Puppy on the way home... And I have millions of questions :)

Hey guys, I've been a lurker for a while now but I guess that now I am here to stay. After debating A LOT, and researching a lot more, between a Golden and an Aussie, I finally decided to get an Aussie... I am super excited to get my new best friend home :cheers:. He is still just a baby, so I have 5 more LOOOONG weeks until he's home, but I want to be ready once he's here, so I have a few questions!!!

1. I have another dog, a Schnauzer, almost 11 years old, super friendly and gets very excited when he meets another dog, he's not aggressive, he just gets really hyper. So, what would be the best way to introduce the puppy? Should I crate my older dog, and let the puppy investigate the new house? Should I take him to potty first? Should I do introductions first? I just feel really bad for the puppy, it's going to be a stressful day.

2. It's been 11 years since the last time I had a puppy, and by that time I was only a child, this is going to be my first 'real dog' and I really want to do things right. At first I was going to take 3 months off from school, but sadly due to FAFSA I can't do it without messing my payment plan, I will only go to 2 classes though, so that's four hours - 5 hours 2 times a week that I will be gone. Should I let the puppy inside his crate, or in an x-pen?

3. One of the things that worries me the most, is that every December my family from overseas come to my house and stay over, the puppy will be about 3 months around that time. Will this be stressful for him? I hope this doesn't mess up the training... You know how grandparents can be, especially those that believe in yelling to dogs to get their point accross should I just crate the puppy in my room? Instead of the living room?

4. I know that I can't really take the puppy to the dog park or pet store until he's 6 months, but what to do when is time to go potty? It will probably be on my yard, the same place my older dog goes potty, is this a health concern? (Sorry, I probably worry too much lol) should I just take him else where?

5. I know Aussies are velcro dogs, the complete opposite of my Schnauzer who is very independent, so I don't really have experience with velcro dogs, would letting him sleep on my bed, or nap with me during the day be a problem later on?

6. Sorry... I promise, last question for now lol. Could someone post a 'schedule' you guys follow with your puppies? It's just to use it as a guide.

I will post pictures when gotcha day is closer, he's a beautiful red merle puppy!

Pictures





He's the red merle

I'm on my phone, so can't really quote easily or write a ton, but here is my brief advice:

Before introducing the dogs, let the puppy feel confident with its surroundings. Depending on the pup, that may be right away or it may take a few hours. Then, have someone help you take them for a walk together. This let's them get used to each other while getting energy out. If the walk goes well, try letting them loose together in the house or yard. Just take it slow and steady and don't be afraid to seperste them if either one is getting overwhelmed/overstimulated.

Crating a puppy for 4-5 hours should be an issue. Rule of thumb is they can hold their bladder every month of age plus one. So two month old pup can hold it (crated) for three hours. Course, if the pup is having an accident during that time then you'll need to reevaluate your plan.

Letting him sleep with you won't be an issue if you won't mind an adult dog sleeping with you. I personally find dogs that help themselves to the bed very annoying, so instilling a "sit/stay before jumping up onto the bed, and only come up when invited" never hurt anything.

If you are worried about how family will react to him, its better to keep him saftely contained away from them for the time they're around than risk the puppy having a bad experience/having bad habits reinforced.

Best to wait to go to areas that are heavily traveled by other dogs until your second largo booster, but don't hesitate to take him outside and socialize him! I think worrying too much about disease can really hurt the mental health of a puppy.

When Chloe was a pup (five years ago! ) the biggest schedule for me was her potty breaks. If she wasn't kenneled she would go out every 45mins-1hr for potty time. She had certain meal times to aid me with potty training (so I knew when she had to poop) and I made sure the time I went to bed with her and the time I got up with her in the morning was consistant with not only how long she could hold her bladder, but when I would be continuing to sleep/rise so she could develop the routine. Always put the rules down that you want the pup as a full grown dog to follow. It's never to early to start teaching manners and training.

Thanks so much for replying!

And I already wrote everything down I just want to do everything right for my puppy and I'll try not to worry that much. I already talked to my mom and we kinda changed our schedules, so the puppy won't spend 5 hours without going out to potty.. We were also thinking of just living him inside his x-pen and putting a grass potty pad inside.. Maybe he will associate it? It just bums me out that I won't be there to give him a treat.

