Dear all, Firstly, I wanted to say a thank you to anyone that’s ever posted on this forum. I’ve been reading for about a year and have found the advice on here invaluable. I’m also generally against posting stuff online due to the negativity so it’s been pleasing to read how supportive people are on here. I’d like to contribute on here if I manage the time into our experiences from the start. We are due to pick up Lulu tomorrow (named after my eldest daughters favourite childhood character) we have two kids,8 year old and a 13 month old. We had been looking for around 1.5 years and she was born before the lockdown began (She will be 1 day shy of 8 weeks tomorrow). I have to say looking for a breeder was not a pleasant experience. I found that most breeders that I came across were not forthcoming, could not answer the questions that we had, would sell their litter without any due diligence on us. We had to turn down a number of opportunities and be guided by our heads instead of hearts. It’s also really disheartening how the puppy trade is despite Lucy’s law coming into affect recently, it has not stopped people. We’ve got a 3 hour drive up tomorrow, the plan is to leave with the kids at 6am and hopefully be back by around 1pm. We’ve contacted the kennel club in regards to whether we could collect despite the circumstances and as of 15th April, they changed their advice regarding collection. Lulu has so far been socialised on a farm with her litter, farm animals and young children. She ranks around the middle of the litter and we’ve been kept updated through the past 7-8 weeks. We let the breeder choose as she knows the litter the best, we don’t intend to work or breed from her. The parents are from working lines. We’ve done all our prep and this site has helped more than you can imagine. We will be crate training. We have all the supplies needed and again the articles on this site helped. She will be sleeping in the kitchen ideally and as we are all most likely home until September, we will ensure she gets at least some alone time in the coming months although one of us will always be home barring school runs and an hour or so during the days once our routines return to normal. We fully understand the need to be flexible and open minded on this beautiful journey we are due to embark upon. My thoughts are that we don’t expect this to be a cake walk but with time, effort, love , positivity we can integrate Lulu into our family. Thank you all and I hope that I’m able to keep you updated as I’d like to give something back on here.
Hi there and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your new puppy, and I hope the journey goes smoothly. Look forward to hearing how you get on with Lulu
Thank you Pippa, your information is truly a godsend. We collected Lulu today, she is currently happily napping with the crate open and it’s been a long day for everyone. We left at 5am and got back at 1:30pm. The journey home was 3 hours and 30 minutes in total including a short stop. She was great in the car despite our 13 month old toddler crying at various points. Lulu slept and was content in our lap. We got back and took her to the garden for a wee which didn’t happen until she had some water. We let her wander around the garden before we introduced her to the kitchen and hallway, let her feel comfortable enough to get inside her crate. Happily snoozed for a bit before she came out to the garden to play followed by a healthy poo. Last feed (mixture of kibble from supplier and ours 75/25 split) was at 7pm, took her water away at 7 likewise. She instinctively went to the garden door for a wee and poo after her last nap. Will take her out again before crating her for the night which we plan to do around 10:30pm. It’s been a beautiful day and although we are both mentally drained from day. Lulu has been great, a bit mouthy as expected, her bite inhibition seems good. We got her slowly used to the collar today, putting it on her gradually, ideally the plan is to have her on a leash/harness whilst taking her out in the garden, especially once it’s dark. We will be using clicker training. Overall a great day for us as a family and hopefully a smooth day for Lulu, she’s settled into a pattern of being in her crate to exploring the kitchen and garden upon waking from naps. Organised insurance to start from today and have gone with Petplan. it was between them and Bought by Many. Will call the vets on Monday to organise a health check, the second set of jabs in 4 weeks time, she had her jabs a few days and worming, fleeing are up to date. It really does feel like any questions that come to mind have already been answered in all the threads in here which I’m again beyond thankful for. Wishing you all a great night and I’ll let you know how the first night goes.
Morning all and just a quick one to say that the first night was good barring a minor accident. Took Lulu out at 10:30pm for a final wee, waited for around 15 minute before coming inside where she promptly peed within seconds on the rug in the kitchen cleaned it as per instructions to remove odour. She slept through the night, took her out at 6am and will feed her at 7am. She seemed content on her first night here in her crate. I however did not get much sleep Have a great day.
