Puppy essentials

[ItchyKondera]

Looking for your advice!!

Puppy picture attached as he is so cute

Picking up puppy in a couple weeks (Beagle x Poodle) - both me and DH had dogs in the family as kids, but that was a fair few years ago.

Can I ask you what your puppy essentials are? What can you not live without / best buy? What is a waste of money?

We have a crate, dog bed, poo bags obv, some toys

There is so much out there, and I am sure it is like having a baby - you don't need half the stuff but you buy it anyway in the excited planning phase, before reality and sleepless nights hit

thanks!

Bowls.
Some of the food the breeder is using - go slowly if you want to switch to something else.
Anti-bac cleaner and rolls and rolls of kitchen towel
Towel to dry wet puppy (rain, bath, whatever - we just use our old ones)
An appointment with the vet for vaccinations and flea and worm treatment.
Training treats and a good training book

For a bit later:
You won't need a collar and lead yet but it won't hurt to get them soon, so your puppy can get used to the collar indoors, and then to dragging the lead before going out.
An ID tag. I prefer the slide-on brass ones from Identitag that you can use with a buckle (but not a clip) collar. Slide-ons don't get lost and if you are paranoid like me you can make sure the address is on the side out of view, to reduce the chance of dog theft.
Stuff to chew.

And patience. Lots and lots of lots of patience.

Toys and chews, stuff that you can teach him is his.

A bed to start teaching him is his,

A tea towel to freeze for teething.

A kong or two. Fill with squeeze cheese or peanu butter and freeze.

cocktail sausages for training, cut up small.
Easy easy puppy squeaky book

Wine or gin for you.

Defiantly enzyme cleaner to mop up accidents and deter pup from going back to the same spot. We used simple solutions from pets at home/amazon.
If you have a car you will need to think about how your going to safely transport pup.
Poo bag dispenser that you clip onto lead so your never without them.
Puppy shampoo. Our pup was pretty whiffy!
Baby gates were a must for us to prevent pup from going upstairs but will depend on your house.

Insurance

(unless you have at least £7k in readily accessible savings which you do not mind spending at the vets, or paying other third parties to make good accidents your dog has caused)

Where will the puppy sleep? Are you going to use a crate?

We have a crate, and blankets - will probably sleep in our room then will slowly move him downstairs

Insurance sorted, vet sorted, health check sorted.
Poo bags / dispenser
Got a car harness attachment jobby

Ooh puppy shampoo - will get that on order today

We have a 4 year old and 7 year old so luckily still have baby gates we can use on the stairs at least

Puppy classes sorted - they come to the house so thats good

Hadn't thought of teething things - thank you!

Having flashbacks to sleepless nights with babies who were AWFUL at night - thinking it can't be worse? But with more poo....?

One are no cost. Training. Repeatedly. Short sessions several times a day, every single day. Not "later" or "tomorrow". Your puppies character and behaviour are set now. But can last a lifetime. What may be cute now may not be in six months or two years.

Take blankets with you when you collect puppy to rub on mum and siblings, this helped my boy settle in crate first night. He cried for 15 minutes and then slept till 3.30 am. We put down training pads in crate, but all he did was rip them up, so we ditched them and put newspaper down.

Absolutely agree with @Moondust001 start training as soon as you can - a few minutes a day. And start getting used to being brushed if its a dog that needs grooming.

Getting them used to stuff early on is so important!

We put quite a lot of time in to brushing very gently, handling paws and pads, ears and under legs - getting her used to all that.

We taught her to take treats gently - hold something that smells nice in a closed fist and she gets it when she takes her nose away and takes it gently - it can be a game.

Expect lots of sleepless nights - and biting. If they are biting and acting like a loon they are probably tired and need encouraged to sleep. The most effective with ours at teaching that biting people (or mouthing) isn't OK was to just ignore her - turn our backs or step out of the room and shut the door for a minute. They do grow out of it.

Teaching leave, sit, down and stay. Also teaching her not to get in the dishwasher - or the bin - or to chase the cat.

Things we should have done and didn't - teaching settle, , that the front door bell isn't a cue to have a massive barkfest.

The thing we didn't teach and are now really regretting is that being on her own is OK - building it up gradually so that her world doesn't fall in when she's left on her own.

thank you all so much. We are going back to see him next week, so will take a blanket and toy with us he can then bring with him the following week.

Our dog was really travel sick when a puppy, so keep things for clearing that up in your car at all times just in case. Sick bags, wipes, cloths etc.

Kong toys for chewing and keeping him entertained.

A rota dog who’s going to take him out for toilet training every hour.

(for you) Booze of any kind.

• rota for

Oh and take her out before she gets her vaccinations, just so she hears and smells different things than your house, getting her used to the car etc. You can't put her on the ground till second vaccs. Unless you know it's a safe place.

But you can take out to the park and sit on a bench quietly and watch the world go by and see things like children on bikes, other people than you etc.

And teach the kids how to play gently and that puppy needs a safe place not to get disturbed.

Really, buy the easy peasy puppy squeazy book.