Hi all,
We were told that we can take our pup home in about another week so we're in the "prep" phase of getting our house ready for him. We spoke with the trainer about training timelines as well as our vet. I wanted to ask your advice on what to do/expect the first few days we get him home. Is there anything specific that is good to do right from the start? Has anything specific worked really well for you? Do you let him have the run of the house, or is it better to keep him in one section of the house while he's training? We'll be home with him for the first week or so, and then it's back to work so we want to get as much in that first week as we can to set a good example for him.
Any thoughts??

I let Dakota explore everything when we first got him home. After he explored for abou thirty mins, I lead him to his cage with some treats and got him comfortable with it and being inside of it because that's where he would sleep that night. I'm no professional trainer, but I would definitely try to crate train him the first few days you have him home. Nobody likes a howling husky at night lol. Also when I picked Dakota up, I took his first chew toy with me so he and his littermates could play with it. This got their scent on it. The first few nights he slept in his cage I let him sleep with his new toy so that he would be more comfortable with his littermate's smell.

Okay, that's all I got! I'm sure everyone on here will give you TONS more advice! Good luck and I can't wait to see some pics!

Thanks Brett,
Do you keep Dakota's crate in one location or do you move it? I think we're going to put his crate in our bedroom at night. We were told that it makes them feel comfortable knowing we're nearby. Once we go back to work we may move the crate to another room, I just didn't know if that would confuse him. Do we keep it in one space so he gets used to in in the same location?
Our breeder also said she was going to give us a blanket to take home with us that has his littermates scents on it to help him get adjusted.
Thanks for the help!

A lot of the training websites I read before I got Xiah said it is good to take them to each room they will be allowed in with their leash and "introduce" them to each room. I would definitely not let the pup have the run of the house after he/she has been introduced because you never want your pup to be out of line-of-sight. That makes them prone to potty accidents mostly and getting into things you don't want them in as well. I keep Xiah on the couch with me or in her "playpen" which is just those customize-able shelves you can get from walmart, so you can make it as big or as small as you like. Would recommend keeping a mat under it or keeping it on a hard surface for easy clean up in the case of an accident.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Honey-Can-Do-6pk-Modular-Mesh-Storage-Cubes/17108697?findingMethod=rr

Those are what I'm talking about, but I got the ones with plastic siding and they are much cheaper. The holes in the plastic are small enough that they cannot chew them really.

And also, WELCOME and congratulations!

Thanks Bekah,
Good idea on the leash. Right now, he's not going to have full run of the house. I'll see what our trainer thinks when he's older and what we should do when I go back to work.
BTW, lived in Greenville outside Dallas for a while. Where are you in TX?
Go Aggies!!

I live an hour south of Tyler, about 2 1/2 hours southeast of Dallas. And I think it's about 6 months? or so until you can semi-trust a dog to run around the house but even then he shouldn't be able to go just anywhere. I think it's just at that age they can officially "hold it" through the night. Xiah will be 7 weeks in a couple days and she let's me sleep around 8 hours a night, not that I force her. I make sure to do lots of hard play for an hour before bed (a lot of it is with my older husky Diesel), take her out every 15 minutes while this is going on, and also make sure that she eats no later than 90 minutes before bed. She seems to sleep a lot longer that way, but the moment she cries its outside to potty and back into bed. Make sure if you take your pup out when it cries that you go straight outside, let it potty (if it goes give it a little extra walk time for reward), and then back into bed. Otherwise it learns crying gets it out.

I did the same thing like you and asked everyone the same questions. I too got a trainer and she told me the first thing's to do is not let them have full roam of the house! It allows the puppy more freedom than he needs and will cause him to have accidents and get into trouble. It's like letting a toddler have full access to you're house, it's not a good thing.

We put baby gates in our kitchen and he has full access to that area. All other areas of the home he is supervised in. Take a puppy kindergarden class, it helps so much!! They give tons of great tips and plus he'll get tons of play time with other pups!

