If you haven't already, you'll probably make a puppy shopping trip sometime between now and pick up time. I thought it might be helpful to you to know what will come with your puppy.
Note: Several of the products we recommend are from Life's Abundance. We like and use their products so much we are independent representatives for the company (ID #20249934), which means you can order their products through us. We are not associated with any of the other companies recommended in this post. 1. A 6-9 inch Lupine collar 2. A toy with the scent of his/her mom and litter mates 3. Samples of treats from Life's Abundance Here are some puppy shopping ideas. These do not come with your puppy. 1. A crate - We purchased a crate from Midwest Pet Products. What sold us on this crate is the divider panel that allows you to make the crate smaller when crate training. Once your puppy is full-grown, you won't need the divider panel, but it is helpful while crate training. The handle on the top for carrying did break off, but that is my only complaint about it. We bought the 1522 Model (22"Lx13"Wx16"H). It is a nice size for puppies and traveling, but if you want a crate to last through adulthood, I would recommend the Model 1530. 2. A dog bed (or two). 3. Bones - Puppies need to chew! It is actually a good thing that they chew because it helps get rid of their puppy teeth. Small breeds are prone to retaining puppy teeth. Therefore, it is very important to have bones to chew on. What kind? Our two favorites are real ham bones from the grocery store and Life's Abundance buffalo bully sticks. For the ham bones, I buy ham hocks at the grocery store. Then I cook them thoroughly, remove the meat for soup or casserole, cool the bone, and give it to the dogs. Typically, they will devour it within 2 days. If any remains after 2 days, I dispose of it because I don't want it to spoil. Another great chew product is Life's Abundance buffalo lung. These are not bones, but work great for puppies. Please be aware of the poor quality of some rawhide bones. Read the ingredients & know what your dog is chewing on. 4. A collar - As I mentioned, your puppy comes with a collar, but he/she will eventually outgrow that one. Jolly's neck circumference is 10 inches. We like this one from Cabela's or any collar from Lupine. 5. Training treats - When training a puppy, you want soft, small treats that don't take a long time to chew. There are many treat options - make sure you choose a healthy option. We like to use Life's Abundance Grain Free Turkey & Berry Chewies or cut up small pieces of cooked hot dogs. The turkey & berry chewies are more convenient because they stay fresh in their resealable bag. We like that they are made from free-range turkey and turkey liver plus raspberries, blueberries, and cranberries for added antioxidants. They have no fillers, artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors. 6. Leash - Again, we love any Lupine products! 7. Dog Shampoo - Yes, sooner or later your adorable little Fido will get dirty. We use Revitalizing Shampoo from Life's Abundance. Their bath mist also helps keep your puppy smelling fresh after and between baths. 8. Frontline - We recommend Frontline or Bravecto for the control of fleas & ticks. Frontline cannot be given to puppies under 8 weeks of age. Therefore, your puppy will not have had a Frontline treatment, but we recommend that you give them one within 2 weeks of purchasing or at the recommendation of your vet. Your puppy is at a very low risk for fleas and ticks because we treat all our adult dogs with Frontline or Bravecto. 9. Dewormer - Deworm your puppy according to your vet's recommendations. We deworm our puppies every 2 weeks until 10 weeks. After that, they should be dewormed at 12 and 16 weeks. Long-term, we administer dewormer twice a year. We use Durvet Liquid Wormer. Your puppy will be dewormed at 8 weeks. 10. Toys - Puppies need to have lots of opportunities to chew & play. Buy toys of different materials and shapes to give your puppy variety. 11. Baby gate - This isn't a necessity, but it is convenient with a puppy to be able to section off parts of the house or contain the puppy in a room, if needed. Happy shopping! Would love to hear your comments on what you are buying!
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The puppies have now outgrown the puppy area we had arranged for them. This weekend we expanded it to give them a larger play area. We also put a dog bed in for them, which you can see they are thoroughly enjoying! Thanks for stopping by today! My next post is going to give you some puppy shopping ideas. It will include what comes with your puppy at time of pick up.
In my last post, I described what we do here at Russell Homestead to prepare your pup for house training. I compare what we do to the "diapering" stage. At some point, a transition needs to be made to the "potty training" stage. A good time for that transition is 8-10 weeks when the puppy goes to his/her new home. This is also a good time because the puppy is ready for more individual training and able to hold his/her potty needs for increasingly longer periods of time.
We suggest when you bring your puppy home that you do not use newspaper in his/her crate. (If you want to continue the paper-training method for a few days or weeks longer, you are certainly welcome to do that. Just be sure the puppy has a large enough crate or room that he/she feels able to eliminate away from the sleeping area.) If you want to use newspaper at all, the paper should be by the door or outside the door. However, I don't recommend using newspaper at all. Since the puppy is in new surroundings learning news rules, teach him/her the way it is going to be. So, how to you get that adorable little ball of fur to do what you want? You capitalize on his/her God-given instinct not to soil the sleeping area. Get your puppy on a schedule of crate time, outside to eliminate, & play time in the house. During the play stage, put the puppy back in the crate before he/she needs to go again. Here are some tips as you get your puppy on the crate training schedule: 1. Be sure the crate is small enough that the puppy doesn't feel comfortable going in a corner. 2. Try not to give your puppy free reign in the house unless you know he/she has gone outside. 3. Watch your puppy carefully to learn his/her signs of needing to go - typically it is sniffing and circling. If you see that behavior in the house, take the puppy out. 4. For the first 2-4 weeks, you will need to get up with the puppy 1-2 times a night because they can't "hold it" all night long. You will soon get a feel for how long they can go in their crate & can begin lengthening their time overnight. 5. Be patient & gracious - puppies like to please, but they don't always know how! A puppy can be crate trained in a week, but it takes months to be house trained. 6. If you catch the puppy going in the house, firmly say "No" and take him/her outside, Do not overreact and scare the puppy; you want the puppy to do his business with you watching when you are outside. If you punish him when he goes in front of you inside, he/she may become afraid to go in front of you outside. 7. The most difficult piece of house training for us has been getting the dog to find a way to tell us she needs to go outside. We've tried a bell, but Jolly never had any interest in that. Our dogs aren't barkers or scratchers (for which we are thankful), so neither used that method to communicate. Jolly eventually found her own way - coming to me and sitting at my feet with a "look." If I don't get the message, she sits on my foot. I know several of the families that are getting puppies have house trained dogs before; some of you even have done miniature schnauzers. I would be curious what tips you have in house training. What worked for you? How long did it take? Feel free to post any comments you have on house training to help out some of the newbies we have to house training. |
AuthorVanessa from Russell Homestead. Follower of the Lord Jesus, wife of my knight in shining armor, mother of 5 wonderful children, and joint-keeper of the Russell homestead. Thanks for stopping by! Archives
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Vanessa Russell
Independent Field Representative ID#20249934. |