Hello everyone, So its very nearly time to bring Dexter home, we are picking him up on Saturday - I have a feeling this will be a long week! We have puppy proofed the house, the crate is up and lined with bedding, the baby gate is going up today, we finally feel ready, although reading some posts on the forum about sleepless nights and troubles toilet training has got us extra nervous! The breeder said to put some puppy pads around the back door and reduce the number of pads bit by bit until he is going outside all the time, does anyone here recommend this? We will have to use puppy pads in his pen sometimes anyway so although this will make potty training longer, at least we will have a routine, right? We don't have any other dogs but my mum dose - a 5 year old beagle who is adorable and friendly (fully vaccinated) but not trained in the slightest. We were going to introduce them early on as they will spend a lot of time together and also the beagle (Marley) will be at the same doggy day care. How soon is too soon? We were going to take him on Tuesday 01st (4 days after coming home) to meet him at my mums house - will this confuse him at all being in another strange house after such a small amount of time? Any suggestions on the best way to ease them into the introductions? Daniella
Oh, what an exciting time! You're right, this week will go by slowly! I don't think there's any real benefit in putting the pads around the door, personally. You'll be taking him out every fifteen minutes or so anyway, as well as after meals, playtime and sleep time; you don't want to get him used to going by the door. Just lots of praise and treats when he does go outside, and ignoring any accidents inside. Just clear them up with an enzymatic cleaner, such as Simple Solution. As for introductions, it's always a case of playing it by ear. Most older dogs are absolutely fine with young puppies and give them a lot of leeway. Just keep things short and don't let the puppy get over-excited and the older dog frustrated. Let the older dog have somewhere he can go to get away from the pup if he wants. There's no problems doing this after four days at all; he'll only need a day or so to settle in and then you can start socialising him in earnest
Yes we will defiantly be keeping on top of the taking him out every 15 minutes and we have the simple solution on standby already. In some ways I wish we hadn't bought all of the puppy preparation stuff already, I should have left some bits to take my mind off the long wait this week! That's good news about the socialisation we are really excited to get started but don't want to overwhelm him too much. I am actually in the process of reading through your training log - its taking me a while as I am actually supposed to be working but my mind keeps wondering off into Labrador land!! it is very useful though and im really enjoying following it! Daniella
I also wouldn't use the pads for the same reasons. And I would want the other dog to come to my home as the other dog's home is his territory. But if that's inconvenient just allow lots of space and allow your puppy to fall asleep where he likes ( not too much passing around). Have a lovely week relaxing! You will be tired sometimes but just roll with it and enjoy your little boy - he looks lovely!!!
How exciting! Please remember to take pictures of Dexter exploring his new home. We've never used puppy pads. Newspaper is a lot cheaper! We generally find that pups tend to widdle near the back door so placing a few sheets of newspaper by the back door worked well for our dogs. You can get the neighbours to give their old newspapers too. We found that it gave them an excuse to come and play with the puppy so we got free papers and socialisation at the same time! When puppy proofing we crawled around with our heads at puppy height to see if we'd missed anything. OK, we looked wierd (nothing new) but we did find a few things that we'd missed.
Hmmm, I'm sure there must be something in the forum rules about having to share such videos with the rest of us....
Meanwhile back at the thread, Dexter looks gorgeous. I hope he brings you as much happiness as Holly brings us.
