Could anyone help with some puppy questions please?

[ScrummyPup]

Lots of questions:

How do I stop puppy coming upstairs? Ignored at first, then a firm no, now ignoring again. She still comes upstairs.

Where do you put puppy poo?! Strange question I know, but what do you do until you put it out for collection?

Can anyone recommend a good puppy food please?

Did you do much training before puppy classes started at 12 wks?

How often do you wash bowls, kongs etc?

Many thanks.

Stair Gate for the stairs. Poo goes down the loo. Puppy fed on Burns puppy food. I would start training classes as soon as pup has had second jabs and can go down on the floor. Wash bowls after each use.

How do I stop puppy coming upstairs?

A stair gate

Where do you put puppy poo?! Strange question I know, but what do you do until you put it out for collection?

Check your local council site. Some are ok with it going down the toilet but some ask that it's bagged and put in the household waste bin. Ours is the latter so we pick up immediately, tightly bag it and we have a bucket in a cool, dark spot of the garden where the bags go until just before the bin is emptied.

Can anyone recommend a good puppy food please?

A breeder will generally send a puppy home with a supply of the food they have been weaned onto. If you want to change for whatever reason then this site is freat for comparing different brands. Personally I always go for high meat content and grain free, all mine are on Millie's Wolfheart dry with a small amount of Wainwrights grain free wet.

Did you do much training before puppy classes started at 12 wks?

Yes, training on the basics (especially recall in my case as I have sighthounds) starts the day they come home from their breeder. Socialisation is also incredibly important and you can carry your puppy out and about (providing you don't put them on the floor) before they've had their full course of vaccinations. You can also introduce them to adult dogs you know are fully vaccinated. This website is an excellent resource. As well as training classes, ringcraft classes can be an excellent opportunity for socialisation with a huge range of breeds and ages of dogs.

How often do you wash bowls, kongs etc?

After each use in this house.

Dpup never encouraged upstairs so just stayed away, we had planned on a stairgare.
We fed our pup raw when he arrived - he had no interest in kibble.
We put the poo in a bag and in household rubbish outside. Raw feed dogs have less poo and it's less smelly.
Would start on training the minute the pup arrives, agree recall is the most important skill to work on, while they are small they won't stray too far.

Thanks all. Pup is actually quite happy to stray far from my side, but starting on recall now. We have had her a week now and she will sit, stay and come, some of the time, but recall is obviously very, hit and miss.

I have the Pippa Mattinson recall book but haven't read it yet.

Puppy now has own poo bin in garden - how lovely!

Poo is bagged and goes in black bin outside, we feed James Wellbeloved and he seems happy and poos are good. We started recall training straight away-make sure treats are more appealing than whatever he wants to play with, I use hotdogs chopped very small and 99% of the time he will return on first calling. As for stairs he wasn't allowed up from day 1 and now never even tries, I have to carry him up for a shower! Our old dog had a stair gate as the bugger would run up as soon as our backs were turned!