New puppy comes home today - now I'm nervous!!!

[Calandra]

So how is everything settling in ...

The outside will take a while to get used to as there are so many smells and sounds that are new to her. Maybe take her out there to just sit with you, no potty expectations, and just give her some treats, some play and really reinforce that it is good to be outside. Sitting calmly with her to just take it all in is good. And you want to be careful not to pick her up too much or coddle her too much if she is a bit scared as this with nurture that fear a bit...it would be like saying "its okay" and so she thinks she is okay to feel nervous out there. Other than that you are doing everything so wonderful! It take a long time for stuff to click (I was so naive, I thought it would happen in a few weeks!) so just laugh through all the crazy times!

I cannot wait to see more pics!!

Thanks BrooklynMom! Things are going great. Chloe Louise has been a champ with her puppy pads! It is amazing that the eating/pottying schedule is pretty much clockwork. She'll go when she first wakes up, eats and plays, and then I can tell when she needs to do additional business when the intense sniffing starts, so I know to put her on her puppy pads.

I did what you suggested yesterday - I took Chloe outside just to look around and get used to the sights and sounds. I carried her most of the time - so I'm thankful for your caution - I will make sure to have her walk rather than me carrying her around outside to encourage her to be confident there. I think she may've been cold the first day (because she shivered every time I took her out there), so her puppy clothes are functional... right now at least lol.

Right now, the big challenges for me are (1) Weaning her from biting my toes and fingers when playing, (2) Teaching her to sit on command using treats (she is so excited to play, that I'm not sure if she's really hearing me, so I'll just keep doing it and hopefully she's learning), (3) outdoor pottying - although I'll be patient with this one.

I know I'm getting longwinded, so I'll end by saying I had to let her sleep in my bed the first night. She did great - stirred every 1.5 hours and then I'd put her in her ex pen, she'd potty, and then I'd take her back out and put her back in bed with me. Last night, she wouldn't settle down so I made her stay in an ex pen by my bed, with her crate inside. She did cry for a good 15-20 minutes. I knew I had to stick with it or she'd never learn to be on her own in there. I'm glad I did. She slept all night... well until 4:30 am lol. As soon as she could tell I was awake, she whimpered for me to get her out - and I did since she did good all night.

Here are some more pictures from yesterday...

[Brian M]

Hi

Have loads of fun sounds like you have everything covered and that you will be
a great Mum .All my girls think of their crate as their special den ,as having four they
each have a crate to sleep in and be fed in with the door closed so they cant go
round pinching each others food ,but in the day they often swop crates to sleep in .

[Brian M]

Hi

She is a beautiful baby .Be careful what you leave about as my TV remotes ,I Phone and lots
of other things all have an print of Daisy's teeth on them .

[Karlin]

Have fun with her! Pretty soon you'll be an old hand with puppies. Dr Ian Dunbar's free download books at www.dogstardaily.com, plus videos etc are full of helpful advice for puppies as well as dogs. People here are (as always )giving great advice too!

Just one important note though -- be sure not to put dogs (in a harness or in a crate) in the front passenger seat of any car -- for the same reason babies and small children should never be there. An airbag will easily kill a small dog instantly if it went off and could crush a crate. She will easily adapt to a crate safely belted in place in the back. Dogs that whine/are worried -- just lightly cover the crate with a blanket or towel. Many dogs especially when they first get used to a car are MUCH happier if they cannot see out even though this may seem surprising! I have transported loads of rescue dogs over the years, and any that get upset in the car are much better when the crate is covered ). A firm plastic crate is about the safest form of car transport and of course a dog should never be loose -- catapulted through the car even at just a 25-35mph impact, a dog would be able to break the necks of the human passengers. Both dogs and humans need to travel safely together!

[lucidity]

She is a really pretty little puppy!! Please update with more pictures soon

Glad that you went with the x-pen instead of just a crate--I always feel iffy with crates only, especially with small breeds. I raised both my pups with the crate inside x-pen combo and it works like a charm. The crate doors were never closed, until they were old enough to hold their pee overnight; then I closed their crate doors at night only. My first dog always knew to pee on his potty pads, from day one (at 11 weeks old). All I did was gated the kitchen off, placed his crate inside with toys and water. He always peed on the potty pads, never ever in his crate.

[Calandra]

Hi

She is a beautiful baby .Be careful what you leave about as my TV remotes ,I Phone and lots
of other things all have an print of Daisy's teeth on them .

