Long trip bringing home new puppy - advice needed

[Avantia]

We are picking up a 9 week old puppy in a few days time and it will be about a 3 hour trip back home with it .

It may be the case that we have to stop on way home either for toilet for her or feeding .

She would have had her 8 week jab but obviously still too young to socialise with other dogs etc . Would we be ok if we stopped at a motorway service station found somewhere quiet for her to do her 'business' and feed her . Obvioulsy we would make sure that she is not in contact with any other dogs. But would she be ok if on grass that other dogs may have used ? or let her do it on newspaper ?

Thanks

Itll be fine. Try and make sure it's in a quiet area where it looks safe and clean (ish) - you won't kill her. Give her a little stretch of the legs, a small play with a toy, small cuddle, something to eat and then carry on.

Congrats on the new pup!! (what kind?)

Just find a quiet area and you'll be fine. Vet once told me that most vets think the advantages of socialising a puppy asap (not that you'll be doing that at service area) far outweigh the risk of catching anything before the 10 week point.

Thanks .

Its a black lab , all very excited !

Just be very careful about getting her in and out without her getting loose and running off. Very sadly I have heard of a couple of tragic incidents where rescue volunteers or new owners have been at service stations for a wee break (or to hand the dog over to the next transporter in a bit-by-bit, multi-person journey in the case of moving a rescue dog).

You might feel its a good idea to attach a lead from your pup to the dog guard or crate so that when you open the door/hatch she has no chance of going anywhere.

For that reason rescue will also advise having a slip lead on the dog as well as a normal one and making the normal one a long, training lead. That way if she slips her collar you still have her leaded up and if she does get loose you can stamp on a long lead and stop her from going any further.

Hi Vallhala

Yes that is another concern of ours , we have puppy collar & lead , and as slip lead ready for the trip.!

See you all on the doggy threads.

Personally I wouldn't, my concern wouldn't be other dogs but foxes, still not a huge risk but not worth taking imo.

We brought our 10 week old pup home on Saturday which was a 2 1/2 hour journey and he was fine, though he did vomit a few times, take plenty of towels, wipes and plastic bags.

Make sure she has wee'd before you set off and she is very unlikely to need to go, it would be unkind to feed her as is just likely to make her throw up more, for the same reason the breeder will not usually feed her on the morning you collect.

Good luck with her .

We had a three hour drive when we collected Patch. As WildThings suggested, he had not been given very much food that day in case of car sickness. He had a very comfy dog carrier with a blanket from his mum, a soft toy and a hot water bottle.

We did stop half way through for a wee, although he did not do one. Neither was he interested in drinking water (between 8 and 12 weeks he preferred goat's milk to water). All in all, he slept for most of the journey and it was a lot less stressful than we had guessed. Dh was shattered by the end of the day, and luckily my Mum helped out with the dc. The journey would have been too long and boring for them, so even though they thought it unfair, they did not come to collect the puppy.

I'm collecting my 11 week old puppy in 9 days and it will be a 3 hour journey home with him.
I'm not 100% certain but I don't think we'll be stopping off on the way home. I'll have a couple or towels and some puppy pads. He won't be ready for walks until a couple of days after we get home.
I'm really looking forward to getting him and my fear is slowly fading