Having the right tools when you bring home your new Portuguese Water Dog or Portidoodle puppy is very important!
GROOMING TOOLS
Grooming tools are essential to keep your dogs coat manageable. We recommend a high quality slicker brush, greyhound comb and detangler. We try not to dry brush our Portuguese Water Dogs or Portidoodles, and instead spray their hair with something to protect it and their skin. We love "The Stuff" dog conditioner/detangler, it is amazing to get tough snarls out. Make sure to brush daily to avoid mats!
In addition to daily grooming, we recommend investing in a forced air blower for bath time. We also recommend having a pair of clippers, a scissor set and nail clippers on hand for cleaning up between visits to the Groomer.
TREATS AND FOOD
It is very important to feed a high quality food, we use Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy food, however there are many high quality foods that you can use! We do not recommend grain-free foods because they have been linked to heart issues. We have not had any issues with our dogs, but Portuguese Water Dogs and Portidoodles are known to have chicken allergies, if you find your dog is very itchy or has problems with yeast, talk to your Vet about chicken allergies.
We love adding pumpkin and probiotics to our dog's food, these provide a good amount of fiber and helps them have nice formed poops! If you find your dog is having bowel issues one of the first things you can try is adding pumpkin and probiotics to their diets. Please make sure that you visit your vet if there are any questionable issues with you dogs poop!
A good multi-vitamin is a great way to keep your dog healthy and help them have a long life. We have partnered with Nu-Vet to give you access to some of the highest quality dog nutrition available. We recommend their NuVet Plus K-9 Wafers, however by using our code you can have access to all their wonderful products. Visit http://www.nuvetlabs.com/348248
for product information and ordering.
Treats are great motivation during training, however a good chewy treat is essential for mouthy breeds like Portuguese Water Dogs and Portidoodles. Our dogs and puppies love things like cow hooves, bully sticks, raw meaty bones, pigs/cows ears and such. We do not recommend chew treats like rawhide and plastic bones as they are highly processed and can cause digestive stress or even impaction of the bowels. We also do not recommend cooked bones as they have a tendency to splinter when chewed.
TRAINING
It is so important to establish a good training foundation for your dog! Breeds like Portuguese Water Dogs and Portidoodles are very smart and need boundaries established to prevent acting out. These dogs love to work and have a relationship with their humans. One of the best ways to develop a good relationship with your dog is through training. Whether it is through a local dog trainer, through past dog experience or an online puppy school, we strongly recommend your dog receive training. The best thing you can do for your dog is to educate them to be well behaved! It might even save their life! We have partnered with Baxter and Bella, The Online Puppy School, to provide you with a discount to their online puppy training program. Baxter & Bella has an online training program that you get for life. They even give you live one-on-one calls with the trainers at no additional fee! This program offers so much, like live-classes, videos, podcasts and even a Facebook group that you can be a part of. Join others going through training, too. You can find out more about their program at: www.baxterandbella.com/learn-more don't forget to use our discount code: GROTKENNELS to save 25%!
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