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groom a dog properly. You need to use a sturdy comb with metal teeth to separate old, dead hair from the new hair, and a firm bristled brush, or a rubber-toothed grooming device to get rid of dirt or scurf and to tone up the skin.
    If you don’t brush your dog, its coat will become dirty and parasites will have a protected home, which in turn leads to skin irritation and dermatitis. Dead hair also forms fur knots with the live hair, and this is a further source of irritation to the skin. Dogs that aren’t groomed have duller coats, and they become unkempt and moth-eaten in appearance.
    Dogs will moult twice a year, usually around late March and late October. This is a natural shedding of the coat, usually heralding the thinning of the coat for summer, or its thickening for winter. The moult is triggered by a change in the daylight hours, either an increase following winter, or a decrease, after summer.
    Moulting is most obvious on double-coated dogs like the Labrador, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd and Corgi, but it will hardly be noticed on the short-haired, smooth-coated breeds. The length of the moult varies from six to eight weeks, and it will depend on how much time the owner spends brushing the dog. If the dog is vigorously groomed on a daily basis, the moulting time will decrease. Moulting is a deliberate shedding and renewal of the coat, and it can’t be done by the dog alone; the process must be helped along by the owner. If the dog fails to drop its coat, the dead hair will ball up, trapping the live hair and irritating the skin. The coat will also look bedraggled.
Vaccinations
    Puppies should have had their first vaccination between six and eight weeks, to guard against distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus. All are viral diseases and are all generally fatal. Distemper affects the nervous system, and particularly, brain cells and the gut. Hepatitis affects the liver cells, and parvovirus mainly affects the cells lining the gastrointestinal tract, causing violent vomiting and diarrhoea. The second vaccination should be done between 12 and 14 weeks and, depending on the particular type of parvovirus vaccine used, a third vaccination may be necessary between 16 and 18 weeks. A vaccination can also be given to protect your puppy against kennel cough, which is the canine equivalent of the common cold.
    Puppies should also begin taking tablets to protect them against heartworm by the time they’re three months old. The worm can grow up to 30 centimetres long and destroys the right-side chamber of the heart. If untreated, it can cause heart failure. Tablets to prevent heartworm can be taken either daily or monthly. Worming tablets to protect puppies against roundworm and the other worms affecting the bowel should be started at two to three weeks of age.
Diet
    The link between a poor diet, disease and a short life is well established. It is important to ensure that your new pup is placed on a good diet from day one of ownership and that this diet is varied to meet the nutritional requirements of each life-stage.
    The most common illness in puppies is gastrointestinal upsets, which cause diarrhoea and vomiting. Despite these symptoms, they usually remain bright. These upsets usually occur because the dog is given the wrong food — often milk — or because the transition from the breeder’s diet to the home diet has been made too quickly. Dogs will drink milk because it’s meat-flavoured, but most dogs cannot digest milk lactose (which is a milk sugar) because they lack the necessary liver enzyme. As a result, the undigested lactose causes a reaction in the lining of the colon. If your dog has a food-induced diarrhoea, quickly put it on a non-allergenic diet of white meats, vegetables and rice. You can also give it plenty of water. The diarrhoea should cease within 24 hours. Seek veterinary advice if it doesn’t.
    Puppies need a diet that will promote growth and good health, and which contains the five essential