Hi, we are in a similar situation of looking for the right breeder for the last 12 -18 months and found one prior to the the national crisis. We found ourselves having a real debate about weather to continue but in the end were swayed that this is going to be the new norm for some while.... Will are welcoming our new puppy into our home on Friday and it is encouraging to see others and their updates. As a query did you have lulu in her own room or with you on the first night? This is something that we haven't decided on due to conflicting advice? Many thanks..
Pleased you have your puppy safely home and have got off to a good start Lovely to read your update, it's great to hear how new pups are getting on
Evening, hope you’re doing well and thanks for the kind words. You must be quite excited and I’m sure Friday can’t come soon enough. It is something we talked about and didn’t settle on until the day she came home as we wanted to see how she settled in. In the end, we chose the kitchen. It makes it easier to take out to the garden likewise. We let her get comfortable with the crate open through the day and at night she settled peacefully. We had classical fm playing and I slept in the living room, the original plan was to sleep in the kitchen, however she seemed content. She’s slept really well the first two nights and I’m waiting now to take her out for a final wee. I’m sleeping in our bedroom today. Have a baby monitor which makes it easier. She has free roaming of the kitchen whilst one of us is in the kitchen for the majority of the day at present, if we step away, we crate her for a short while. So far so good, I’m hoping watching her constantly now will pay off, she doesn’t have access to chew much, she has her toys. Both days so far, she’s had a 5-10 min burst through the day where she is quite mouthy and we try to redirect it. I also went through the articles on here. I constantly refer to Pippa’s articles as I’ve fed my brain with so much information, not to sure if it’s a good thing Also this lockdown has been a blessing in a way as the first few months seem to be the hardest in terms of waking up at night. I didn’t want to put the burden on my wife. By the time I’m back at work in September, Lulu will be 6 months and we should hopefully be in a good place. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.
Well done. With 6 months will be a different dog for sure, but still some way to go my girl is now 17 months and well settled
That’s really pleasing to hear. Did you crate train her? How much access to the house does she have and when did you start the process? We had a couple accidents in the kitchen today, our fault completely for taking our eye of the ball, other than that, it has been an encouraging day. Have been using feeding times to train Lulu a few commands which she is getting the hang off. She’s been sleeping for the most part in her crate with door open unless we are not in the kitchen. I’m making a note of all her poos just for consistency to see a pattern forming. I had a question, out of curiosity as I can’t seem to locate an answer. This is a way down the line, once they’re able to walk outside, do you switch to toileting outside as opposed to the garden? If so, how have you gone about it? Thanks
Yes we crate trained her and kept it up until recently. It also helps to settle her and find quite time when kids are all about. In beging until about 16 weeks we had a walking pen around crate when we could not supervise her. That way she was limited in her movement and could not spent time exploring house and trying to eat everything. I am big fan. as for the toilet in beging she used drive way and garden, because that is where she felt most safe. I guess puppies don’t like leaving marks “outside” until they get older. I would not worry, they figure it out and then you could always mark and reward behavior when it starts happening. I was never fused about it. accidents inside are admittingly mostly human mistakes for not reading the dog. Again you learn and within 3-4 weeks they get a hang of it and then mistakes no longer happen. Funny in a way but if you stay with it and are patience they figure it all out and understand what you are asking them to do. It is true for obedience, retrieving or companionship and house rules. Smart little devils they are. And don’t get in habit to compare with other dogs. Like kids they all move at their own pace. Enjoy and keep asking. I learned a lot on this site.
Thanks, that’s really helpful. Lulu slept through the night yesterday, from 10pm to 6am. She seems to be settling in nicely, she’s taking a nap in the garden next to me. She’s eating well, drinking plenty of water, getting her play in. It is amazing at how quick they are to pick up on things. Thank you again.
Our 12 week old pup has been going outside for a few days now for walks and has done poo’s outside the garden but still wees in the garden before or after. I’m guessing once he is on longer walks at some point he will have an ‘accidental wee’ and that will start a new habit!
