Dreamland Puppy Guide Sheet
Congratulations on your new puppy. We are as excited as you are about the newest member of your family. We have tried our best to give this little one a very good start in life by exposing them to as much as possible. We have raised this little one to be clean and have socialized them with people and other animals. From this point on, it is now up to you and your family to finish with the training. Spending time with your little one and doing basic training exercises for the next few months will help with obedience and will be greatly rewarding for years to come.
We have put together a little help sheet here to help you remember some of the things we have discussed already, and maybe a couple things that we haven’t.
First of all, taking your little one home can be very stressful to your puppy. It no longer has its litter mates for support and they no longer have US to comfort them. With this, please be patient with your puppy. Try to avoid very loud noises and no “chasing the puppy” games for the first couple of days. Let your puppy get comfortable in their new environment.
In your goodies bag, is a bag of dog food that your puppy has been eating since it was old enough to eat. PLEASE DO NOT change the food when the puppy gets to your home. This puppy only knows plain dry food. You do not need to mix stuff into it to make it wet or “more yummy”. Changing anything with the puppy’s diet at this time can cause them to get an upset belly.
DO NOT under feed your puppy. Your puppy has always had food available 24/7. Feeding meals for the first couple of months to help with potty training is great. We ask that you put down a bowl of their dry food and give them about 15-20 to eat what they want per meal. Minimum of 3 meals a day with 4 meals even better. The puppy’s have never known the feeling of being too hungry where they would learn to scarf down their food and worse yet learn how to fight over the food. This is how food aggression can start which can also turn into resource guarding. To scarf the food is a very bad habit that will most likely carry on the rest of its life once it starts. Plenty of meals and plenty of potty breaks will make a healthy and happy puppy.
Crate training is encouraged so long as it is done correctly. The crate is NEVER a place for punishment and we should only have our happy voices when your puppy is put into one. Absolutely no squeaker toys in the crate or the tied rope style toys. The puppy can chew these apart and choke. Nylabones or toys similar can be used to keep your puppy busy if it gets bored while in the crate.
When letting the puppy out of the crate for the first few days, do not let the puppy walk to the door. Once the door is open and the puppy is out of the crate, it is going to pee. Open the crate door and pick the puppy up and take it outside. Set the puppy down and say “go potty” until the puppy goes pee. Then, praise the puppy with your happy voice and say “Good Puppy!!!” (Make a big deal about it and be very excited). They are smart and will put it together quickly. After the pee is over, there is a good chance that the other stuff will follow. This usually takes a little bit of stimulation by walking around with the puppy or maybe tossing a toy to make them move around a bit. Once they squat to poop, say again “GO POTTY”, and praise them again for a job well done and again, make it an extremely exciting experience for them. Treat them with cheese once you are back inside the house. This will teach them to come back to the door and come inside the house when they have finished “going potty” as an adult.
We suggest using cheese singles for training treats. This is good for them and it will not upset their belly. One cheese single can be torn into several treats and is inexpensive. Using the very yummy looking treats can be upsetting to their bellies and cause diarrhea.
Once you have taken your puppy home, refrain from taking your puppy to dog parks or pet stores that may have harmful diseases that can make your puppy sick until you have gone to visit your vet and the next set of shots have been given. The vet paperwork that was in your goodies bag will explain what shots were given and when they were given to help you schedule an appropriate date for the next set of shots by your vet.
Once your puppy is current on its shots, take them out and socialize them as much as possible. Introduce them to everyone and everything. A well socialized puppy will be an amazing companion to take everywhere you want to go without worries about how they will act around new people, places or things. If introducing them to a new dog, sit on the ground and make your lap “home base”. Let the new dog come to you and your new puppy and praise everyone with a happy voice. Puppy will feel safe and will be making new friends without being scared and taking steps backwards.
A good puppy is a tired puppy.
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This is something that we say and repeat as often as necessary. If your puppy is cooped up all day or night and does not have the time or stimulation to play and wear off some of its energy, they can be a real hand full. Usually they will start chewing on things that you wish they would leave alone or they will just be very mischievous. Be sure to give your puppy lots of attention and play time with its family.
Basic training exercises such as sit, shake, down, etc. will be easy for your puppy to learn. Training will be best once you have played for a little bit and the puppy is a little tired and not so full of it. Try to keep your training segments to about 5-7 minutes and work on a single command at a time. Try not to confuse them by cramming too much at once.
We hope this helps. Please feel free to contact us should you wish to ask about something that is not on here. We will do our best to help. We love updates and pictures from our families. Take care, and we hope to see some pictures soon.
Thank you,
Lynn & Denise