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Caring For Your New Puppy
Congratulations!
Congratulations on your new puppy! Thank you for entrusting us with the first eight weeks of your puppy's life, but now the exciting part begins for you! Below, you'll find many helpful tips to help your puppy transition into your family's home.
Puppy Care 101
Heading Home
The best and safest choice is to have your puppy ride home in a crate, especially if traveling a distance.
We will make sure puppy goes potty prior to you leaving, but if you're driving a distance, I suggest a puppy pee pad to line your crate in case you experience traffic or an emergency that would delay you getting home.
REMEMBER that your puppy has only had one round of vaccinations and is not fully protected from germs in high trafficked areas.
On your way home, remember to follow the rule of "Four Off the Floor" - meaning puppy should not be put on the ground until you arrive safely at home. It's better for your puppy to use the bathroom on a potty pad rather than chance an environment where it can pick up contagious illnesses.
Necessary Supplies
- Food (order about 1-2 weeks prior to Go Home Day!
- Crate with insert (We recommend a 36' crate with a divider)
- Crate cover (optional)
- Exercise pen (helpful in keeping puppy contained when you are in the same room but unable to keep a close eye on them)
- Bowls for food & water
- Collar & 6 Ft Leash
- Shampoo, Conditioner & Detangler
- Slicker Brush (value: We Love Doodles or splurge: Chris Christiansen)
- Metal comb, greyhound comb for line brushing
- Waste bag for picking up poop
- Age-appropriate toys (just a couple will be enough, we promise!)
- Stain & Odor Eliminator (Skouts Honor, Resolve, etc)
Our Amazon Favorites list can be found here.
Feeding
Feed dry kibble 3 times/day - breakfast (Early morning), mid-day (lunch time), evening (dinner - at least 2 hours prior to bedtime). Give them enough food to eat all they want for 15 minutes, then pull the food up and store any leftovers. They can have unlimited water after each meal. When potty training, control over the offering of water will help tremendously! As soon as puppy is done eating and drinking, they will immediately need to go out for potty time!
We are feeding our puppies pawTree's Chicken + Oatmeal formula to your puppy. We will include a small bag of this food in puppy's Go Home bag. We recommend ordering your puppy's food 1-2 weeks prior to go home: Click Here to order
To read more about the benefits of feeding pawTree, click here.
While it's important to play with puppy, after meal/potty time is a great time to enforce a nap! Limiting their exercise after eating their meal will also help in preventing bloat as they age.
Grooming Your Doodle
You doodle is high maintenance in terms of proper coat care. Grooming is LIFE when it comes to your Doodle, and early exposure to brushing/bathing/HV dryers is critical.
It is important to purchase a quality slicker brush and a greyhound metal comb and brush your dog every other day, at minimum! The more you brush your puppy as they are small, the easier it will be when they are big! While you likely won't notice many mats in their puppy coats, once their adult coat comes in, you'll need to be more aware of matting.
We recommend grooming every 6-8 weeks, beginning two weeks after their final set of vaccinations, by a professional groomer. Many groomers have long waitlists, and some are particular in taking in new clients, so calling your groomer once puppy's final vaccine appointment is made is what I would recommend!
Continuing the suggested 10 Step Puppy Handling exercise after go home, with deliberate touching of ears, nails and paws, will aide in having a cooperative puppy during grooming sessions.
First Vet Well-Check
Please schedule your puppy's first vet visit within the first 3 days of the puppy going home *as indicated in health guarantee. This initial appointment should introduce puppy to the vet, no additional vaccine boosters should be given at this initial appointment. For the initial puppy visit, I bring with me: vet records from breeder, a small Kong with a little peanut butter (or their kibble blended with water), and a towel to lay them on (*Four off the Floor).
We will send vet records from our vet home with you - your puppy should receive their next set of boosters no sooner than 3 weeks after our initial booster was given, as late as 4 weeks post initial DHPP. Please remember to take this with you so that your vet knows pup's vet history, including deworming history, vaccines, food, etc.
*We will administer the first set of vaccines, but you are responsible for their additional boosters (should end around 16-18 weeks).
Joint Care
Until growth plates are completely closed, extensive damage can be done to puppy's joints by allowing them to jump off furniture or stairs.
For example, no jumping from the car to the ground. No jumping on or off furniture, especially a bed due to it's height. Limit exercise for what your vet deems appropriate for your puppy's age.
Extra Training Tips
Puppy Chewing - keep rules and boundaries consistent. If puppy tries to chew on you, offer an acceptable item for them to chew on instead! Tip: Keep toys & chews close to you, especially when sitting in the floor with puppy! If puppy does not respond to redirection, try separation instead - it would be a great time for a crate nap or tethered place time!
Jumping - Jumping is another problem that young puppies may struggle with. Do not reward, praise or pet a puppy that is jumping on you. A calm, sitting puppy is a puppy that's ready for praise and love! Teaching calm, self-controlled behaviors now will pay off big time when puppy grows larger and stronger! You can keep puppy on leash to assist with this as well.
Potty Training - Depending on your bedtime schedule, remove food and water at least 2 hours before your bedtime to allow puppy a greater chance at holding it as long as possible at night. Remember your puppy's bladder is not fully developed until he or she is older. Therefore, the older puppy gets, the longer they can go between potty breaks. If you do need to take puppy out at night, do not make it a play session. Be the "Boss" and get down to business. Praise the potty behavior and then puppy goes right back to the crate. We strongly suggest crate training, and potty training is one of the biggest reasons why. Puppies rarely potty where they sleep, so be sure the crate is appropriately sized (with divider, if necessary) so that puppy only has room to turn around and lay down. In general, your puppy will need to potty every 30-45 minutes, as well as after nap times, play time, exiting their crate and following meals.
Obedience/Training - Please start training your puppy immediately. They are smart, eager to learn and want to please! Dogs thrive on consistency & leadership - You are the leader they want to follow! You will be amazed at how much they can learn starting at 8 weeks old. I highly recommend enrolling your puppy in a puppy kindergarten class, once fully vaccinated. They get to socialize, start learning self-control and begin on basic obedience tasks. Follow through with any “puppy homework” you are given to continue building your relationship with your pup and helping he or she learn through repetition. Also don’t forget tether training through the "Place" command - this command gives your puppy a safe space to turn their brain off! These exercises are very beneficial in teaching your pup self-control, focus and pack order. If you are local to Marietta, GA, we highly recommend Mirror Image K9 LLC in Dallas, GA.
We have a partnership with BAXTER & Bella, which offers you a 25% Discount on their lifetime training membership (Value of $238) - Link below - don't forget code: REECECO to save!
BECOME A MEMBER | BAXTER & Bella (baxterandbella.com)
Love & Patience
You have made the important decision to let a puppy into your heart and home. We sincerely thank you for trusting us to give your puppy the best start possible. I know there will be frustrations and patience will be tested in having a puppy, but I also know the rewards are wonderful. Enjoy the complete innocence of a puppy, their ability to stop and smell the flowers, and maybe even taste them, their curiosity is contagious, and playfulness is humorous. I can promise you that you will gain a comedian, confidante, companion, and ultimately a new family member. Please don’t hesitate to call, text, or email me if you have any questions and of course please send lots of updates and pictures!