Amber in AUS Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 We are getting a puppy :hurray: She is a whippet and 11 weeks old. We are picking her up from the airport on Thursday. I am hoping she wont be too scared from her long day in transit. She will be in transit for about 11 hours. What are your top tips for helping her to settle into our home? We already have a collar, lead, bed & food. I am going today to get her some dishes for water & food. I have done some reading and decided to give clicker training a go. We wont be crate training. She is also nameless at this point. I want something a little different that is easy to call out. Shortlisted so far we have Indy, Missie or Belle but i am open to your suggestions. I would prefer an animal name not a person name IYKWIM. We are really looking forward to her arrival :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 No tips but we'll need pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Aww! Whippets are adorable!! As for advice on adjusting, I'd just make sure I gave her a couple of days to "settle in." You know, just give her some space and let her get used to her new place. Nothing too overwhelming. No kids being overbearing. No taking her other places.....just let her "be" for a bit. Our dog's name is Chase, so I'm kind of partial to that (this was before I started hearing of little boys being named Chase). I like the name you mentioned, Indy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Ofcourse, just as soon as we meet her i will take some :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Congrats! Lucky you - squiggly wiggly puppy breath!!!! Have you seen Ian Dunbar's free puppy raising textbook? http://www.dogstardaily.com/ click on Training Textbook in the middle of the top bar & read through "before you get your puppy" & "raising a puppy" & "basic manner & obedience". I clicker train my guys. It's wonderful. I don't crate in the house (except particularly temperamental fosters) & I don't use crates for toilet training. But I have trained my guys to use a crate. They travel in crates in the car & I also use it as a fun targetting & distance work exercise - I can put an open crate down & send my female to it from a distance. I crate trained late - when I started wanting to go to dog training seminars WITH my female (as opposed to going alone) and because I wanted to compete in rallyO. You need to be able to 'park' the dog in the large competition halls while you wait for your run. Those are really the only good uses for a crates IMO ... Remember to puppy proof - pick up everything off the floor, give her lots of chew toys (Kong & Wubba make good ones) and don't let her play with anything you don't want her to chew. Puppy rules of life are generally that if they can reach it with their mouth, it's a chew toy. I have teeth marks from one of my fosters on the furniture legs :D It's kind of a sweet memory but it might have been less sweet if I'd been more attached to this furniture LOL Have fun with your puppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Thanks Hornblower for the link. I will be sure to read through it later tonight. I have already started to get the kids picking up after themselves more than usual and telling them if they leave things around the pup will have them, they are getting better but i am sure there will be a few casulties. I didn't even think about furniture, gosh, i hope she doesn't chomp my kitchen table & chairs, everything else i could cope with but not them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 As for names, I'm the opposite - I name my animals with people names... I did consider India. Willow Whisper Coco What color is she? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Mostly white/cream with a few grey blue brindle patches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orangearrow Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 awww, a new puppy! Our "puppy" is almost 9 months old now and we love her to pieces! No help on clicker training, I was a clicker-training dropout, lol. We did crate train our pup, though, and it worked awesome for her. Our pup's name is Apple, but other names we considered were: Gretel, Echo, and Ilke. The only other female dog I owned was named Happy. :D Enjoy your new furry family member! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Governess Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 How fun! We have two Italian greyhounds, like whippets but smaller. They are so cute and funny. We have them litter box trained so if it's raining they go in the box (they will NOT go potty outside in the rain). We also have to keep our trash locked up because one of them is very naughty and always gets into the trash. :glare: They are stinkers, but they love snuggling and they love to run. Our youngest one would always cry at night when she was a puppy so we put a little hot water bottle in with her and she was much happier after that. They love being buried in blankets. Have fun with your puppy!!! I hope we get to see a picture! PS - I vote for Indy :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soph the vet Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Don't forget to complete her puppy series of vaccinations. She'll need two more distemper/parvo boosters (depending on when whe received previous ones and the last one should be after 16 weeks) and Rabies vax after 12 weeks. Bring a fecal in to your vet to make sure she is free of intestinal parasites, roundworms and hookworms are very common in puppies. Start her on heartworm prevention, she is too young to test. If you are in a cold climate you might not have to start this until April, depends on your mosquito season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Thanks Soph :) She will have her 2nd vax next week and another to come in 4 weeks i think to complete them. I don't think we vax against rabies here, we are rabies free. Glad you mentioned worming as she is coming from a farm so will certainly need to be wormed and i will do our cat at the same time. We are just coming into mosquito season so i will start on the heart worm prevention the vet recommends next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Only 1 more day, can't wait for her to arrive. I got some dishes yesterday i ended up going with 2 large flat bottomed ceramic bowls that can go straight in the dishwasher. They are not dog bowls but were half the price so that is a bonus. We have got a few toys but nothing we can stuff with food like a Kong yet. I will have a look when we are out this afternoon. Bells and a notebook at the backdoor are an awesome idea, thanks :) I am sure between me, DH and the kids she will be in and out all day but it would be nice to keep track of when she actually goes potty outside. Name wise i think we are heading for Indy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 With kids in the house, I'd ask you to reconsider crate training. It gives pup somewhere to go when she's tired, and the kids are taught to leave her alone when she's in the crate. It also helps if someone's at the door to be able to tell the pup, "Go to bed!" and have her go to her crate...that way she's not escaping out the door, or overly enthusiastic in her greetings to people coming in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunkirst Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Oh Congrats! We just got our 2nd pup of the year last week :D. Our first, Chuba, is 6 months old (jack-russell, pit, lab mix), and we now have 8 wk. old Osita (collie-shepherd ball of fluff). I've loved Caesar Millan's books and I've rented his Dog Whisperer videos. The books are not training books, but they do give tons of info on all sorts of dog behaviors and good routines to get into. One of the best pieces of info regarding our Chuba, was not to praise/comfort a frightened dog. Chuba is a very docile/submissive boy with a heart murmur and was terribly frightened by the planes flying overhead (we're in the landing pattern :glare:), other dogs barking, and a million other things. It was super hard not to comfort a tiny little frightened pup, but Caesar's rational is that it "OKs" that behavior and so it will be repeated (to the point that the dog can become neurotic) If you just project an authoritative (not mean) attitude that all that noise is A-OK, the dog accepts that and overcomes the fear (Chuba's a confident adolescent now and a great big brother!) You can also look at the The Monk's of New Skete. Good old fashion dog discipline. I loved the alternative to crate training presented - leash the pup to your bed (with pup's bed right there). The pup will resist soiling its bed and will wake you to go out. Worked great for us. (Although our dogs both love their crate to escape from our kids :D). Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 You can also look at the The Monk's of New Skete. Good old fashion dog discipline. I loved the alternative to crate training presented - leash the pup to your bed (with pup's bed right there). The pup will resist soiling its bed and will wake you to go out. Worked great for us. (Although our dogs both love their crate to escape from our kids :D). That is basically my plan, i am also going to get her a cat bell so i will hear the noise if she gets up quietly. My kids are very good and respectful of the animals we already have and we have been very clear that when the pup is in her bed that is her space and not to bother her. That will be her place to escape and place to go when visitors arrive etc. Obviously we will have to teach her that :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.