Bringing Your Puppy Home

You will need to make sure your yard and house are puppy proof. Your yard will need to be fully fenced with no areas that present a possible escape option. Swimming pools are a serious hazard and pool fences will need to be improved if a puppy can squeeze through it. It’s also a good idea to keep your puppy from general view of the passing public to prevent people from stealing your dog. Your house will also need to be prepared. Section off any areas that you don’t want your puppy to be, remove items that you don’t want your puppy to chew and remove any potential hazards to your puppy, such as electrical cords.

Transitioning to a new environment can be quite stressful for a puppy. It is important to reduce stress. There a few things you can do to help with this:

Avoid major dietary changes
Don’t overtire the puppy
Let the puppy have undisturbed sleeping and rest periods
Confine your puppy when it is by itself so it doesn’t get lost or into trouble
Let your puppy explore your home
Let your puppy get used to its family before introducing it to new people
Provide your puppy with fresh water at all times
Stick to the recommended puppy diet guide
Put your puppy somewhere quiet so it can eat without distractions.

Please think about enrolling your puppy in Puppy Preschool. They have excellent classes which provide you with lessons on basic training, advice on all aspects of pet care, discussion of common problems and they allow puppy socialisation in a safe environment.

Tips for the first few days

Upon Arrival:

The first thing they will most likely need to do is take your puppy to the toilet! Do not overwhelm your puppy by rushing to him with lots of noise and cuddles (for example if you have excited children just get them to remain calm until they have their first hold)
If your puppy has had a long day of travel, I usually won’t give them too much to eat that day (to avoid travel sickness) so they may be hungry and thirsty but they also may not eat for the first 24 hours from being stressed.
Offer your puppy food (as outlined in their puppy guide) with water, and try a range of different options if they don’t eat their usual mix.

Eating:

Your puppy has been eating puppy biscuits on their own during the day, and than also mixed with ‘Optimum puppy chicken & rice’ tinned food. Feeding once in the morning and than again at night usually before 6pm is a good routine. Don't feed too close to bed time as this will mean the puppy will most likely need to go to the toilet during the middle of the night!
You can try soaking their biscuits in boiling water, leaving to cool, and then stirring them a little, to add them to the tinned food.
You can also try puppy milk (if they aren't drinking water well), but because they aren’t familiar with this (only fed puppy milk when they were first weaned off their mum), they may not be interested. But some may love it! Do not feed normal milk, dogs are normally lactose intolerant. Usually your puppies are eating & drinking really well by the time they arrive to their new homes so puppy milk usually isn't necessary unless the puppies are a little stressed and seem to not be eating or drinking well.
If your puppy isn't eating the normal food we've been giving them, the next step is to try BBQ chicken from the grocery store. This will be best for their tummies.
I do suggest persevering with their original diet as much as possible as any slight change in diet will cause runny poos.
You are more than welcome to introduce anything you’d like, however do this slowly and transition them over a few days, slowly adding in the new foods to their diet so it doesn’t upset their tummies too much.
It is suggested to not introduce any treats for another couple of months to not upset their tummies. If you want to use something for training, their biscuits or little pieces of BBQ chicken/chicken breast are a good idea.

Runny Stools:

Runny stools are a very common thing, which can be triggered by stress, the smallest change in diet, or possibly other causes like a digestive upset from a gastrointestinal infection or worms.
Keep consistent with their diet and if they have runny poos from stress, they should sort themselves out within a few days.
If you notice blood in the stool, also don’t panic, but this may warrant a trip to the vet. This can be caused from parasites (worms, coccidia, giardia), or a bacterial disease, or a digestive sensitivity to something the puppy may have eaten. If your puppy seems bright and happy, there isn’t much to worry about, if they seem lethargic and sickly, a vet trip is needed. Your puppy has been wormed regularly and treated for the above parasites so they shouldn’t cause a problem.
Please contact me at any time so I can offer some guidance on what should be done here.

Sleeping:

Your puppy is doing pretty well sleeping through the night by 8-9 weeks old. The first few days may obviously be a bit rough as your puppy may cry from being away from their home environment with their sibilings and mum.
You are going to have to give them some tough love and not attend to them once you have put them to sleep. If they are crying, ignore them until they go to sleep. It should only take them a few days (maybe only the first night and maybe not at all!) for them to settle in and the crying should ease. Try to wear them out by exercising/playing with them right before they go to bed.
If you start to get up to them during the night, they may create a habit of crying to get your attention.
The best set up for sleeping at night is a crate or a pen with the floor covered in puppy pads to make cleanup easier if there's any accidents. You can cover the crate in towels/blankets to create a little 'den'. You can also get a hot water bottle to place in their bed (wrapped in a tshirt with whoever they might be the most attached to at the time, or just wrapped in a little blanket).
An Adaptil collar or spray is also a good idea to use, the collar's last a month and the spray can be used as needed. The adaptil collar/spray releases the pheromone to promote feelings of calmness in your puppy.

Toileting:

Your puppy has been outside on grass during the day, so they are very familiar with going to the toilet on grass.
They have been using puppy pads at night, but be aware that they may chew, rip, and play with these so it is best to have them doubled up in a couple of layers.
If your puppy is crying during the night it is best to leave them and have a couple of accidents during the night rather than creating a habit where you wake once a night to let them out.
You will be surprised how quickly a puppy will learn to become toilet trained if you are consistent.
During the day, the general rule of thumb is to let them out to the toilet as soon as they wake for a sleep, before you want them to go to sleep at night, and every hour or so during the day while they are playing. They may not go every time, but it just helps with getting them used to going outside in the same area.
Pick the same spot every time for them to go to the toilet outside, and wait up to 5 minutes to give them plenty of time.
When they are going out to the toilet, just put them down, leave them and do not interact or play with them.
Signals that a puppy needs to go to the toilet is usually sniffing the ground or circling.
If done correctly, within a couple of weeks your puppy should really be getting the hang of going to the toilet in the designated area and sleeping through the night.

Crate Training:

I suggest to have a little pen/crate setup/room or designated penned-off area as a safe and secure place for your puppy to stay at night and during the day while you are out. Have the puppy’s food and water setup in this area as well. Being consistent with crate training is important.
Make sure this is setup before the arrival of your puppy and once you get home put the puppy in there for a drink and to have something to eat (even though they may not be ready to eat).
If you are wanting to play with them for a while once they get home, make sure when they fall asleep that you put them in this crate/pen as they should be tired and go to sleep easily.
(see also "Puppy Preparation" - "Toilet & Crate Training")