Melody talks with renowned Weimaraner breeder, Brenda Stuart of Khasanh Kennels in Victoria, about how to keep your new puppy healthy and happy.
Watch the video:
Read the transcript:
[Melody]
Hi everyone, it's Melody from Active Creatures and today I'm here with Brenda…
[Brenda]
Hello
[Melody]
…from Khasanh Kennels, and today we wanted to talk about puppies… because we've got a lot of them around us! 12 in fact, is that right?
[Brenda]
Yes it is.
[Melody]
So what I thought we could have a chat about today Brenda is just puppy health and wellness. How do we keep our puppies nice and happy and healthy. So maybe if I could start by asking you what have you been feeding them since they first opened their eyes less than six weeks ago?
[Brenda]
These babies were just with their mother Shine for about 3 weeks and then we wheened them onto a raw natural diet of minced chicken necks, chicken frames, liver with mixed vegetables in there as well, with certain other minerals, vitamins in there to keep them healthy.
They have chicken frames for breakfast and then they have their other meals in between. They’re also on fruit salad which consists of apples, cantaloupe, banana, strawberries, mangoes - whatever's seasonal - not grapes though because that’s not good for them.
And that's about it. And then as they get older they still stick on this diet until they're adults and then they can go onto roo (kangaroo) mince, again with all the vegetables.
[Melody]
Terrific! Well I think they eat better than most of us, hey?!
[Brenda]
They do!
[Melody]
We hear a lot about Wet food / Dry food, and what's the right balance. What do you think about that? Well first of all, maybe explain what the difference is and then what you think about that.
[Brenda]
Dry food is processed food. We don't actually feed any of that but it's good to get your vets advice on what they suggest. Some people find it easier. If you're not going to put the time into making the meals up like we do, your best to go onto a dry food, but you’re best to speak to your vet to find out which is the right one for the age of the puppy. You can get puppy, you can get adult, then you can get senior, so you’re best to talk to your vet about that.
[Melody]
OK good, good. And then what about beyond food. How do we keep puppies healthy and happy around the house? What are some of your tips for just ensuring they stay really vibrant and happy?
[Brenda]
They need to be stimulated, they need a nice dry place and their own place to sleep where you recommend crate training, or their own bed. They need to be outside in the sunshine; as babies they just do their own exercise, just exercise themselves, and when they're tired, like they are now, they'll just go to sleep.
Again fresh water.
But they need the company of humans. They need kindness, they need to be trained properly, positive reinforcement, which is you training with food or a toy or something. There's no need to be nasty to them. Just a nice flat collar and a lead, and make sure they are safe.
[Melody]
Yeh, wonderful. Well Brenda, we've had obviously two Weimaraners from your kennels. Conan and Barbie Doll, our joint founders of Active Creatures, as we like to call them! And you know one thing that Cameron and I always talk about, is just how conscious you are about the people who were taking the dogs into their homes.
And we remember the first time we met you just how strong some your questions were about how we’d look after the dogs. I think it's wonderful that you explained to us just what's needed.
What about with kids? How do puppies go with kids around the house?
[Brenda]
Puppies have to be brought up the same as what children are, but the children must know the boundaries, and the puppies must know the boundaries. If the puppies have got a safe space, if it’s a bed or a create or whatever, then the puppy should be allowed to go to that place if they've had enough of the children. But the children have to know there are boundaries as well.
They have to let puppy sleep, they have to let puppy eat nicely, and when puppy is tired, it sleeps. But normally if you bring them up in a family with children and the children respect the puppy, the puppy respects the children, and you end up with a good all-round family dog.
[Melody]
Yeah beautiful. And last question for me. You said to us very early on, don't let Conan on the bed because if he's on the bed, he will never get off the bed.
Well he's nearly eight and he's on the bed, and in the bed! Can you chat to us a little bit about crate training and how you go about it?
[Brenda]
These puppies are already trained to go into their crates. They have a crate with a big bed in it. It's a soft crate, so it’s not wire or anything. And the puppies, once they're tired, we just put them in the crate and we shut the door and that's where they stay. When they wake up they whimper; we let them out again and so they know that's their safe place to go.
So it's just if you take a puppy home, once it starts to get tired, you have your crate set up - maybe in the lounge room - once it starts to get tired and you’ve had a bit of a cuddle, you put the puppy to bed in the crate, shut the crate and then when puppy’s ready to come back out ('cause it needs to go to the toilet or something) you just open the crate, take it out to the toilet and it's all good. And they end up taking themselves off to the crate.
[Melody]
Wow so much discipline. Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity to meet these beautiful Weimaraner puppies, all 12 of them. What have we got… 9 girls and three boys?
[Brenda]
10 girls and two boys, and you have a long hair and a short hair.
[Melody]
Wonderful thank you so much.
[Brenda]
That's alright!
<ends>