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Dog Sitting With A New Pup


FD26
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We're getting our pup tomorrow and a friend has just asked us to mind his greatdaneX puppy (about 5 months old) for a month in April. She is a desexed female, and our pup is a male staffy, he'll be 12 weeks old in April. We've told him he'll have to bring her around to make sure they get on okay, and checked that she's up to date on vaccines - but is there anything else I should be considering before we agree to it? Thanks. :rofl:

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How will you keep them separated?

The weight difference alone would make me wary of allowing them together without close and constant supervision, and personally I wouldn't allow them to play together when either/both are very energetic and boisterous (so that's all the time with the Staff puppy :laugh:)

The older pup is too old to consider the younger pup as a sibling and too young to be a full adult, so there might be issues about the Staff pup being a puppy, biting in play, bugging the other pup etc, and the older pup isn't equipped yet to deal with.

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Urge that they crate train now, if not already.

I have a 12 week old pup here along with my other dogs, plus also a foster Shih Tzu. The foster and the pup do not stop playing so the crate is once again, being a doG send in order to give me time out.

Make sure the Dane is wormed and on flea preventative. Find out their wishes on vet care, if they are going to an area where they won't be easily reached get a budget in mind for how far they would go in case of a vet emergency $$.

To be honest, I wouldn't do it. Your pup will be at such an impressionable age and you only get that window once. My pup has already learned to howl when I leave the house as the foster dog barks, it's not worth the bad habits your pup will pick up. Just explain you think it will be too much this time, but you will be happy to do it when your boy is 6 moths or older.

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How will you keep them separated?

The weight difference alone would make me wary of allowing them together without close and constant supervision, and personally I wouldn't allow them to play together when either/both are very energetic and boisterous (so that's all the time with the Staff puppy :laugh:)

The older pup is too old to consider the younger pup as a sibling and too young to be a full adult, so there might be issues about the Staff pup being a puppy, biting in play, bugging the other pup etc, and the older pup isn't equipped yet to deal with.

I'm not sure what their pup is crossed with, but the last time I saw her she was a little thing, half the size of my friend's lab! So the weight difference shouldn't be a huge problem. It should be fairly easy to keep them seperated as our pup will be an indoor dog, and theirs is outdoor. And I can always change between the yard/garage/kennel/inside, I imagine it shouldn't be too tough. Their pup probably won't be in our house anyway unless there is a storm, because I have no idea how she would go with our cats.

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Urge that they crate train now, if not already.

I have a 12 week old pup here along with my other dogs, plus also a foster Shih Tzu. The foster and the pup do not stop playing so the crate is once again, being a doG send in order to give me time out.

Make sure the Dane is wormed and on flea preventative. Find out their wishes on vet care, if they are going to an area where they won't be easily reached get a budget in mind for how far they would go in case of a vet emergency $$.

To be honest, I wouldn't do it. Your pup will be at such an impressionable age and you only get that window once. My pup has already learned to howl when I leave the house as the foster dog barks, it's not worth the bad habits your pup will pick up. Just explain you think it will be too much this time, but you will be happy to do it when your boy is 6 moths or older.

Thanks, that was some really good advice. I'm weary about it, too..but it's a good mate of my OH's and the OH is really keen to do it, so we'll see. He says she doesn't have any bad habits aside from jumping up when too excited, but we'll see. Also, if it does go badly we have another mutual friend who said she'll take her if have any trouble - she's got a hectic schedule though, so it would be easier for us unless there are problems.

ETA: our pup will be crate trained (fingers crossed as the breeder says he hates being crated lol)

Edited by FD26
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