Your worst mistake with a new puppy?

Hi all,
Your prob sick of seeing my name by now.

But
what is the worst mistake looking back on when you got your puppy?
Anything that might help me in making my puppy safe, secure etc.
Also any rules i should be strict with the 3 kids .. dont drop puppy etc.... I am typing out "santas rules" today to put in the puppy goodies box under the tree!

thanks for your time by the way it means alot
x

first thing is don't let them sleep in the bed with you and the second you have to show them your the boss. and im sure some one else on here will fill you in on 2, 3, 4. and 5 and 6 and sooooooo on and on

ok thanks Shane. no bed sleeping lol..

When your kids wants to hold the pup have them be sat on the settee or sat down so if they do drop her or she struggle the fall wont be so big. Gardens and secure fencing leave your pup inside the garden go outside of the garden and call him/her get them really excited so they will try to fnd a way out to get to you and if they do you know where to fill in the gaps etc. Your childrens toys may be small enough to choke on. I notice with Taz and most dogs when given tennis balls they strip them of the fluff and they can choke or swallow leading to problems so i would suggest bald balls and toys. If the pup is excited and fast some are some aren't try setting bounders when it comes to door ways so if you open the front door they don't dart out to greet the person. the sooner you get him to come to his name the better.

Miss Rogue
Thanks for those tips. Our whole house is surrounded by 6 foot soild steel fences and also those fences have a wooden pine board under them .. lucky we did that... My hubby didnt want anything digging under from the outside! hopefully nothing will dig from inside! lol
I will be sure to make the kids sit down before holding her.. also I will make it a strict rule that no one carries her around.. just incase.

Janey, Do you mean to give her dinner, then go for a walk? or the other way around?... I will be feeding her the complete puppy dry food.. maybe the odd raw chicken necks and rib bones..to start with.

Mel Skora wrote:Miss Rogue
Thanks for those tips. Our whole house is surrounded by 6 foot soild steel fences and also those fences have a wooden pine board under them .. lucky we did that... My hubby didnt want anything digging under from the outside! hopefully nothing will dig from inside! lol
I will be sure to make the kids sit down before holding her.. also I will make it a strict rule that no one carries her around.. just incase.

Janey, Do you mean to give her dinner, then go for a walk? or the other way around?... I will be feeding her the complete puppy dry food.. maybe the odd raw chicken necks and rib bones..to start with.

Not a problem I don't know what Janey was going to say but i would walk the pup or a good exercise game out back, dogs love to earn things. exercise discipline and affection, a good walk/ a simple sit before you put her food down but if you haven't tought her sit yet just making sure she is nice and calm before putting her food down not bouncing around hitting walls, whinning, barking etc a good snap of the fingers to get her attention ro what ever you feel comfortable doing. then a good no should do the trick.
Also I dont know if you have any local fox's but they have been known to burrow a good foot under fencing and climb over higher fencing. if you have grass a quick sweep to make sure there's no mess from other animals, if you have concrete theres an animal friendly antibacterial called Trigene (non diluted 2 litre should last you a good year once you'v diluted it maybe even more) it wont hurt any animal but it kills germs they leave behind inside or outside your house etc just until her immune system is more able to handle it and she is vaccinated. It depend how conciouse you are really. some may argue and say expose them to simple illnesses so they learn to fight it off so don't go over board with the spray but when it come to the major stuff like parvo and mange which can be caught off fox's trigene will kill those kinda things.
I had a large litter tray by my front door put a matt inside and soaked it with trigene so people and the dogs walked through it, so it'll kill anything they picked up. I only done that when cassie had her pups, i didn't want to take any chances but thats just me being paranoid so yeah its upto you really.

We dont have any foxes of any type here... well not where we are maybe closer to the bush.
I live between the lake and the ocean.
so there is no much room for foxes. My sister did tell me about the wash that you can clean your house in etc,
I have Grass backyard and the only concrete that I have is in the pool area.
I might google this wash and see when is the best time to do it.
I am lucky that she will have had her second lot of needles before i pick her up.