Good morning and thanks for this, it’s all very helpful. Lulu slept from 9:30pm until 5am this morning, took her out for a wee and poo, back in the crate until 6:30am, played, trained and fed her at 7am. We are trying our best to be consistent with everything. I was trying to wipe her paws down with a towel when we came in from the garden and it was non stop biting, tried to divert her attention elsewhere which I failed with. Need to find a toy that she absolutely adores. I’m wondering if frozen carrots are okay at this stage or should we wait? When she has had biting episodes so far. I’ve tried to divert the attention, if that doesn’t work, I give her alone time, she settles soon after. We are going to the doctors today for injections for our little one and we will take Lulu with us in the car so that she gets used to different settings/car. I want to try to expose her to as much as possible in a safe manner before her second set of vaccinations. For training, used this mornings and the rest of the days feeding times to try to get her look at me, be calm before eating. Enjoy your day
I forgot to ask, does anyone have any recommendations in regards to travelling with a 8/9 week old puppy in a car. Do you suggest having her in our lap or in a crate at the boot? When we picked her up, she was in my wife’s lap for the 3.5 hour journey which she was great at. I’m inclined to go with lap today and gradually get her used to the boot thereafter in slow increments, there will always be someone in the back seat too. Many thanks all
Keep it up. on car we had her in a smaller crate from the start in back of station wagon. No issues and worth having the dog where you need her from the start. on the feet cleaning I put this under command from the start ie every time she comes in and they need to be cleaned i would say feet . Initially wold use treat to help reinforce good behavior. Again they get the idea soon. But at that age it was a bit of an effort as they bite the towel etc
Thanks for the encouragement and the advice, really kind. We will put her in the car where we intend to, it is only a short 10 minute drive.
With Luna for cleaning her paws we use a biscuit to get her to sit, the paw and other paw before giving her the biscuit then doing the back paws.
Hope everyone is well. An update a week in, Lulu is doing great, been training her with one of Pippa’s challenges of looking at us before food, she’s doing quite well. The biting has got worse over the week and we are trying to manage it, been making sure that there is a chew toy in hand, also tried a carrot, ice cubes which keeps her occupied for a short burst before the biting starts again. She has started chasing the neighbours cat as of yesterday, trying to proof sit which doesn’t work when the neighbours cat is in the yard. We will keep at it and overall happy with the week we have, we are also bonding with her nicely, she’s great with every member of the family bar our youngest daughter which we always supervise. She is still sleeping through the night, roughly from 9pm until 6am ish give or take 15 minutes. As many have said, it’s exciting when you see something click.
Hi all, An update as Lulu is 10 weeks now. She is still sleeping through the night from 9pm-6am, she is growing nicely although I’ve not weighed her. She is certainly a lot more comfortable now. We’ve been taking her out in our arms and she seems to take everything in her stride. She is quite confident and doesn’t sleep to get flustered easily. I spend an awful amount of time with her during the day to ensure no accidents incur in the house, it’s been 7 days since any accidents inside, she still only has access to the kitchen and garden at present. Around the kitchen/garden we’ve tried her harness on and let her drag around the leash, initially she was biting the leash, that’s now subsided as I’ve tried to make it fun for her, rewarded her to begin with. We are not using any other food apart from her kibble and a carrot to chew on during the day. I am intending to use chicken as high value treats once we move along with training. For now, training is going well, she does look at me now before taking food. I will admit to being exhausted as I want to ensure we do this properly, it’s taken most of my time away from the rest of the family bar the times she is sleeping or our daily 1 hour walk where Lulu is on her own, no problems at all whilst she is alone. Her biting is still the same and we try to redirect it, no major issues at all and have found a few teeth that are starting to fall out. She has started to jump a lot more now, each time she does, we don’t entertain her. When my eldest greets her, she always gets her to sit and meet her at eye level before cuddling. I would say anyone taking on a puppy to ensure they realise the commitment involved alongside patience.
Thanks for this information. Really useful for people in the waiting for puppy stage to get a feel for what comes next. We’re due to pick our chocolate girl up on 5 July. One question I’ve posted as a separate thread but would love to hear your view on is outside access in the first 3 weeks. The local vet says they shouldn’t even be in the garden until a week after their second jabs which means the first 3 weeks inside. Does that include toileting? Pippa’s book talks about socialising puppies by carrying them around but suggests they’re on the ground to go to the loo. Alternative is inside-only for 3 weeks which feels likes it’s setting bad habits even if you have a pen. A bit confused here!
