New puppy help

saleda

Hi,

We are getting a puppy in about 3 weeks time and we would like to be well prepared for the new arrival. As we have never had a dog before, we are pretty confused as to what we should be buying.

Firstly we would like to have somewhere that we can contain the puppy at night time and certain times during the day. We don't have a utility room or anything like that so we were thinking of buying a play pen? If so, what are the best types to buy? Or should we be buying a crate? I know that crate training has been advised by lots of people on these boards for new puppies but the breeders have said it is a bad idea as it can really stress out the dog. We just want to get this right from the start.

Also, what type of bed should we buy? Is the puppy going to eat it?! Maybe we should buy a plastic bed to start off with and line it with a nice blanket?

If the puppy starts whining at night time, should we go down to it or should we leave it alone at night time so it doesn't expect us to come down every time it barks or whines?

What's the best type of food to feed a puppy?

I'm pretty sure I will be back here very often with lots of questions so thought I'd make a start now. Thanks in advance

andreac

Firstly congrats on your new puppy.

What breed is it? Im not sure why the breeder said that about the crate as crates can be great for training plus any dog i have or i know of loves their crates. Its all about introducing the crate properly so the dog feels like the crate is their little den and place they feel safe and secure in.

What age will the puppy be when you get it?

I really would recommend a crate and some vet bed, as its not as eaily chewed as normal dog beds.

saleda

Thanks... we are very excited. It is a bichon.... so because the bichons are very sociable little dogs and like to be around people, I think that's why the breeder doesn't like the idea of it being cooped up in a crate. If you crate a puppy at night time, isn't it likely to get very stressed when it needs to pee?

The puppy will be coming up to 9 weeks when we get it.

2qk4u

The crate is the best option, I have a 6 month old Staffy and the crate helped with house training, dont worry about accidents in the night when the pup is young, it will help with toilet training as they dont like to be in a small space with their mess so they will try hold until they get out.
I gave my dog a treat every time she went into the crate and if she didnt make a mess I would give her one as she came out. The hardest part is when the pup crys but you have to be strong and just let it go. only go back to the pup when it is not crying.
Use old pillows, cloths, towels ect for bedding to start with as they will end up in the bin, when the toiled training is finished then buy a nice comfy bed. Get some chew toys, rubber bones, rope toyes ect and put them in the crate at night.
Play is really important, you are the new mammy and you need to teach the pup.

andreac

Well with crate training you have to put a lot of work into it, but it pays off. You dont leave the pup all night in the crate, you have to get up to let it out and go to the toilet.
The point of the crate is that it doesnt go to toilet in it as they dont like to go in their sleeping area, but this means you have to let the pup out often enough to go to the toilet so it doesnt soil its bed. This means maybe getting up during the night once or twice until the pup is old enough to hold it all night.

If you dont crate train then the pup will have accidents in the house as they cant hold it in for very long, so i really would recommend crate training for night time.
Yes they are sociable breeds, but so are most dogs, and unless you plan on the dog slepeing with you in your bedroom its going to be on its own at night anyway, so i really do suggest a crate.

saleda

Thanks... I'm just worried about night time. On the dog training ireland website it says:

"A dog should not be crated for long periods, young puppies should only be left for a maximum of 3-4 hours. As a dog gets older and has more bladder control they can be crated for the night."

Edit:

Posted this before I saw your reply andrea, so you do recommend getting up to them during the night.... ok hadn't planned for that! How old are they usually before they can go through the night?

andreac

saleda wrote: »

Thanks... I'm just worried about night time. On the dog training ireland website it says:

"A dog should not be crated for long periods, young puppies should only be left for a maximum of 3-4 hours. As a dog gets older and has more bladder control they can be crated for the night."

Yes, thats right, which means you have to get up during the night to let it out for the toilet, until its old enough to hold it in.

My dogs happily sleep all night in their crates now and they are mature dogs and they are fine.

andreac

saleda wrote: »

Thanks... I'm just worried about night time. On the dog training ireland website it says:

"A dog should not be crated for long periods, young puppies should only be left for a maximum of 3-4 hours. As a dog gets older and has more bladder control they can be crated for the night."

