The Tails of Wisteria Ranch - August 2007
Ramblings on the Ranch
Welcome to our first newsletter. This has been a "want to
do" for so long, and we are very happy to finally be sending
it out! We have had a very busy summer already with two litters
of Goldens and two litters of Cavaliers. We have really worked
to time these litters, as we are celebrating our 22nd wedding
anniversary by taking a much needed two week vacation to Hawaii
this summer.
This is the first time we have ever traveled alone together
without children.
We started Wisteria Ranch about 4 years ago, when we sold our
chicken houses and our children started moving out. We were
just going
to get a couple of dogs to help replace some of the quiet in
our home. Well, that turned into a few more dogs and here we
are today!
We are having a ball and don't have to worry about not having "puppy
breath" in our home for too long. There is just something
special about "puppy breathe," and only dog lovers
would know what I mean.
We hope you enjoy our first edition of Wisteria Tails. We will
continue to provide information to use in raising and training
your puppies and dogs, as well as share dog stories and pictures
from others!
Many Blessings,
Billy & Debbie
Billy & Debbie Franklin, Owners & Breeders of English Creme Golden Retrievers & Cavalier
King Charles Spaniels, Wisteria Ranch, AR
Tips for Training Your Pet
How much should I feed my Puppy?
One of the first questions, I am often asked when a family
gets a puppy from us is, "how much should I feed my puppy.? Every
brand of dog foodhas different nutrients, calories, and feeding
recommendations. There is no set formula for how much to feed your
puppy. Always
consider your pup's age, weight, and activity level when deciding
on the "amount" to feed.
Check your manufacturer's recommendations on the bag of food for
the amount to feed based on the puppy's current weight. More active
pups will need the higher end recommendations and less active the
lesser. You can also gauge how well you are doing with the servings
by watching the growth of your puppy and his weight.
Your puppy will need to be fed 3 times a day until he is six months
old. As he grows and increases in size, he of course will need
more food each day. The amount of food that is recommended is usually
per day and needs to be divided into three servings.
Once your dog is over 6 months of age, his adult feeding pattern
can be established. Some dogs do well on one feeding a day, but
two feedings a day is usually recommended.
We have tried different dog foods, talked to other breeders, as
well as a few vets. We are very happy to have found NutriSource
dog food, www.nutrisourcedogfood.com We are very pleased with the
way our dogs love it and our puppies are doing so well on it. It
was one of the few that did not make it to the recall list that
had so many pet owners very scared.
Housetraining Your Puppy
Housetraining is the easiest training to do, yet sometimes the
most difficult. There are two very important factors to achieving
housetraining success quickly: schedule and consistency. The more
routine and consistent you are with the routine, the faster your
puppy with learn to go outside. I recommend starting off every
two hours taking the puppy outside, in their designated area and
increasing the time in 15 minute increments. When you are not actively
holding, playing, or watching your puppy, have your puppy in a
crate or ex-pen.
Do not give your puppy free access to roam your house. The more
you can control your puppy's environment, the more you are setting
him up for success. The goal is to minimize the opportunity for
an accident.
I strongly discourage the use of newspapers or puppy pads. They
are giving your puppy permission to go potty indoors. If you are
unable to take them out, then try and find a friend or neighbor
to help out or set up a way for them to have access to the outdoors.
We have found that putting an ex-pen on the outside of a doggie
door and one on the inside of a doggie door gives them a confined
area, doesn't leave them outdoors without access to the indoors,
and allows them to go outdoors to do their business.
For more information on training your puppy visit
http://www.clickertraining.com/housetraining
Staying Connected
Meet Baxter
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I love receiving photos of our puppies to see how they are with
their new families as well as watching them grow. I receive many
emails and photos and want to share these with you also.
This month I am sharing Baxter. He is 8 months old now. The other
picture is of Baxter and his buddy, Woody. I love this picture!
Baxter is a Lacey/Jake puppy.
These photos are shared by Dawna.
Have
photos you want to share -- please send my way!
Southwest Service Dogs 
SWSD raises and trains service dogs for people with disabilities.
They have a summer camp where children come and learn how to
train their dogs. Kate Morgan,
the owner of SWSD brought the children on a "field trip" to play
and help socialize Sugar's litter of puppies in June. We all had lots of
fun playing with the puppies. Kate took home Red puppy, now called Mia.
Kate is also fostering one of our male puppies, Chase, who is
from Faith & Aspen.
She is raising him to be a demo dog and if he doesn't pass his health clearances
for breeding, he will then become a service dog for a family. We have also
donated one of our Cavaliers to SWSD, Archer, who is a Bella & Toby
puppy.
Golden Retrievers and Labs make great pet therapy & service dogs.
Kate, hearing great things about the Cavalier breed wanted to try an
experiment
to see how well a Cavalier would do with training to be a service dog.
She is working with a family, and one of our puppies, who they have named
Chloe.
So far Chloe is learning quickly and doing well. She is still young,
so time will tell how the Cavalier will work with this program.
Cavaliers do make great pet therapy dogs. Many of our families that have
got puppies from us write and tell me how they are taking them to nursing
homes to visit and how everyone loves them!
You can learn more about Kate Morgan and her services at www.southwestservicedogs.org
We Recommend
NuVet Vitamins
We have been using NuVet vitamins for about three years now. We really like
them and recommend to them everyone -- families, as well as other breeders.
Our vitamin bill had increased with having the Cavaliers, Goldens, and puppies,
so we thought we would cut back and within a week or so we could immediately
tell a difference in the coats of our dogs. They started getting coarser in
feel and was losing that silky, soft touch. We went back to the full dosage!
They are human grade vitamins, with natural ingredients to provide your pet
with vitamins, minerals, herbs, antioxidants, fatty acids, and amino acids.
They
can eliminate or significantly reduce scratching, itching, hot spots, allergies,
low energy, digestive problems...etc.
I have had families write me and tell me how much of a difference it has
made in their older dogs energy and coats. My mom and sister got Chihuahua
litter
mates. My mom had taken her "Sweet Pea" over to visit my sister's, "Desiree".
My sister immediately noticed how shiny and soft Sweet Pea's coat was. She
called me and asked, "why hadn't I told her about the vitamins." Oops!
Now, she is on them as well, because she wanted her puppy to look as wonderful
as my mom's!
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