New Puppy Owner? Let us help you.

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Your Featherburry puppy has had crate exposure, as explained in the crate training segment further below on this page.  But in this instance, we are talking about your puppy in a new crate with an overabundance of new surrounding them.  The people, the automobile and even the crate is unfamiliar. Their scent blanket is, very likely, the only source of familiarity in their sea of, new to them, sights, sounds and smells.

We don't dictate if your dog travels home in your arms or in a crate.  We only strongly suggest you do not travel alone or with them loose, so they can be provided comfort as they need it.  

Our experience has been that the dogs who traveled long distances, with only the driver as their caretaker, have had residual long-term issues with fear/anxiety related to automobiles or travel in general.

If a crate from you is provided, in advance of their adoption, we can and will acclimate them to the new crate. This will be one less thing for them to process on that big moving day or once they have reached their new home.

If safety is a priority for you - look up Crash tested crates.  

Your Featherburry puppy has had a great start! They have had many experiences and exposures to travel, strangers and new environments. This nicely written piece may encourage you to be patient with their development and individual personality.  

Scottish and Scotch Collies are a sensitive and thoughtful breed so keeping each experience a positive one will help you create the dog you have been dreaming of.

This guide can help you match your expectations of your puppy to your puppy's pace of adjustment to your home and family.  A Featherburry puppy should adjust in a much shorter time than a grown dog will. And often grown dogs, especially those with unknown histories, have suffered some experiences that were unfavorable and need to recover from.

The scent blanket, we provide, will provide your puppy an item of familiarity when the rest of their world is unrecognizable.  The scent of their mother, siblings and their first home can provide comfort. Past Featherburry families have reported their puppy often choose their blanket as a favored nap or resting location.

There is an adjustment period for both you and your puppy.  Rest assured, we are here for you whenever you have questions or need some guidance or encouragement. Our abundance of puppy raising experience is information we freely share to get over those sometimes-challenging situations you may find yourself in.  Your success with your puppy means everything to us.  We want nothing but the very best for the both of you!

You will be provided transition food for your Featherburry puppy.  This advice should keep your puppy from having a complicated adjustment period and inadvertently hindering potty training success. 

Your puppy was fed a diverse diet to aid in maximizing their good gut flora.  You may keep adding diverse fruits, veggies, meats and grains, in very small amounts.  Always control the size of bites and double check that it is a dog safe food for the health safety of your pup. 

**When in doubt, ALWAYS refer to your vet first.**

The desire to speed the transition process up is real.  We get that same feeling!  But I can assure you stomach upset, that then hinders potty training success, is far more of an inconvenience then just adjusting two dog foods for a short period time.

**In the photo above, we have pre-portioned cubes, from an ice cube tray, containing things such as kefir, blueberries, sprouts etc. We add warm water to the food prior to serving.**

 Having potty trained over 40 puppies, prior to having litters, we have a lot of gained knowledge and tips we love to share.  We are always available to our puppies' new families, to help and support you in any way we can.

Your Fatherburry puppy has had a great start to potty training.  We provided an indoor and outdoor area they could use freely. By eight weeks no puppy soils the indoor area.  

Your puppy will also be proficient at using the clear plastic flap type dog door.  Ours has a double flap, for weather protection. They learn with the single flap initially; within days we can lower both without any issues entering or exiting.

Until your puppy learns your home and where the door to outside is, carrying your puppy out will save a lot of accidents.  The walk from a crate to a door, for a puppy, is a really long walk. Your puppy does not have bladder control and won't have that until closer to 16 weeks old. 

**Frequent urination can mean a bladder infection.  If you suspect there is a urinary issue please see your vet asap.**

Your Featherburry puppy has had a lot of first experiences while in our care. In and away from our home. Because we know the value of positive socialization in the first 16 weeks of their lives, we made an effort to introduce car travel, grooming, people and different sounds to give you a solid foundation to continue to build on. 

Not everything goes to plan. And not every person or dog you meet will respond to your puppy in the manner you had hoped.  In an effort to keep every experience positive here is some more great information for you.

