Getting ready to bring our F1B puppy home in 4 weeks

[Raj and Teddy]

Hi Everyone,

My kids ( 15 and 12) and myself have been reading the various forums and getting ourselves prepared to bring our F1B puppy home in 4 weeks.  We are # 4 in the priority list for a  litter of 12.  We are most likely to get a male in apricot as the litter is primarily cream or apricot with straight/wavy hair.Thanks to a lot of information on these forums, it has really been very helpful in choosing a breeder ( we put a deposit last Dec and targeted a summer puppy) and also what are all the things we need to buy. 

I have currently multiple things put on "wish list" on Amazon and in a cart on Chewy.com. It feels like "how we were getting ready before our first child was born". Before I finally push the button to buy everything I wanted to get feedback from experts on the forum. Please let me know if I am over thinking or this setup would work.

1. For Crate/Play Pen: We are thinking of getting Richell 3-in-1 pet gate/play pen convertible with a tray that will be used as a playpen so that the puppy will have enough space in the initial stages of training. I plan to buy Richell travel dog carrier (medium size upto 17.5 lbs ) that we will use to bring the puppy home ( we have a 2 hr drive from our bay area home) and will also use as a crate and place it inside playpen during the potty training. Should I get midwest pet bed in fleece or use some old blankets.?We can at times leave the puppy for an 1-2 hr in play pen till he is 1 yr old or we start feeling comfortable with him. We have a open space floorplan at home and later plan to use it as a gate.
2. For Potty Training: We have a backyard which is fenced and plan to train the puppy there. Should we even think about puppy pads for certain situations or avoid it completely? Richell has a mesh training tray that we were thinking but don't want to confuse the puppy.
3. Chew Toys: We are thinking of adding the usual chew toys from west paw and kongs. Someone had posted a PDF "After you get your puppy", that was a great read and good recommendations.
4. For Food Bowls: We are thinking of getting Petfusion Elevated Pet feeder in Aluminium, as Aluminium is easy to clean.
5. For Food: We plan to not make any changes to puppies food and treats as recommended on Food Group for first 2 weeks, but plan to switch to Orijen Puppy food. Can we mix treats from Fromm and Orijen? Will get a Gamma2 Vault Storage box (30lb). What about bully stixs, when should we introduce those?
6. For Leash/collar: We ordered multiple size collars from Lupine to account for puppies growth. The collars are 1/2inch wide and meant for small dogs. This should we sufficient and we should not have to get a wider collar?
7. Pet Insurance: Will get a pet insurance from Petplan, if any one has recommendations and things to consider while signing up for the pet insurance, that will be great. Primary goal is that there is coverage for those extreme emergencies.
8. Grooming: We will get the shampoos, steel comb, activet soft green brush and pet grooming scissors to trim hair around eyes. We plan to take our dog to a groomer every 6 weeks.

Appreciate all the feedback.

Thanks,

Raj

[Raj and Teddy]

Hi Nancy,

Any particular recommendation for Shampoo? I was planning to get Earthbath All natural dog shampoo.

I was planning to get a steel comb and an Activet Green Brush.

Thanks

Raj

[Katie]

How exciting....a new puppy.

Re housetraining: all my puppies are totally house trained within a week! How do we do this?

Well, we got Ruff (our previous doodle) during the earthquakes. We had no indoor sanitation at the time, and 5 of us living at home as eldest daughters house had taken severe damage, so she was home too.

We were using a 'dunny' hubby had dug at the end of the garden as a toilet. Any time anyone needed to use the loo they grabbed the puppy and set off up the garden...day or night! Next to the dunny (as well as loo roll in a plastic box, a bowl of water and hand sanitiser) was a pot of liver treats. As soon as pup had done his business he trotted over to the dunny for praise and treats! So with 5 people taking the puppy up the garden day and night he was totally trained within a week!

We got Bonnie the week before Christmas, so as to have a summer puppy (Southern Hemisphere). Although we now have working toilets, we recreated the situation as much as possible. i asked everyone to take Bonnie up the garden whenever they remembered, but the main responsibility myself . Every hour, on the hour up the garden we went. She either performed or didn't but if she did off went the fireworks and out came the dried liver! At night, for the first 2 weeks I slept in the living room with her in the crate. Twice a night I would take her up the garden. At this stage I carried her because they often pee the moment they wake up, like babies, and I would sprint up the garden! Pop her down, pee, praise and liver! Then I worked it back to once a night, and an early wake up, then I moved back into my bedroom but still got up at night, gradually working the time back by 15 minutes every 2 nights until we got to 10 pm to 5 am. After that I didn't worry any more, but I am an early riser anyway.

It is a lot of work for the first month BUT it is ONLY the first month. If all goes well pup will never pee or poop in the house at all. Ruff never did, and Bonnie only had 3 accidents in total....one of which was totally my fault as I couldn't find the door key! I find it better to have a difficult first month then have a partly trained puppy for 6 months or so.

I don't bother with puppy pads...I don't want her to go inside at all!

Crates. We use a large crate big enough for a full size standard doodle with a nice bed at one end and newspaper at the other. Then if I mess up and don't get the puppy outside in time she won't learn to soil her bed. The worse case scenario is that she learns to use newspaper, and I can cope with this...but it has never happened yet. This is not the recommended advice but it has always worked for us.

Play pens, useful if you have a big house or an open plan house. We have a tiny house with living room kitchen all in one, and smaller than most people's kitchens alone. Plus 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. A playpen would take up all the available space in our room, so we have never bothered. As there is only 1 room I am always in the same room as the puppy anyway, so I just watch him/her all the time at first. If I have to pop out for any reason, I crate the puppy, after playing enthusiastic games in the garden first to make it pee and poop before I leave! Because our house is so small we get rid of the crate as soon as possible. For this reason I also make chewing on acceptable things a priority. I simply remove unacceptable things and make sure there are lots of acceptable chews about. However our first doodle, 30 years ago did eat mothers wedding hat.......

Sorry this is so long, I hope some of it is helpful. It is hard work having a puppy at first, but so worth it

Remember the golden rule

NEVER EVER LET YOUR TINY CUTE PUPPY DO ANYTHING YOU WOULD NOT WANT YOUR HUGE FULLY GROWN 90 POUND STANDARD DOODLE TO DO


Katie

[Raj and Teddy]

Hi Katie,

I really enjoyed reading your experience and training your puppy in a month.