Don't let a pup do anything you don't want a 40 pound head bin doing! Lol

LOL @ Micky... yeah i guess they grow fast dont they

Just a little word of warning.........NEVER exercise your dog directly before or especially after a meal. The best way is to exercise, then let the dog settle for at least half an hour before feeding. If you feed your dog & then want to take it out, make sure the meal was at least 2 hours before the walk.

If you feed too close to a walk you run the risk of bloat - a very painful & potentially fatal condition for a dog, needing emergency vet attention & usually surgery.

Oh thanks Caryll.. I didnt know that.
Great thanks for the tip.
I would prob be walking her at 5.30am... so i would take her out on her walk 5.30-6.30.. home... them feed her ( and the ferals) about 7.15 am lol
then we would take her out to the park or in the back reserve when the kids got home from school and then feed her after we eat our dinner at night?...
does that sound ok ... ( not as a puppy of course she would need more than 2 meals wouldnt she?0

Yes, she'll need at least 4 meals a day for a while.

She won't need a lot of exercise for some time yet. She'll get most of what she needs just by playing. If you over exercise too early you can damage growth plates & tendons which could lead to problems in later life.

Once she's able to go out, just take her for 10 - 15 minute walks 2 or 3 times a day. Once she's about 5 or 6 months you can start to increase it.

Thanks Caryll.
So i will be able to let the kids walk her around our block (about 300m) and that will do her a couple of times a day once she has her jab at 12 weeks.
That means by the time she can have a romp on the beach it will be winter
....

As Caryll has said running in the garden is all the exercise she'll need untill 4 or 5 months old, lead training is all the walking she'll need.

So you telling me I will be one of these "mummy" that carries the dog the rest of the way home LOL....
But it is good to get her used to lead walking early even if it is just around our yard.

Mel Skora wrote:That means by the time she can have a romp on the beach it will be winter
....

Maybe, but surely your winters aren't all that bad?

No they arent really.. but I guess it is what you are used to.. we are all cold blooded over here lol.. we need the sun to warm our bodies lol

I am a shaking mess if it drops below 14'... I guess it would be the same if you guys came here on a 38" summer day.. we would be going about our things in the normal way and you guys would be dying on the lounge, close to vomiting from the heat, I dont have alot of meat on my bones either so i feel the cold easy

Just went in the car to get a quotes pad and it says -7. But that was inside the car which is normally worse. Had to open the drivers door to let the heat in

OMG people... you all need to move over here.... that is shocking..
I dont think i would get out of bed if it was - anything lol
how on earth does your body function?..do you loose weight in winter over there? trying to keep warm?

we got a good excersise its called shivering lol

Saves on brushing your teeth too. Your teeth clatter together that much the plaque falls off

I think it shouldn't be me as im packed and ready to go. Im at Manchester Airport awaiting the signal to board the plane.

Mel do you think you can come here and look after our dogs so we can go and live in your house? Cos it's cold and im a top guy you can have my jumper to keep you warm

Just out of interest do you have air conditioning in your house and if so is it made in the UK. I only ask cos when I stayed with my bro in the states for a bit his and all his mates appartments had air conditioning and all of them said made in uk on them. Made me chuckle cos i thought WTF do we know about air conditioning

mel if you go for it just think when you get home holly will be fully trained in all aspects so really were doin you a favour lol
by the way am at newcastle airport just waiting for the word

ohhhhhhhhhhh an by the way with the houses being primerrily out of wood in oz blue staff is a joiner so he will do all repairs for a very cheap rate
and any welding needed anywere im your man lol
janey can pour the beers
caryll can do the barbie(more snaggs for us as she veggie)

See Mel she has air conditioning that works 365 days a year every year with no maintanence costs...........How good are we to Mel?