Preparations.

Getting ready for a new puppy to arrive requires a lot of thinking! Where's he going to sleep? What's he going to eat? What do we need to do to make the house safe? What about the garden? Can he actually fit through those gaps in the gate? What are the "house rules" going to be? Will he like this toy or that chew? How many chews and toys are too many? Is there such a thing? Do we need a crate? How small is his little neck going to be, will this collar be too big? How are we going to manage the first night? The first trip to the vets? When can people come and visit? When can we introduce him to his doggy step-siblings? What about training classes, vaccinations, microchipping, chopping his boy-bits off?

And in answer to all these questions there is a mass of conflicting information out there so you can't help but feel you are doing things "wrong". Even picking him up at 6 weeks old, which I thought was standard practise, seems to be frowned upon by a good section of people. I've decided not to worry about that though as, to me, him being socialised into his human family is more important than learning "bite inhibition" from his mother and siblings. This is my judgement of the situation. His mum seems to be interacting with the puppies very little and doesn't seem to be disciplining them except by moving away. So she isn't going to tell him off. Also he is the biggest pup in the litter and knows it, so I doubt he'll get much grief off his siblings either. He's better off with us, we can teach him bite inhibition ourselves as well. All you do is, if he nips during play, squeel like a hurt puppy would and stop play and ignore. Then praise when he "appologises" (which they do do, very cute!).

And another thing, he's been born on a farm in a barn. We need to get him used to a house and all the things that that involves including not weeing and pooing inside! And he needs to start seeing the rest of the world as soon as possible in my view.

Anyway, the preparations! We spent the whole day on Saturday basically shopping and tidying up. We bought a crate in the end, not sure if we are going to use it for house-training as a lot of people seem to do but it'll be really handy in the quest to make it so we can actually take him with us anywhere so I thought it would be a good plan to get it early so he gets used to the idea of it early. We bought a mop and bucket and special floor deoderiser! In case of "accidents". More toys and chews than should be allowed. Blankets and towels. Puppy food, both what he is being fed now and what we want to move him on to. Some mesh to put over the gate just in case he can get through those gaps. And several other things, including a towel to get his mum's smell on for him to bring home with him for his first few nights away from his mum and siblings.

So of course we had to go and visit him to hand that over didn't we?

:-D

He's grown so much! And is much more lively. He's definitely bold, which is really good news. Having experienced what it's like to take a more nervous pup from a litter I definitely prefer the idea of a bolder dog - anxiety causes all sorts of issues. Bold dogs just need consistant training which I can do. The door to the barn was open and he was the first pup to make a break for it - by next week he'll definitely be ready for the big, wide world.

He seemed to recognise us and kept running up to me to say hello. He even sat when I told him too, which I'm sure was a complete co-incidence but was very sweet. I just can't wait to bring him home. Even if he is going to be a complete handful and I'm going to worry so much about getting things right for him!

xxx