Hello,
Please could some one advice me on my soft coated wheaten terrier.He is coming up to 5 months old and still has his puppy beige colour although he is getting whiter around the face on a daily basis.He is never on his own and has three walks a day,goes to dog training(in advance class now)and is very much loved family pet.Lately I have noticed he has two small(about size of £2 coin)bald patches.Ones at base of his spine and one on his rear leg.The skin does not look red underneath and it is covered by the new whiter hair.
Is this normal for wheatens to allow the adult coat to come through or is it something I need to go to the vets with?He is very healthy otherwise.Has monthly visits to vets,has monthly weigh in and flea worm treatment.Is up to date with his vaccinations and is fed hills vetinary diet(although lately some of our scraps are appearing in his bowl)
I would appreciate any advice out there.
Many thanks

hopefully sawheaties will see you post and give breed specific advice :)

Thankyou,fingers crossed sawheaties will reply and put my mind at rest

if not pm her

It may just be the moult but it could be flea bite and the pup is pulling the hair out, is the dog up to date with his flea treatment if not I would deal with that.

Could he be rubbing those spots on something he does every day? My male dachsie developed a bald patch on his chest and it turned out that it was being scraped on the rubber strip around the door frame.

The vet can do a scraping to see if there is anything going on or you could try worming and flea treatment if he hasn't been done recently.

Three walks per day is alot for a 5 month old pup, he should be getting 5 mins x age in months per day

Hi don't think he rubbing on anything,but will take him to the vets to get checked. Didn't realise about the walking.he gets 15 minutes in the morning on lead,about 30 mins in the afternoon half on lead and half off and 30mins in evening off lead.He has so much energy,I thought he would need the walks to burn it off.Im concerned I have over walked him now.Can any harm be done with this much walking and when can he walk three times a day?
Many thanks for your advice

i did the same with my collie pup,thought i was doing her a favour,walking miles,till i found out i should have only been giving 25minutes exercize a day!shes 3 now,and seems fine so i wouldnt worry,just cut down the exercise now you know.good luck!

Brainwork is more tiring than physical exercise, so more training games can safely take the place of the walking and you won't have him bouncing off the walls with boredom. :-)

If you follow the 5 minute rule then by a year old you've worked up to an hour.  How you split it is up to you.  At the moment your at around 25 minutes formal walking.  Basically you don't want all that pounding and pulling while their bones and joints are developing to avoid injuring them.

>Brainwork is more tiring than physical exercise,

This is where you reap the benefits of a good puppy training class. If you do your homework it means your puppy is getting several 5-15 minute sessions of training per day, more as you progress, and that all adds up to a tired but very well educated pup and the more they learn at this age when they are like little sponges, the better dog they will be when adult. I feel the greatest gift you can give a puppy is the joy of learning.

Thankyou very much for all your replies,and you are soooo right with the training.He goes once a week to dog training class which he loves and really tires him out.I was such a proud parent when he was promoted to advance class and is the youngest dog there,doing off lead heel work and 2 minute stays without being distracted with the other 5 immaculate behaved dogs.I also do about 10 minutes training a day with him to keep it up(don't want him falling behind).Unfortunately he still is at the stage where it's treat based and I do worry how much he is having during training.it is usually meat cut offs from morrisons,cheeses or salami.I noticed the other dogs are hardly having any treats now during training.I will definitely cut down his walks to 10 minutes each but still walk him 3 times a day because he has such a sad face if walking time arrives and I don't have his lead.  Maybe I could do 10 minute training 3 times a day before his walk so he feels like he's not missing out.I have noticed if he doesn't have his evening walk he runs around the house like a lunatic jumping on all the furniture!will this affect his bones as he seems to bounce himself at 100mph of the sofa ?.i have always had Labradors before and can't believe the difference in a terrier.Although they are both amazing breeds in there own way.My beloved Labrador passed a way before Christmas at 12 years old with a heart condition.I guess in my head I though if I walked her more her heart would have been healthy and we would have had a few more years.I guess I have overcompensated with my wheaten !

You need to discourage the jumping off furniture too.  The 'butt tuck zoomies' are very common with all ages in the evenings. 

They have just had a meal which gives them an energy boost and with pups often they are getting to the mentally fractious stage, after a long day, like a toddler who refuses they need to sleep.  With the adults I suppose it's a way of winding down, getting things out of their system before the nights rest.

I tend to walk mine late in the evening (at least an hour after their meal, usually more), which settles everyone for the night.

Sorry to come in at the end of this, I have been fighting with a bamboo in the garden helped by 4 wheaties :(
I have skimmed through the replies and don't think I can add much. My first thought was fleas or an allergy, have you walked him anywhere different recently, or used anything on your carpets? however that wouldn't really explain it being at the base of the tail.

What about anal glands? my youngest boy has had  a problem with those and he nibbled the base of his tail.
I didn't see what you said he was fed on, sometimes they change the ingriedients but once again the fact that it is localised makes me think he may have visitors. I would suggest that you bath him with an anti itch shampoo, I use oatmeal and baking soda on my old boy if he is itchy. I will pm you the make if you like.

I saw your post on the wheaten forum and was going to reply later ( I am a different user name on there) but I think others have said that the exercise is definitely too much, wheatens never know when enough is enough but 5 minutes per month of age is the rule due to growing joints. You can always play games at home which exercises the mind.

Sorry this is rushed but am going back to try and stop them digging a larger hole.

Please pm me and we can talk more.  

What a shame for the other dogs having hardly any treats during training. 

Whilst a dog is learning an exercise it should have treats every single time it gets it right - this is called a constant reinforcement schedule and tells the dog it is doing it approximately right.  Once you have named that behaviour & proofed it (everywhere & under all circumstances you can think of) - you should move on to a variable reinforcement schedule.  At first it's a good idea to still reward 75% of the time.  This is necessary so the behaviour becomes stronger and doesn't extinguish easily (which is does if you continually reward the dog every time even after he has learnt it).  Then you can taylor the rewards for the 'best' behaviour (the fastest sit, the straightest sit etc.).  However, you shouldn't ever reduce the rewards to very minimal/nothing.  Have a chat with your trainer about what he/she feels about reward and variable reinforcement - they should be able to explain.  If they say they believe in phasing reward out completely then you might want to think again about where you train him.  Remember reward doesn't have to be food - it can be toys, or a snuggle - it's what is appropriate/motivating to that dog in that circumstance.

hoped you would be a long Karen. Am picturing yu battling with a bamboo and 4 wheaties lol

Hi Alice,

You've already had some brilliant advice. I have a German Shepherd who is just getting up to an hour's exercise now at one year. Instead of walking him excessively I used to take him to the local park to train him with distractions. He'd get people approaching him as well as other dogs and it helped his socialisation.

I can honestly say he has been a LOT easier to manage than any other puppy we've ever had. The more you walk them, the more 'fit' they are getting which means the same 30 minute walk at three months old, will need to be at least three times as long that when he's an adult to have the same effect. The beauty of visiting a 'dog walking' place and training rather than walking is that A.) He has been really well trained around distractions and B.) He was always knackered out.

Could the 'bald patches' be eczema? A friend's dobe has eczema and it sounds quite the same. Bald patches with normal looking skin underneath.

Josh

Alice have pm'd you again :)