Take Home Day Information

 

There are many things that we go over on take home day for our puppies. I wanted to get all of this down in writing what our take home day protocols are and everything we go over, so families could reference it all again as needed.

Crate Training:

All our puppies are used to sleeping in their crates all night in their own individual crates. We find that this makes their transition to their new homes much more smooth, as they are used to sleeping in their own individual crates already, so the crate in their new home will be an easy transition, instead of everything being new all at once. That being said they can still see their littermates in the crates next to them, so there will still be a transition period in their new homes.

 

What we recommend for starting crate training off on the right foot is first making sure that the crate is set up properly. You will start this by getting a crate that is the right size. To do this you would take the approximate size that we expect your puppy to be as an adult and find that size, then get the size up from that. So, for example, if you expect your puppy to be 30lbs full grown and the crates are rated for 25 to 40lbs and 40 to 55lbs, I would recommend the 40 to 55lb crate. The reason for this is that crates are a safety measure for our puppies, as well as a huge help for potty training. We like the crates with dividers so that we can block off a portion of the crate so that the puppies don’t feel like they have too much space and potty on one side of the crate while sleeping on the other side of the crate, but once they are fully potty trained it is still important that they still use their crates when not being supervised, so that they do not get into anything that they could hurt themselves with. But, these dogs love to stretch out and use up space in their crates and if they are fully potty trained I like to see them have some extra room to stretch out.

We set up the crate by putting the crate in your home ideally where you want to have it long term. For many this is the livingroom, but this can vary depending on the family. We first adjust the crate by installing the divider. When putting the puppy into the crate, the divider should touch the puppy’s nose and the door should touch the puppy’s bum. This makes sure there is not too much room for the puppy to potty in the crate, as puppies naturally do not want to potty where they are sleeping, so if there is only enough room to sleep, they will not potty in their crates. Once the divider is installed in the right place, we use a crate mat that is designed for the full size of the crate and slide it under the divider, so that it is on both sides. Then we take the blanket that is sent home in the puppy packages and put it on the side that the puppy will sleep on. The blanket smells like their littermates and is a comfort during this transition. Once the blanket is laid down, we get out the snuggle puppy that is also in the puppy package. The snuggle puppy comes with heat packs and a monitor that makes a heart beat sound. I activate the heat pack and the heart beat sound and put them in the pocket of the snuggle puppy, making sure that the velcro is sealed good keeping them inside the snuggle puppy. Then place the snuggle puppy on one side of the side of the crate that the puppy will be sleeping on. The snuggle puppy serves a couple purposes. Not only does it bring comfort to the puppy by having something warm with a heart beat next to them, that they can snuggle with, but it also takes up some space in the crate, as many of the larger crates can still have too much space even with the divider installed. Puppies should only have enough space to turn around and lay down until they are potty trained.

Once the crate is set up, then we go through their bedtime routine. The puppies are used to getting their food and water taken away approximately 2.5hrs before they go into their crate at night. We do this because at this age they have very small bladders, etc. and cannot hold it for very long without going potty if they have just eaten or drank. It would not be fair to them to be in the crate all night if they need to potty, so we always make sure to take food and water away and after that make sure they have one good stool and two good pees before they go to bed that night. Once it is bedtime, we shake the NuVet vitamin bottle and most of our puppies are to the point that they know what the NuVet vitamin is and will head towards their crate. I use this as a training time and get them to sit in their crate and give them the NuVet vitamin. They love their NuVet vitamin as a treat, so this not only helps them nutritionally, but it also makes the crate a positive experience because they are getting something that they love when they go into it. The NuVet vitamin is a large wafer though, so I do recommend breaking it up into a few pieces to give to the puppies. Once I give them the vitamin, I close the door to the crate and walk away for the night. It is very normal for them to whimper the first couple nights for a few minutes. I always tell families if they do, to just ignore it. If they don’t stop and get more worked up, you can go back into the room and what I do is put my fingers just inside the crate and let the puppy lean against my hand and talk to them very quietly, until they settle down and go back to sleep, then again, I get up and walk away. I never let them out of the crate though. This breed of dog is very, very intelligent. This is a wonderful trait for training them to do new things, but it can also be a trait that makes it hard on you if you are not consistent with them, as they easily learn how to manipulate you. If you let them out of their crate at the first sign of whimpering, they will quickly learn that the more they whimper and cry, the quicker they can get out of the crate and each night will only get harder for you, as they will continue to cry and get worse. Having a little bit of tough love the first few nights goes a long ways.

