Preparing For Puppy

[Cavstar]

Hi Everyone

I'm on the countdown until I bring my bundle of joy home - a King Charles Cav. I'm in the midst of getting the house ready & have a couple of queries....

I intend to keep her inside & crate training.

For the first month I will be with her 24/7.. after that back to work 3 days a week & I'm contemplating bringing her to work with me. I want to go portable crate so that I can take it to work. What are the likeliness of her chewing the crate to pieces?

When I'm home I'll be able to take her outside on our large lawn area to toilet, at night she'll be in the crate, in the hall/laundry .I'm going to get a doggy door put in the laundry which will lead to a sectioned off safe area so that she can go out & do her business on the fake grass toilet. At work I'll have another fake grass toilet

My main concern is that she will get confused toileting outside on the grass and then through the doggy door at night or the off chance she is home alone. Is this a potential issue? I don't really want her in my backyard unsupervised until she is older.

I'm going to enrol her in the RSPCA puppy traning in Malaga. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Thats all I can think of.. hope it makes sense. The doggy door/toilet is the main part that is bothering me. I couldn't sleep the other day thinking about it! haha!

Thanks all for reading, any suggestions or any other advise that you can give would be fab!!

[Sandra777]

Can you use real turf instead of fake grass until she's older? This could help prevent confusion. During the first month make a point of NOT being with her 24/7 - use this time to teach her that being alone is OK. Being alone is not a natural state for a dog so if you bring her home and let her be with you all the time she is going to be very stressed out when you suddenly "abandon" her to go back to work.

Oh yes and the breed is Cavalier King Charles

[Dogsfevr]

Yep i agree being with her 24/7 is the worst thing you can do.

Puppies need to learn to be independant & they cope very well on there own,you train from day 1 for the future & that means a dog that can happily be on its on .

Taking to work will also set her up for being needy instead of being independant.

Unless your backyard is unsafe your pup needs to be allowed outside unattended & at the breeders your pup will be use to romping outside & enjoying it self.Our pups similiar size run an acre & spends hours on there own enjoying the outside world & we remind our puppy owners that as puppies they have experienced life & enjoyed it & its important people continue .

Cavies are sporting spaniels & enjoy being s dogs .

Our pups learn to use the doggy door from 6 weeks & at that age are trained to go outside to the toilet but we have owners who live in apartments that use false turf & the pups have adapted well but if you have a backyard train using it from day 1 .

Main suggestion don't fuss or over protect ,treat the dog as a dog & it will be a very enjoyable pet for life,spoil it now & you will set yourself for issues when older & it will be harder for the dog to adapt

[mumof4girls]

Good point show dog,I have been agonising if I should let our pup outside in the yard alone when I go back to work, he will be safe but I worry he will be scared or taken.. I need to get over this :-)

[Cavstar]

Thanks for your replies

When I said 24/7 I guess I meant that I would be around to take her out to toilet etc. I do have kids & being school hols she will be left at some point throughout the day.

Good to know about not bringing her into work with me though. My husband works all over the place so he'll be able to pop in throughout the day & check on her.

[Esky the husky]

It's good that you'll be around for the puppy stage

I'll just mention that I work from home now, and Esky doens't seem to care on jot.

She usually just lazes in one of her preferred spots around the yard.

[Topoftheheap]

I agree with all the above points. We own 3 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and they are definately spaniels first and lap dogs, way down the list. Im not trying to scare or worry you, but all six of our dogs refuse to use those fake grass toilets, even when they were trained from pups, and much prefer using the backyard to do thier business. They love running the perimeter of the backyard as well for some reason!!! Cavies are pretty independant, although they love human and other animal interaction (ours even sleeps with our cats) they can take care of themselves. What sort of crate are you planning to get? Although the soft ones look better for aesthetic reasons they can be easily chewed so i would recommend getting a sturdy metal one, which you can cover and make into a den for your puppy. I understand that u are worried about them being taken or scared. If your backyard is secure there should be no reason for this, but if you are concerned, crate training should help u establish specific times of the day that your pup will need to go out. As for being scared - nothing much worries a Cavie!!! but during puppy hood as there eyes are developing they go through something akin to 'night blindness' - its completely normal and doesn't last very long, but if you notice your pup becomes hesitant about going out in the dark, its because of this and it just needs some gentle reassurance! Good Luck with your Cavalier King Charles Spaniel! (and everyone's right - spoiling your dog in the first 3 weeks, even the first 3 days, will make the rest of your life a nightmare!)