Edit:

Posted this before I saw your reply andrea, so you do recommend getting up to them during the night.... ok hadn't planned for that! How old are they usually before they can go through the night?

If you go to bed at 11, then get up at maybe 3, let out to the toilet and back to bed then until 6 or 7am. Make sure there is no interaction with the pup apart from a command to go to the toilet, so you dont get the pup all excited and thinking its time to get up.

This can be gradually extended then until the pup can hold it in.
If you dont get up during the night then you cant crate, but you will have accidents all your kitchen or where ever the pup will sleep.

Crate training speeds up toilet training in dogs and Bichons are suppoed to be quite difficult to toilet train so i really do recommend it for your puppy.

The more work you put in now at a young age will pay off quicker and in the long run, trust me.

DBB

Hi saleda, and congrats on your new pup.
You'll get lots of great advice here, but I would also strongly recommend you look up the indispensable puppy-owners-to-be website, www.dogstardaily.com. There are two books available on it as free downloads, one is called "Before You Get Your Puppy", the other is "After You Get Your Puppy".
Both are packed to the rafters with all you need to know re sleeping arrangements, biting, chewing, housetraining... Everything a new puppy owner needs to know, and all based on kind, gentle methods with plenty of passive education going on!
The website and books are the brainchildren of Ian Dunbar, founding father of modern, educational puppy training.
I love the puppy playpen set up in it, which utilises both crate and playpen, maximizing success in toilet training whilst keeping your pup, and your furniture safe.
Highly recommended!
Good luck!

Zulu

Get a crate. The dog will feel safer sleeping in a secure confined den, than out in the open.
Get up during the night to let it go to the toilet.
Do not respond to it's crying. You gotta brave that through.
Get ear plugs.
Get a hot water bottle.
Get a ticking clock.
Get a blanket.
Get a stuffed toy.

Get ready to have your life completly and utterly turned upside down. But it'll be worth it.


And one last thing. Take loads & loads & loads of photos & videos. They grow up VERY quickly, & in no time you'll be looking back with your best friend on the memorys of that tiny tiny puppy that came into your life. I didn't take half enough photos.

saleda

Zulu wrote: »

Get ear plugs.
Get a hot water bottle.
Get a ticking clock.
Get a blanket.
Get a stuffed toy.

I presume they're all for me

Thanks everyone, great board here for lots of advice, I'll be back for sure

Zulu

saleda wrote: »

I presume they're all for me

Thanks everyone, great board here for lots of advice, I'll be back for sure

I'll tell you what, after the first few nights, they might as well be!! The shock I got, I'll never forget. Still though - congrats, it's all worth it.

ashblag

congrats on your pending new addition:D
As said crate is best way to go,just make sure you do the training to it properly.
ticking clock and hotwater bottle help settle the pup
lots and lots of chewy toys(save your doors and skirting boards:rolleyes:)
And lots and lots of PATIENCE:D be under no illusion, you will have a few sleepless nights.

One other thing i heard if you give the breader a blanket or something to leave with the pup and bring it home when you collect him he'll have the scent on the blanket might help him settle.

It's lots of hard work but fun too!

saleda

Ticking clock and hot water bottle... ok.... sounds good.... but, won't the puppy chew through the hot water bottle?!

tk123

Another crate training recomendation from us. It doesn't stress them out at all - my dog is fast asleep in his crate as I type this and is actually on crate rest after an opertaion 2 weeks ago. The crate is his bed/den so he doesn't mind being in there.

I had the crate in my room at night so he didn't wake the whole house up and brought him out to the loo as soon as he cried during the night then back to sleep for both of us. It's hard at first and you're half asleep for a few weeks but like most hard work it's worth it. It only took a few weeks and he was house trained

Zulu

saleda wrote: »

Ticking clock and hot water bottle... ok.... sounds good.... but, won't the puppy chew through the hot water bottle?!

Nah, wrap it in the blanket and (s)he wont get to it. Besides, you don't want them to get burnt off it.

