I was wondering if I should give the puppy anything on the way home to chew on or anything like that to make the journey a bit nicer for him? It's an hour and a half drive after we pick him up. Also another random question, when would be a good time to introduce the Hoover? It's quite noisy but I don't want to scare him half to death, so should I wait more than a few days, a week or more?
You can have a few little toys around (helps in case of puppy nipping anyway). I wouldn't give food, tummies can be upset anyway on the first day. Just hoover for a bit in other rooms, get the puppy used to hearing the hoover, and then hoover the room next door...then just get on with it, unless the puppy seems nervous. Both my puppies have been inclined to jump on hoovers, mops and brushes, which I discourage and usually pop them away in their pen or crate while I get on. Puppies mugging your mop is cute - but only for a bit, then it just gets annoying. Unless your puppy seems nervous, just carry on with household stuff - it's all part of them getting used to new sights and sounds.
Your pup will be fine in the car without anything to chew on, but maybe take something in case he's a super bold pup that wants to chew you the whole way! I'd give it a week for him to settle in before you try anything which could unsettle him but it won't take long to get a feel of whether he's nervous or bold.
Hi when we collected Bailey I didn't take anything with me, so he ended up chowing down on the seat belt clip! I had all his stuff nicely set out at home to welcome him, which lasted all of five minutes after walking in the door! So yes take a chew toy with you We waited a week before using the vacuum near Bailey, with hard floors at home we sweep and mop, with the help of Bailey of course - he does have to be in another room when I'm doing the sweeping as it is a pain having the brush attacked!
I take a big thick blanket to hold puppy on my lap, crate, new collar on, leash ready, food and water. Also clean up supplies in case puppy gets motion sick. Our drive from the breeder is usually about an hour and a half but that day it took nearly three hours due to snow. I didn't wait to vacuum but then Oban was a pretty bold and confident pup.
I vacuumed from the first day, but now at 4 months I still pop her behind the gate in the kitchen when I vacuum because she gets in my way. There's a really interesting thread about puppy's first car ride home, you shouldn't have to search too far back to find it. Common denominator was chaos!
We had a 4 hour trip and completely forgot to take a toy, so our first stop was a pet shop (which we saw on the way up) for a chew toy as Bear was fairly mouthy, although he settled most of the way (he tends to go to sleep on car trips now, so that may just have been his nature). We did take an old towel, which we got the breeder to rub mum and the puppies down with, with the hope it would hold their scent (we put it in his bed the first few nights, not sure if that helped, but Bear was really good and we only had about 15 minutes of very cute howling before he settled down for the night). The other thing we took was a collapsible bowl for water, as we stopped every hour. Good luck with the trip and we must have many photo's of the new puppy
Our trip was only 20 minutes with Tatze, but she was 10 weeks old. I don't know what prompted me to take a dog chew with me as I knew nothing about Labradors and their biting then. But, thankfully, I did or she would have bitten the car and my hands to pieces! My Labrador Learning Curve is a mere three and a bit years old lol! I have had dogs all my life but Labradors are Totally Different Dogs when pups!! ...
We had a four hour drive with Jura when we picked her up. The breeder supplied a toy and couple of pieces of vet bed that smelled of mum, so I used that toy on the way home. That said, she fell asleep after the first 10 mins and only woke up 20 minutes from our house! One thing I wish I had done was tie my hair up, so if you have long hair you might want to tie it up, Jura spent the last 20 minutes of the journey grabbing at my hair and I had some lovely scratch marks on my neck and hands for a while! Thankfully her fascination with hair was short-lived!
We drove all the way home to Germany from the UK with our 8-week old puppy; 11 hours door to door! I had her in the footwell and/or on my lap. She was BRILLIANT, we couldn't believe how well she coped with it.
I second putting them in a different room when you're trying to do some cleaning. The cuteness of Stanley attacking the brush/mop/Hoover got old really quick. Now he gets to sit in his crate with his chew and watch mummy he was never scared of the Hoover or anything though!
