What to Expect, When You’re Expecting….A Puppy
What to Expect, When You Are Expecting…
A Puppy
By Christen M. Cupler/ Owner of Smarty Paws K9 University LLC
The Planning Stages
Your family has made the decision to add a dog to your family, and now you need to pick your new family member.
Yes, you are adding a family member. A dog is a lifelong commitment and shouldn’t be taken lightly. You must take many things into consideration before picking your new family member, and it should never be a spur-of-the-moment decision. The first decision is whether you want an adult dog or a puppy.
There are pros and cons to both choices. Adults are usually calmer and past many of the more challenging puppy traits like housebreaking and chewing, but they can still be dealing with these issues. No matter which decision you make, you must make it as a family. Everyone must be committed to your decision.
Another critical decision to make it whether to go with a breeder or rescue. That decision must be yours and nobody else’s. Both are excellent options regardless.
Rescues have wonderful adults and puppies. Every time you rescue one dog, you save two lives: the one you rescue and the one who can take the spot yours was in. Sometimes, there is a reason a person or family wants a specific breed and chooses to use a reputable breeder.
No matter which you option you choose, breeder or shelter, select your breed and research before picking your dog. Ensure you are selecting a breed that will mesh with your family’s lifestyle. For example, if you are a family of couch potatoes, don’t select an active Lab puppy or German Shepard. On the other end of the spectrum, if your family is active and always on the move, don’t select a Mastiff or a Chihuahua.
When selecting a mix, look into the known or suspected breeds in the litter and research the specifics of each for some clues on what you may be getting.
🐾Preparation
Now that you’ve done all your research and selected your puppy or dog, you must now plan for your new family member. Let’s first explore the world of preparing and raising a new puppy.
First, gameplan with everyone in your family. Make sure everyone is on the same page with the rules, tasks and schedules, including bedtime, feeding and walks, and sticks to them.
Raising a puppy requires the same level of consistency, rules and patience as raising a human child, but a puppy is only able to learn what we teach them and they do not speak our language. The rules can’t vary from one person to the next—that only confuses the dog and frustrates the family. With that said, you must establish all this before your puppy comes home.
Kick-off your preparation with a base shopping list for your pup:
🐾 SHOPPING LIST:
Collar
Leash
Harness
Nametag
Crate: Large enough to house your dog at its adult size. Use the included divider while
your puppy is growing.
Crate pad or blankets: Start with blankets to see what your puppy’s destruction level is.
Bowls: For larger dog breeds, select elevated dishes for better digestion and to aid in the
prevention of Bloat ( a condition where the stomach flips from inhaling food too quickly.
Think back to Marley & ME)
Age- and size-appropriate toys
Bed
Nature’s Miracle or other enzyme-based cleaners for cleaning messes
Potty bells
Sour spray: Bitter Apple or Phooey
Brush
Nail clippers (If you’re comfortable doing them)
Toothbrush
🐾 Necessary Contacts:
Vet : _____________________________________________________________
Groomer: _________________________________________________________
Trainer: __________________________________________________________
Dog daycare: ______________________________________________________
🐾 Coming Home and Getting Through the First Few Nights and Training
With your choice made, puppy picked out and your prep work complete, you’re now able to bring your new family member home.
The first thing to remember is how nervous the pup or adult dog may be on their first several nights home. An excellent way to alleviate this is to purchase a stuffed toy and blanket and leave them with your pup after choosing it and before bringing it home. These items will collect the scent of the litter and mom to help ease the pup’s transition. Obviously, this may or may not be possible when rescuing your new dog.
Plan to pick your pup up during a time when losing some sleep won’t be a huge issue, as you may have a few nights of limited sleep. This block of time will also allow your pup to have some bonding time with you and your family.
Now, on to getting through those first few nights and puppyhood. Crate training, potty training and feeding go hand in hand. I will explain along the way.
CRATE TRAINING:
I promise crates are not cruel. By nature, dogs are den animals, and their crate becomes a den. Crates are the dog equivalent to a playpen for a child and yes, they make playpens for dogs too.
Think about a baby. A parent would not leave a baby unattended for, even for a few short moments. The parent would make sure the baby was someplace safe from harm while they are out of sight. A puppy is a baby. Like a human baby, they don’t know the dangers of the world or what’s safe to put in their mouths.