There are pluses and minuses to teaching him to use a pad, but it really beats having him use the floor because he just can't hold it when you can't be there. Tallulah, my APBT, has a big round tray (one of those you put under a hot water tank to catch leaks) with newspaper and it made a world of difference for her -- especially since she firmly believes that something terrible will happen if she potties in the rain, or if a little wet grass touches her little "bits."

And, later on, if you have to be gone for a long period of time, the pad habit can really save you some angst.

Now, for the important part of the post . . .


YEA!!!!! ANOTHER AUSSIE ON THE BOARD!!!!!!

Your puppy is so adorable.

Using potty pads is better than the pup going all over the floor. As the pup gets older and can hold it longer, you can train to go outside.

I would definitely not let anyone yell at the puppy. If that's the case, I would let the pup have it's safe room to be in away from others but still be able to interact at times.

Once you let a pup sleep in bed with you or on the couch, you have taught the pup that's okay to do. So if you let them do this, know you are saying it's okay from the start.

Please post more pics when the pup comes.

1. I'd probably let the puppy settle into a single room of the house first. You don't want to do the intro while the puppy is nervous, stressed, or super tired. Wait until he's in a happy mood. If you are concerned about either of them being too much for the other one, maybe put a gate up at the room entrance and let them first sniff through that.

2. I'd probably do an X-pen with a puppy pad for five hours. The last thing you want is the dog not being able to hold it and messing his crate. Shorter outings would be fine with a crate. But you'll figure out how long your pup can hold it. We never crated Tucker when we were gone, always X-pen, so I don't have a ton of experience with it.

3. Having family over would probably be very good for the pup's socialization. If he's a well adjusted pup it shouldn't be too stressful. If you are concerned about how they might treat him I'd just make sure you leave him in your bedroom while you are gone with instructions not to let him out so that they don't do anything you don't know about. If you see them doing something while you are there don't be afraid to tell them not to do it, tell them that you'll handle it or tell them what they can do instead. Your house, your rules.

4. I don't think you necessarily have to wait until six months of age, it's more just waiting until the parvo/distemper vaccines have been given. As far as potty time, your yard should be fine, unless your dog has had parvo in the past. Also be sure to take the dog out for socialization. Short walks, trips to bus stops, friends houses, Lowes/Home Depot if dogs are allowed at yours, trips to human centered parks/playgrounds if dog are welcome. You want to minimize contact with unknown dogs without sacrificing important socialization.

5. Sleeping with you is a personal decision, if you like that then go ahead. One thing I do notice is that my own dog, who has been allowed on the furniture since day one doesn't know what to do with himself if he can't access it. It's a problem if we have people over and the whole couch is taken up or if there are several of us eating on the couch and someone doesn't want him next to them while they eat. He will pace, cry, pant, and constantly try to jump up, it's a lot of work trying to keep him off because he doesn't know where to lay. In his mind he lays on the couch, it's just always been that way. Sooooo, my point is, it might be helpful to only let him up when invited and/or have a solid "off" or "go to your bed (or crate)" command for when you need him off the couch (or bed).
As far is it affecting him in a separation anxiety type way, I don't think it'll be a big deal. It might make you leaving for vacation without him a little harder, but I think he'll manage. It could be a bigger issue if there are going to be some night where you just don't want him in bed and so close your door or crate him. Then I could see him keeping you up by crying, barking, scratching at the door, etc. So if you want him to be more flexible change up where he sleeps so he's used to everything. You are not going to be home with him all of the time anyways, you have class and I'm sure you'll leave him to go shopping and whatnot, so that will hopefully get him used to being without you. What could be an issue if when your family comes to stay, then there might be people home all day long everyday. If he gets used to having someone home all of the time he might have trouble readjusting to being alone sometimes, so you might have to put in a greater effort to set up times where he is alone, like confining him to your bedroom, alone, while you go out, even though other people are home.

