Help just bought a maltese puppy 13 weeks old coming home with us on friday

[Deereemer]

Help! This is a much wanted pet and will be very much in the family forever, bought from a reputable registered breeder, met mum and all the pups it was great. Hes coming home in 2 or 3 days, any advice on a new puppy welcomed. Do i wear him in a doggy sling to bond? Buy a crate? Got the food ordered. He has already had his second vaccination so can we start going on day trips with him? Thank you!!

I feel like people are being unfair on the OP, you can research all you like beforehand but nothing prepares you for it really, and there is nothing better than 1st hand information from current dog owners.

But most people get all that information before even putting their names down, not two or three days before the puppy is due to come home.

Generally the message on mn is to adopt an older dog so I'm not sure how that squares with saying having a 13 week old puppy will be an issue. A registered breeder will socialise their puppies and they'll come with a lot less challenges than an adult dog who's been neglected or abused especially for an inexperienced owner. My dog was nearly 10 weeks when I got her. She was secure enough to sleep through from night 1.

we dropped off a piece of our clothing that smelled like us at the breeder so he could get used to our scent, think this made his first night calmer and possibly helped bonding

MN is not the best place for advice about dogs IMO, even in the dedicated section (the Doghouse). There is a puppy survival thread that looks quite supportive, but otherwise MN is not a great source of information. Far too many self-styled experts give useless and even harmful advice, as seen in this very thread. I'm also not a fan of the Facebook group that has been mentioned. Although their overall ethos seems excellent, their advice is often perfunctory (or unrealistic) and the tone really put me off.

My experience: I've had dogs for decades. I don't use slings or crates. In the early weeks, I keep a puppy with me in one or two rooms of the house when we are inside, shutting doors or gating off the rest of the house. It makes supervision easier during the house training process and it helps to form that all important bond. I also ignore the 5 minutes per month of age "rule" WRT exercise, as it has no basis in research that I have ever seen. Though your puppy will be tiny, so I imagine will need less exercise than my much larger dogs.

And my advice FWIW (though feel free to ignore it!). Enjoy your puppy, learn all you can from professionals and also from dog owners you trust. You will make mistakes. We all do. That is part and parcel of life with dogs. But the benefits of having a dog in your life are amazing.

@fairylightsandwaxmelts good point! Yes I must say I did most of my research before making final decision.

The puppy survival thread on here is great, for moral support if nothing else.

MN is not the best place for advice about dogs IMO, even in the dedicated section (the Doghouse).

Well, that kind of goes without saying...or should, anyway.