Hello everyone. This looks like a great website and a very helpful and friendly forum. Here’s hoping! It’s a bit of a long post so I apologise in advance - although it’s been therapeutic just typing it out so you’ve helped already. My husband and I have been talking about having a dog for at least 30 years. We could never do it because of work commitments and lifestyle but our work patterns will be changing, giving us this option for the first time. Consequently, we are picking up Ruby, our 8 week old black lab, next Wednesday. Quelle excitement! We have both read The Happy Puppy Handbook (fabulous!) so are prepared and pretty comfortable with what is expected. However, there are three areas that I am still not sure about (and one of those wouldn’t be covered by the book anyway). If anyone can offer any tips, we’d be most grateful. Here goes. 1. Kibble or raw food? Most of our friends use dried food for their dogs and we’re not aware of any issues with that. I don’t eat a lot of meat and don’t particularly like handling it, so raw could be a problem for us. Eukanuba seems to be the preferred dried food for pups. However, the breeder feeds our puppy’s Mum raw food and Pippa clearly favours it too. Any thoughts? I am aware that kibble can cause runny bottom issues and a lacklustre coat for the dog, which might not be much fun. 2. The first night! Oh what to do! We have a crate, toys, blankets and will have a blanket smelling of Mum and siblings, among things, so we’re prepared. However, I do remember our puppy Poodle when I was young, crying terribly on the first night when she was left in the kitchen with newspaper spread all around. It broke my teenage heart. Back to the present day, there are only the two of us in the house and we’ll be happy to have Ruby on the bed in the future, so perhaps having her crate in our bedroom is the answer. I just worry about the distance from the bedroom to the garden and accidents during those first few weeks in the night. If we were to leave her in the kitchen (large extension so plenty of space and tiled floor etc) which backs right on to the garden, that could work better. We’ve even thought of sleeping on the sofa in the kitchen the first night but don’t want her to think that will be the ‘norm’. Very unsure what to do for the best. We know our puppy should really revolve around our lives so perhaps if we plan to get a ‘reasonable’ (I know that’s optimistic!) sleep in our bedroom and she sleeps in her crate there that would work? Of course, every dog is different, but it’s getting it right from the start with this aspect that is important. 3. Lastly, socialisation in the next month or so is absolutely key. How do you do this comfortably with social distancing? We have a good friend who lives on his own and is joining our ‘bubble’ today, so he’ll be able to interact with her, which is great But what about when we walk into town and carry her? I guess you have to relax the rules slightly and allow people to pet her - from as much as of a distance from us as possible? Obviously, we can’t put her on the floor until she’s had her second vaccination. By the way, I’m comfortable that there is little or no risk of her spreading the Coronavirus from her coat, by the way (I’ve done the research). Sorry for the long post. Excited and very much looking forward to our new addition. Just need to get these points straight in my head and we are there. Thank you. Lucy
Hi, my pup is now 16 weeks and we were concerned about all the same things. My advice on your questions is: 1. There are so many different types of kibble so it's best to do some research. I started with Hill's Science kibble which the pup loved but gave her very loose stools. We have now switched to Pooch & Mutt Health & Digestion, which is grain free. No problems now. Shiny coat and another dog walker commented, "That coat is so shiny, you couldn't paint that"! 2. I had our pup in her crate next to my bed for the first three nights. I moved the crate further away from my bed each of those nights. Fourth night, I put her crate downstairs where she now sleeps. I could hear her crying and while my instinct was to go down, I didn't. It's the best thing I ever did! She now sleeps 7+ hours without any issues at all. For the first few weeks, I was getting up approx 3-4 hours after last wee to take her out and then putting her straight back to bed wthout speaking to her or any interaction, all very boring. 3. Agree with your thoughts on socialisation. Try and get her out to see and hear lots of new things for now and worry about socialisation with other dogs at 12/13 weeks when vaccinations are complete.
Hi Lucy welcome to the forum. Exciting times ahead. This site is a great resource. Put any query you have into the search bar at the top of the page and I can guarantee any issue you have has been experienced many times before. The only question I will respond to is the raw feeding. If your pup has already been weaned onto raw it would be a pity to change. There are many good raw food companies out there that deliver frozen. I switched to raw when my lab got cancer at 18months and haven’t looked back. If you were vegan I wouldn’t try to persuade you but the frozen blocks or chubs don’t need a lot of handling. I bought a secondhand chest freezer and keep Toby’s food in the garage. There is also a lot less waste the other end with raw and poos are so much easier to pick up. If you have to go down the kibble route do a lot of research. Go for one that has the highest protein content. Some grain free have been associated with heart disease( caused by taurine deficiency) All the best on Wednesday. Enjoy and take lots of photos. They grow up too fast!
Thank you so much for your thoughts, I really appreciate them. Great food for thought and a few tricky decisions ahead. I’m sure we’ll be fine!
I will do a bit of searching - thanks for the hot tip! I appreciate your thoughts re raw - there are clearly advantages. Yes, will take lots of pics! All the best. Lucy
Hi Lucy, welcome to the forum! I'm not sure if yet another voice chiming in will help you or not But I've got a couple of thoughts I can't resist adding: 1. Kibble or raw - Much like human babies, fed is best! Also, you can always change your mind and try a different approach in the future. So don't beat yourself up about this decision so early on! If raw feeding isn't for you, there are plenty of nutritious kibble choices available too. Kibble has the great advantage in puppyhood that you can use their meals as training treats. If you want to try feeding raw again in the future, that's great too. My top tip for a shiny coat though is - one tinned sardine a day with dinner 2. Pippa has written about a puppy's first day and night at home here. Here at HQ we pretty much always recommend letting the puppy sleep right next to your bed, in their crate. But I did go about it slightly differently because I was also worried about stumbling down the stairs carrying a puppy in the middle of the night! I slept on a blow up mattress on the other side of the kitchen door for a few nights until our dog was settling himself to sleep easily, then I went back upstairs and set myself an alarm to let him out in the night. However you survive the first few nights, don't worry about setting up habits you can't get away from later. It's all temporary until they stop feeling homesick! 3. And finally, Pippa has also written about socializing a puppy during the pandemic, over here. I hope it helps! Good luck, let us know how you get on when your puppy comes home!
