1st Time Puppy Owner- Advice Needed

[minpinmum]

Hi All,

I am a newbie to the forum and i have a puppy coming home in two weeks. She will be I have the standard 'things to buy' list but was wondering if there was anything else that realy helped when you were bringing up your pup that you didnt think of?

Im also trying to work out the best way to keep her. I work full time (leave home at 8.30 and get home at 5.30) its going to be very difficult. I have a doggie door in already but she will be too small to use it yet. Im also not keen to have her running loose in the house and yard unsupervised yet.

What are my options with this? I was thinking of getting a large puppy pen and having her inside with heaps of toys, tv on, window open ect. Has anyone done this before? do i give her a litter tray? she is only being fed twice a day at the breeders so she should be ok.

The other option is to pen her outside (with her crate) in a sheltered area.

any other ideas???

I may be able to take her to work for a few days a week.

I will be picking her up friday night after work and have a few days with her.

Thanks.

[iggy mum]

Hi minpinmum

I'm a newbie too and looking for answers to all the questions you just asked and more lol. I just brought home an 18 month old min pin x chi from Blacktown Pound. She is gorgeous but comes with her own problems, not cat tolerant - and I have two - not properly toilet trained and am looking to learn how to train for this too. Even after two days she is my little shadow and won't let me out of her sight without a performance so am thinking that a crate may well be the way to go. It will also be useful for travel and both my dogs, this one and my iggy, seem to somehow wriggle out of their car harness - haven't worked out how yet as they have only done it when my back is turned - typical little terrors I'm sure someone here can give you some good advice/info.... Would love to see pics of your puppy when you get her. Have you got a name in mind yet??

[luvsdogs]

Have a look at this website. www.dogstardaily.com

You can download the books Before & After You Get Your Puppy by Dr Ian Dunbar. You'll find lots of info on everything dog/puppy. You can also watch videos & listen to Ian's radio programme iWoofs.

[minpinmum]

Thanks so much guys.

The thing i am most worried about is her being home alone for so long.

Ill be sure to post pictures when i bring her home. I'm very very exited as i have been dog less for about a year. ;) Since being onhere im learning all sots of things re training, crates, traveling, showing ect! so so much to learn!

I headed to burnings today and brought some compost bins after reading older posts. Great idea.

Iggys mum- thanks for your encouragement. Here i was thinking that my questions were silly! glad to know im not alone What a lovely thing to do to take on a rescue. My last dog was a rescue. Ive attached a pic. Best wishes with your new addition

Thanks for the link luvsdogs. I'm heading to check it out now. Hopefully i will be a little less lost!

Names- she has the name that the breeder gave her but i am thinking of bella, kira or ashya??? hmmm not sure. any ideas?

[KritalJay]

We leave our puppies inside and just barrier off parts of the house with baby gates. Make sure that they have plenty of fun toys/kongs filled with treats and they seem to be fine. We used to put puppy pads or newspaper down but they just destroy it so now we just leave a old towel down and they just go on the towel if they really need to. But we're starting to find that our puppies (specially our 4 month old) can hold until we get home from work.

We also got an automatic feeder that worked a treat as well.

[sallyandtex]

We leave our puppies inside and just barrier off parts of the house with baby gates. Make sure that they have plenty of fun toys/kongs filled with treats and they seem to be fine. We used to put puppy pads or newspaper down but they just destroy it so now we just leave a old towel down and they just go on the towel if they really need to. But we're starting to find that our puppies (specially our 4 month old) can hold until we get home from work.

We also got an automatic feeder that worked a treat as well.

Hey, just a word of warning...DON"T buy an expensive bed! They rip it up!

[elsa]

Hi All,

I am a newbie to the forum and i have a puppy coming home in two weeks. She will be I have the standard 'things to buy' list but was wondering if there was anything else that realy helped when you were bringing up your pup that you didnt think of?

Im also trying to work out the best way to keep her. I work full time (leave home at 8.30 and get home at 5.30) its going to be very difficult. I have a doggie door in already but she will be too small to use it yet. Im also not keen to have her running loose in the house and yard unsupervised yet.

What are my options with this? I was thinking of getting a large puppy pen and having her inside with heaps of toys, tv on, window open ect. Has anyone done this before? do i give her a litter tray? she is only being fed twice a day at the breeders so she should be ok.

The other option is to pen her outside (with her crate) in a sheltered area.

any other ideas???

I may be able to take her to work for a few days a week.

I will be picking her up friday night after work and have a few days with her.

Thanks.

I am guessing she is not house trained, so a litter tray or paper wont be any good, unless she knows already how to use them. A weekend may not be enough time to train her. This is a huge subject and I am not sure what you already know, so please forgive me if it sounds like I am telling you how to suck eggs lol.

For me, I think the outside idea sounds the best. I totally agree with your comments on letting her have the run of the house, can you imagine the trouble she can get in to? lol. She will have much more to look at outside, although, she will probably sleep for most of the day - our new puppy seems to, and then comes to life at night! But, I have two other dogs, and they keep him company and play with him. Lots of toys sounds good, and also a raw bone to chew.

