Author Topic: Bringing home a new puppy  (Read 2017 times)

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Offline Sage

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Bringing home a new puppy
« on: June 15, 2022, 06:07:37 AM »
Hello everyone

We will be bringing home our new 8 week old puppy tomorrow.  We are very keen to start in the right way with her and wondered if anyone had any tips or advice on how to make this transition as easy as possible for her (and us!)

Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: Bringing home a new puppy
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2022, 07:12:14 AM »
Hi and welcome and congratulations on your new puppy!! There are probably lots of things that come up in the first stages of puppyhood and there‘re always people of here with bags of advice to offer.
My advice for actually bringing your puppy home is to ensure as peaceful and calm environment as possible. At eight weeks your pup is going to be pretty overwhelmed by everything and has to be used to being parted from Mum and siblings. Something which carries Mum‘s smell, a toy or blanket can be quite useful and give him/her a feeling of security.
When I bought my dog home, I asked everyone to stay away for the few two or three days, it is an exciting time and everyone‘s desperate to see the new arrival but its more important that the dog has a chance to explore his/ her surroundings and routine quietly and without stress. Introduce him/her to one room at a time over a few days, even weeks, it can be very overwhelming to be plonked into a house full of strange smells and sounds when its possibly only been used to a small room or kennel. You‘ll obviously want to play but keep playtimes very short and not too boisterous, they need loads and loads of sleep and in my opinion, a lot of the problems that arise are caused by overtiredness and over excitment which inevitably causes stress for the pup. Try to see all you do from the pup‘s point of view and training will be much easier.
Second piece of advice is to start as you mean to go on. Set the rules before you start and stick to them, allowing a pup to get away with something now will make it all the harder trying to stop it later (but good luck with that,  :005:, most of my rules have gone by the wayside during the last 7 years!! , they‘re very persuasive!  :lol2:)
Last but not least, hide your socks and put all good clothes and shoes into storage until teething is over, maintain a sense of humour and know that most things are „just a passing phase“ :shades:. Keep logged on here and ask all you like,  there‘s no better place for support and advice and also sympathy when necessary.
Enjoy your pup and treasure every moment, tomorrow is the first day of a long and wonderful experience!
Jayne and Humphrey

Offline Sage

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Re: Bringing home a new puppy
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2022, 08:22:15 AM »
Hi Jayne

Thanks for the reply. Good advice about keeping others away for a couple of days so that she can settle in. I hadn’t thought of that. It’ll be difficult though as everyone is desperate to meet her!  Can’t wait to get her home now and get to know her

Best wishes to you and Humphrey

Offline sophie.ivy

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Re: Bringing home a new puppy
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2022, 12:17:49 PM »
All great advice from Jayne! I completely agree with keeping pup in one room and then gradually introducing others - it's a good idea to keep their world small at first as they're settling into a new home.

I asked my breeder to put a cuddly toy in with mum and the litter for a couple of hours before I picked her up and she still has her 'litter puppy' cuddly today. The only toy she hasn't destroyed or tried to chew!! I put it in the crate with her every night and she still cuddles up with it at 10 months. 

My toilet training tip is don't use puppy pads in the crate, use VetBed instead (it wicks away moisture so if there is an accident in the night pup stays dry). Make sure you clean up any accidents with an enzyme cleaner to completely remove the odour so pup doesn't think of their crate or a certain part of the house as their 'inside toilet'.

My friend who had cockers for years and is a dog sitter gave me some great advice for toilet training - pick pup up and take her out to the garden every 30 mins during the day for the first week. Link a word with toileting (I use 'business') and say the word lots of times whilst pup is going, then 'good business, good girl' after. If pup doesn't go, pick back up and pop back in the crate for a couple of mins then try again. Then every 45mins - an hour (depending on how well pup is doing with toileting) on week 2. It's exhausting, but it worked so well with my Ivy. She was toilet trained quicker than any of the pups in her puppy class and there's quite a few things I would do differently with my next pup, but toilet training isn't one of them!

Good luck with your new puppy!! Do you have a name yet or are you waiting to see which name suits? 


Offline Sage

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Re: Bringing home a new puppy
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2022, 12:25:40 PM »
Hi Sophie

Great toilet training tips which I will definitely try. I am lucky in that I am at home all day so she will have my undivided attention.  We have a few ideas for names but haven’t settled on any as we would like to see what suits her.  Take care and thanks for the advice