Our puppies are used to going into their crates at between 10:30 and 11:00PM and getting out of their crates between 6:00 and 7:00AM. But, they will easily adjust to your schedule. This is the schedule they are used to because this is our schedule here.

Potty Training:

When potty training we always recommend taking the puppies outside to potty train. We have many families ask if they should transition using the litter training method we use here, but by the time they leave our home they are ready to go outside right away. If you were to use litter in your home, it would prolong the potty training time needed.

We use the litter boxes to teach the puppies to go potty in one place, not where they eat, sleep and play. They will be doing this consistently when they go to their new homes. What you are going to do is translate that to a spot in your yard is now the litter box and your home is the eating, sleeping and playing area.

The best way to get a head start on potty training is to be very consistent from the start. Set a timer for every 45 minutes for the first couple days to go out to potty, so there won’t be any accidents. Then keep extending this time as the puppy is consistent and doesn’t have accidents. Take the puppy to the same place in your yard everytime. They are very scent oriented and if their scent is already there, they will be more likely to use that spot and go potty faster. Don’t make the mistake of picking the spot right next to the step while they are little. I understand that it isn’t a problem when they are a puppy, but when they are older, you will not want them pottying next to the step. Pick a spot you want them to go to long term, even if that means clearing a path through the snow.

Never discipline for accidents, this often just makes things worse and causes more accidents. Just clean the accident up, ideally with something that gets rid of any scent. When they do potty where they are supposed to, always praise them lots and make it a positive experience. This is a breed that catches on quickly, but you want everyone in the house to be consistent.

Another good idea while potty training a young puppy is to roll up all your area rugs. No matter how well we clean rugs, there is always an odor to them and puppies pick up on that. Your rug will be the first place they potty on.

Bell training is also a great practice that we highly recommend.

Puppies Current Schedule: 

The puppies are used to eating three times per day. We feed them 7AM, 1PM and 6:30PM typically, but there is always residual in between feedings. We intentionally fee the puppies all together to try to ward off any kind of food aggression. Puppies should be willing to share their food and have it taken away or put down with ease at any time.

We actually are not stuck on a routine feeding schedule here. Our adult dogs are on completely free choice all day. While this is more difficult for potty training, our puppies potty train so fast, that we don’t generally worry about that too much. You would be able to easily stick to the three meals a day or go to free choice. Decide what makes the most sense for your family situation.

As long as they are used to free choice from a young age and are on a healthy food like TLC Pet Food, free choice is a healthy option. The only thing that would change me feeding this way is if there was another dog in the home that had to be on a different food for some reason or if the dog started to become overweight, as there is nothing more detrimental for a dog health wise then to be overweight. Remember that a human athlete has ribs showing, you should also be able to feel a healthy dogs ribs.

We have many families ask how much to feed their puppy. There is a great calculator on TLC Pet Food’s website. Check it out here: https://www.tlcpetfood.com/dogfood/#calculator This gives a general idea of how much to feed per day, but I would stress to families that it is important to not stick to this strictly, as puppies go through growth spurts and one week they might eat a lot more than another week. If they are easily eating all you give, feel free to give them a bit more. Puppies on a healthy food are not going to be a problem, having a little extra.

Microchip Form:

All our puppies come microchipped. There will be a form to fill out. We will need your contact information and an emergency contacts information as well. Your emergency contact should be someone that you are close to, but has a different email and phone number then you do and ideally not someone you travel with often. The company will contact you first, if they can’t get a hold of you they will contact your emergency contact, then after that they will contact me. All three names are on the form.

The microchips are paid for and registered, they just need your contact info to be added to them.

