Questions About What To Do When The Puppy Comes Home

[oceanaussi]

If everything works out, I'm getting my Weimaraner puppy in 2 months time.

I had my last puppy nearly 9 years ago and I didn't know much then, so this time I'm having a proper pedigreed dog (had pound dog before), I want to do everything right.

As I do have another dog and as I'm not sure yet how they will getting along I decided to put my pup in a puppy pen (proberly better for my new re-designed garden too). I'll put a fence around the pilers for the lenght of the wooden fence and the little house (2.5 x 2.5 m) will also be open. I will put food, water and a dog bed in the house and toys in the other area.

When I get the pup I have time of work for about 6 weeks.

I want to still have one on one time with each dog and the pup is too small for our long walks anyway. So, I thought when I bring the new pup home I arrange a mutal meeting area where I can introduce the 2 of them with help of my vet and the vet nurses. Then we all travel in the car (pup will be in crate) to my house and I take both of them in the garden. Planning to have the pup on a long lead and Hera (my older dog) can run off if she wants to. After exploring the garden take the pup in the house and let it explore the house while my older dog stays outside. Some playtime with the pup and it probely will be tired soon. Pups still sleep a lot, right? When I see it getting tired I thought to put it in the puppy pen and take my dog inside (so it looks like we're not home). Shoudl I take the pup out of the puppy pen when it wakes up or after a set time? The pup will be sleeping in his crate with Hera and me in the bedroom.

Next morning take the puppy out for toilet and a short walk (pup only) and then put him in the puppy pen while I walk my old girl for about an hour. When we come back it's breakky time, then toilet for the pup again and depending on how they get along and how the pup is I'll let it run around the yard or come inside with me or put it in the puppy pen. Same again in the afternoon when I walk my old girl.

Once I go back to work the pup is about 3.5 months old. I don't think I want to leave the two of them together that early. So I would put the pup in the puppy pen when I'm at work and let my old girl run around free like she normally does.

What do you think about this? I want the pup to feel comfortable and safe in the pen, so I'm very happy to hear some suggestions on how to achieve this. Thank you!

[Dee_al]

we kept pur goldie pup in hes own yard away from my lab for quite a while. they had meetings and got to play togehter for about an hour or so each day once the lab accepted him. we kept the pup away becasue that way we knew there wasnt goin to be any injuries or anything like that. they now spend all day everyday together withough any problems

[Guest Tess32]

Definitely prepare for the case that they will not get on straight away and you will have to separate them. I was planning on separating mine for 6 months anyway solely so there are no accidental injuries to his joints, but lucky I did as my adult male hasn't accepted him yet. Don't count on a small puppy pen being able to contain a puppy - my 8 week old Collie got over a 2 feet high pen with no worries. For the run, we bought a Kramar Run, 2.4 by 1.8m.

They do sleep a lot so you do get frequent breaks, but it's impossible to tell in advance how much the pup is going to yell and scream the first few nights. My pup took about 4 days before he'd not cry about going in his crate.

I'm still getting him used to the run outside, he has not settled down yet and cries. You might get lucky and get a pup who settles quickly!

[Dogsfevr]

Forget the vet idea there is no need to make it hard nor make the journey from leaving its litter mates longer than nned be.

Go straight home place older dog in house & take pup staright into the yard so it can toilet,sniff around.

When you are ready bring pup inside & place in the crate & allow older dog outside to sniff around & then when comfy allow older dog inside so it can look at the pup in the crate.

For us we dont do anything special when bringing in new member,we take care but we dont do mutual ground & all that stuff.

We simply allow for easy meets & greet with no fuss or totally overwhelming the current dogs.

Also remember Weis are very smart dogs that thrive on human company so the main thing is to encourage your pup to be independant & aslo ready pointed out dont trust the puppy pen i would be more inclined to pay the extra & get an enclosed run like the Kramar one especially for a wei

[Carhen]

Hi All

I am new to this so I hope I have posted in the correct area.

My husband and I just bought a golden retiever pure bred puppy and pick it up in 3 weeks time. We recently lost our 13 year retriever and I have not like NOT having a dog around so with some pursading with my husband, he finally agreed we could have another. He is just adorable....BUT Im a little nervous....Its been so long since I had a puppy Im worried I'll forget to do something important for him. We are thinking of puppy proofing the house with gates to keep him in one area whilst we are home but the sleeping arrangements are concerning me.....can someone please tell me some good ideas to get puppy in a routine so I dont OVER SPOIL him with my ideas??????????

[The Spotted Devil]

Hi All

I am new to this so I hope I have posted in the correct area.

My husband and I just bought a golden retiever pure bred puppy and pick it up in 3 weeks time. We recently lost our 13 year retriever and I have not like NOT having a dog around so with some pursading with my husband, he finally agreed we could have another. He is just adorable....BUT Im a little nervous....Its been so long since I had a puppy Im worried I'll forget to do something important for him. We are thinking of puppy proofing the house with gates to keep him in one area whilst we are home but the sleeping arrangements are concerning me.....can someone please tell me some good ideas to get puppy in a routine so I dont OVER SPOIL him with my ideas??????????

If you do a search of the forum you'll find lots of good tips (and different approaches). Personally I think crate training is the only way to go - with a very full on puppy it saved my sanity and kept my house in one piece I got my pup into a good routine of going to his crate with a puppy kong full of his biscuits and he just loves it now.

What your puppy needs from you is patience, consistency and clear boundaries......my approach was to think "OK, it's cute now but do I want him doing it when he's 25kg?" Puppies are individuals so you will learn an awful lot by just observing. My pup needed to sleep a lot and would turn into a cranky, cry baby toddler if he didn't get enough After 2 hours of being up and about I would sit quietly on the floor with him for a cuddle - 3 yawns (from him!) and it was off to bed. He found it very difficult to sleep in the lounge room when he was tired (too many distractions) so I had to physically put him in his crate.

And most of all, don't forget to enjoy your puppy

[Miranda]

I agree with settrlvr, I don't know why you'd want to involve your vet, don't stress so much it's really just a matter of common sense. If you're making a homemade puppy pen make sure that you use good strong fencing like ARC Weldmesh, whatever you do don't use any sort of bird wire, it just isn't strong enough and weis are very active boisterous puppies and they grow very quickly, he'll be over or under or through it in no time. I'd also recommend that you crate train your pup.

[oceanaussi]

Thanks to everybody! I see how I go. Maybe I take my girl with me to the airport when I pick the pup up. I would have the pup in the crate so the drive shouldn't be too stressfull.

I was going to the vet anyway to get the pup checked and my dog loves the vet and is used to see different dogs there. So I thought it might be easiest to meet there and then go home together.