New to Midwest Doodles

[Lisa Koch]

Hi all I am new to Midwest doodles! We will be bringing our F1b Labradoole home the 1st of December. I am so excited to be bringing our newest baby home. My 1st question what do we need to have in those first days and weeks? Also we will be driving about 4.5 hours to get little Augie and then driving home. What should I plan for with such a long car trip home with a new pup? How often do we need to stop to let him go potty? My next question what do you feed your doodles both food and treats? My final question how do we bell train puppy? Thanks so much!

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

Hi Lisa!  My name is Theresa and my Dood is an F1 Standard Goldendoodle named Dagny.  We live in Minnesota and drove to Colorado to pick her up last Friday; then we turned around and drove back to Minnesota on Monday!  11 hrs one way! Dagny did great on the drive home, but I do have some tips :)

1) The first mistake we made was [basically] ripping Dagny from her breeder's arms, throwing her in the back of a van in an unfamiliar kennel, shutting the door and then driving away.  NOT GOOD!!  Acquaint your new babe with the back of your vehicle and crate using treats, then put her in and close the crate door.  Start the car and let it sit while she's closed in the kennel...more treats. Make sure you get a blanket or toy with mom's scent for the ride. OH!  And buy puppy calming spray to spray the kennel bed down before you leave.  Lay a towel or blanket on the floor of the kennel.  Why, you might wonder?  Because, within 5 minutes Dagny had pooped and passed out in it, vomited all over and peed. We did everything wrong.  Our first stop on the way home was out to a good friend's house in Denver, only 20 minutes from the breeder.  That 20 minute ride was the hardest part of the entire experience.  Our friends in Denver have two Doods, and they were the ones that gave us those tips for the 11 hr drive home.  

2) Have lots of paper towels, baby wipes, plastic bags, and stain/odor remover :)

3) For a drive of your distance, be sure to stop at least twice for puppy romps at rest areas (probably not dog parks if she hasn't had all of her shots yet).  Chase/play tag with your Dood for a good 15 minutes to tire her out before you put her back in the crate.  Then, she will sleep hard between each stop.  Our Dagny is 11 weeks old, so she can hold it for at least 4 hrs (I've had to leave for work for about 4 hrs yesterday and today) and all night in her crate. If your Dood is younger, maybe stop every hour.

Having incorporated all these tips for the 11 hr ride home, Dagny experienced no accidents, vomiting or excessive drooling.  It was an absolutely perfect drive!

4) We use Orijen puppy formula.  Very expensive, but so worth it!  Join the food group, if you haven't yet. Great advice there.  Dagny is our second dog and we have always used Orijen.  So healthy.  But, if you'd like other options, the food group has great ideas and a list.  

5) Treats and toys (I've included a picture).  I need more because she is getting board!  The deer antlers are great, and I don't use rope toys or squeaker toys unsupervised.  I also use Blue Buffalo turkey treats for training.  I use some other things too, but don't have the names handy. 

6) If you've never used it before, get some bitter apple spray!  Spray it on everything she chews on that's not a toy.  I do also occasionally spray it in her mouth if she doesn't stop.

I do, also, usually have her leashed in the house.  This way I can catch her and stop her before she has an accident or pull her away from something dangerous very quickly.  Also, when I need a break, I attach the handle to my foot so that she's forced to just lay down at my feet :)

Hope this helps!! Good luck!

Theresa

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

Just read in the food group that the Blue Buffalo treats are not recommended due to a recent recall and byproducts in their foods. :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

No recall, and it wasn't the treats that were involved with the by=products: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/blue-bu...

But you never want to change a puppy's diet for at least the first two weeks after they come home, even if whatever the breeder is feeding is garbage.

lots of info on this is The Food Group. 

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

Thanks for the clarification Karen. That makes me feel better! I read about the recall on DK today and made an assumption that all BB foods/treats are suspect.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

No, but there are better treat options, and since you are feeding a top-notch food (Orijen), you might want to consider other treat brands. I expect that we will be eliminating BB from our recommended brands list in the not-too-distant future. They're getting a little too big for their britches, lol. 

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

Also forgot to mention that we are phasing out the breeder's food. We did not quit cold turkey :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's not really about switching cold turkey. It's about not introducing any new foods during the two week incubation period for giardia, which is very common in doodle puppies. 

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

Oh, gotcha. I did not know that. Now I feel it's too late to stop the Orijen because we've been incorporating it for 7 days. ?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Stop incorporating and just feed the Orijen. A transition should never take more than 4-5 days anyway, and when the foods involved are very different in terms of macronutrient percentages and ingredients, it makes even less sense to mix them. It takes a calculator to even figure out how much of each to feed, since Orijen is so much more calorie dense than most other foods. Lots of info on all this in TFG, too. 

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

I appreciate your expertise and advice Karen! Thank you!

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

Oh, and yes, we're trying bell training.  It's not easy!