Puppy "Nesting"

[Bonne Bouche]

Hi everyone! I'm a fairly new member here, and I don't even have my pup yet! We pick him up in 2 weekends and we are so very excited.

 

My husband and I are getting a black male GD from a breeder in southeastern, PA. We've been married for just about six months. I've been raised with dogs for my entire life, and not having a dog of my own for the past few years living apart from my family and with him has been hard. I've been looking forward to getting our first dog, and the time has finally arrived. My husband has never had a dog, so this will be a very fun time for us to share.

 

Since we're starting from scratch I thought I'd share my list of things we have, and see if anyone can suggest anything we might need thats not on our list.

 

Crate (small to start, larger one when he grows)

food (TOTW) and whatever his breeder feeds to transition

food/water Bowls

Nylabone (circle and bones)

Kong

soft toys

balls

"bed"

treats

Brush

Shampoo

leash & harness (around shoulders)

"puppy" towels

 

Going to get:
Bitter Apple (is that the best brand?)

Nature's Miracle (again, any better suggestions?)

 

Anything else we're missing?

[Bonne Bouche]

Wow, thank you for your most thorough response! I don't even know where to start. Great point on the tags and baby wipes. We have a bunch of paper towels, but no wipes. 

 

We wanted to do an insurance company that would help reimburse some of the costs of routine care, and Pet Plan does not. It looks like we can get a reasonable backup insurance (lowest option with careguard premier) is ~500 annually. According to my estimates, with a neutering vaccines and other costs, they'll probably reimburse over $300 this year, making the cost of the insurance pay off in the long run. I wanted to go with ASPCA insurance level 3, but they only write their policies up on the 1st and 15th of the month. I'll check out VPI again. Do you have Careguard through them?

 

Thanks again!

[Harper]

Bitter Apple and Nature's Miracle are the best I think.  

 

I would consider getting an Easy Walk instead of just a "harness."  Harnesses actually allow them to pull better than with just a collar, whereas the Easy Walk helps keep them from darting away from you.  It is the best invention and I strongly recommend it.  

 

You might consider getting just one crate that has a divider for when the puppy is small - it's cheaper than buying two.  

 

I also strongly recommend getting a baby gate or two.  These were/are essential in our house.  When we are at work we keep our puppy in our foyer with a baby gate to keep her from going up the stairs to the rest of the house.  We also use them sometimes to keep her in the kitchen with me while I'm cooking or just overall to keep her where we want her.

 

You will need lots of poop bags too.  :)

 

Good luck!  The first month is pretty exhausting, but it gets a lot easier after that!

[Bonne Bouche]

Good to know about the harnesses. My family has used a gentle leader for our Bull Mastiff, and it was amazing how good it worked. I didn't think it was necessary as much for a puppy, because he'd grow so quick. But now I think we will.

 

re: Crates, I picked up a small one at Tuesday Mornings for $15 It will work perfectly for when he is crate training. It has two doors and is really pretty. I plan to sell it on CL when he outgrows it. We have a crate from the Bull Mastiff my parents had that we will use when he is crate trained and bigger. Its a bit older, but it is just sitting in my parent's garage. So its not a big deal to have two. (My parent's have a Mastiff now, and he has a "lair" that my dad built in our basement that is fit for a king!)

 

Thanks for the suggestions on poop bags, we'll get some!  :-]

[Sue Amos & Mulligan]

You are both going to have a blast, we have a 6 month Doodle and the best dog we have had. I would make sure you have carpet cleaner in the house for those accidents. A great tip I got from my puppy training that helps with potty training as soon as your puppy goes to the bathroom outside give him a treat. They only have a few seconds at that age to remember why they should go outside. Others have mentioned taking your puppy out on a leash which you could try. Socialize is huge take you puppy to Home Depot, Pet stores, expose to children, friends etc.

Your puppy is going to be such a great addition to your family enjoy!!

[Bonne Bouche]

Thanks!  Excellent tips!

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

All of the are great suggestions.

Remember also, no walks until all shots are given. I think that's the hardest part. You don't want to even risk your pup getting parvo.

Remember to bring him out to potty after playing, eating, and sleeping.

Training treats...Zukes or PureBites freeze dried treats

I would also get a crate the size he will grow into. They're not cheap and all of them have the dividers. I also used the crate cushion but added the crate cushoin with the donut sides on top of the regular one. It's more cushy for them that way.

The EasyWalk harness is wonderful.

Lots of love and patience and sounds like you're good to go. Enjoy!!!

[Bonne Bouche]

Thanks Great tips! How long is it typically till all shots? 16 weeks? Isn't that outside of the typical socializaiton window? I'm a big confused about how that should work?

 

So much information here, I love it!

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

16 weeks for shots. But you can do socialization with puppy classes, play dates, etc

[Harper]

We had to walk our puppy because we had no yard.  If you are in the same boat you need to make sure they don't go sniffing around in grass much (I found that my puppy wasn't much of a sniffer until she got to about 12 weeks).  We live in a townhome complex and were confident that all the dogs in the neighborhood had their shots, so we mostly stuck to the area right near our home.

 

One thing our vet suggested, which worked great for us, was to take her to an outdoor mall (we live in California) where there were tons of people and safe, well-behaved dogs.  She met lots of both and had a great time.  Because the mall is immaculately clean and all the dogs at the mall are safe, our vet thought it was a great way to socialize before Harper could go to a dog park.  As far as parvo goes, walking on sidewalks is safer than the grass and make sure you avoid any snow (unless it is your own yard) as that is a common place for puppies to get the virus.  

[Pat and Traveler]

One of the most useful puppy things I got was what some people call the 'x pen,' and I called the puppy pen.  Available at pet suppy stores--about a 16' length of wire panels with a door, that you can arrange in about any shape you want.  It can also be used as a gate across a doorway, used inside or outside, etc.  Please note that the puppy is supposed to be inside, and the human outside.  LOL 

 

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

LOL... we have 3 of these!!! I used one around the Xmas tree and 2 others are guarding my plants outside at this point:) I use one on the front porch to keep the dogs there if I want to keep the door open. I also have the wooden gates from Orvis. The 4 panel one is real versital and portable. We have the metal baby gate from Orvis too in our kitchen if I want to contain Izzy in the kitchen...or give Lucca a break from her puppiness:)

[Bonne Bouche]

Do you think this is big enough? I know there are a lot out there, we're really hoping to get one for as cheep as possible, and this looks pretty good for the price.

 

I can't tell how tall we'll need, and its kind of hard to determine exactly how big it will get.

24"x30" is the one we are thinkign of getting.