KeyStone Canine | Dogue de Bordeaux

 WHAT YOU WILL NEED FOR YOUR DOGUE DE BORDEAUX PUPPY

Those marked * be sure to bring with you when you pick your pup up.  

LEASH, COLLAR & NAME TAG

• **Please bring these with you when you come to pick up your new puppy.  
• You will need a good leash, I find nylon or leather leashes to be the best.  Remember, your sweet pup will be very strong and muscular before you know it and even the best trained dogs may attempt to chase a scampering squirrel. 
  
• Your new Dogue de Bordeaux pup will grow quickly, I find an expandable collar that can be sized works best for a first collar.  The collar will need to be expanded continually as your pup grows.  Once your Dogue de Bordeaux is around 8 months to 1 year, your dogue's neck will be close to it's final size and an adult collar can than be purchased with confidence that your dogue will most likely not grow out of it.  At that point a nice leather flat buckle collar would be beautiful. 
  
• A name tag is always a good idea. 
  

RAISED FOOD & WATER DISHES

• Many large breeds including the Dogue de Bordeaux can get bloat (a condition caused by a twisting of the stomach and thus trapping the stomach contents and gases resulting in a rapid swelling of the abdomen accompanied by pain and eventual death if untreated. It is an emergency, requiring immediate veterinary action.)  Feeding your dogue from raised dishes may prevent this condition.  Your dogues food and water dishes should be about chest high on your dogue.  As your dogue grows his/her bowls will need to keep being raised to the appropriate hight until your dogue is at it's full hight.  Preventing your dogue from engaging in any activities where your dogue is running & jumping after eating & drinking can help prevent bloat as well.
  

LARGE BREED PUPPY FOOD

• It is Important to feed your large breed puppy, a good quality (no animal by-products & not grocery store brands) Large Breed Puppy Food.  I do not recommend feeding your Dogue de Bordeaux puppy regular puppy food (any puppy food that does not say Large Breed on the package) or adult food.  Large Breed Puppy Food is specially made to meet the needs of your large breed pup. 
  
• Dogue de Bordeaux have very heavy, thick bone, large heads and have heavy, defined muscles and grow very quickly.  Due to this it is extremely important to make sure you supply your DDB with the nutrients that he/she needs to grow properly & healthy. 
  
• The brand I recommend is Authority Large Breed Puppy

A CRATE & HOUSE TRAINING

Always remove your dogs collar before crating for his/her safety.

As well, never leave toys in the crate with your dog, they may be dangerous if they become damaged by your dog/puppy.

Puppies with toys should be supervised for this reason.

• We strongly recommend supplying your Dogue de Bordeaux with a crate appropriate for his/her size.  The crate should be large enough for the dogue to stand up in and turn around in. 
  
• **Please bring your new puppies crate with you when come to pick him/her up.  It is best to line the bottom with news paper.  Everything and everyone will be new to your little pup and accidents should be expected and car rides home can be long.  
• Some may think of it as being mean and cruel to use a crate.  In reality a crate is a great tool.  Dogs are denning animals.  If you supply a crate for your dog in a central place in the home with the door open, you will discover your dog will go in on his/her own.  When there is too much action in the home and the dog wants to take a break from it all, you will notice your dog go in the crate and rest or nap.  Keep the dogs crate a safe place for the dog.  If the kids are too much and the dog goes into the crate to be alone, make sure the kids know when the dog is in the crate that they are not to bother him/her.  Never pull your dog out of his/her cage keep it a happy, comfortable safe place for the dog and your dog will love his/her crate. 
• When house training your pup, a crate is a wonderful tool that will help you house train your pup quick and easy.  When house training with a crate (crate training), when you cannot have all your attention on the puppy, playing with, holding ect. put him/her in the crate and shut the door.  A crate being used for house training should fit the pup well.  The idea behind crate training is that the puppy will not want to do his/her business were he/she sleeps and therefore will get anxious and make it known that he/she needs to go out to pee.  If the crate is too large, the puppy will just go to the far end of the crate and pee, this is obviously not what you want.  When the pup gets anxious and needs to pee make sure you get him outside to do his/her business, never let the puppy do it's business in the crate, dogs are habit forming, so you want to make sure he/she forms desirable habits.  When pup does his/her business outside, reward with praise and a high value treat (a small piece of cheese or meat).  Soon your pup will want to do it's business outside just to get the high value treat.  If your pup has an accident in the house, just clean it up and spray the spot with vinegar & wipe it dry.  This works well to remove the sent.  Do not say anything to the puppy, do not scold him/her or yell.  Scolding when your pup has an accident will only make him/her do it somewhere harder for you to find.  Dogs respond better to positive re-enforcement than scolding. 
  

NAIL CLIPPERS & NAIL CLIPPING

• Dogue de Bordeaux nails are thick & large.  They grow quickly and need to be cut about every other week to keep them short and prevent the quick (vein in the nail) from growing down the nail.  If the quick grows too far down the nail it will prevent you from cutting them back to the proper length again.  You will need a good pair of nail clippers to clip the heavy nails of your Dogue de Bordeaux. 
  
• Nail Clippers - I advise the scissor style rather than the guillotine style nail clippers.  The scissor style are usually heavier duty and able to handle the thick nails of the Bordeaux.  As well the Dogue de Bordeaux nails end up growing so big around that they do not fit through the guide hole in the guillotine style.
  
• Clipping Nails - If you look on the under side of the nail you will see that the quick (the vein in the nail).  The vein is exposed on the underside of the nail.  You can see where the vein ends and new growth nail begins. 
  
• Allowing your dogues nails to over grow can cause joint problems.  If your dogues nails are allowed to grow too long, your dogue will lean back on its' feet causing it to put stress on the joints in an unnatural way.  Your dogue will not be standing level on all 4 feet.  Your dogues body will try to compensate for the instability and excess ware on the joints.  This is esspecially bad for dogues still in the growing process.  When the nails are one day, then cut back to a proper lenth and the dogue stands proper on all 4 feet, the joints may no longer be in the proper position for this change in standing position.  

EAR WASH & CLEANING YOUR DDB'S EARS

• Your Dogue de Bordeaux will need it's ears cleaned regularly to keep them healthy.  The flop ears can hold moisture that can lead to ear infections and can create the perfect habitat for ear mites.  Keep your dogs ears clean & dry.  Cleaning them once a month can prevent these kinds of things.  After baths or if you notice them to be red inside or dirty give them a cleaning.