New pup incoming… what do I need?

[3oldladiesstuckinalavatory]

After years of careful research and deliberation/procrastination we’ve finally bitten the bullet and gave chosen our pup. She’s a mixed breed, mostly poodle but with some border collie thrown in there too.
She’s crate trained, so I’ve found one on Facebook marketplace for her that should be big enough to be a safe place for her to hide from the cat (and us, if she needs to!) and will buy a new dog bed, food and toys. I’ve ordered a selection of dog training books (one specifically for poodles). Our garden needs dog proofing I guess? What else? Grew up with dogs but it’s all so different now 😱.

I dont want to derail op thread further but youve already backtracked from saying

My biggest tip is until dog is 1 year old only let then go 1 metre away from you on a walk, at 2 years it's 2 metres, 3 years 3 metres etc.

By later saying your 2 yo was 2 fields away.

You may not be explaining yourself well but saying dont walk a puppy outside the house until youve mastered on and off lead heel is ridiculous. Its setting people up to fail.

You obviously haven't read my post properly. I said "when my dog is working it can be up to 2 fields away", outside of it working then yes they are always in that close. It is called proximity training- you make that circumference around you the most exciting place in the world for the pup. They then get further range when training or working as you have to have distance for recall/dummy work etc but yes, for general walks they are kept in proximity.

"Its setting people up to fail" no, it's setting dog and handler up to win! By ensuring your pup can walk to heel on a lead in the garden before going out on walks you set it up to win!

My pups start walking outside the garden when they are approx 16 weeks old. By that time they can do everything I listed in my first post. The outside world is then where you start building in distractions and proofing those techniques.

What sets a pup up to fail is letting it pull it's way around the pavements, not teaching recall or manners before going out into the world. No wonder there are so many untrained dogs and entitled owners around 🙄

Apart from the pulling on lead, which is a work in progress, none of that applies to my puppy. She's always off lead. Has excellent recall until deer are involved. Only approaches other dogs and people that she is allowed to meet and greet. Doesn't have SA. And is over all a very confident, little dog.
She's just allowed more freedom to roam on walks. A dog can follow a scent for 25 metres and still be trained.

That's great but my response was to a PP who claimed a proven and tested method, nonsense!

Where are the cages if not in the main house?

We have a toy poodle and a poodle chihuahua cross. The first thing we found out when they arrived from rescue is that a good groomer is hard to find and they get booked up very quickly. I would suggest you do some research now and make a booking. Ours offers a puppy service starting with just a bath and introduction to grooming to be sure they enjoy the experience later on.

Their utility room - it is in the main house, but has its own entrance. Our house is not so big, we’ll have the crate downstairs in a sitting room off the kitchen.

Another excellent point! My friend’s a dog groomer but she’s always busy. I’ll give her a call next week.

If you can swing it space wise, I’ve found a play pen a useful addition. So for my pup crate = sleep time- no toys etc to distract from the job of sleeping
playpen = amuse yourself quietly with your toys/chew and nap if you like

My top tip is, if you look for a gun dog trainer and they’re positively dripping with arrogance and telling you that you’re doing it all wrong unless you follow their incredibly restrictive rules, run a mile.

The first trainer I spoke to on the phone was like that. I had to tell him several times that my Labrador puppy is a pet, I’m not training him with the hopes of him being a field trial champion.

The next gun dog trainer I spoke to was much more suitable. She was down to earth, positive and encouraging, didn’t belittle me once or try and laud her ‘experience’ over me because of some strange but misplaced superiority complex. And she very much understood that a pet dog does not need to be trained to working dog standards (which, funnily enough, still means you can teach your dog manners and good recall etc - after all, there is a gulf of difference between ‘highly trained working dog’ and no training at all)

Is that aimed at me?
I'm not the one calling other posters ridiculous 🙄

I think I've recommended it on here, but Puppy Perfect by Dr. Linda Simon is a really terrific read for new dog owners.

I'd get lots of food puzzles- our current ones are lick mats, the middle sized Kong and some feeding balls (plastic balls with holes, for her kibble).

Register at a vet asap as ours had a 3 week wait and we needed to get 2nd vaccine done. Ended up having to go to the next county!!

I'm absolutely fascinated by Schrodinger's dog - both two metres away at all times, AND with perfect recall and under perfect control from two fields away. At the same time! It's a holy miracle! We should all be so grateful for being graced with such wisdom.

Piss-taking aside, the advice isn't helpful unless you actually explain how the two are linked and how you get from engagement and building a bubble to proofing a recall and commands at a distance.

OP, let your puppy off lead when young as they'll want to stay close to you and you can begin training recall then. But do work on engagement too - don't let them wander off because you're relying on your puppy recall, or you'll find you have to start from scratch when they hit adolescence and decide to bog off (ask me how I know).

I clearly made the distinction between working and non-working modes.

I didn't go into that because OP isn't going to work the dog. So I explained what I would do for a pet dog. It's called proximity training.

But yeh carry on with personal attacks. It elevates your post.

@twistyizzy Ah, but when I said there was a difference between working and non working dogs, you replied 'dogs are dogs'.
So your dogs don't lead boring lives, because they get to run whilst working. But a pet dog has to stay within close proximity. When do they get to run? Or swim? Or play with other dogs?