A crate or playpen is the best way to keep your pup safe. As an added bonus, most dogs’ instincts keep them from pottying where they sleep. Making crate training a key element in housebreaking keeps your puppy and house safe.
Crate training varies in ease by the dog, but one consistency is a dog can learn most anything that their person teaches them and follows through on. Specifically, something as natural for a dog as a den.
Your first few nights will be the hardest, but this is mostly due to them being away from their siblings and mother, and adjusting to a new environment. The scented blanket and toy will help with the adjustment.
When preparing to put your puppy to bed, calmly walk toward them and lead them to the crate with a toy or treat. Make this as fun as you can. As the dog enters the create, simply tell them “go to bed,” “kennel up,” “in” or “crate.”. Whatever word you choose, be consistent with it. Release the treat and reward with a “good girl/boy” as they go inside.
Some Get lucky and have a puppy who takes right to the crate and never have an issue. The fact that a lot of breeders now use some form of a crate helps this process. Others get the bellowers, and some get the in-betweener.
If you get the screamer or the in-betweener, it’s important that you stand your ground and do not go get them. Puppies learn quickly how to get heir way. Ignore it, turn the on the TV or do something else and let them go to sleep.
Again, some will get lucky and get a pup that sleeps straight through the night, and some will wake and need to potty. If your pup doesn’t wake you overnight, don’t wake it. This creates a rather annoying habit that you will regret later on.
If it does wake you, take it straight out to potty and back to bed. This will likely start the crying all over again. Use the same process as before, and your puppy will start to figure it out within a few days to a week.
🐾 Key Crate Training Points:
Select a crate that will house your puppy at its adult size and use the included divider.
Never use the crate as punishment!
Make it fun and stress-free as possible to get them into the crate.
Take collars off in crates, as they can be a safety hazard.
If your puppy struggles with crate training, you can also do small segments of time
throughout normal hours to help acclimate it. Use the same process
but have them in a few minutes at a time. Only let it out of the crate when the pup is
calm and quiet. Do this throughout the day, slowly increasing the time as they improve.
Cover the crate with a blanket for a more den-like feel.
Keep a blanket or towel with your own scent on it to give the puppy while it’s in
the crate.
You can also use a Kong toy to help soothe your puppy’s behavior while
crated.
Patience and love
When used appropriately, crate training is not the enemy and can be a wonderful tool to help keep your puppy safe, curb destructive behaviors and potty train your puppy.
Puppies or dogs should never be left in a crate for more than eight hrs at a time, which is a typical night’s sleep or workday. If your workdays are longer or you have plans, look into a dog daycare or dog-walking service to avoid boredom. Boredom and lack of exercise are the leading cause of destructive behaviors and most behavioral issues.
🐾 Potty Training
Potty training can be one of the most frustrating processes and takes tons of patience, consistency and routine. The first thing to remember is that your puppy only has the ability to hold their bladder for about an hour per month old they are. So your 8- to 10-week-old puppy only has about 2 to 2.5 hrs of control.
Here are the basics of potty training:
If you can’t watch them contain them
Scheduled feed and control water: This allows you to have a general idea of when a potty trip is
needed and have some control over it.
When you first bring them home—maybe your first week—take them out once every hour or two.
This is mainly so you learn their schedule and signs.
Take the puppy out on a leash. This keeps them on task. Like a human child, they will
get sidetracked and forget to go.
Use the same door every time and add potty bells to said door. Before you go out the
door, ring the bells. You can fuss with it and try to teach them to touch the bells, but it’s not necessary.
Your puppy will do it on its own once it makes the association between the bells and potty time.
As for your walking during potty trips, give it a “go potty” command. Once it goes potty, offer
immediate praise and a treat reward.
Be forgiving of accidents and use specific cleaners for urine clean up, regular household cleaner
will set the smell in—if it smells like a potty, it is a potty. If your dog or puppy that’s housebroken
or close to it starts having sudden consistent accidents, consult your vet to check for issues such as
urinary tract infections. An occasional accident is nothing to worry about, but frequent ones can
indicate a potential issue.
Do not yell or discipline over an accident. This will only make you pup less willing to go to the
bathroom anywhere near you. If you catch it in the act, you can make a noise like a clap or
pick it up. This should stop it midstream and allow you to rush it out to the appropriate spot. It may
take a minute to restart the flow after the interruption.