Additionally, a negative experience can also have lasting effects on your dog's reactions and behavior.  We suggest airing to the side of caution until you know how to read the body language of dogs. Not every wagging tail is a positive sign when out sniffing and meeting new dogs.

**We suggest you ask the owner of the dog, your about to let your puppy meet and greet, if it is friendly to dogs and puppies.  But do not hang the safety of your dog on their words.**  

Collies and children were made for each other.  That doesn't mean your untrained, unseasoned puppy can understand the unpredictability of a tiny child. So be prepared to alleviate discomfort in your puppy when you see it.

Educating YOURSELF is the key to your dog's wellbeing and safety in every aspect of their lives.   Continue below to more training for you...and your dog.

We support sharing food with your dog. ESPECIALLY the healthy kind.  But most of us can't deny our big-eyed puppy a taste of something we consider delightful. We just don't want your pup to get hurt in the process.

You may know that some of these items listed are controversial.  For example,  not all grapes kill all dogs.  But some grapes do kill dogs.  And that's enough for us to provide you this list and ask that when you doubt an items legitimacy that you do proper research and educate yourself fully before you take any risks with your puppy's life.

Accidents happen and humans are subject to making errors.  We've made some of our own. We provide this link for you to try and avoid those.

**Take note of Xylitol, an artificial sweetener, dangerous in the smallest amounts. It can be found in some Peanut Butter.**

Ideal Canine Body Weight image - fitdognation.com posted May 12, 2019

It's common knowledge that, as humans, we feel better lighter than heavier.  We can't be as physical without a higher risk of injury.  Age comes with it's own set of challenges and improper weight only compounds those issues.  

But when it comes to our pets we struggle to know what is appropriate. We have made these same mistakes.  A Scottish or Scotch Collie can mask their true body shape under their beautiful coat.  It will require you to run your fingers through their coat to feel their body structure and their ribs.

Youth can sometimes compensate for the way obesity affects our dogs.  But old age rarely hides the impact, or the complications caused by long term obesity. 

When we know better, we do better.  So let this guide help you find your dog's ideal weight.  And may you both be blessed with a long, healthy and happy life together!

**Remember all food that goes into their mouths is accounted for in their daily caloric intake, including training treats and shared food from your kitchen or plate.**

There is age-appropriate exercise for every age of dog and fitness level.  Make sure to reference age in your searches as you go through all the stages of their life with them.

Don't forget to exercise their mind too.  Lots of people have made creative ways to use bad weather days or limited physical ability, of the owner or the pet, to still maximize the use of their mind to help reduce pent up energy.  Any search, for brain exercises for dogs, will get you many links with great suggestions, from simple to complex.

 How to Keep Your Dog's Mind Sharp – American Kennel Club (akc.org) 

**We do not recommend cooked bones.  All references to bones made here are in reference to raw bones only.**

Due to current prices on meat not all our raw bones have a lot of meat on them. But the bones still have great value as long as you heed the warnings given in this link.

Your Featherbrry puppy had time to chew on raw, lightly meaty bones for enjoyment, teething and for exchanging with us.  This Puppy Culture method of exchange is for resource guarding prevention - by exchanging high value items for another high value item, willingly.

The long-term benefits of not having to do annual teeth cleanings, on adult teeth, makes a few raw bones worth it.  When we notice any build up, we add more bone with meat to their diet till we see it is gone again.

** further below - we added a "RAW TIPS" section since those visuals combine a lot of information into an easy-to-understand format.**

This page isn't a complete resource but a place to learn some information that can hopefully send you on deeper dives into the subject matters you want or need to know more about

Your Featherburry puppy has experienced the bathing and grooming process a few times before arriving at your home.  Brushing and nails have been done, as needed, since they were born.  

I'm going to be very honest and say that, as with any puppy, during a training activity, the real test of success lies with the trainer.  Hopefully you have a person to assist you because that gives you two more hands, one for controlling and rewarding the puppy while the other can focus on the task. The effort lies in keeping it as positive as possible - for everyone involved.

