Tips for Coming Home Day?

[Alissa Edwards]

My husband is driving an hour with my two boys, age 4.5 and 7, to get our puppy Farley on Saturday. They have a little "kids class" at pick up time I'd like them to go to, but at the same time I worry that they will overwhelm the puppy.

Should I let them go? Or do the Cesar Milan way and have my husband come show the puppy around the house and THEN meet the pack when we are all calm and assertive? LOL. 

I think the "trip" will be a nice memory - I'll be home with my napping 18-month-old daughter - for the boys. And once we get home - what then? I'm thinking 

Take puppy potty.

Show puppy all rooms. 
Give puppy food and water. 
let puppy meet family in a calm way.

Introduce crate.
Playtime if he wants.

Naptime in crate.
Potty break 
(repeat.) LOL

How did you do it? 

[Julie and Max]

Is the kids class at the breeders? If so I'd probably want them to go. Good luck with your new puppy. :)

[Bonnie and Kona]

If the puppy class is at your breeder's, you may want to take advantage of that. Your boys are old enough to learn how to properly respect the needs of a young puppy. They can receive much of that instruction before pick up day. They both may remember what it was like when you brought your baby home. They had to be gentle and maybe calm and quiet around her because she was a baby. The puppy will need similar help to adjust to your home. I think you have an advantage that your boys have had the experience of a baby so recently (although they may have forgotten because an 18 month old is way more rough and tumble than a newborn!) 

I don't think you need to show the puppy every room in your house to begin his introduction to your home. He will most likely be confined to a relatively small area of the home to avoid accidents. Dogs don't want to soil their own area. If you give him the full run of the house or even a large room, he will be more likely to have an accident. You want to avoid that as much as possible. 

Don't be surprised if he doesn't want to eat soon after arriving at the house. Some puppies take an adjustment period before they will eat. Others are chow hounds from the word go. ;o)

You are about to begin a great adventure! Congratulations!

[Alissa Edwards]

Yes, it's at the breeders. I'm glad they are going! Yes, I think you're right - let him adjust to a small area first.

[Christy&Riley]

Are you crating the puppy on the way home or will someone hold him? We crated her and she had a meltdown...screamed, peed and puked a couple times during 30 minute drive. Came out tail wagging and eager to see us. We probably should have held her but we weren't sure if she would pee in fright or squirm too much. Not sure what others would recommend.

We got home with her around 7pm on a Friday. She roamed the yard and met a few neighbors the first hour. Then we took her inside and showed her the family room area. Over the next few days we took her around the rest of the house. We got her introduced to her pen and the crate inside. Took turns sitting with her in the pen until she fell asleep. Didn't lock her in the crate the first night. Let her sleep in the pen. My husband slept on the couch nearby. He set his alarm to take her out throughout the night. We didn't want her to learn that crying at night brings us running. Not sure that's right but it worked well. I attached a picture from the next morning. Dad and daughter were very tired after all the potty breaks in the night. Have fun with your new addition!

[Alissa Edwards]

No, I'm guessing my husband will hold him. I wish I could go but my daughter naps at that time. A crying baby out of her carseat would not be helpful! LOL

That sounds exhausting - love the idea of setting an alarm! 3 hours or so?

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

You'll want to be sure to send towels along with your husband, as well as paper towels... Both in case of accidents. What we did before we picked up both of our doods as puppies, was to sleep with a plush dog toy for a couple nights to get our scents on it, then we kept the toy with the puppy in our lap on the drive home (on top of a towel). Neither had any accidents, but better safe than sorry. It's helpful if you can get a soft toy from the breeder, too, with mama's and littermates' scent to keep with puppy. It may help the transition the first day/night.

Have fun, and good luck on your puppy's first days home!

[Christy&Riley]

To be safe, he took her out every hour at night the first week. I think it was way too frequent but he wanted to make sure she got the idea. After that he went 2 to 3 hours. We got her at 9 weeks. They say they can go their age in hours plus one,even more at night I think.

Yes, he was exhausted those first few weeks. Got even worse as she fractured her leg a week after we brought her home so we had to wrap a plastic bag over a splint every time we took her out. Of course she wanted to play and would bite the bag, the bag wouldn't stay on and we were going out constantly. Now that was exhausting! Good news is that we survived the early puppy days and she is so great now.

[Becky Michael]

Very cute picture !

[Janet and Guinness]

We are fairly new puppy parents too....have had pup home for 3 weeks now.  I think your thought process is right on, keep things as calm as possible.  Our pup was contained in our family room, didnt show him the house, had this crate there and a few toys.  He did not eat the first afternoon but did eat by the evening.  We held him on the way home, he shivered and whimpered the whole way.  It was only a 30 min drive..just prepare the boys for a bit of calming voices for the pup on the way home.  We had our pup wrapped in the blanket given to us by the breeder.  One thing  Iwould do differently is that i CAVED to my children when they pleaded not to put him in the crate so often...granted we were all home and could watch the pup, but nonetheless, I should have crated him more often, even with all of us roaming around.  This way you can get yourself on a schedule for pee runs and pup becomes accustomed to being crated.  You are going to want the breaks from the pup after awhile...trust me on this one!  Our pup came home at 8 weeks and although he whimpered at night, we did not take him out and he has slept thru the night without breaks since.  The breeder said the pups were not going out at night...go figure if that was just luck??!!  Enjoy, give your boys lots of little jobs and responsibilities ...you are all going to love Farley.

[Alissa Edwards]

Good to know  - yes I work from home and when my daughter naps twice a day I need to work, so my plan is to crate him during that time (only about an hour in the morning and again in afternoon). How old are your kids? What kind of responsibilities do you give them? 

Are you dealing with any nipping/jumping yet? 

[Janet and Guinness]

My kids are older so a bit different but I would definitley make them in charge of feeding him and also learning how to put Farley in his crate...Say Crate and place pup in , close door, no eye contact, no fuss and walk away..this will be hard for the little guys but they will know Farley needs his space, just like they do sometimes.  Your  7 year old can also take pup outside to pee with some initial supervision...Farley needs to know he is not topdog in the pecking order there and the sooner the boys have some "authority" over him I think the better for them.  I currently crate Guinness for about 1.5 to 2 hours mid morning and mid afternoon, some would say to crate more but this works for me and I will definitly increase the time as he gets older and as I need it to "escape".  No nipping in a bad way but the pup does explore everything (people included) with his mouth...we definitely do the loud "ouch" and ignore for a min or two...seems to reinforce to him that we wont play if he gets a bit too nippy. The trying part is to stop him and divert each and every time...not just sometimes...this is what wears me out but I know the consistency will pay off...

[Janet and Guinness]

Allissa, I love the pic!!  Farley looks just like Guinness...love the chocolate brown