Heart murmurs in puppies

I was with a service dog client and her puppy for their very first vet visit. That little Labrador retriever puppy was 10 weeks old. The physical exam went smoothly. After listening to the puppy's heart, the vet said - almost in passing - that the puppy had a heart murmur. You could have heard a pin drop in that room. 

Since that experience, I have learned that juvenile heart murmurs are not unusual in puppies. I asked my vet to describe them for me, so I could share the information with you. Here is what she said:

"Basically a heart murmur is a turbulent or abnormal blood flow.  We use a scale of 1 to 6 to "grade" them based on severity.   Most puppy murmurs we run into fall into the juvenile or "innocent" murmur category.  These are soft (grade 1 or 2) murmurs that 90% of puppies will grow out of by the time they are 6 months old.  The louder, more severe murmurs (3 to 6) are more concerning in puppies as they may indicate something more severe (septal defects - hole in the heart wall, etc.)." 

I hope you never hear the words "heart murmur" associated with your own puppy. If you do, know that the odds are good that it is an issue that will resolve itself, as it did with the puppy I described above.

Do you need a treat pouch to train your puppy?

Is your puppy food driven? A chow hound? Seemingly always hungry? If the answer is yes, I highly recommend using your pup's food drive as a motivator when training. Which means you need to have food rewards handy.

If you have pockets, keep treats in them. Otherwise, get some kind of treat pouch. There are all kinds, just google "dog treat pouches". 

One of the best treats is your dog's dry dog food. To this day (I have a four-year-old Lab), I always have kibble in my pocket. I want to reward her if she does something special - with something she loves. She's a Lab. There is no greater love for her than food. 

 

Here's one way to use the treats that you tote around with you all day. Use your puppy's dry dog food to train house manners. Each morning measure out a day's worth of dog food. Let's say you feed two cups a day. Feed your puppy 3/4 cup morning and evening. Put the other 1/2 cup in pocket or pouch. Use this food to reward good puppy stuff. Let's say your puppy comes running up to you and instead of jumping, sits ... looking up at you. As it's happening, be reaching for a couple of pieces of his food. That sit won't last long, so say "good sit" as you reach down with one hand to give him an "atta boy" pat while bringing your other open hand under his chin. This is so he can eat his reward right out of your hand without moving his body. As he finishes his treat, stand, tell him he's a good boy one more time and walk away. In those few seconds (it happens fast and you have to respond fast), you are teaching your baby puppy what sit means, that sit gets rewarded, and that you're paying attention. Bravo!