At about six weeks we use a gentle tearless shampoo and introduce the dryer, in the form of a human blow dryer, by placing it at a distance, so they feel the warmth and are not startled by the new sound.  By 8 weeks we have slowly graduated to blow drying their coat, always on a low setting, to give them some contact with the warm air.  At this point we constantly reward with high value treats.  As long as we do not progress too quickly, for the puppy, the high value treats tend to distract really well. 

Our methods evolve, as we raise our own puppies to adulthood, to introducing a real dog blower.  We give dog blow dryers a 10 out of 10!  We have no way to express the amount of work this saves when you're working with a participative and shedding, dog. 

You will always want to start a slow introduction to anything that may be new and potentially frightening.  We use a dog blower outdoors after bathing or even on a dry coat to remove loose hair or dirt . Our dogs actually enjoy having their coat manipulated by the blower.  Or is it the treat rewards???  Either way, they stand easily, without a lead, which makes it an enjoyable task for everyone.

Our helpful bathing tip would be avoiding getting water in their ears. When bathing your dog you can interrupt them from going into a full body shake - as long as you have NOT gotten water in their EARS.  I give the que to shake after bathing is finished and rarely will one of our dogs shake during a bath until they hear the que.  But in the instance I have gotten the ears wet inside, a full shake is allowed, at any time, to get the water out as quickly as possible.

**Be very careful about avoiding their ears with the force of the dog dryer.  That's the one area that is unsafe and offensive to the dog. The same can be said about water.** 

Your Featherburry Pup has already been introduced to the clicker.  We provide you a book, clicker and treat pouch, in our puppy care package, to further inform you about how to continue this manner of training.

Once all the basics have been taught you can forgo the clicker and use verbal praise only.  If, later, learned skills lose their sharpness or you want to teach a new trick, going back to clicker training can give you quick results.

We admit there is more learning required for the trainer, rather than the trainee.  We even struggled with it, initially.  And sometimes still do.  On occasion we begin to feel the puppy is smarter than us! But we do not doubt the effectiveness in faster, easier training for the puppy.  

**Clicker Training is not a requirement but merely a suggested way to teach your dog faster.**

Your Featherburry puppy has been Manding for weeks prior to adoption.  Manding is a Puppy Culture Protocol in which the puppies learn to offer a behavior for attention. We would offer a treat reward when a sit and eye contact was offered without a command. 

We support any Positive Reinforcement Training that you or any trainer can provide, clicker or not. 

We, personally, learned more from YouTube video trainers that we enjoyed watching and listening to, while easily understanding their instructions. We also know that when our skills got more developed, we could rewatch trainers, we initially rejected, and enjoyed them too.   As with any skill, it needs time to develop with a little practice and repetition.

Sometimes an example can help us gauge what is expected of us as the trainer.  We hope this helps.

We are not dog trainers but love a well-trained dog.  Which in turn, makes us all dog trainers when you put it into perspective.

I hope you search and find solutions to molding your dog into the pet you will enjoy living with for the next 14 to 16 years. God willing.

 This video is from Dog Training by Kikopup, Complete training session with 9 week old puppy

Your Featherburry pup has been introduced to the crate and often fed inside of it to build a memory of it being a nice place to be.  There has been short periods of the door locking them in, often with a high value distraction like a raw bone.

While you will see many wire crates, we prefer solid sided crates as mouth and jaw injury accidents are less likely to occur.

 We, in fact, encourage you to educate and inform yourselves fully and draw conclusions of your own.  

Who doesn't love a dog who can walk nicely on a leash?  But this skill requires much more physical effort from the person doing the training. May be the reason so few dogs are taught this skill. 

There is nothing we can do to make it any less physical, but you can make training sessions shorter and more frequent if you don't have a lot of energy to spare. 

The effort is worth it and you're going to get a lot of compliments.  Compliments on their beauty and their excellent behavior when out in public!

Little land sharks  are what we like to call them. After 5 weeks it's every man for themselves! Featherburry puppies, like EVERY puppy, love to use their teeth!  While they are still here with us, we spend A LOT of time distracting them with a chew or bite safe toy in replacement of our clothing or flesh.  When that item of distraction isn't within reach, we often just turn them away from us as a way to help them lose sight of what they found so much fun to put their mouth on.  That will buy us some time to get what we need.

