Puppies Ages (six weeks to six months)

• Most common health problems
• Parvo
• Worms
• Trauma such as car accidents
• Congenital abnormalities

• The rapid growth phase so nutrition very important. Puppy foods are most appropriate at this age. Very important to get the calcium phosphorous balance correct at this time. They should be in about a 1:1 ratio. Meat and offal are very unbalanced in this regard having a Ca:P ratio of between 1:8 and 1:40. If you feed meat or offal you need to add supplements to balance. Large breed dogs such as Great Danes need a low calcium lower protein diet such as Eukanuba large breed. Feeding 2-3 times a day is necessary, especially for toy breeds.

• Exploring the environment and learning. The critical socialisation period is between 8 and 20 weeks. This is the time a pup needs to get out and meet lots of people, dogs and environments or they may be fearful all their lives. This is the age when puppy preschool is of real benefit. 

• Need to learn expectations

• Fast learning curves
• House training 
• Best time to teach
• Learn both bad and good habits
• Have fear periods and are very impressionable
• Try to minimize scary events

• Medical needs:
  • Puppy exams and vaccines at eight and twelve
  • Screen for birth defects, behavioral counseling, and other puppy medical issues
  • Spay or neuter to prevent reproduction and decrease later in life risks and health diseases.
  • X-ray hips and elbows in some breeds for early detection of hip dysplasia if necessary
  • Pups need worming every 2 weeks from birth til 12 weeks of age then monthly til they ar 6 months then 4 times a year. Pups have round and hookworms passed from their mothers through the placenta and through the milk so effectively they are born with worms if the mother has worms

Adolescent dogs (ages six months to eighteen months)

• Most common health problems
• Parvo
• Worms
• Trauma such as car accidents
• Behavioural problems
• Otitis
• Fractured bones
• Ringworm
• Congenital abnormalities

• Still growing but nutrition not as critical. Time to go onto a adult dog food. Cut back to once daily and introduce raw bones such as chicken necks, wings, carcasses and lamb flaps. Adult teeth should finish erupting by 8-9 months of age.

• Sexually mature and therefore can reproduce. Desexing before a bitch comes on heat for the first time reduces the risk of mammary cancers, the most common type of canine cancer, to virtually zero.

• Continue with a rapid learning curve. Now is the time many trainers find the most rewarding as adolescent dogs are very easy to teach as long as the physical exuberance is taken out of them with plenty of exercise. Like teenage boys they find it had to concentrate if they have been cooped up.

• Medical needs:
  • Annual examinations
  • Vaccinations
  • Fecal checks, heartworm checks and flea control. They are still very prone to parasites like worms because they still dont have a fully competant immune system. For easy of remembering worm at the change of the seasons - 4 times a year. If they have access to offal or dead sheep or kangaroos then worming needs to be done every 6 weeks with a hydatid wormer such as drontal. Hydatids is a potentially fatal disease of humans who catch it from infected dogs.

Adults (eighteen months to three to six years depending on Breed)

• Most common health problems
• Allergies
• Poisonings
• Cruciate rupture
• Snake bite
• Disc disease
  
• Dogs at the height of their powers rarely suffer from infectious disease. Much calmer so training is often easier in excitable breeds.

• Sexually mature and therefore can reproduce

• Continue with a rapid learning curve

• Medical needs:
  • Annual examinations
  • Vaccinations
  • Fecal checks, heartworm checks and flea control

Middle aged (three years to between seven and ten years depending on breed)

• Most common health problems
• Pyometra
• Vavular heart disease
• Cushings diseas
• Diabetes
• 
  
• Becoming more sedentary and so tend to gain weight more easily so ease off food. Keep exercise up.

• Some breeds become affected with early signs of disease particularly degenerative diseases
  • Large breeds may show evidence of arthritic changes
  • Early changes may occur in some organs

• Annual wellness exams and vaccines as recommended by your veterinarian and check regularly for masses anywhere.

• Some breeds will begin to require early screening tests such as blood work and urine samples. Water consumption shouldn't go above 100ml/kg/ day ie a 15 kg dog shouldn't drink more than 1.5 l.
 

Geriatric (age eight and up)

• Most common health problems
• Pyometra
• Vavular heart disease
• Cushings diseas
• Diabetes
• Hypothyroidism
• Tumours/cancer
• Arthritis

• Should fill out annual health questionnaire
  
• Beginning to show some signs of age such a slowing down and occasional aches and pains

• Be alert for signs of change such as increased drinking or decreased drinking, changes in appetite, soreness when getting up, deafness, loss of vision, or any other signs that are out of the ordinary

• Annual and sometimes semiannual wellness exams are recommended

• Senior wellness blood work, a urine sample, and in some cases and more in depth look at certain health issues may be recommended