Last Minute Preparations

[poochmad]

Hi all

I'm sure these questions have been posted somewhere deep in the forum, have had a search with not much success. As we are picking up our Field Spaniel pup on Saturday (can't wait), I have a number of questions that I need your help with:

1. What sort of bones should I give him? Chicken/turkey wings, chicken/turkey necks and brisket bones. Anything else? (I read that you should give bones to the pup and match their size.) Are shank bones too big or too hard?

2. Does anyone know the size of a pup's bladder and what the time plan is for house training purposes? For example, at 8 -10 weeks of age, they need to go to toilet every hour, 10-12 weeks every xxx, 12-14 weeks every xxx, etc?

3. I've read that I should socialise him with other dogs (as well as people, but that's not my concern as he will meet many people before he's 6 months old), but where I live there are no puppy schools. To counteract this, I have organised visits with older dogs once he's vaccinated, but am worried this may be too late. Will this be ok? (He's a 'soft' breed so I'm wondering whether I'm being too over anxious.)

Any thoughts/suggestions always welcome.

Thanks

Meg

ETA: Pup is due home tomorrow - so excited!

Edited July 25, 2008 by poochmad

[kristin_e102]

Hi Meg,

Im not an expert by any means and am learning as I go - this forum has been awesome in giving me suggestions and hints so keep looking on here if you need to know anything else!

In regards to bones, I feed my 8 week old brisket bones and he LOVES them! It also keeps him occupied when I have stuff to do. As far as I know its fine to feed them all bones as long as they are not too small (they might choke!)

Its good to socialise pups but probably not until they are at least 12 weeks. Good idea organising meetings already, but dont stress yourself too much!

Hope this helps you a little,

Kristin

[aquaticmalamute]

I feed my guys chicken necks when they first come home, within a few weeks they go on to turkey necks. I also feed lamb offcuts from the start, when they get their adult teeth in I feed small chicken frames as well. I avoid wings as their bones splinter easily.

The general rule of thumb for sleeping hours is your pups age in months plus one hour. So a 2 month old puppy should sleep 3hrs before needing to go out, a 3 month old pup should go out every 4hrs and so on. When you are house training a new pup they should go out every hour, after waking, after eating and after play/exciting activity.

My current pup is the first one that I havn't taken to puppy pre-school. With plenty of socialization with other dogs each week he has turned out fine - I stressed over it too but it was worry for nothing

[poochmad]

I feed my guys chicken necks when they first come home, within a few weeks they go on to turkey necks. I also feed lamb offcuts from the start, when they get their adult teeth in I feed small chicken frames as well. I avoid wings as their bones splinter easily.

The general rule of thumb for sleeping hours is your pups age in months plus one hour. So a 2 month old puppy should sleep 3hrs before needing to go out, a 3 month old pup should go out every 4hrs and so on. When you are house training a new pup they should go out every hour, after waking, after eating and after play/exciting activity.

My current pup is the first one that I havn't taken to puppy pre-school. With plenty of socialization with other dogs each week he has turned out fine - I stressed over it too but it was worry for nothing

Thanks for your response, you've made me feel a lot better!

With regards to the initial house training, how long should that continue - the every hour thing? A couple of weeks or more?

[LuvMyCav]

"More" Poochmad. Eventually as your pup becomes more reliable at letting you know when he needs to toilet and he's not having any accidents in the house, you can gradually leave it a little longer.

If you find that accidents are occurring, you may need to go out more often than every hour and you may need to lessen the area that the pup has access to so that you can watch him more closely.

Some puppies are toilet trained within weeks, others take months. The best chance of early success is to stay on the ball and be very watchfull. No reprimands, lots of praise for good toileting outside and always stay with your pup outside so that you can see that he really has toileted before going back in and so that you're there to praise him. It's also best to clean up any indoor accidents when pup is outside so he's not watching and to use a cleaning product that does not contain ammonia (similar smell to urine).

Edited to add: Congratulations on your soon-to-be-home puppy. Hope you have a great life together.

Edited July 24, 2008 by LuvMyCav

[poochmad]

"More" Poochmad. Eventually as your pup becomes more reliable at letting you know when he needs to toilet and he's not having any accidents in the house, you can gradually leave it a little longer.

If you find that accidents are occurring, you may need to go out more often than every hour and you may need to lessen the area that the pup has access to so that you can watch him more closely.

Some puppies are toilet trained within weeks, others take months. The best chance of early success is to stay on the ball and be very watchfull. No reprimands, lots of praise for good toileting outside and always stay with your pup outside so that you can see that he really has toileted before going back in and so that you're there to praise him. It's also best to clean up any indoor accidents when pup is outside so he's not watching and to use a cleaning product that does not contain ammonia (similar smell to urine).

Edited to add: Congratulations on your soon-to-be-home puppy. Hope you have a great life together.

Thanks for this...sometimes it's so confusing! It's been 12 years since we've had a pup and I feel like I need to learn all over again. I'm hoping that it's like riding a bike and I will remember as soon as he's here.

I'm very excited about tomorrow - I just want to go to sleep until tomorrow! (Although I don't think work would be too happy!) :D

[Kahn]

looking forward to seeing some pictures...I remember that feeling (of waiting to pick up my puppies) like it was yesterday.