Regarding the housetraining. About 15-20 minutes after she has eaten or woken up, take her outside. Dont stand over her, just be relaxed or you will put pressure on her to go. When she is going, use a word, such as toilet or wee wee. This will help when you need her to go, and you can then get to go on command. Once she has been, let her stay outside for a while. If she thinks that when she goes, she comes back inside, she may hold off going, so she can enjoy some time outside.

I would also recommend taking her to puppy school. This gives them a great start. Also, there are a couple of threads on here that are really good. They are at the top of Puppy Problems. One is called When will my dog be trained, and the other is Puppy Socialisation. Knowing these critical periods will really help you deal with and understand the different stages of their life. Once these periods are passed, they are gone, so it is really important that are dealt with at the right time.

Good luck and have fun

Edited March 9, 2010 by elsa

[KritalJay]

Sallyandtex - neither of our puppies have destroyed their beds. The only things that they crew on so far has been their toys

[flux]

I second the "cheap" bed option! We bought ours from the two dollar shop, it didn't hurt so much watching her pull them to shreds that way . Another good bit of advice, cardboard boxes, an old sock with a tennis ball in it (knot tied in sock to stop ball from escaping), an old scarf tied into big and little knots, toilet rolls - all these things are fantastic toys to a puppy,and again don't hurt so much to watch them be destroyed lol. Good luck

[minpinmum]

Thanks for all your help guys. Fantastic info! 9 days! i so exited and nervous at the same time.

I love the ideas about homemade toys and a cheaper bed to start off with. I have her 3 bunnings compost pens set up in the lounge room for her to call home when i am not home. will leave the tv on for her and she will have her toys to play with and her bed and crate.

Im thinking of putting down a tarp or similar to make accidents easier to clean up? I was thinking of getting one of those inside doggie toilets with the fake grass for now? anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also how old are the generally when they go to puppy school?

Thanks a bunch guys!!!

[poodlefan]

Thanks for all your help guys. Fantastic info! 9 days! i so exited and nervous at the same time.

I love the ideas about homemade toys and a cheaper bed to start off with. I have her 3 bunnings compost pens set up in the lounge room for her to call home when i am not home. will leave the tv on for her and she will have her toys to play with and her bed and crate.

Im thinking of putting down a tarp or similar to make accidents easier to clean up? I was thinking of getting one of those inside doggie toilets with the fake grass for now? anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also how old are the generally when they go to puppy school?

Thanks a bunch guys!!!

I would never leave a pup unattended in an open top pen. I know someone who came home to find their pup suspended from the top of the pen with its badly broken leg caught in the top. Don't do it.

Is there anyone who can do a lunchtime visit and feed for the first few weeks?

I'd suggest you put gates or close doors to close off part of the house and tie the dog door open so puppy can go in and out. Most of mine mastered the dog door in a couple of days anyway. You will really set toilet training back if the pup has to toilet inside while you're away.

If the yard safe or can you section off a bit near the house?

[SammieS]

Our frenchie loves Milk Bottles or any bottle with a lid! They're hard to grip on to, so they slip out when she's trying to chew the lid off, then when she plays with the lid by flicking them up in the air so she can try to catch them again...

I always remove the ring that is also around the top and when she was little I removed the lid after she'd finished playing so she didn't swallow it....

We have one of those Puphead indoor toilets - it has fake grass for Asti to use during the day (as we don't let her into the backyard when we're not at home, as we back onto bush land and don't want her getting ticks or stolen or hurting herself by jumping off the retaining wall! We placed it near the door and she uses it very well! Even if the grass is outside after we've washed it she would go over to pee on it instead of the real grass

I recommend them if you don't want your pup outside when you're not at home. They're a bit expensive to start with but totally worth it, especially when its raining as its the pups alternative to going outside in the rain (as per other posts - not many dogs like getting wet when they have to go outside to wee).

[elsa]

Having probs posting this

Edited March 15, 2010 by elsa

[elsa]

Will work this out some how lol

Edited March 15, 2010 by elsa

[elsa]

Thanks for all your help guys. Fantastic info! 9 days! i so exited and nervous at the same time.

I love the ideas about homemade toys and a cheaper bed to start off with. I have her 3 bunnings compost pens set up in the lounge room for her to call home when i am not home. will leave the tv on for her and she will have her toys to play with and her bed and crate.

Im thinking of putting down a tarp or similar to make accidents easier to clean up? I was thinking of getting one of those inside doggie toilets with the fake grass for now? anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also how old are the generally when they go to puppy school?

Thanks a bunch guys!!!

I would never leave a pup unattended in an open top pen. I know someone who came home to find their pup suspended from the top of the pen with its badly broken leg caught in the top. Don't do it.

Is there anyone who can do a lunchtime visit and feed for the first few weeks?

I'd suggest you put gates or close doors to close off part of the house and tie the dog door open so puppy can go in and out. Most of mine mastered the dog door in a couple of days anyway. You will really set toilet training back if the pup has to toilet inside while you're away.

If the yard safe or can you section off a bit near the house?

I agree with this. My neighbours used mesh to fence off part of their verandah while they were at work for their puppy. Its screaming had me scaling the 6 foot fence! It had tried to get over the mesh and had caught its hind leg on the inside and was hanging on outside. Luckily no damage caused, but that could have been due to someone getting there quick enough to release it.