Know your key potty times:
Immediately after waking up
After a play session
– 15-30 minutes after eating or drinking
Patience and consistency are key to achieving potty training success. You can expect to start to see some success around four months with the potty training. Keep in mind, this will vary by dog.
One component to factor in is small breed versus medium/large breeds. Small dogs can be a bit more difficult, due to their smaller systems. It’s not just their bodies that are tiny, so they may require more trips. Larger dogs’ bladders grow along with them, meaning they gain control a bit quicker than their tiny counterparts. This doesn’t mean one is easier than the other, as I’ve seen dogs totally opposite of this commonality.
Anytime your puppy has an accident—whether it be chewing something or pottying on your floor—your first question needs to be “why wasn’t I watching my puppy?” Remember, dogs can learn to do almost anything we teach them, but they will only learn what we teach them.
🐾 Training, Daycares, & Groomers :
As you are going through your checklist, I’m sure you noticed I added a trainer, daycare and groomer in the necessary contacts section. You want to start all three of these as soon as possible
.
Depending on your dog’s breed and coat, you will have varied grooming needs. The earlier you start the grooming habit, the better. This includes you brushing the coat in between full grooms and touching feet, ears, and teeth to get them used to it. Your groomer will thank you, and you won’t pick up the dreaded had-to-be-shaved dog.
Daycares are wonderful places for playtime, socialization and exercise. Unlike the free dog parks, dog daycares are monitored for proper vetting and that the dogs coming in are temperament tested to ensure a proper fit in playgroups. Most dog daycares also offer boarding services, if that’s something you may need at some point. This allows your dog to play while you are at work and busy. So you can bring home an exercised and tuckered-out dog at the end of your day. Most daycares start with a day where they have your dog come in to make sure they are going to like the daycare environment. They also typically offer full and half days, typically in packages of some sort.
Last but not least, my personal favorite: training. Training may seem like something you can just read a book on or go online to learn everything you need. Yes, there is a lot of info available, but you can’t always trust the information you find online. Much like this booklet you’re reading, what you read in a book or online is primarily one person’s viewpoint and opinion on the subject. I will use the human child comparison again. Not many people would willingly decide to strictly homeschool their child and not socialize them. That’s not considered ideal for a child, so why is it okay for a puppy to not have a professional teacher and never see the outside world. A trainer is not just training your dog, they are there to help you along the way with the challenges you may face while training your dog. They also demonstrate proper methods while allowing you to watch, learn and then try yourself. Training is a wonderful way to establish proper leadership and build strong, lasting bonds with our four-legged family members. Training is also a great tool for mental stimulation. There is very little that a dog can’t be taught to do with the proper methods. My favorite four sayings in regards to dog training are:
“ It’s amazing what a dog can do, if you give them a second to think”
“Dogs do speak, but only to those who are listening”
“If you don’t train me, Don’t blame me”
“ A tired dog is a happy dog… work your dog”
And my own personal business line is “ Train with love, not fear”
With that said, not all trainers are created equal. Select carefully. Ask about training methods, experience, and visit their sites, social media, website, google pages, etc. to look at reviews.
In my opinion, look for trainers who work with positive, reward-based training. Steer clear of ones who jump directly prong collars, shock collars, which they disguise as e-collars to make them sound better, and noise cans.
Don’t mistake me as someone whos against the using them. I’m honestly not at all. They are wonderful tools when used properly and excellent in some cases. However, that is not the case with puppies. I don’t believe there is any reason at all to start with those tools before positive methods have proven ineffective, which is rarely the case.
The earlier you start these tasks, the better your bond will be with your pup and the happier your dog will be with its life. Dogs love to have things to do, as they were not designed to be the couch potatoes that we have a habit of being ourselves.
Remember, dogs we domesticated to perform various tasks for us. Keeping your dog physically and mentally stimulated will curb unwanted behavioral issues before they start or help to eliminate them if they are pre-existing. Behavioral issues are the leading cause of dogs being surrendered to shelters. Proper training and exercise can help to put a stop to this issue and keep dogs in their homes forever.
Congratulations on your new family member. I wish you a long and happy life together! Happy training.
For more topics and information, please visit www.smartypawsk9university.com or visit my Facebook page @ fb.me/smartypawspositivedogtraining
Smarty Paws K9 University LLC