DBB

saleda wrote: »

Ticking clock and hot water bottle... ok.... sounds good.... but, won't the puppy chew through the hot water bottle?!

I wouldn't be inclined to go down the hot water bottle route... If your pup turns out to be a digger and chewer, you may say goodbye to your hot water bottle!
A fab alternative is the Snugglesafe heat pad, a hard, plastic, gel-filled disc which you heat in the microwave and it stays warm all night. Pups cannot chew them. I have fostered many, many pups here and wouldn't be without a Snugglesafe!
Another thing to help pups settle last thing at night is give them a feed before they go to bed.
Warm bed+lyric fm+full tummy+empty bladder/bowel=sleepy puppy!

shuffles88

I second the hot water bottle, just wrap it up tight and it'll be fine.

As for the food you should feed the puppy on whatever the breeder is giving it and then if you want to change the food you have to wean it off it over time very gradually. Go for a dry food over wet and preferably something other than Pedigree dog food.

The bed you buy your puppy in my opinion should be something cheap and washable. I got my pup a fabric bed, he didn't rip it up but he loved to play in it, dragging it around the place and hiding under it. I'm going to get him a plastic bed in a while though I held off until now so he wouldn't be so inclined to chew it up so much.

I'd disregard what the breeder said about the crate, it offers the dog a nice warm safe place to go to sleep at night, think of it as an indoor kennel.

Zulu

Can I recommend: Brain Games for Dogs by Claire Arrowsmith. We are having great craic with our puppy with it.

tk123

DBB wrote: »

A fab alternative is the Snugglesafe heat pad, a hard, plastic, gel-filled disc which you heat in the microwave and it stays warm all night. !

+1 these are brilliant. I got one before we got our guy - the second I put him in to the crate at night he'd snuggle up to it. I've used it in his crate the last few days as it was cold and drafty in the house - put it in at 7:30 yesterday morning and it was still warm at 7:30 in the evening.

closifer

We got a puppy a few weeks ago, also a toy breed. We had never used a crate or pen before and i was unsure how it would work out. We ordered this pen from zooplus http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/rodents/cages/pens_fencing/pens_with_racks/126789. We got the smallest size which is actually plenty big for the pup and it has worked out really well. As soon as the pup came into the house for the first time, she just wandered straight into her bed inside the pen. No problems at all! We have her bed, a hot water bottle, her toys, food and water and a puppy training pad inside and she loves it. We sometimes leave the door open and she will still choose to go in there!

Sigma Force

Haven't read everyones replies but here's what we did for our fella when he was a pup (Papillon so similar size).

Play pen (in baby blue of course) from Maxi Zoo, placed in the kitchen for day time..Over the top expense I guess but it was so cute he only used it for a few months but we will eventually get another so it's up in the attic for the next fur baby when ever that may be.

Dog crate in the bedroom for nighttime, placing the crate by the bed will save you a lot of hassle. If crating a pup at nigt you have to be prepared to get up between 1 and 5 times in the night for the first few months some pups are better than others at sleeping through. If keeping him in the kitchen or other room be prepared for a lot of crying and getting up in the night anyway.

Snuggle safe heat pad..calms them down and gives them something warm to snuggle up to at night our guy only started sleeping well when we started using it (available on zooplus).

Small ceramic or similar dishes.

Good quality food..we used Burns mini bites when he was a pup.

Collar and harness..a harness is better than using the collar to walk him as their necks are delicate. We get our collars from Mollys.ie and harness I got in garden center shop..I couldn't find one to fit him coz of his shape.

ID tag from identitag website..they sell tiny ones suitable and lightweight for small dogs but you can still put lots of your info on them.

Vet bed..from Bronteglen.ie washable cosy and absorbant.

Mop & Bucket, fairy liquid, cheap white vinegar for cleaning floors..tres important!

Kong toys and can't remember the other brand we used..but they were brilliant for teething. I'll see if I can find some photos of the stuff we used.

Sigma Force

Pic of our lad when he was a puppy in his playpen. He was so little I used guinea pig bowls for his food.

