Top tip for new puppy

[Needsomezzzz]

Hi, we are picking up our puppy next week...if you had one top tip for us what would it be? Thanks!!

Socialise them as much as you can.
And be patient with them needing the toilet, it takes time!

Build a really good bond with fuss and play.

Training starts day one. House training. Recall. Socialisation. Sit. Down. Stay. Etc.

It’s much easier to train a dog into good behaviour than out of bad behaviour. Five mins a day ( other than socialisation and house training) using their meals as encouragement is all it takes to build good foundations

Ask the breeder to allow you to take the blanket from their bed home with you and don’t go crazy on bed hygiene (eg washing blankets and bed). Puppies need a safe place that smells safe too. Consider a crate so that the puppy has a safe place to relax without being disturbed

Get really good insurance.

Our puppy had/has epilepsy. We would be screwed without insurance.

Get the book Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy and also join the FB group “Dog training advice and support” - they have loads of guides once you join which are fabulous. Their toilet training one amazing and if you follow it, you’ll crack it within a few weeks.

Everyone thinks their puppy bites excessively and starts worrying it might be aggressive or too much. It’s not - they really do bite that much. It’s worse when they’re tired so enforce naps, but it’s a phase you have to get through. There comes a point when you just realise they haven’t done it for ages (although that point may not come for about nine months). Wellies in the house and keep small children away from them (puppies and under-5s are not a good mix!)

Don’t listen to anyone who tells you to put the puppy on its own in the crate in the kitchen on the first night and let it cry it out. It’s a baby, it’s left its mum, siblings, home, familiar smells and everyone it knows. It’s really scared and it needs reassurance. Put it in its crate in your bedroom at first (we had two, one upstairs and one downstairs). That also means when it wakes to toilet, you’ll wake up too and can scoop it up and get out to the garden at 3am for a wee (get used to being in the garden in your PJs for a few weeks).

Socialisation between 8-16 weeks is crucial as this is the time when the puppy’s brain is learning from its experiences. If it can’t go out due to not having had its vaccinations, that just means it can’t go on the floor where lots of potentially unvaccinated dogs have been. You can take it to the house or garden of well-mannered vaccinated dogs to meet them, and it’s crucial you show it lots of smells and sights - get a puppy sling and carry puppy to lots of new places. Go sit on a bench at the train station, outside the supermarket, the playground….anywhere you basically want your puppy to be fine and relaxed about in future. Feed tasty treats while they’re there to start building positive associations with new places.

Puppy blues are real. It’s exhausting and such hard work and you will have moments of regret and feeling like you’ve made a huge mistake. Hang in there - it honestly does get easier. And you’ll have the best boy/girl ever, we all own the best dog in the world 😊

Sorry, that was way more than one tip. But it’s the most useful info I had which helped massively!

crate train immediately

mine absolutely LOVES her now and sleeps 7.30-7.30 without so much as a squeak

Crate and enforced naps.

Crate train (properly) from the minute they arrive. There are resources online telling you how to do this effectively. Wear an old t shirt for a few days before hand and let them have that in the crate, and have a clock that ticks loudly or a radio on quietly overnight. You'll have to sleep nearby at first so you can get them outside quickly to toilet.

Puppies need naps like babies - put them in the crate during the day for naps - you'll have to do this gradually by only leaving them for seconds at first - move in and out of the room (this will be covered by crate training info online) if they fall asleep on you/the floor - gently place in the crate.

Have a sectioned off part of the garden for toileting if possible, so they don't get distracted farting about all over the garden when you take them out to pee. Use a key word every time they go, and give lots of praise. Keep some of their food allowance in a pot by the door to use for toilet treats.

Don't encourage them to jump up you by leaning down and fussing them when they do it - seems cute when they're little but when you've got a fully grown dog leaping up it's not as much fun. Fuss them when they are seated or have all paws on the floor.

If you have visitors, don't leave the puppy loose and allow it to run up to people. Have it behind a stair gate or something and wait for visitors to come in and settle before introducing the puppy calmly.

This is all fabulous! Thank you so much!

do you have young children op?

Socialisation and get them used to being left alone - you don't want an adult dog that can't be left without a whole load of faff beforehand speaks from experience.

Crate training will save (most of) your sanity!

Watch fireworks for dogs on YouTube.

Religiously give a treat every time you call your puppy.

Your puppy will naturally follow you in the first few weeks... tap your leg and say heel while walking a few steps. If you live in a quiet neighbourhood, do the same up and down your road for a few minutes. No lead required!

Watch out for other training opportunities: puppy eating your slippers... get a treat and to. Ask to drop with treat and replace slippers with suitable toy. No need for shouting.

Do a vet check at least every 2-3 days to get puppy used to being touched.

Socialise, socialise, socialise. So so important. We have a rescue that we got at 10 months. He was never socialised. In fact never taken out at all so when we got him he was terrified of everything - trees, grass, birds etc etc.

He is now 11 and although a lot better he still is scared of lots of things and doesn't really like other people or dogs (although has never tried to bite or snap) which makes life pretty difficult.

He has seen quite a few dog behaviourists but they all say his problems are because he was never socialised

In addition to what others have said, consistency is key and you all need to be on the same page.

About 6 months in, we realised we were using different words for commands and as I spent most of my time with the dog, he'd listen to me and not others.

As an example, if dog was on the sofa and I wanted him off, I'd say off so this was what he knew. Others would say down, which is the word I used for him to lie down, so it seemed to confuse him while he was still learning.

Paws on the floor (for greeting, attention etc), lead training from day 1, recall from day 1, and absolutely zero tolerance on fingers or human parts in puppy mouths. The last is about teaching their humans rather than the puppy I'm afraid.
Apart from that, get some nice crocs as you are going to be going outside A LOT. Just putting your puppy in the garden or leaving the door open doesn't toilet train them - you have to take them out everytime they wake up, or every 15 minutes and wait until they toilet so you can reinforce their toileting word and praise them while they toilet.

Socialise as much as possible as soon as possible.

Yes definitely socialise the pup just carry around take .them out and about.

This is all so helpful! Thank you. My kids are 10 and 12 so old enough to do the training with us.
Training, consistency, praise and reward seem to be the theme!
We have vets booked and insurance sorted too.
Love this site

Don't bother with expensive toys. An old plastic 0.5l coke bottle (lid removed) will provide hours of noisy fun!

When we got our puppy at 9 weeks (not our rescue dog) we didn't want him to go in our bedroom so we took it in turns to sleep on the settee with him in his crate next to us. We gradually moved the crate away from the settee and, after about 2 weeks, he was fine downstairs on his own.

We were lucky that he had been crate trained by his breeder and until he died at 12 loved his crate and would almost always choose to sleep in it even though he was allowed on the settees and there were 2 dog beds downstairs

Great thread. We're collecting our pup in 2 weeks time. I read through the puppy survival thread on here which was useful. Good luck!

‘Come’ is a very important command for your dog. Practise it using an high excited voice every single day ( multiple times a day for puppy) and reward. Always always reward and praise your dog for coming back to you even if he/she just had to sniff for a few mins before doing so!