New Puppy? New member of the family. My tips on preparing for a puppy.

This is Lucy

Hi guys, now before I get started on this post I just want to put it out there that I am in no way, shape or form a dog/pet/puppy expert. This is just me posting about my experience of buying a puppy and little tips that I've picked up along the way.

If you're reading this then you're probably thinking of getting a new furry addition to the family and that's fantastic! Whether you are opting to rehome a rescue dog or getting a puppy from a breeder, hopefully this might help you along the way. So go and grab a cuppa and we'll make a start.

It's fair to say that our home is a busy one. With three young kids running around the place there are days where my home resembles a circus. It's for this very reason we opted out of rehoming a rescue dog. We felt that due to the nature of our lifestyle and the craziness of our home life, it would've been inappropriate for us to go down this route and unfair on the dog. Having said that re-homing a rescue dog is a fantastic thing and definitely once the kids are a lot older we can think of giving a rescue dog a forever home.  

But for now, whilst the kids are so young and all about growing up, we wanted a little companion to grow up right along side them and grow with our family. Now, getting this new bundle of joy has been in the planning for well over 12 months and how we managed to keep it a surprise for the kids I'll never know! It's not been easy I can tell you. Secret conversations, talking in code, having to delete my messages on my phone just in case the kids saw them (they go on my phone to watch YouTube), but we did it and the end result was amazing! 

Now both Andy and I both come from backgrounds where a family dog was the norm and decided from an early stage in our relationship that somewhere down the line we'd get a dog, but when we got married, for various reasons we decided to wait until it felt like the right time. Back then we both worked long hours and then the kids slowly started making their appearances one by one and before we knew it.... we'd been married 10 years and still no dog!! We decided enough was enough and with the help of family and friends, we managed to find a reputable Working Cocker Spaniel breeder who had fantastic reviews from everyone we'd spoke to. This process did take a long time but we wanted to make sure that where we were getting her from somewhere that offered her the best possible start in life. 

Tips to finding the right breeder!

If you are thinking of getting a puppy, I would avoid any sellers who use social media as a way of advertising the litter, unless you really know this person and trust they are genuine. Once you've established what breed is best suited to your lifestyle and you've found a breeder, the first thing is to arrange a viewing where you can go along and see your puppies home, how they interact with the rest of the litter and see the puppies mother. Get to know their mum, as her temperament could be inherited by her puppies. Never agree to buying a pup without seeing the mother. There should be no excuses for the puppies mother not being present at the meeting and so if she's not there, ask yourself 

"Does this feel right?" Chances are in this case that you're dealing with dodgy people in which case, simply leave. Whilst we're on the subject of 'dodgy' breeders, never agree to meet someone somewhere that isn't the dogs home, like a layby or a carpark. No decent breeder would suggest meeting anywhere that wasn't the puppies home and so if they do suggest this, chances are they're hiding something. When you do go to the home it's important to have a good look around (without being rude) to check that it definitely looks as though those dogs genuinely live there. A lot of scammers borrow friends houses or rent places to sell their farmed puppies, making it look as though they come from a loving family home. In truth, these puppies and their mums are kept in horrendous conditions and are likely to suffer from medical conditions further down the line.  

Also, a good breeder will know the individual personalities of the puppies and so if you explain what type of temperament you're after, for example if you want a relatively calm, submissive dog then the breeder will help you pick the pup most suited to you and your needs. 

Also, be prepared to answer lots of questions. A sign of a good breeder will want to make sure their puppies are going to good, reliable, forever homes.

Now then, you've found your breeder, met and got to know your puppy on several occasions and she's now 8 weeks old and ready to come and join you and your family. Now what? 

Your puppy should have already been seen by the vet, given a clean bill of health and received their first set of immunisations and so really the first thing I did before she arrived, was to register her with our local vet, book her in for her second immunisations and organise pet insurance cover.

Pet Insurance

Our little Cocker Spaniel is the first dog we've owned as adults. We both had dogs growing up as kids but we didn't have to organise anything like this! So for me, I didn't have a clue what I was looking for. A lot of people I spoke to have never bothered with insurance saying it was a waste of money as your dog could go it's entire lifetime and never need anything major doing. If you're lucky.

But my personal view is 'I'd rather be safe than sorry' and so for me I felt like I needed to get this bit correct. I found my pet insurance through a comparison website for £7.45 per month which covers her for any accidents and "New" illnesses up to £2000 per year. Once this allowance has been used in a 12 month period the amount resets at the renewal date and the pre-existing illness from the previous claim can be treated as a "New" illness again allowing me to continue to pay for her illness should this ever happen. I'm sorry if non of that made any sense. It did in my head and I'm not sure of a better way to explain it. She'll be covered for life basically and this type of cover is literally known as "Lifetime cover". Anyway, whether you choose to get pet insurance is completely your decision, I just wanted safety in the knowledge that should anything happen to her, she'd be well looked after and covered. 

Other Tips

It must be quite intimidating for a little puppy to leave it's mum and siblings and so one thing we did do is get one of our old blankets and ask the breeder to get the mums scent rubbed on it ready for our little ones first night in her new home. It worked a treat! She was much more settled than I thought she was going to be snug in her bed with her mums scent around her, made her feel safe.

With regards to training, we decided to have her bed inside a crate. We'd done some background reading and felt that as we have such a busy home it was important to us that she has a place of her own and that she feels comfortable and safe. It's where she sleeps throughout the night and is available for her to use as and when she chooses during the day. She also has a cushion on the floor by the foot of a sofa where she'll also choose to lie (as you can see in the picture above) and watch the children play until she's ready to join in. It's also been good for the kids to know that if she's sleeping in her crate, she's not to be disturbed and so far it's been going really well. Now I'm not saying I have an exceptionally clever dog but at 11 weeks old she'll see the kids getting into their pyjamas ready for bed and she'll take herself off to her crate and settle down in her bed! How good is that?! She'll stay there too till about 10:30pm when she gets up for a wee and a poo in the garden, a quick play for half an hour and then she'll get back into bed where she'll sleep straight through till about 6am. At this age, I couldn't ask for any more. I was thinking it would be like having another new born baby, awake every few hours but honestly she's been fabulous! 

Now I've just realised that I've gone through the entire blog without telling you her name!! We decided to call her Lucy and she has made such a wonderful new addition to our family, the children especially love her to bits and it's also given them a sense of responsibility. 

I'm sorry if this blog is way longer than you were hoping. I do tend to ramble on a bit and I am still learning as I go. I hope that you found some of this blog post helpful in whatever you choose, whichever path you choose to go down, whether you decide to give a rescue dog a loving forever home or if you go for a puppy, I wish you all well and much happiness with your new member of your family. 

Take care xx