Coming to pick up your puppy!
When the time arrives for you to come and pick up your puppy we have a few tips to hopefully make it a smooth transition!
Before you come...
- Book your upcoming veterinarian visits and your first grooming appointment! Both could be booking out weeks in advance and are very important!
- Research and find a puppy class or trainer. Even though your puppy has a great head start they will still require a lot of socialization and training once they leave our home! A puppy class is so great to complete with your puppy in addition to the 4 weeks of online training you will receive from Dre at My Loyal Hound that your puppy comes home with.
- If you plan to pay your remaining balance by etransfer please send that the night before.
- Sign up for your 30 days of free Trupanion Pet Insurance. This will be sent in your preparing to go home email the week before pick up.
- Pack the car with an old towel or two just in case your puppy gets car sick on the way home! Another tip for travelling in the car with a young puppy is to keep the vehicle cool.
- You may want to bring a long a crate for the puppy to ride home in.
- Depending on the length of your travels home you may want to also bring a collar and leash, food and water dishes and a few toys to chew on! We will send your puppy home with their snuggle puppy and for those who have a longer drive home we will also spray the snuggle puppy with Adaptil calming spray.
When you come to pick up your new puppy it is important to give us an estimated time of arrival. That allows us to plan to feed your puppy an hour before you come and gives us time to take your puppy outside to go to the bathroom and exercise before their drive home.
Once you arrive home you will want to establish your puppy rules right away and you may want to limit visitors for the first day or two while your puppy settles into this very big change!!
More information is sent home in our go home package!
Items to have on hand for your first few days...
- Crate, if you plan to crate your puppy long term I highly suggest going with larger crate that comes with a dividing wall that you can expand as your puppy grows. A 42" for a Standard Poodle or smaller Doodle and 48" for a larger doodle.
- Food and Water Dishes, stainless steel or glass is what we use as it is easy to clean! There are many creative ways to feed your puppy if you also wanted to have a slow feed bowl, Kong or West Paw Toppl to feed a meal in as well.
- Collar and Leash, these do not need to be expensive as your puppy will grow quickly. I recommend skipping on the flexi type leashes until your puppy has a good recall and good loose leash walking manners.
- A few toys, your puppy will be teething and looking for ways to comfort those pains. Soft rubber (such as Kong and West Paw), Puppy Benebone, bully sticks, or raw bones are nice for crating and soothing those sore puppy teeth.
Always supervise your puppy with toys so that they do not bite off chunks or hurt themselves in anyway.
- Treats, we will send your puppy home with some treats but it doesn't hurt to have a variety. Small soft pieces are prefect for a quick reward when teaching new skills. Other quick items that we use are cheerios, cheese or boiled chicken breast.
- Food! We feed our dogs Nutram kibble, our puppies are started on S2 Puppy for Standard Poodles and S3 Large Breed Puppy for our Newfypoos and Bernedoodles.
Before you come...
- Book your upcoming veterinarian visits and your first grooming appointment! Both could be booking out weeks in advance and are very important!
- Research and find a puppy class or trainer. Even though your puppy has a great head start they will still require a lot of socialization and training once they leave our home! A puppy class is so great to complete with your puppy in addition to the 4 weeks of online training you will receive from Dre at My Loyal Hound that your puppy comes home with.
- If you plan to pay your remaining balance by etransfer please send that the night before.
- Sign up for your 30 days of free Trupanion Pet Insurance. This will be sent in your preparing to go home email the week before pick up.
- Pack the car with an old towel or two just in case your puppy gets car sick on the way home! Another tip for travelling in the car with a young puppy is to keep the vehicle cool.
- You may want to bring a long a crate for the puppy to ride home in.
- Depending on the length of your travels home you may want to also bring a collar and leash, food and water dishes and a few toys to chew on! We will send your puppy home with their snuggle puppy and for those who have a longer drive home we will also spray the snuggle puppy with Adaptil calming spray.
When you come to pick up your new puppy it is important to give us an estimated time of arrival. That allows us to plan to feed your puppy an hour before you come and gives us time to take your puppy outside to go to the bathroom and exercise before their drive home.
Once you arrive home you will want to establish your puppy rules right away and you may want to limit visitors for the first day or two while your puppy settles into this very big change!!
More information is sent home in our go home package!
Items to have on hand for your first few days...
- Crate, if you plan to crate your puppy long term I highly suggest going with larger crate that comes with a dividing wall that you can expand as your puppy grows. A 42" for a Standard Poodle or smaller Doodle and 48" for a larger doodle.
- Food and Water Dishes, stainless steel or glass is what we use as it is easy to clean! There are many creative ways to feed your puppy if you also wanted to have a slow feed bowl, Kong or West Paw Toppl to feed a meal in as well.
- Collar and Leash, these do not need to be expensive as your puppy will grow quickly. I recommend skipping on the flexi type leashes until your puppy has a good recall and good loose leash walking manners.
- A few toys, your puppy will be teething and looking for ways to comfort those pains. Soft rubber (such as Kong and West Paw), Puppy Benebone, bully sticks, or raw bones are nice for crating and soothing those sore puppy teeth.
Always supervise your puppy with toys so that they do not bite off chunks or hurt themselves in anyway.
- Treats, we will send your puppy home with some treats but it doesn't hurt to have a variety. Small soft pieces are prefect for a quick reward when teaching new skills. Other quick items that we use are cheerios, cheese or boiled chicken breast.
- Food! We feed our dogs Nutram kibble, our puppies are started on S2 Puppy for Standard Poodles and S3 Large Breed Puppy for our Newfypoos and Bernedoodles.