Choosing your vet. The choice is yours.
When you choose a vet please be aware that there is now a policy with many vets relating to "out of hours" treatment. If you are registered with a vet that is part such a group you should be aware of the following.
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"Vets Now" at Prospect House Colwyn Bay treat your pet. These may not be the vets who within your normal practice
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The cost for consult starts at around £120 - before treatment.
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The on call vet does not treat your dog unless you can pay this fee.(usually up front)
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Vets who are NOT part of this group are Gele vets in Abergele and Caerwys/Rhyl vets(formally Sargents).
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Out of hours - this means any time outside of your normal surgery hours
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Should your pet need to stay in with "Vets Now" during the night , then require to stay in at the vets during normal hours you would have to take your pet back to your original surgery.
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Out of Hours vets- would not offer Emergency first aid treatment to a pup with internal bleeding without payment up front. The pup had to go to another vet for treatment. A dog needing treatment over the Christmas period was charged nearly £200. A dog I accompanied to Caerwys vets on the Bank holiday had a consultation, 2 injections, 3 lots of medication and cost £55. Whichever vet you should choose check the Out of Hours policy
There are so many pieces of information to impart to dog owners, one most important part of living with your dog is establishing who the pack leader is:
Pack Leader Issues
- Go through a door or gate before your dog.
- Never walk over a dog lying in the door way.
- Feed your dog after you, even if this means you pretending to eat their food.
- Groom your dog regularly.
- Don't allow your dog to look down at you from the top of the stairs, call the dog down and let it follow you up.
- Allowing your dog to sit on your furniture at your level or above indicates that the dog is your equal. If you wish to have your dog on the furniture educate your dog that it is allowed to do so when you give it permission .
Puppies Mouthing
This is almost always an issue with new owners and their pups, remember that your pup played with the litter mates and was mouthing them prior to you collecting them.
If your pup is mouthing you or your clothing then stop interacting with it ! Interaction is verbal, tactile/stroking, pushing the pup away and making eye contact with it.
You could yelp like its litter mate may have done why play was too fierce.
Remove yourself from play, keeping your hands away from the dog, don't talk to the dog, avoid eye contact.
Once the dog has stopped this biting and a few seconds have passed you can then praise your pup verbally or if necessary give the dog a toy or chew to mouth on.
Many owners give the toy/reward to the dog whilst the dog is still in the process of mouthing the owner. This timing is incorrect, you are rewarding the dog for biting/mouthing you.
Training
Whilst training your dog on the lead to walk to heel it is important to remember
- Have a suitable collar and lead for the breed of dog
- Do not try to teach your dog to walk to heel with an extending dog lead
- Should you hold the lead only by the handle, your dog will be changing sides and causing you to trip. Please hold the handle of the lead at waist height and with the other hand hold the lead further down and place your dog on one side of you that you want it to walk on.
- Please do not over walk your puppy - the bones are growiing and a rule of thumb for a healthy pup would be 5 -10 mins walk for each month of its life per walk. If your pup is 2 months old then 10 minutes or so will be sufficient.
- Train your pup for short periods only several times a day.
- If you would like your dog to share your chair or bed then please do not let your dog jump up without your permission.
Over the past several months we have seen dogs with hip dysplasia, spinal lesions, irritable bowel and much more!
Many of these cases have been covered by insurance some haven't. Please take time to think what is best for your dog.
If in doubt consult your vet.
Legal requirement
- It is a requirement by law that your dog should have the owners name & address attached to the collar of your dog, the telephone number is optional. Some local authorities allow less information , however ,should you travel regularly out of county into other areas the required information may differ. Don't wait until your dog is lost! Many of us have our dog microchipped, whilst this can prove beneficial it does not meet the legal requirement. I.D. Tags We now offer tags for you to purchase should you wish to.
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