View Full Version : New Puppy Questions...
Marigold
01-23-2007, 05:23 PM
Hi
We are getting a puppy in a few weeks, and I have a few questions.
1. Should we bring the puppy home right away and have him get used to the house for a couple of days, or should our first stop be to the vet to have him checked out. What shots will he need right away? Approximately how many visits will he need to the vet for the first while, and approximately what will the costs be (assuming he has no issues)?
2. I would like to crate train the puppy. Should this start as soon as he is home, or should he just have a designated room for a while first?
3. Besides food, collar, leach, bed, crate, baby gate and some toys (and of course his license), are there any other things we should be purchasing?
4. Does anyone have a suggestion on a good book that we should pick up to help?
5. At what age should we have him fixed (I'd like it done as soon as it's possible).
6. Anything else I'm not thinking of?
Thanks
Your best bet is to crate train him immediately. Get him used to a space that is his safe spot. Never use the crate to punish your puppy - dogs by nature only want to please, so punishment is never a good idea.
you will probably need 3 sets of shots - your vet will tell you all of those details. The clinic on Rothesay ave. has a walk in clinic from 2-6pm every day. Bring him home right away when you get him, you can take him to the clinic thereafter. There are lots of great sites on the Internet, and you can find many great books at Chapters or Amazon.
Best of luck! There are a lot of passionate animal lovers here, so you'll have lots of help - but remember, nothing beats vertrinary advice :-)
babydoll101
01-23-2007, 06:25 PM
I am getting one too and had the same questions!!! We have never had a puppy so it will be new to us. I can't waite. I printed the link that adm gave us in another post (i think it was adm) about crate training and housebreaking. Very informative by the way;) The puppy is a surprize to my children they have been wanting one for a very long time and I feel that we are all ready now. I can't waite to go pick it out.
It was probably me - I'm a huge advocate of crate training. It makes the transition easier for the puppy because they have a 'safe spot'. A big thing to remember about crate training is that it's not a quick process. The pooch will let you know when they are done with their crate. It could be a couple of months, it could be 6 months, it could be never.....I have 1 dog that was finished with it in about 8 weeks, and the other one was done in a week (both rescues and I got them between 2-3 years of age, so probably not typical).
Best of luck!
Hi there, I know a quite a few people who have used and loved these books. I am not posting them to be insulting, so please do not take offense. I have used a couple of the computer ones myself, I find them very easy to read, breaks things down into easy to understand terms. At least check them out, I think you will like them when you actually have a look at them. Good luck with the new puppy.
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/item/books-978047003717/0470037172/Puppies+For+Dummies+2nd+Edition?ref=Search+Books%3 a+'books+for+dummy'
domarloc
01-24-2007, 07:18 AM
I 100% agree with adm on crate training. It might seem mean at first and the puppy may cry when she is in it but she will get used to it. My dog hated her crate when she was a puppy and now she loves it and she is over a year old. We cannot go out without putting her in it or she goes crazy whining and crying wanting to be put in the crate. Be patient on the whole crate training thing because there is a good chance she won't like it at first. As for having puppy fixed they don't recommend it until they are at least six months old. As for your needles the vet can be more precise but I am pretty sure there are 3 sets of needle (spaced out over a few months) and in the end you will probably be paying a couple hundred dollars. But the bright side to that is once the pup is up too date with there vaccinations they only need to be done once a year to be kept current. Good luck and good for you for asking questions before getting the pup and being informed.
SJresident
01-24-2007, 10:03 AM
my message is getting lost
Actually - it's not that the puppy hates the crate, it's that he wants to be with you and is scared. The key to this situation is actually (what I found hardest....) is to ignore the whining and crying (and possible barking). If you run to the puppy and pat them and do what you think is console them you're actually reinforcing the fact that the crate is an 'evil puppy-eating beast'. You have to ignore them as this will reinforce to them that it's OK to be in the crate. It's probably in the 'Puppies for dummies' book that CM sent you the URL on. There is actually a strategy to crate training, and a lot of it is ignoring the dog, this breeds the independance and instills the fact that the crate is OK. Eventually it will be their safe spot and will give you some freedom by giving them the independance that you need to instill in them.
No - the book is not an insult! It's just a name, and the 'Dummies' series' are actually great books!
:-)
babydoll101
01-25-2007, 08:16 PM
my message is getting lost
Your post was awsome too!!!
corkyjim
01-26-2007, 06:35 AM
When our oldest dog (she is now 8) was a puppy, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We did not have a crate for her and left her alone in the house for the first time and went to work. Hubby came home on his lunch hour to check on her and found that she had knocked over a storage shelf that happened to have a can of roofing tar on it. The can broke open and the puppy got into it. The puppy and the house was covered in it! He called the vet right away and they gave him instructions on how to clean the dog. It was a couple weeks of cleaning floors and furniture before the tar was gone. We immediately went out and bought a large crate. At first, she hated it. Everytime it was time to leave for work we would put a treat inside the crate and it would lure her into it. Eventually we could say "Mommy's going to work", and she would go in on her own free will. I felt so much better leaving her in the house, knowing she would be MUCH safer while we were gone and our house wouldn't be in shambles when we returned. After about 6 months, we started weening her out of it as we felt she was "mature" enough to have the run of the house. She's a fantastic dog.
As for our youngest dog (he's now 3), it took us almost 2 years to finally trust his behaviour well enough to ween him out of the crate..boys are bad!lol
The only time either dog ever used the crate is when we had to leave them alone in the house.
I would recommend crate-training for anyone. It also helped with "potty" training too!
Misty589
01-26-2007, 04:43 PM
you've got lots of responses so I won't be redundant, i just wanted to say that some vets (mine is dr mosher) have "puppy packs" or something like that that include all of the routine vet care the puppy will need in a package price. it worked out great for us.
Rickster
01-26-2007, 05:52 PM
< about dogs.com > Marigold ; Check out this site; a lot of your questions will be answered by professionals.
babydoll101
01-27-2007, 07:15 AM
you've got lots of responses so I won't be redundant, i just wanted to say that some vets (mine is dr mosher) have "puppy packs" or something like that that include all of the routine vet care the puppy will need in a package price. it worked out great for us.
What is this Vet hospital name?
Marigold
01-27-2007, 09:24 AM
Thanks for all the great replies! I'll definitely be buying a crate and using it! I'm sure I'll be back for all sorts of advice as soon as we bring him home! I'll also pick up the "dummies" book that was suggested, and I'll be calling around to some vets next week.
s