Dog mesh guard advice and travelling with puppy

[Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain]

Quick question. Asking for DP’s. So they’re collecting soon their new Labrador puppy from the breeder (someone may recall my other thread on this).

The journey is approx 3 hours away and that’s in good traffic. They’ve got a SUV and a larger sort of estate car (Alfa Romeo), are thinking about getting a dog guard mesh for the car plus comfy blanket and stopping for water break. Which dog guard is best and is that ok for an 8 week old puppy?

Also, they have a cat at home, how best to introduce both of them? Puppy is a female Labrador, not too lively. Cat has plenty of places to hide.

The poor mite has been taken away from all he knows. One of them should have him with them on the back seat reassuring him. Ours has a harness and a dog bed with bungee on the back seat to protect him.

Don’t introduce to the cat. Separate them and let the cat make the moves. You may need to separate them for many months. I say that as having a cat and dog household! Initially pup will be very wary of the cat but confidence grows! Better to start as you will need to go on.

Ok I had no idea that was an option and wasn’t sure how safe it was to be honest.

DM will be now be doing that with a harness, dog bed and bungee.

We discovered lots of places which now take dogs including a dog cafe near a local park they go to so plus lots of NT and EH sites so the pup will be socialised a lot.

That’s a good plan.

I think the house the pup comes from either has barn cats (country) or maybe one indoor one, but separated from pups and mother dog so pup will never have seen a cat in person as it were. The cat is pretty chilled though and friendly. But it’s her house for now.

I’m guessing the cat will do the normal thing of hissing and trying to work out what the pup is like.

DP’s are set to go on holiday (in UK though) leaving cat with cat sitter or in cattery but not til next month. Pup will be with them. And luckily they’re going near where my half brother has a dog training school which is perfect as he said he’ll help them train the pup. All this was organic not planned to a T.

The breeder had a toy and small blanket which had been with the mum and other pups and she gave me when we collected the pup. The smell can help settle them.
We took a doughnut bed, a harness and a dog car seat belt. I sat in the back with her and she sat in the doughnut bed next to me and slept most of the way. I wouldnt stick a puppy behind a cage on its first car drive home. Also take a towel incase it gets car sick, and a pop up water bowl for breaks. 😥

I had my puppy in soft crate strapped into the seat, and it was lined with puppy pads and a towel plus had spares in case of vom or toilet accidents, I had a journey of just over an hour and puppy screamed for 10 minutes then slept the rest of the way, please don't use one of the Julius harnesses above as they restrict shoulder movements, and I wouldn't harness and bungee a tiny pup on its first car trip as that is lot for a young puppy. I picked up my soft crate cheaply on marketplace and just washed it and disinfected it so it was safe to use.

Please use a travel crate !! Far too young to be in a harness / seatbelt adapter & soft bed would just slide on every corner.
line the crate with a puppy pad & put crate mat on the top. They usually give you something mum scented put that on the top for a familiar scent. If they fall asleep or are settled just keep on driving

We've brought four puppies home to a resident cat and never had a problem, though the puppies were all high-drive hunters (a JRT and working-line gundogs). We just kept the puppy either confined or under our eye and let the cat get on with it. It didn't take the cats much in the way of fluffing up, hissing and looking menacing to convince the puppies to play nice. One or two tried an experimental chase a few months in, but the cats just sneered and got out of the way.

We brought our puppy home in the back of the car - puppy wore a harness and seatbelt attachment but sat on my lap. We had a blanket etc. in case of accidents but after a bit of confusing crying he just fell asleep.

We had two resident cats at home and basically just let them get on with it. Our puppy was raised with cats (at the breeders) so was well used to them. The cats did a lot of curious sniffing and a bit of hissing but there were never any issues with them - dog is now six and we only have one of the OG cats left, but we've introduced two more kittens since then and it's always been fine.

Thanks all for your advice. The cat is less of an issue really as she really knows how to disappear if she needs to (in the house!) .

The mum scented is a good idea. One of my kittens had that before, well after we got him, a mum scented towel. It really helped in a way to settle him.

Not sure whether the harness is just an example of harness, or whether you are recommending a julius k9 harness.

but just wanted to say, do not get a julius k9 harness or a similar style. Honestly, horrible style of harnesses, they restrict the dogs shoulder movement and can cause issues, and they are remarkably easy to escape.

if you are going to use or need a harness something like a perfect fit one would be much better.

@123dogdog Pic was just a generic example of a harness. I had no idea that brand was so awful, but then I've never used it 😬

That the slight issue with one of the parents, it’s a working line gun dog. The other parent as far as I know is gun dog lines but not working.

So the pup will probably have prey instincts with the cat but I’ll let them get on with it.

I did speak to the friend who’s the breeder and she said, the resident house cat has met the puppies a few times but generally avoids them where they are. And she said there’s been no issues between both apart from hissing from cat and curiosity from young over exuberant puppies who have no idea what a cat is like!

All of my dogs have been out of working parents. I think the only issue would be if a cat is old or infirm, because dogs can spot weakness - one of mine did try and chase an elderly cat a few times, but she soon knocked it off.

Prey-driven dogs can co-exist perfectly well with cats, chickens etc provided they are familiarised with them and taught to leave them alone. Local friends have things like lurchers and working-line springers who live with cats and chickens.

Just keep an eye, intervene if necessary, and you should be fine.

For the first journey home please think of the poor creatures welfare at being taken away from all it knows.

One person should be in the back alongside or holding the puppy.

A soft travel crate strapped in to the back seat is the safest, with someone next to it with a hand in - it's probably too small for a harness and shouldn't be loose on someone's lap.

If they’ve got a cat, I’d assume they have a cat carrier… I’d use that to take the puppy home.

re introducing the cat, I’m not a huge fan of leaving them to it, I don’t think it’s fair on the cat.

i do it at the cats pace, if the cat wants to avoid the dog I let them, when the cat starts to come investigate I use a longline and teach the dog to ignore the cat and get a reward for coming to me.

If the puppy is curious (which is normal) and the cat is at all timid, and you don’t control it you get a puppy chasing a cat until the cat finally gets scared enough to do something about it.

Much less stressful in the cat to never be chased and stops the puppy from thinking that’s a fun game.