If you have treats handy break into a spontaneous training session. Put that mind and body to work for a couple minutes and it will likely refocus their energy onto more positive activities.

When it comes to introducing dogs that are new to one another, a few things will help.

1) Socializing any dog you own, no matter it's age, gives you a solid and current read on what your dog likes, does not like and its responses to those things.

2) Develop some dog body language reading skills so you can read what is about to happen next.  Dogs give ques and if you can't read them then you can't keep your dog safe.  Knowing when to intervene and when to allow the greetings to continue, without interruption, is a critical skill to a successful meet and greet.

3) Be honest with yourself about your own dog.  Many owners declare their dogs "safe and friendly" only to have a huge drama filled reaction upon their meeting.  

Trusting others with your dog's safety and wellbeing isn't enough.  You need to know when it's time to intervein or remove you and your dog from a potential bad situation. Especially with a puppy who is not only bite sized but learning if the world is safe or not.  We want them to trust it's safe because we would never let anything bad happen to them, as long as we are there.

You're not likely to see a Scottish or Scotch Collie be the sour dog I'm describing above.  It just isn't in their nature.  They can be shy upon meeting strangers of any kind but aggressive, in any manner, would tell me there is something going on with your Collie and you need to see a vet.  In the meantime, know not every breed or breed mix is like a Collie so your judgement and knowledge is what you will lean on, not the word of a stranger who happens to have a dog.

All puppies, even Featherburry puppies, have teeth and know how to use them.   Their mouth, nose, eyes and ears gather all the information they want from this world they are just learning about.  

Teething is a huge proponent of all that unwanted chewing. From the time you take them home till somewhere near 6 months, they will soothe their achy gums on anything they can find.  Making sure they have appropriate and safe chew toys, for relief and distraction, is your job.

The chewing of inappropriate items won't become a long-term issue, as long as you don't allow the puppy to practice the bad behavior repetitively. If they get to indulge in inappropriate chewing, until you no longer think it's cute or harmless, it will be far more difficult to break that behavior pattern.  

Try to choose a standard of conduct and stick by it.  A puppy stealing a shoe makes the cutest photos, a puppy at a year old, doing that same thing, can make for a very challenging home life.

Always ask yourself - If you like it now, will you still like it still when they are at their adult weight and size. 

This important ability keeps you and your dog safe.  There is no replacement for understanding what your dog is trying to communicate and getting it right.  Especially when safety is involved. 

Your skill will come in especially handy when reading other dogs, whom you don't know well or have never met before.

Fun fact: did you know a wagging tail does not always indicate happiness.  It can, also indicate overarousal.  Overarousal reduces the ability of the thinking part of the brain and increases the survival response (fight or flight).

The best way to reduce vet fears is to visit the office during a non-appointment time.  Handle your puppy, at home, in a manner much like the vet would.  Touching toes, checking gums and teeth and giving minor restraint are all things they do not need to fear if they are already in good practice with it.

Manipulating the puppy's foot pads, toes and nails aids in less stress and accidents when nail clippings are being performed.

Advanced dog training, above the basics, which makes a polite dog, is a great way to connect and bond with your dog.  

Fun fact: teaching your dog the "Beg" or "Sit Pretty" position increases your dog’s balance and body awareness. It also builds your dog's core muscles which protect the spine from injury during dog sports and other physical activities.

Don't forget the pride you will feel when, together, you do some pretty awesome things!

This information should help you get started on educating yourself about the pros and cons of feeding your dog raw foods.

When we say Raw we mean as in uncooked.  Feeding a Raw Diet requires much more knowledge pertaining to balancing nutrients for the exact size and age of your dog.  But if you're interested in that information here are some easy-to-understand images that may be helpful in your consideration and research.

We supplement with Whole Raw when possible.  Budget usually dictates what a pet parent can afford to feed whether it's raw or kibble.

**Nothing we have listed on this page, particularly concerning raw or what you feed your dog, is exhaustive.  Our goal is to supply beginner information, and some of our insight, to merely help you further your education on each of the subject matters.  Keeping in mind that any of these currently accepted or long-standing methods can change when more research provides new insight and conclusions.**