6. I don't remember exactly what we did, potty schedule is most important. He got taken out in the morning and after every meal, and then every hour or two in between depending on how well he was doing. I think we started with every two hours but he was having accidents so we cut down to every hour for a while. Make a specific place for pottying and a place for playing so the dog knows if we are in the potty area we go potty, we are not going to play here. Also if you take the dog out in the yard for an hour or two to play, take him to the potty area before going in unless you saw the dog go during playtime. Just because you've been out for two hours doesn't mean the dog went potty. Play time can often make a puppy have to potty so take the puppy out before or after (or both) a play session.

Feed at the same time every day so that the dog will have to poop around the same time, it makes life easier knowing when the dog "should" poop, then you know whether or not the dog if finished going potty or if you need to stay out longer waiting for a poop. As far as walks and playtime, you might consider changing it up, depends on the dog. On the one hand, a strict schedule may create a dog who has trouble adjusting to changes in schedule. If you usually walk him at 4 and it's 4:15 you may have a big whining, begging, pacing, stressed pain in the butt. If you need to skip a walk one day because there's a blizzard you want the dog to not loose his mind. So switching it up can be good for that (same can be said for changing up potty times a little so that the dog doesn't have an accident if you're thirty minutes late, but I wouldn't be doing that with a puppy, your goal is just getting him to go outside). On the other hand some dogs just do much better on schedules. Tucker does much better with one, or at least we manage him better with one. Knowing exactly when he'll poop, when his energy peaks will be, when he's likely to bother the cats, when he's going to sleep, etc. makes life easier because we can take the appropriate actions to make him be good. I know that my dog gets insane every evening around 7pm. So if I take him out to play before he starts acting up we can prevent him from getting in trouble. I like that I can predict that, it makes preventing naughty behavior easier. You have to chose what works best for you and your puppy.

Thank you all so much for such insightful answers! I am honestly so happy to have found this forum Maxy, thank you for your very detailed answers and of course I will follow your suggestions!!

I will of course lots of pictures when he comes home, he's set to come on the first week of November

Hey!

So exciting that you got a new puppy!

I am not sure about introducing an older dog with a newer but definitely be careful, fights can always break out!

2. It's been 11 years since the last time I had a puppy, and by that time I was only a child, this is going to be my first 'real dog' and I really want to do things right. At first I was going to take 3 months off from school, but sadly due to FAFSA I can't do it without messing my payment plan, I will only go to 2 classes though, so that's four hours - 5 hours 2 times a week that I will be gone. Should I let the puppy inside his crate, or in an x-pen?

It truly depends how long you are going to keep your puppy in a crate for. But puppies need room to grow, stretch, and run out their energy so an x-pen is always a great idea!

3. One of the things that worries me the most, is that every December my family from overseas come to my house and stay over, the puppy will be about 3 months around that time. Will this be stressful for him? I hope this doesn't mess up the training... You know how grandparents can be, especially those that believe in yelling to dogs to get their point accross should I just crate the puppy in my room? Instead of the living room?

Oh no, well see how it goes before boarding the puppy off!

4. I know that I can't really take the puppy to the dog park or pet store until he's 6 months, but what to do when is time to go potty? It will probably be on my yard, the same place my older dog goes potty, is this a health concern? (Sorry, I probably worry too much lol) should I just take him else where?

My friend suggested this thing called doggielawn? I believe is what it is called! I was told that it was real grass for dogs to go potty on. She is gone usually for long hours throughout the day and needed something for her puppy also. Definitely check out the doggielawns!

5. I know Aussies are velcro dogs, the complete opposite of my Schnauzer who is very independent, so I don't really have experience with velcro dogs, would letting him sleep on my bed, or nap with me during the day be a problem later on?

I always snuggle with my dogs. But its all about obidence!

6. Sorry... I promise, last question for now lol. Could someone post a 'schedule' you guys follow with your puppies? It's just to use it as a guide.

As far as a schedule goes...just make sure you take your puppy out first thing in the morning as well as before bed. They are in the growing process so please make sure they are fed at least twice a day. There are a lot of useful tips for puppies but I haven't had one for a long time, so I do not want to leave anything out! Good Luck!!

I will post pictures when gotcha day is closer, he's a beautiful red merle puppy![/QUOTE]