Health Booklet:

Every puppy will come with a health booklet. There will be multiple things in this booklet you will need. In the center pocket you will find your microchip tag and an extra copy of the microchip number (This number can also be found on the top of the microchip carbon copy that will go home with you, as well as the front of the health booklet). On the front page will be your puppies information including name, birthdate, colour, etc. When you go to the next page, you will see the deworming dates when we gave the puppy Strongid T and the fecal test dates and the results of those tests. You will also see noted the date the puppy was given their first dose of Revolution. When you go to the next page, you will see the vaccine record. It will show all what was included in the first vaccine for your vets record. It will also show the health exam, which will state the date of the exam, the weight of the puppy at time of exam and the health exam results. My vet does all our health exams, microchips and vaccines. For the health exam she checks for things like making sure their bite is correct, ear infections, heart murmurs, luxating patellas, hernias and making sure both testicles are down on the males and more. If everything is good, it will be noted as ‘healthy’ under that section. If there was anything to note, she would also note that there.

On the last page of the booklet will be the vaccine schedule. We currently recommend that your puppy gets a booster at 12 weeks, second booster at 16 weeks, as well as rabies. We are also currently recommending the Lyme vaccine in our area at 12 weeks, with the booster at 16 weeks. The lyme vaccine will depend on your area and I would consult with your veterinarian to determine if that is the right course of action for your area.

Ear Care:

All floppy eared dogs are prone to ear infections. Also breeds that tend to shed less, also tend to get more hair in their ears. This hair needs to be plucked out of the ears for this reason or it blocks air movement from getting into the ear when it needs to dry out. The nerve endings in the ear are not as sensitive as the rest of the body and the hair pulls out easily, so you can just stick your fingers in their ear and pull the hairs out with your fingers. This is something I have already spent time practicing with your puppy. While there is not as much to pull out at this age, we do take time to handle their ears, putting our fingers in their ears and gently pulling the hairs out, to get them used to the feeling. This is not natural for the puppies, so it is important to take the time in the critical socializing window while they are young to desensitize them to this.

When you get your puppy, check out their ears right away. I will have already pulled the hair out of the ears and checked for ear infections. The ear canal should be a nice, healthy pink colour and should not have a strong odor to it. You typically will notice an odor before you see the ear infection, as it smells bad. When you look in the ear canal, you will notice dark substances in the ear. It is normal for a puppy to get some dirt around the ear from play, but it is when it is in the ear canal, that you worry more. There are great ear cleaners out there that you can use for regular maintenance like this one from NuVet Labs: https://www.nuvetlabs.com/order_new2/ear-cleaner.asp. But, if your dog has an actual ear infection, you can go to your veterinarian and treat it easily. Most often we see dogs that play in the water having more ear infections. It is not something to stress about, but just to watch for and treat accordingly.

Socializing:

Socializing your puppy especially in the first 16 weeks is so important. There are many things that you should take the time to socialize them to.

1. Car rides: Take them on as many car rides as you can. Car sickness for dogs is more often anxiety than anything. They need to get used to the feeling of the vibration of the car. We take them on car rides here before they leave and we recommend you continue this after they leave. Even if it is a small car ride around the block.

2. Other dogs: We highly recommend socializing puppies with other dogs. There are a few things you need to make sure are in place first though. You want all their experiences to be good at this age because each experience will shape them a lot while they are young. So, make sure that the other dogs are well mannered dogs, also make sure that they are fully vaccinated until your puppy is past it’s core puppy vaccines. This also means staying away from a dog that is vaccinated itself, but frequents places where unvaccinated dogs are (like Pet Smart and Pet Parks). If the dog is fully vaccinated, doesn’t frequent near unvaccinated dogs and is well mannered, then the more socializing the better.

3. Other animals: It is important that your puppy meets other animals beside dogs too. Bring them to visit your relative with a cat or any other small animal, so they learn to be gentle while they are young. It also helps to expose them to large animals too.

4. People of all ages, heights, builds, gender, clothing type (glasses, hats, etc.): The more people you can socialize them with the better. Puppies should get used to all different types of people and be able to greet any of them easily. Go out of your way to socialize as much as possible. For example, if you don’t have children, make a point to visit your friend with kids and bring your puppy with you.

5. Water: These dogs love water typically, but if you don’t socialize them in their first year to water, some of them could be more reluctant.

6. Different surfaces: Take your puppy to places with different surfaces to walk on. Different flooring types, rocky areas, paved areas, grassy areas, etc.

