puppypower

Adult dogs can be amazingly tolerant of puppies, so long as they have the means at times to escape from the tormenting teeth and remorseless bouncing. Puppies, by contrast, are secure in "puppy amnesty", which allows them to take endless liberties with adult dogs, often being able to eat out of their bowls at the same time, or even take food out of the adults' mouth.

Rumbles of warning are sometimes followed by air-snaps, but well socialised adult dogs will not harm a puppy. If a puppy suffers a mouth handcuff, where the adult dog holds its jaws over the puppy's, or else is rolled and pinned, it is likely to scream blue murder, though unhurt, and mind its manners in future. Owners should not scold the adult for this, but instead remove the puppy so the others can have some peace.

As the puppy enters adolescence, it begins to smell differently as a result of the increase in adult hormones and to behave in an increasingly challenging manner, just like any other adolescent. Now it has to learn to accept adult authority, and the concessions of puppyhood have gone. It is a stormy rite of passage for some dogs.

If humans interfere by neutering too early, development will be arrested into permanent adolescence or, worse, with the latest craze for neutering puppies at a few weeks old, permanent puppyhood. This results in a dog of adult form taking liberties like a puppy and being difficult to train because it has had no chance to develop an adult response to direction. A lifetime thug can be created, with no social niceties and little capacity to understand why its playful overtures are rebuffed. Unfortunately, nowadays there is an increasing pressure to have dogs neutered, without understanding the huge importance of hormones in behavioural development.

reprinted with kind permission from Alastair Balmain
Deputy Editor:Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street SE1 0SU
Tel: 020 3148 4750

The above information is simply informational. It's intent is not to replace the advice of a veterinarian nor to assist you in making a diagnosis of your pet. Please consult with your own veterinarian for confirmation of any diagnosis. Your pets life may depend on it.

Puppy Power