Thanks, Sarah. Honestly, the more the merrier, so thank you for your thoughts, all much appreciated. The sardine with dinner is a good one - and makes perfect sense, I like that. How soon did you start your pup on that? We have decided to try Kibble for now and have settled on Eukanuba as a starting point. A friend of ours has a black lab of similar age and he’s loved it, so that’s one decision made! Also, we’ve got a small crate for her to use for the first few nights in our bedroom / for the car. She’s got another one in the kitchen for during the day As well. We’ll see how it goes. Feeling that we’re nearly there in terms of preparation now. Thanks very much, all, for a wonderful welcome. Looking forward to joining in more chats as tu weeks go by. Lucy
Kibble is certainly more convenient, and all of our dogs have had great looking coats and seldom ever had runny poos. Not saying kibble is better, but It should not be a problem. We always started out with a crate in the bedroom. Once we did not need to crate at night, we had a dog bed in the bedroom, thought Cooper has adopted our bed. We are changing from a Queen size to a King, mostly to accommodate a very tall Lab. Our previous Labs would occasionally climb on the bed, but Cooper almost always sleeps there. Be careful what you wish for.
Thanks for your thoughts, much appreciated. Our first night went quite well actually. She was in a small crate next to our bed and dropped off straight away. We took her out twice in the night and she 'went' successfully then at 6am she'd had enough sleep and wouldn't settle, but it gets quite light in our room, so fair enough. We got up with her. All good today. She's biting but we know that's normal. Love her to bits. Lots of training and challenges ahead, I'm sure, but we'll do all it takes. Thanks all.
Raising a puppy is a lot of work, but I think it is also a lot of fun. They grow up so fast and you can see changes happen very quickly, Most of the things that are difficult, don't last too long.
Sounds like the first night was quite a success! Our pup was biting quite a bit but we bought quite a few of the Kong range of puppy toys and every time she was bitey, we would stuff a toy in her mouth and remove of our hands, arms, feet etc! Particular favourites have been the classic kong, puppy tire, wubba, cross knots monkey and tugger knots moose.
I’m pleased to say that three nights in, we haven’t had any issues at night at all. She settles down in her crate straight away and whimpers a little bit when she needs to go out, which is now down to once during the night (about 2.30am- 3am) and then again at about 5.30am. We just stay up then, so that’s ok - although we are shattered. We’ll gradually keep pushing the times out, so I’m hoping that will be okay. It’s whether we try to slowly move her downstairs to the kitchen or not that worries me slightly. I guess we’ll see how it goes. Also, as of today, we have noticed that the biting has lessened ever so slightly in intensity as we’ve been saying “Owww” when she bites too hard and she eventually pulls away - most times. Fingers crossed it’s the start of a slow change there too. Other than that, she’s been adorable and the toilet training is more hit than miss. At her health check at the vet yesterday, she was very quiet and good. We were so proud! There’s a long way to go but there are signs already that she is taking things in quickly and adapting slowly. Thanks for the top tips on the favourite Kong toys, I’ll look them up. We tried freezing food in a classic Kong for her to eat in her crate, but it didn’t thaw quickly enough for her to enjoy and she struggled to get anything out of it, so will give that approach a miss for the moment. All in all, it’s an enjoyable, tiring learning curve! Thanks again. Lucy
We did three nights with the pup in our bedroom in her crate and then we moved her downstairs on the fourth night. We could hear some crying for about 10 mins and we felt so bad and almost caved in and went down. However, we stuck it out and she soon went quiet and went off to sleep. She hasn't cried since that first night downstairs and we have had absolutely no problems with crying overnight. It's tough to do but I think being quite firm with this is the best way to go. If not, the pup will quickly learn that crying gets attention and you'll spend days/weeks with her in your bedroom, which you probably don't want!
Just to let you know that this has been successful! No crying the first night and we had 28 minutes of solid crying the second night but she did settle (we were burying out heads in the pillows by then - it’s very hard not to rush down and comfort her). Since then, all good, which is great. So that’s going well. The biting and nipping can be very frustrating though and she’s been chewing our sofa quite a bit today - but had been ignoring it up until then, so it’s a bit random. Hands, ankles etc are all fair game for a nippy bite and we do realise this is normal puppy behaviour but it’s so draining! Any tips? I’ve ordered up some spray that has a bad taste to try, but suspect it will be temporary. We try and distract with a toy but it’s often just a brief diversion. Saying Ouch a lot in recent days has helped reduce the bite pressure right down, so that’s something. It seems that she is like this for an hour or so after eating and then she quietens down into the ideal, cuddly, pliable and friendly little puppy. Jekyll and Hyde! It’s all pretty tiring (while trying to work from home as well) and we feel as if we are jet lagged most of the time, but we know it will all be worth it. She’s a cracker. Oh, and we need to work on refining the toilet training, but it’s not going too badly. Just a few mishaps. Thanks all. Over and out.