7. New things: Expose puppies to everything you can, trucks, cars, four wheelers, bikes, lawn tractors, vaccuums, garden tools, garbage/grocery bags, boats, etc. Basically anything you can think of and particularily things you will want them to be around long term. If you are an avid boater and want them to join you on the boat in the summers, take the time to socialize them to the boat young. Again, always make sure as best you can that these are positive experiences as well.

There are many things that are important skills while your puppy is young to start off on the right foot.

1. Recall training: Your puppy naturally wants to be close to you when they go home. This is a great time to work on recall training. We start this hear and recommend you keep up with this and work diligently with it. Having a puppy come to you when you call them is probably the most important skill I think they should have. It is a safety thing and easy enough to teach if you start young. We will have one person on one side of the house sit down with the puppy and another person on the other side and say ‘Fido (insert puppy name), come’. You can start with treats, but then work it into praise instead. Keep going back and forth and praising them lots. Make the space bigger inbetween you and everntually move this outside and get further and further apart. If the puppy is stubborn and not always listening, you can get a long training leash (30ft is what we often use) and call them and if they don’t come right away, use the training leash to guide them to you. Praise and repeat. Spending time working on recall now will be a huge life saver later.

2. Leash training: Your puppy will pick up leash training quickly while they are young. If you wait until they are older to leash train, when they are big enough to pull you around, you will have a lot more work on your hands. Take the time while they are young to focus on proper leash training and not pulling.

3. Crate training: Follow the guidelines above and be consistent.

Flea and Tick Preventatives: 

All our puppies go home with one dose of Revolution. We have used Revolution for years and really like it and haven’t had any issues with it. It also is a heart worm preventative. There are many other products on the market, but be cautious as many are more harsh and can have high incidence of side effects. Consult your veterinarian about the right preventative for you. Revolution because it has heart worm meds in it is prescription only, so you will need to get it from a licensed veterinarian. We give Revolution on a monthly basis from when the snow starts to melt in the spring, until the snow stays on the ground in the fall/winter.

Ticks are something that is very regional, so something that I recommend talking to your local veterinarian about. In our area we did not have to worry about ticks 5 years ago and now they are an issues, so we use both fleas and tick preventative and give our dogs the lyme vaccine. This could be different depending on the region you live in.

Books we send home:

We send home a training book called ‘The Puppy Primer by Patricia McConnell’. We love this book, as it is all based on positive reinforcement training and falls closely in line with how we raise our puppies, plus it is easy to read for any reading level, so children can be involved and look things up as well. It has a great quick reference table of content for many different issues that could come up with raising a puppy. We highly recommend you use this as a resource.

We also send home a booklet called ‘Puppy Fitness That Fits The Puppy by Jane Messineo Lindquist’. We have had a couple times in the past where we have had families that have don things like take their 6 months old puppy to high level agility work at 6 months old or went jogging for 10 kilometers with their 8 months old puppy. We can do all the health testing in the world on our dogs joints and you could cause damage to those joints purely by over exercising them at too young of an age. It is important for a puppy to get exercise and stay fit, but there needs to be some guidelines and moderation of this. This booklet is great, going through each age and what is appropriate at that age. I would say for this breed that this book is a little on the conservative side and you probably could do a little more than what it is recommending, but it is the best booklet I have found with great guidelines for families to follow.

NuVet Vitamins and TLC Pet Food: 

I would like to take a minute to talk about both NuVet and TLC Pet Food. I highly recommend both. All my dogs are on NuVet and it is the only vitamin supplement that is FDA approved and is human grade, meeting a very high standard in its testing. This is why we have chosen this supplement over all the other supplements that you see out there. Those other supplements simply do not have enough testing behind them to be reliable and I am not willing to risk them with my dogs. I will extend our 2 year health guarantee to 3 years, if you use NuVet vitamins. 

