day while you’re at work, plan to spend a lot of time playing with puppy whenever you’re at home.  Remember though, don’t just let him wander the room…keep a close eye on him or he’ll have accidents.

Exercise:  Your Siberian will get loads of exercise all by itself.  These puppies are very active and will amaze you at their antics.  In the beginning, he will have short play periods that may only last 30-45 minutes, after which he will collapse and go soundly to sleep.  Gradually these play periods will lengthen, until he plays most of the time and only sleeps when bored.  If your puppy gets all of his exercise in your yard, do not forget the importance of learning to walk on a leash.  There’s nothing worse than a dog that you can’t manage on a leash…and Siberians are pretty renowned for being hard to handle as adults.  You want to have a well mannered, quiet dog that you can take anywhere you like, so practice walking on a leash and learning basic commands as part of your exercise routine.  Go for short walks and teach your puppy what a leash is for.  You’ll be happy you did.  Remember, Siberians are not an ‘offleash’ breed, so don’t ever let your Siberian go anywhere without being securely leashed with a strong collar which has I.D. tags attached.

Grooming:  Siberians are double coated dogs.  They have a stiff outer coat (referred to as “guardhairs”) and a soft, downy undercoat.  They are very clean dogs, but do require regular brushing to stay their best.  Your puppy has its baby coat now, but as it gets older, it will grow into a new “grownup” coat that is much heavier and more time consuming.  Every six months or so, Siberians will shed their coat.  We call this “blowing” coat, and it means that your dog will be pretty much naked for a month or so.  No big deal, just means some serious brushing for about two weeks.  You local pet stores sell “shedding combs” which have teeth designed to pull out the old hair and stimulate the new hair growth.  Always brush your dog before you wash him, and if possible use warm water to bathe.  Use dog shampoos, as human shampoo has a different pH balance and can cause flaky skin.  Don’t neglect the dog’s ears and teeth…these are part of grooming too.  The teeth should stay clean by using chewtoys, but if necessary you may have to see your veterinarian for scraping and cleaning.  Ear cleaning is done using inexpensive solution you can purchase at the pet store.  Follow the label instructions and keep ears nice and clean.  Typically Siberians are active enough that you won’t have to trim toenails very often so long as they are given the opportunity to frisk around.  If you do need to trim nails, you can either take him to the vet or do it yourself with clippers sold at every petstore.

What about obedience training?   Puppy classes are something we strongly recommend and hope that you will use to help both of you to better understand each other.  Many areas have training programs available through adult schools, or check with chains like Petsmart or Petco to see what they have available.  On the subject of training, I will say that it is important to find a trainer that is open to our breed.  Some people only like “easy” to train dogs such as border collies or golden retrievers.  Sometimes these ‘trainers’ have only had a short training course themselves and not much actual experience with different breeds.  Talk to the trainer and see if they are prejudiced against Siberians BEFORE you pay for any sessions.  Ask specifically if they’ve worked with Siberians before, and what the results were.  You don’t want to wind up frustrated and quit going because your dog isn’t responding to the training.  Don’t waste your money, find a good trainer.  Funny enough ‘good’ doesn’t necessarily cost more either!  If you can’t find a trainer yourself, let us know and I will use our contacts to help find one for you.  There is no reason why you can’t spend a few weeks working towards a lifetime of good behavior. 
   
Well, that’s the brief overview you need to get started.  If you have any questions or comments, positive or negative…don’t hesitate to call (559-275-1437) or email (asiberians@earthlink.net).  Many times what starts as a simply corrected problem can escalate to a major problem if not addressed.   We love to hear from our puppies and their families, so try to keep in touch at least once a year to let us know how you’re doing.  Take care and good luck!  Oh, and here’s a few recommendations on equipment we suggest as most practical for these dogs.

Shopping list:

Collars: Use cheapo nylon collars for puppies, they are most comfortable for your puppy to learn how to wear one, and if it gets chewed up it’s no great loss.  What we use for adults are rolled leather collars.  They don’t mess up the fur around the neck like a thick collar does, and they look really cool.  For training, you’ll want a nice plain choke collar, don’t use a ‘prong’ or correction collar unless you’ve been advised how to properly do so by a trainer.  If you teach your puppy how to walk on a leash correctly, you should never need something mores severe than a regular choker.  NEVER LEAVE A CHOKE COLLAR OF ANY KIND ON ANY PUPPY OR DOG  THAT IS UNATTENDED.  THEY CAN EASILY CHOKE AND DIE!!!

Leashes: Siberians like to pull, so you don’t want something hard on the hands.  Thin nylon can give you rope burns, and chain digs into your hand very painfully.  We like either rolled nylon or a nice leather lead that is no longer than 6’.  For going to the park, or camping or somewhere where you are tempted to go off lead, try an retractable leash.  One common brand is “Flexi” and they come in different lengths from about 12-25 feet.  These work on the same general principal as a tape measure, in that you can let the dog go really far out, and then ‘reel’ it back in close when necessary.

Bowls: Anything but plastic.  For the very young puppy, plastic is fine, but not for a teenage/adult Siberian.  We like either crock-style or stainless steel dishes that are made not to tip easily.

Crate: Get a VariKennel in either the 400 or 500 size for an adult dog.  If you want one for puppy to teenage dog, a 300 size works well.

Toys:  We like the rope toys, Nylabones, Kong, and pig or cow HOOVES.  Do NOT USE RAWHIDE, PIG OR COW EARS, or cheaply made SQUEAKY  toys.  All of these can have chunks or pieces torn off and are not recommended except for VERY young puppies that can’t chew very hard yet.  You really have to supervise closely, as it’s lethal for a dog to swallow big chunks of indigestible materials.  When in doubt, give us a call.

Outside kennel:  If you choose to buy a kennel for your backyard, DO NOT waste your money on chain link.  Siberians can tear through those prefab kennel panels in a matter of minutes.  You’ll think, ‘oh, but it looks sturdy’, but believe me…it’s NOT.  What I recommend is kennel panels made by a company called Priefert. ( www.priefert.com) This is what we use in our own facility, and they are INDESTRUCTABLE and very attractive.  Made of 8 gauge 2”x 4” welded wire, they have no weakness and can’t be so much as bent by even the most terrible of escape artists.  The kennels are powdercoated gray, and are much more attractive than a standard chainlink kennel.  Check it out, you’ll be impressed.  They are a bit more expensive than a cheapo kennel, but they last forever vs. fifteen minutes.  Well worth the cost.