I had Hayden in private classes and in group classes and they said the MOST important thing is to make sure you're puppy is socialized! They say for the first 14-16 weeks is the most important time to do this, because after that the window closes. We go to parks, pet stores, classes, lowes/home depot, dog friendly stores, shopping centers, tons of car rides, etc. Make you're puppy a social butterfly or he'll become afraid and start having problems.

Make sure you get kongs and bully sticks are awesome! It gives them something to chew for long periods of time and will keep them off thing's that aren't suppose to be chewed on.

Raptor105 wrote:

Thanks Brett,
Do you keep Dakota's crate in one location or do you move it? Do we keep it in one space so he gets used to in in the same location?

I leave Dakota's in one location. I've heard that if you move it around it could confuse him/her and cause some anxiety (which is NOT fun to deal with). So I would say to keep it in one location. Dakota's is right by my bed. It's between the wall and my bed and the back of it is also against a wall. Then I put a blanket over it to make it more like a den and less like a "cage". Here's his cage:



Yes, he likes to take naps on top of his cage during the day on his dog bed haha

That looks like a chocolate candy bar.... If I did that.... It wouldn't live to see daylight.

Kiyonai wrote:

I live an hour south of Tyler, about 2 1/2 hours southeast of Dallas. And I think it's about 6 months? or so until you can semi-trust a dog to run around the house but even then he shouldn't be able to go just anywhere. I think it's just at that age they can officially "hold it" through the night. Xiah will be 7 weeks in a couple days and she let's me sleep around 8 hours a night, not that I force her. I make sure to do lots of hard play for an hour before bed (a lot of it is with my older husky Diesel), take her out every 15 minutes while this is going on, and also make sure that she eats no later than 90 minutes before bed. She seems to sleep a lot longer that way, but the moment she cries its outside to potty and back into bed. Make sure if you take your pup out when it cries that you go straight outside, let it potty (if it goes give it a little extra walk time for reward), and then back into bed. Otherwise it learns crying gets it out.

Thanks Bekah, appreciate it!

Raptor105 wrote:

Thanks Bekah, appreciate it!

No problem, I wish someone would have told me when I got Xiah. She woke me up every hour the first three nights. Oh also stuffed cat toys (ones without bells and all that, I was afraid Xiah would swallow the bell or dangly) that are on the stick that you can bounce are AWESOME. She loves her dragonfly (you can see her play with it in video on her scrapbook).

bott6654 wrote:

Raptor105 wrote:

Thanks Brett,
Do you keep Dakota's crate in one location or do you move it? Do we keep it in one space so he gets used to in in the same location?

I leave Dakota's in one location. I've heard that if you move it around it could confuse him/her and cause some anxiety (which is NOT fun to deal with). So I would say to keep it in one location. Dakota's is right by my bed. It's between the wall and my bed and the back of it is also against a wall. Then I put a blanket over it to make it more like a den and less like a "cage". Here's his cage:



Yes, he likes to take naps on top of his cage during the day on his dog bed haha

Brett,
That's a pretty cool set-up!

Hayden_69 wrote:

I did the same thing like you and asked everyone the same questions. I too got a trainer and she told me the first thing's to do is not let them have full roam of the house! It allows the puppy more freedom than he needs and will cause him to have accidents and get into trouble. It's like letting a toddler have full access to you're house, it's not a good thing.

We put baby gates in our kitchen and he has full access to that area. All other areas of the home he is supervised in. Take a puppy kindergarden class, it helps so much!! They give tons of great tips and plus he'll get tons of play time with other pups!

I had Hayden in private classes and in group classes and they said the MOST important thing is to make sure you're puppy is socialized! They say for the first 14-16 weeks is the most important time to do this, because after that the window closes. We go to parks, pet stores, classes, lowes/home depot, dog friendly stores, shopping centers, tons of car rides, etc. Make you're puppy a social butterfly or he'll become afraid and start having problems.

Make sure you get kongs and bully sticks are awesome! It gives them something to chew for long periods of time and will keep them off thing's that aren't suppose to be chewed on.

Thanks Kelly,
Already have puppy kindergarden set up! Spent a lot of money at Petco last weekend and bought a few Kongs. Those things seem pretty cool, and from what everybody says, I guess they work pretty well.
Appreciate the help!