Thanks Brian! She has shown me already - everything is a potential chew toy if I'm not looking.

[Calandra]

Have fun with her! Pretty soon you'll be an old hand with puppies. Dr Ian Dunbar's free download books at www.dogstardaily.com, plus videos etc are full of helpful advice for puppies as well as dogs. People here are (as always )giving great advice too!

Just one important note though -- be sure not to put dogs (in a harness or in a crate) in the front passenger seat of any car -- for the same reason babies and small children should never be there. An airbag will easily kill a small dog instantly if it went off and could crush a crate. She will easily adapt to a crate safely belted in place in the back. Dogs that whine/are worried -- just lightly cover the crate with a blanket or towel. Many dogs especially when they first get used to a car are MUCH happier if they cannot see out even though this may seem surprising! I have transported loads of rescue dogs over the years, and any that get upset in the car are much better when the crate is covered ). A firm plastic crate is about the safest form of car transport and of course a dog should never be loose -- catapulted through the car even at just a 25-35mph impact, a dog would be able to break the necks of the human passengers. Both dogs and humans need to travel safely together!

Thanks Karlin! I downloaded several books you recommended (all the names are running together now), and they were a huge help so thank you for your wealth of information. Love this blog!

Okay - that crushed images I had of Chloe and I riding side by side in my car with her head out of the window. When I brought her home from the breeder, I had her in her crate (a hard plastic one), seat belted in the passenger seat so she could see me. I was thinking of eventually getting one of those puppy booster seats so she can easily see out of the window. *Sigh* I will redo my day dreams and make the back seat Chloe's domain. You caught me just in time, Karlin, before I made the front seat a habit. Thank you.

[Calandra]

She is a really pretty little puppy!! Please update with more pictures soon

Glad that you went with the x-pen instead of just a crate--I always feel iffy with crates only, especially with small breeds. I raised both my pups with the crate inside x-pen combo and it works like a charm. The crate doors were never closed, until they were old enough to hold their pee overnight; then I closed their crate doors at night only. My first dog always knew to pee on his potty pads, from day one (at 11 weeks old). All I did was gated the kitchen off, placed his crate inside with toys and water. He always peed on the potty pads, never ever in his crate.

Thanks Lucidity! I'm doing exactly what you did - the door is off of Chloe's crate, and it's inside her expen. I have started covering the entire floor in there with puppy pads... until her aim is a little bit better. Did your first dog have trouble transitioning to pottying outside? I can't even imagine Chloe pottying outside at this point. I should buy stock in puppy pads...

[Portia]

Chloe is absolutely precious! And it sounds like you're doing great! Bailey was a little nervous outside at first, too -- like BrooklynMom said, too many new smells and sounds. There are so many new things and firsts for our little angels when we first bring them home. No wonder they're a little nervous! As it's already been suggested, just spending some time outside with no expectations of pottying will help. In no time Chloe will be dying to get outside whenever she can to play!

I can't wait to see more pictures!

[Portia]

Oh...one more thing...I could not get Bailey to learn the sit command no matter how hard I tried because he was always too playful and unfocused. We just started Puppy Kindergarten last week and the trainer started us off with the "Look" command. His reason for this is because you can't train a dog who is not paying attention to you and this command gets them focused on you. We've been working on it all week and Bailey's doing pretty well. This Wednesday we move onto "sit."

Here's how you do it if you want to try: Since our pups are so small, you can start on your knees. Hold a high-value, quickly eatable treat pinched between your fingers so that Chloe can see, smell, lick and taste it, but don't let her have it yet. When she's really into the treat, quickly move your hand up to the bridge of your nose and say "Chloe, Look!" When she looks up at you, give her the treat and say "Good Look" really excitedly -- praise, praise, praise! If she has a hard time realizing you moved the treat up to the bridge of your nose, slow down the movement so she can follow your hand and ends up looking up at your face. Once she reliably does it while you're on your knees, move to doing it while standing and have her look up to you. According to my trainer, it's also good to randomly reward for spontaneous looks too -- i.e. if Chloe is in her pen playing and stops to look at you (up at your face, not just generally at you) when you come into the room, say "Good look" and give her a treat and/or praise. He says it helps to reinforce the word/command association and that it's good to train the dog to focus on you as often as possible, ready for a command.

Well...I've written enough. I hope this helps!