This photo shows the playpen and I used a plastic cat bed I had lying around for his day bed. The playpen was a lifesaver when he was really small, because pups get tired and need a quiet place to nap whenever there were noisy kids over he had somewhere safe to go and sleep, also small dogs can get trodden on so it's handy to keep them out of mischief if the house is mad busy and they are tired.

Susannahmia

saleda wrote: »

Thanks... we are very excited. It is a bichon.... so because the bichons are very sociable little dogs and like to be around people, I think that's why the breeder doesn't like the idea of it being cooped up in a crate. If you crate a puppy at night time, isn't it likely to get very stressed when it needs to pee?

The puppy will be coming up to 9 weeks when we get it.

My bichon loves his crate. We got him at 12 weeks and he has never wet the crate and goes in there himself for some peace and quiet.

When he was very little we would put him out to pee when we were going to bed (I'm a nightowel so it would be after 1am) and again at around 6 or 7.

For the first few weeks I kept the crate in my bedroom so he wasn't lonely and could whine if he needed to pee and slowly transitioned him downstairs.

aisher

I got a similar size dog back in June - I bought a crate for nighttime and its been great -my dog will go into the crate anytime during the day if she wants to get some peace. When she first came home I had to get up every 3/4 hours for her to do her wee/poo - I would let her go before i went to bed myself and then during the night she would cry to be let out - she was only let out to do her business and straight back to the crate - as she got older she could go longer - now at 6 months she does not need to go during the night at all. The crate has to be big enough for the dog to move about but not so big that it can create an area to soil and an area to live in - dogs dont like lying in their own dirt which is why the crate works to housetrain - if you go with a pen the dog may be able to live in one area and soil in another. Getting up is a pain but it wont be long before the dog goes through the night. I would not feed too close to 'bedtime' and restrict water late at night - what goes in has to come out so if feeding late the dog will have to go. My dog has a cushion and blanket in the crate and she has never chewed it - she does have chew toys - you have to watch pups constantly - if they dissappear they are usually up to no good - if you cant watch it the crate is a wonder!

DBB

Just one other thing you need to keep in the back of your head OP, is that Bichons can be rather difficult to housetrain. I'm not wanting to tar them all with the same brush but they feature disproportionately amongst problematic housetraining cases.
So, make sure your pup's breeder has a really clean setup, that they have a distinctly separate area away from the nest where pups can toilet... Preferably they should be bringing pups outside to toilet as much as possible. Make sure pups are clean and that they smell nice. Look for Orange staining around the eyes and feet. A very small bit is ok, but big tear marks and Orange feet suggest the pup has been reared in unhygienic conditions in the longer term, since birth.

wolfpawnat

I won't repeat too much as most people here had said most already, but 2 things I scanned through and didn't see were;

-bring puppy to the vet and get it microchipped - best thing for if the little rascal ever gets away from you!

- look into pet insurance. can save you in the long run

saleda

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful advice. I wasn't expecting so many replies! It sure has given me a lot to think about and I'm sure we'll be better prepared now that we know what's ahead of us... a lot of hard work but we can't wait Will post a pic when we have her. Thanks again

moving_home

+1 for crate training, snugglesafe rather than hot water bottle, vet bed, ticking clock all worked for me. Also don't waste money on cheap tags identitag is the business and less than e10 delivered

Kingpin187

My advice -

Insurance.
Crate.


We have a staffy pup.. 11 months old now. I was nonchalant about getting insurance right off the bat.. what could go wrong right?.. well my pup broke her leg in the garden jumping off a higher-than-it-looks slope.. 980 quid we had to shell out, just before our holiday .. GET INSURANCE

And a crate as we didnt have one for a couple of weeks, and there was a hole chewed in the wall and skirting boards destroyed, and this was 30 mins we were not there.

6 months on and wouldnt change anything, shes a great dog and the friendliest Ive ever known.

saleda

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice, we have had zero sleepless nights since puppy arrived thanks to the radio and the snugglesafe hot water bottle, what a brilliant invention! Puppy settled in almost immediately and is giving us so much joy

Here's a couple of pics: