Picking up puppy on Saturday.

[London, Anne-Catherine & Brandon]

Hello Everyone!

We are so looking forward to picking up little London from Almond Blossom this Saturday. We have been preparing for his arrival for months. As the date approaches, we were wondering if any of you out there had any tips or advice for the car ride home and the first couple of nights. This is the first dog for both of us, and we just want to make sure everything goes as smooth as possible. We will be driving back to San Francisco, so the ride is about an hour and a half. Some people have told us to hold him; others have said to put him in his crate. Any advice would be very much appreciated by London’s soon-to-be parents. We are nervous but SUPER excited.
Thanks!!!!

p.s. I have attached the lasted picture Julie sent us of the pups. SO adorable!

[Katherine Hatch]

Congratulations on your new puppy.

When we pick up Pumpkin it was a long drive back to Paso Robles, CA. We had her crate with us. She did better riding out of her crate. She did get car sick a few times. We had towels with us and wipes and water and food( the same food she was already eating. We made a lot of potty stops for her and took our time coming home. She did good. We also had the radio on for her a lot at night. This helped a lot. Good luck to you and your family.

[Linda and "Toby"]

Congratulations!!!! You are going to be soooo happy with this new addition to your family! (I have a Micah/Tula pup from ALmond Blossom Doodles. They have the most wonderful, loving personalities!) We drove back to Vegas with Toby - it about a 9 hour drive if I recall. I bought a small harness for him, put a leash on it, and held him in my lap with his leash secured to the seatbelt (in case of an accident). He did great all the way home. :)

My husband and I let Toby sleep in bed with us that night, and he's been sleeping there ever since. Now that he's older (just turned 1) he sleeps by our feet, or on the floor at the foot of the bed. If you are planning to crate train him, you should probably do it from the beginning.

Enjoy! And congrats, again!

[Kathie and the gang]

Hi, when we picked up Winston my son held him. I live in Marin and it was almost the same travel time.. Maybe a little longer because it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving last year. He is a very calm dog now and then, so it was very easy. He just went to sleep. When I picked up my Rottie puppy from Bakersfield 5 years ago, we put her in a crate for the first part of the trip. She didn't do well the first time out. 4 hours was too much to ask, she got car sick and had to go to the bathroom. After having to stop twice to clean out the crate, I held her and then everything was fine. He was also a big boy at 15 pounds, I'm not sure if that makes a difference, he had only been in a car twice and not going very far either time.

[Sandi & Kia]

Hi,

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll love your puppy, just like the rest of us. We drove home to SF. Like Linda, we had a small harness for Kia, but it's one of the ones that allows her to roam around the back seat. Three of us went to pick her up, and two of us sat in the backseat with her. I drove fairly slow, at about 60 mph on the freeway, and we had "classical music" on all the way home. She laid closed to one or the other person in the back seat all the way home. We also brought a soft toy for her, and just lined the back seat with towels just in case she had an accident. She didn't. She did really well almost all the way home, but since we live up on a hill, with windy roads, she got car sick when we finally stopped the car! At night, she slept in the crate in our bedroom.

[Joyce,David"Mochi,Latte,Popcorn"]

Congratulations!
Are there only 4 puppies in this litter? Aspen/Casey's puppies look sooooo cute! like teddy bears!
We picked up Mochi on 5/16/09 at 1pm, he just had food before we got there (not a good time to pick up puppy!), My friend hold Mochi in the back seat, he slept almost the entire way back (about 1.5hour drive), until when we almost got home he had car sick and threw up his lunch.
You can roll down windows and let fresh air come inside, that might help prevent puppy get car sick.
Be prepared to change your sleeping schedule! Mochi woke up at 6am everyday the first month we got him!

[London, Anne-Catherine & Brandon]

Thank you to everyone for your prompt responses and great advice. Joyce, there are more puppies in the litter, seven I believe, but we only had the photo we posted above. We are so looking forward to Saturday. I have been looking at all of your doodles and they are just beautiful!

Thanks again for the support.

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

Soooo cute!!! Our drive was to San Mateo. I had a car crate and a home crate. Lucca stayed in the crate the entire time and slept. My daughter kept an eye on him. I think you have to decide if you plan to crate or not. Lucca slept in his crate until around 5 months old. We kept him in the kitchen and I had a baby video monitor which was wonderful. He now has run of the house but that wasn't until he was completely potty trained and the house was puppy proofed. I would set your alarm for every 2-3 hours for the first few nights. He peed in his crate the first night because he didn't wimper to go out. Quietly pick him up and take him out to pee. Praise quietly then put him back to sleep. Good luck. We're in San Mateo so we're close if you have any questions. Also as a rule of thumb during the day, take him out after he wakes up, plays or eats. They pee and poo ALOT for awhile!!!!!

[Joyce,David"Mochi,Latte,Popcorn"]

yes that's the rule you need to keep in mind, I kept track of Mochi's potty time on notes and predict the next potty time, I couldn't believe he had to went like 15~20 times a day!
Then we got a doggy door bell and taught him to use it, that saved me a lot of time cleaning carpet and stuff!

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

YES...the potty bell works great!!!!!

[London, Anne-Catherine & Brandon]

Thank you to everyone who has reached out and helped us with such great advice. Picking up London went very well, and Julie and her children were just fantastic. Here is the latest picture of London we took this morning after the vet. Thank you again! Hope to see some of you soon!

[Joyce,David"Mochi,Latte,Popcorn"]

Oh my god!!!! London is SOOOOO CUTE!!!! You didn't try to trick us by putting a stuffed fluffy toy there did you?
I'm glad you live in the bay area, so I'll get to meet cute little London soon!

[Roger Schefers]

Note to Nagui & Anne-Catherine...
It was nice to meet you today in SF! London (your pup) is perfect!!
Thanks for the recommendation - I've already emailed Almond Blossom for more info on their puppies.