Our Crew favorites
Here at Wrightway Wigglebutts we feed and start all of our pups on Nutrisource Small and Medium Puppy Food. We then will graduate our older puppies to Nutrisource Performance or Adult Chicken and Rice depending on the pups' individual needs. We switch formulas for our older teens and adult dogs to see the difference in the coat and reproductive status of our females. We usually rotate between Nutrisource and Diamond Naturals. While our dogs do well on both of these brands, we wanted to try another food to incorporate into our program that is budget friendly for us and our clients. The Diamond Naturals line is the the top line and newest formulas within the Diamond brand and we have been very pleased with results! We use the Nutrisource weight management blend for our easy keepers and retired guys (they tend to get chunky on the other blend). All our adults vary between the Nutrisource Performance, Adult chicken & rice blend, Beef & rice blend, or weight management depending on their Metabolism and energy level. Since using this food we have noticed an improvement in some of our hard keepers and our girls are cycling more regularly. All puppies start on Nutrisource small and medium puppy as it has worked best for weaning our pups. All our pups grow to be healthy on this food so this is why we continue to feed and recommend our pups to be fed Nutrisource small and medium puppy. We have fed Nutrisource small and medium breed puppy for the past 7 years and our pups have done extremely well on it. My motto is why fix it if it ain’t broke!
Our all time favorite brands include KONG, CHUCK-IT, SPOT and Jolly Ball for toys, bully sticks, raw beef marrow bones, frozen chicken paws, cow hooves, pressed bones and Pet Stages Chew Stick for great chews for pups and adults.
PLEASE DO NOT confuse these pressed bones for RAWHIDE as they are completely different, the pressed buffalo and pork hide digest and break down unlike rawhides. Don’t buy Rawhides for any reason as they are choking hazards, best place for Rawhide is in the trash! Also note watch young pups and adults with chews as they get small. Any small chew can become a choking hazard when not properly chewed. We tend to take away hoofs and other chews when they get too small and we always watch our dogs when having chew toys.
Puppy Training Tools
For basic training a dog crate is always essential! We recommend crate training a puppy as it helps lead to less destruction and it is always good for a dog to have a “safe place” for emergency situations. The best size is a 36in as it leaves plenty of room for your puppy to grow. We also recommend an exercise pen as this is a great tool to connect to a crate and for training very young pups (8-12weeks). We litter box train our pups to help the house training process. During this time period pups are still having their bladder form and mature and giving a pup a little larger area along with a small tray filled with either pine pellets or recycled newspaper pellets creates a litter box and allows for a convenient spot for your pups to go when you are gone for 4+ hours in between times of letting your pup outside. For bedding we prefer primo pads. This is a mat that is nice for pups and young dogs who are still learning to not chew! Rather than going through countless beds due to pups loving to rip out the stuffing, this is our go to for crates! You can purchase these at https://www.primopads.com/ Also puppies are bound to have accidents, it is to be expected because of their young age. We love Nature Miracles’ products and refer people to purchasing these as they actually work!! It is safe for pets and has a pleasant smell, we typically purchase off of Amazon, however they have a website you can check out as well to find other vendors near you http://www.naturesmiracle.com/.
Heartworm, Flea and Tick prevention
We recently switched our dogs to a new product called Simparica Trio. This product is an awesome all in one, monthly chewable tablet. It covers fleas, ticks, and heart worms. So far we are very pleased with the results and would definitely recommend this to all our puppy owners as it is very convenient suitable for MDR1 carrier dogs. We previously used Interceptor Plus on all our dogs for Heartworm meds and still strongly recommend in using this. On our pregnant and lactating females we will use holistic approaches or nothing at all due to the risk it brings to pups. We treat ALL our dogs as if they are MDR1 affected and NEVER use any drug with Ivermectin.
We use K9 Advantix for all of our dogs for the prevention of flea and ticks if there is a heavy infestation of fleas in our area, so far we have been very lucky and using strictly the Simparica trio has worked wonders. Please note when using the topicals we will switch to using Interceptor plus to cover heartworms. When dogs are pregnant or lactating we will use Frontline Gold as this is approved for our mommas. We prefer using a topical as any dog can have a reaction or be allergic to any meds. A topical flea and tick prevention can be washed off and diluted causing less reaction and irritation rather than being ingested and the drug stays within the animal’s body. However, the Simparica Trio tablet has been a game changer for our program. I have heavily discussed this product with our veterinarian and have researched the background statistics in adverse reactions. We have also followed other fellow breeders who use this product.
**Please note with any product discuss things with your primary veterinarian. Only buy from a reputable source such as direct from your vet. There are many copycat products that are cheaper online; however they are not overseen by the USDA and may cause more issues costing you more money in the long run due to health implications.
Grooming Tools
Grooming your aussie can be a great bonding experience for you and your dog. When properly introduced and started at a young age your aussie can make grooming a fun time for both of you and a nice one on one time with each other. We recommend a slicker brush to help with any mangles and burs that can get caught in those luscious locks. An undercoat rake is a must for getting out the dead undercoat and also helps during their heaving shedding season. All our dogs go through a phase where they “blow” or shed their undercoat out. This tool is great and heavily reduces the amount of fur on your floors! Keep up with regular nail trims once monthly and when needed give your dog a bath. Too many baths can actually cause an off balance in their natural oils of their coat and cause for dry skin. Of course if you want to pamper your pet I would recommend sending your pup to the groomers every 6-8 weeks. DO NOT and I REPEAT DO NOT SHAVE your aussie. Ask your groomer to only use scissors and never clippers! The only trimming that should be done is cleaning up their paw pads, trimming some butt fluff, and cleaning them up for sanitary purposes. The only time we would ever shave our aussies if it is medically necessary.
ODDS & ENDS
Enrichment is so needed for dogs of all ages! Some great ways to help keep a dogs mind entertained and also work for their food is by using such tools as slow feeders, lick mats, shuffle mats, and wobblers/kongs. We follow and recommend BK pets as they have lots of videos and tools to utilize.
Also for the occasional scrapes, and if your dog proceeds to get bug bites or hot spots we 100% recommend Absorbine Silver Honey. This product is AMAZING and WORKS!