It depends on the dog. MOST dogs I've seen love Kongs, Diesel has never touched one. I don't understand it. I've even put frozen canned dog food in there and... nothin. Xiah is better about using it but I probably just need to put better treats in for her.

I haven't used the kong fillers they sell ... They have a great thread on here about stuffing kongs. I stuff Hayden's with wet dog food and he likes that. I've also put cheese in it. Hayden isn't crazy about peanut butter, but a lot of people put it in their kongs. They have kongs that you can put hard dog food in too that makes it like a puzzle, so that might be worth a try too.

Do you freeze the food in the Kong, or do you just put treats in it?

I don't know which of us you were referring to, but I do both. I want the dry dog food puzzle one as I think Xiah would just go nuts for it..

I just bought a smaller Kong to see if he likes them. If he does, I'll get some larger ones as he grows.

Thanks Bekah and Kelly. Appreciate it.

how old will he be when you bring him home?
i never had a puppy cause i don't want to deal with all that puppy stuff and i like to adopt
we do have lots of puppy owners here to help you out like you have all ready seen! i think one thing is to leave a leash on him so he does not wonder into something while in the house (do that with any aged new dog). also i thought you had to be careful about letting the puppies walk around outside before they have all their shots?...
cant wait to see pictures!!! also don't expect to get any sleep, i hear its like bringing a baby home. also since your gonna be home all week(sweet!) make sure you do leave the house and crate him so he is ready for when you do go back to work.

on a side note, neither sierra or jack like the kongs or anything rubber (think its the smell)

jbealer wrote:

how old will he be when you bring him home?
i never had a puppy cause i don't want to deal with all that puppy stuff and i like to adopt
we do have lots of puppy owners here to help you out like you have all ready seen! i think one thing is to leave a leash on him so he does not wonder into something while in the house (do that with any aged new dog). also i thought you had to be careful about letting the puppies walk around outside before they have all their shots?...
cant wait to see pictures!!! also don't expect to get any sleep, i hear its like bringing a baby home. also since your gonna be home all week(sweet!) make sure you do leave the house and crate him so he is ready for when you do go back to work.

on a side note, neither sierra or jack like the kongs or anything rubber (think its the smell)

Thanks Jennifer,
The breeder is keeping him until 8 weeks. She told us that he will be current on all his shots, but we do have to bring him to our vet for the baseline visit within two days of him coming home. The leash in the house is a great idea, as is crating him for a short time to get used to alone time. I hope he does like the Kong's; from what everyone says, they work pretty well. If not, I have some of the rope toys as well. My other dogs always loved those. As for the sleep, yup, already fearing that! It's like working an overnight shift all over again!! I'll post some pics and his name when it's decided.
Appreciate you help!

If he is current on all shots that means he will have one shot or so, you should probably wait until having at least two but at best all three rounds of shots before letting him walk around just anywhere. Parvo and distemper are hardcore diseases and they can get it from just walking around where a dog has been that had it, even YEARS after that dog was there.

i freeze the kongs. it makes it last so much longer and more of a challenge for them to get the food out vs them just licking it to death and only lasts a few minutes

Thanks for all of the help everyone, I appreciate it! I now have a running list of things to do and suggestions.

Sunday is the big day that we get to pick him up! Somewhat nervous, I want to make sure that everything is done correctly. After reading all of my books, they stress how important the pups first few weeks at home are, I hope I don't screw anything up!! We'll be home with him for at least the first week, so he'll have 24/7 attention. Still working on a name, and I'll post some pics when we get him home.
Thanks for the help everyone, I appreciate it!

I think the biggest mistake I've seen made is letting the pup do/get away with things that he wouldn't be able to do as an adult. My fiance's grandmother irritates the hell out of me, she gave the family's shelter lab pup shoes and socks to chew on when she was little that were old and worn. Then she expected her not to chew socks and shoes the we DID wear when she got older! She's since broken the habit, but it was still annoying.

I bet you're excited! Congrats on the new pup! You will have tons of fun.