1 new puppy and many questions

[Kahlua4me]

Hello.
We collected puppy today after only seeing him and deciding yesterday, long story but we are all really happy. He is westie/highland terrier cross and very, very cute.

He is currently being fed raw, frozen food so thought it best to carry on for now. Is that best or would dried food be better?

What is the best method for toilet training? It has been so long since I had a puppy that I simply can't remember how we did it....

Lastly, do we simply put him to bed tonight and leave him or go into him if he is crying in the night?

Thank you very much for any help you can send my way.

Well first of all we need to see a photo.
We used puppy pads for our Goldie but I knew most people on here don't like them. Once we removed them though he got it pretty quickly. I know most people just take the puppy out to the toilet very frequently instead but as I said puppy pads worked ok for us
We had pup in a separate room I. His crate at night from day one. He cried for the first couple of nights and I slept in the sofa but again he got it pretty quickly and happily used his crate until he outgrew it and now sleeps in the same spot in his bed

How old is he?

Given the speed in buying him, I would make the vets my first post of call, to ensure he's the age you were expecting and is healthy. Also to arrange jabs.

Is he microchipped?

Your questions, personally if aim for complete set food, just because that's my preference. Depending on the overall health and she of the pup, you can make the change very slowly or quicker.

I just put pup to bed and she settled fine for the first 6 hours of the night. I was up with her every hour ish after then, but only for the first couple of nights.

To let training, I made the mistake of paper training (wouldn't recommend). It would be better to go straight into taking dog out into garden every 1h ish and give fuss and a treat is he does anything while outside. Ignore accidents.

This is an excellent guide to toilet training.

It's a huge upheaval for what is essentially still a very tiny baby (presuming he's around the 8 week mark) and it's unfair to expect them to cope suddenly being asked to sleep completely alone when they're used to being in a heap with the littermates. I'd always either have the puppy in the bedroom until they're more settled then gradually move them to wherever I wanted them to sleep long term or do the opposite and sleep downstairs with them and gradually retreat back into the bedroom.

If you're planning on crate training then this guide is really worth a read. At no point during during crate training should your pup every whine or cry or become distressed, if they do then you're moving too fast and you need to back up a step or two.

Keep him on whatever the breeder has been feeding him for now. It's pretty normal for a puppy to have a bit of an upset stomach when they're first brought home and it could make it worse if you're trying to change food over as well. Once he's settled in nicely you can then gradually swap him over on to whatever it is you want to feed him.

Our pup already had a crate with her mum and litter. So we continued crate training. She only had nighttime accidents the first two nights.

The first night we settled he in her crate and sat near her until she settled then got up every hour and a half with her. Over the next week we made the gaps bigger. We didn't talk to her. Just put her out then back in her crate.

After a week we didn't need to get up at night at all.

In her crate we put blankets that the kids slept with for a few nights before and a cuddly toy of ds' that was about the same size as her. She slept draped over the cuddly toy for the first few nights. And a water bowl.

During the day, we put her out every hour when awake. But also after we played with her, as soon as she woke up, after she ate. We also stayed out until she did something. We never brought her in until she did.

Food is a difficult one. I don't want to raw feed so don't. However she was on dried food when we got her, so we continued that.

Ah, thank you for your responses, very helpful.

I completely forgot to put his age, sorry. He is 12 weeks old and we got him from a friend who owns both parents. It is the first time they have had pups so he was in the dark really.

He had them all microchipped and has paid for all their injections. All us new owners are going with him next week for the 2nd injections. He didn't want any money for puppies just good homes.

I will try to work out how to put a photo on.

Here he is

He's so gorgeous , I think if he were mine I'd spend the whole night cuddling him so he'd be sleeping wherever I was sleeping .

What's the other part of his cross?

Did you get the normal 4+ weeks of free insurance? If not I'd get some insurance set up straight away, just to be on the safe side.