Also, I have used a few different foods over the years and have primarily stuck with grain free foods due to the fact that most food that contain grain, use grain that are essentially fillers and have no benefit to the dogs. But, I was always reluctant with going completely grain free due to the fact that dogs when you remove grains all together can build up an intolerance to them. I just was not happy with the ingredients in most foods that weren’t grain free. After a recall in the food we were using, I went on a search for a high quality food again. This time I found a food that not only was natural and not full of fillers, but did have some grain in them that aids with digestion, but also has a great balance of quality meats, animal fats, vitamins and minerals. It is a very well balanced food and my dogs love it. TLC Pet Foods delivers directly to your doorstep for FREE, offering automatic shipping according to your puppy’s unique eating habits at no additional charge. They will ship anywhere and the bag is very reasonably priced. I recommend the puppy food for the first 7 to 8 months. It is the same formula, but with a slightly higher fat content, that aids in brain development for your new puppy as they grow. There will be a $5 coupon that I send in an email to all the families and will also go into the bag you take home. I also send a sample pack of the TLC biscuit. I really like this biscuit and recommend it, as it is a healthier alternative to many others, but just like any treat, it should be used in moderation. It is large and should be broken in 8 or so pieces. Then just use it when you are teaching a new skill to the puppies. Once you have used treats a couple times and the puppies know the skill, it is okay to use praise after that. This breed responds well to praise, jsut as much as treats. 

Bite inhibition:

We have been working on bite inhibition with your puppy already. They are teething right now and it is important for you to be consistent with not allowing biting. A puppy should never be biting a human. I know that when they are puppy that it isn’t something that bothers most people, but that little puppy, will turn into a bigger dog and play biting will not be okay later. It is so important to sit down and have a family meeting to go over the house rules for training a puppy and make sure that everyone is on the same page, this will mean using the same commands when training, but this will also mean that nobody allows the puppy to bite them, even in play. You need to think about the fact that the puppy does not understand that he can bite at you, but not the toddler next door. This also means you don’t instigate rough play with your puppy.

The first thing we do to teach your puppy bite inhibition is to keep them until they are 8 weeks old. This allows them time to play with their littermates longer and understand that when I bite my brother, he yelps and I better stop because that hurts.

After that, in your home, the number one thing we want you to do when your puppy is biting is redirect with appropriate toys. Your puppy should have a large array of toy to chew on. They are teething and will need to chew on something. So, every time they try to chew on you, give them a toy instead. When redirecting does not work as well, keep continuing with it, but also you can make sure to not give your puppy any attention when they are biting. Redirect and if they are persistent, walk away. Turn your back on them and give no attention at all. Sometimes if you are verbal with them or get worked up it turns into a fun game for them and that is not what we want. Using these methods generally work with most puppies, but they will only work if everyone is on the same page.

Children can sometimes make it hard to be consistent. We understand this. We have children and our children have grown up with puppies and we still have to be on top of them all the time with sticking to the rules, especially when the puppies are young. You aren’t alone and it can sometimes be hard, but it is worth the effort. Make it fun and have family meetings to go over puppy training.

Jumping up:

We have been working on teaching the puppies to not jump up. The biggest thing we do is to not pet them when they are jumping up. When they sit and wait for us, we praise those puppies and the rest of the puppies quickly learn the rules and obey them as well. This is another thing to be really consistent with and the puppies learn quickly. Often puppies will be great with their family, but will jump up on guests. Try to find guests that are willing to help you with you puppy and tell them to do things the way you do, so the puppy learns quickly that they need to listen, even with new people as well.

Parasites:

Before your puppy leaves our home, they will have been given Strongid T. We will also do two fecal tests to verify if they have parasites or not. We do two because it is possible to miss something in one fecal, but highly unlikely to miss something in two fecals. Generally we do these at 6 weeks and 7 weeks old. If for any reason the puppy is not clear of parasites, we will do additional deworming. We don’t however treat for anything above and beyond the Strongid T treatments, unless something comes up in their fecal. We don’t feel the necessity to give puppies dewormer unless they need it. We use Strongid T primarily for roundworms, as many puppies have these when they are born.

Chances are in your puppy’s lifetime, you will deal with parasites/protozoas at some point. They are very easy to pick up in the environment and puppies put their mouths on everything and most dogs can’t resist a stagnant puddle of water, even though they have perfectly clean water at home. Parasites are just part of owning a pet. The best way to watch for them is to watch your dogs stools. Stools should be nice and cylindrical. Once they start to loose their shape, just take a sample into your veterinarian and they will test it, tell you if there are parasites or not and give you meds to treat accordingly. It is very easy to get rid of and nothing to stress about.

On another note, I always recommend to families to watch your dogs stools, as this can often be the first indication of something wrong.