As they've kept him longer than usual the breeders should have been doing plenty of socialisation with him. Have they been getting him out and about? This website is a great resource, it gives you lists of the sort of things which should be done during each of the puppies' developmental stages.

Well he slept right through the night until about 5.30am and the crate was dry! I had trouble sleeping though as kept wanting to see him and have a cuddle.

He has had quite a lot of socialisation as far as I know, certainly with their friends and they have very young children in the house every day so that is good for us. We have a dog savvy cat and they seem to be getting on fairly well so far...

Trionic
He is highland terrier/westie cross and very placid and gentle. We don't have any insurance so I will sort that out today. Thank you.

He's lovely! What's he called?

Bloody bybs.

Sorry I don't understand your post calmit

BYB: backyard breeder

So no health checks on the parents?

He is highland terrier/westie cross

Those are the same breed! "Westie" is just a nickname for the West Highland White Terrier. Do you mean he's Westie x Scottie (Scottish Terrier)? I could certainly buy that from the picture.

I ask about the cross as if he's come from a less than ideal breeder then chances are the parents weren't health tested. Some breeds share the same haritable health issues with the same genetic basis so crossbreeding alone isn't enough to avoid them. If they haven't been health tested (and if the breeder hasn't done their research into the health of the lines of each parent, there are plenty of health issues common to many breeds which can't currently be tested for) then it's sensible to know what health problems the puppy could potentially be affected by. Hence getting insurance sorted just in case!

With regards to the socialising they should have been carrying the puppy outside at experience new things not just having a stream of visitors round to the house.

I would Stick to raw if I were you, or do lots of research before changing it to understand the benefits. It is amazing food for them. If you choose kibble look very carefully at the ingredients and try and avoid any with any grain in them. There are some good ones but a lot are full of absolute crap especially in the cheaper end of the market. Avoid Bakers like the plague. You can easily get complete raw food from most good pet shops including pets at home so it is very easy, there is also a lot of companies who will deliver it so do some research.
Socialisation take your puppy out wherever possible but carry them until they have had injections. Walking up and down your local high street is always good as normally loads of people stop to say hello.
For toilet training I have got our dogs trained in a matter of days. We make the garden a boring place for them. No games or playing out there the garden at the beginning is just for going to the loo in. Whenever they wake up, after they have eaten and about every 20 minutes we put them on the lead and take them out ans use your code word like wee wee or whatever you choose. Once they have done something heaps of praise then straight in for games etc.it worked so well for us.
Congratulations and enjoy your gorgeous puppy.

Read the puppy plan website, socialisation isn't just meeting people in the house, you really need to put a proper plan in place like starting now to get him out and about and exposed to as much as possible.

I'm assuming it was an accidental litter if they've not charged for them? I mean it's not ideal but it's a hell of a lot better than someone breeding their pets for profit.

Love his ears!

Westies can often have very bad skin problems, do some research on it.

I would also stick to raw if that's what he's used to, especially as his breed is prone to the skin problems, because commercial pet food contains grains which can exacerbate the issue. Salmon oil, tripe, eggs etc also good additions to main meals. It's a great way of feeding, very easy to do with a smaller size dog, doesn't take much room in your freezer. Easy to buy ready mixed blocks from Pets@Home etc.

www.facebook.com/groups/rawfeedinguk/
dogsdinner2.webs.com/
www.facebook.com/groups/374160792599484/
www.youtube.com/user/kikopup

You are right trionic, he is a scottie/westie cross. My mistake!

All your messages have worried me as not sure what socialisation he has had so far and the worry part of me thinks, "Blimey I should have bought from a breeder who had carried out everything to the letter rather than someone who happened to have puppies."
They didn't have the pups to make a profit, far from it as they have paid for all injections, microchipping etc and have not charged us anything.

But we have him now and cant return him without distraught kids and dh so will plough on. He is very placid so far and seems to be doing ok.
Have organised puppy classes too.

Will be sticking to raw food as it does seem to suit him so not worth changing.