We will have a new puppy soon - Help!

[Steel]

Having just sold our house and moved to the country my husband is now in position to get the dog he has always wanted. We contacted a local shelter and are off tomorrow to visit a litter of pups at their foster home, we think they are lab x collie x retriever mixes.

Now my questions are:
How should we best integrate a new puppy with our 2 yr old cat (who is just used to the new house following the trauma of moving home)?
What are the best tips you have to comfort and control the new family addition so that we start as we mean to go on with regards to discipline?
Also, I have heard mention of ''crating'' before, I am not familiar with this term. I assume it means to place the dog in a safe quiet place with proper provisions to get it used to being alone in the house? Is this right and how is it best done?

Of course I will do my best to get lots of pictures in return for your great advice....

 

[bee*]

aww your new pup will be gorgeous!! We had to go through introducing a new puppy a couple of months ago to our big fat cat. The best advice that I can give you is do it slowly. Keep an eye on the puppy as the cat, if given a chance will probably try and scratch the puppy. Hold on to your pup and let the cat have a sniff around. If you can, bring home a blanket or something before the pup comes home, so that your cat can get used to the smell of the new pup before it actually arrives. Have a place for the cat to go if the puppy gets too much.
In terms of training, start asap. In relation to house training, put your puppy out into the garden after every meal and when the pup goes to the toilet, give it huge praise. If you see the pup going in circles, it normally means that it''s toilet time, so place her in the garden and again huge praise every time it goes outside. We started the stay, sit etc commands straight away. Use small treats for the dog and after a day or two they will be doing it as soon as you say the words to them.
In terms of crating, it really depends if you want to use a crate or not. Our dogs have their own places that they go to in the house when they need time out time and that suits us, but if you want to use a crate, start when they''re young and leave them in it for small periods of time, with water and some toys. Go out of the room for a little while and then come back in, just to show the pup that even though it''s locked in the crate and you''re gone out, you are coming back.

Dying to see the photos!!

 

[widget]

If your cat is timid, then it''s probably especially important to introduce them gradually.

When I first brought Widget home, she immediately went after the cat. One good swipe from Spike sent her howling in terror. (They eventually became good buddies, but with boundaries firmly established by Spike.)

I think a bold cat is better at "training" a puppy than we are!

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[AmberGretchen]

Congratulations in advance on your new addition!! And as someone who volunteers a lot of hours in a shelter working with homeless dogs, can I just say thank you thank you thank you for rescuing a puppy that needs a home!!

This Link has a TON of great information to get you started - you should be able to easily download the handouts on there, and they have information on everything from introducing your new dog to your cat (step by step instructions) to how to crate train and what it is and why its a good idea. I highly encourage you to read them and use their training methods - I''ve been volunteering there for quite a while now and I have seen these training techniques in action, and they just work wonders on the dogs. And its all based on positive reinforcement, so you never risk your dog developing a negative association with anything and having an unpleasant/undesirable reaction.

Good luck and please come back and post pictures and any other questions you may have.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Also - a few other very important things. You'll want to have your puppy neutered as soon as possible if the rescue group hasn't done it already. Neutering will significantly reduce the chance of behavior problems such as marking in the house, aggression, and running off to go after females in heat. If its expensive at your normal vet you can google low-cost spay/neuter options in your area. While he's being neutered, ask them to put in a microchip. It should be fairly cheap to have the microchip put in, and by having it inserted and keeping the information up-to-date you increase the odds, if he should ever get lost or stolen or whatever, that he will be returned to you from about 10% to over 70%. Well worth it in my opinion, and totally non-traumatic for the dog.

Make sure you are getting him at the appropriate age - he should not be separated from his littermates before 8 weeks, or you risk him not learning important things about how to relate to other dogs as well as how to relate to you. The most obvious example is bite inhibition - they learn at this age from their littermates that biting hurts and so they shouldn't bite in play.

Finally, you'll want to get him on a high-quality food. This thread has a good discussion of high-quality cat and dog food options - I would highly recommend putting him on one of the better foods as soon as he comes home (a gradual transition from whatever he has been eating is best).

Good luck!

 

[Steel]

Thanks for your advice. I appreciate the compliment AmberGretchen but I think volunteers like you make the real difference, providing a facility where animals get the opportunity to have a second chance.

In my locality the state sponsored body will take animals but they put them down after only 1 week, our local shelters are all privately run and rely on donations of time and money. Its all so very sad.

That link is great I am downloading all the leaflets as I type. I so want to raise a happy good doggie.

Absolutely I will neuter/spay the puppy, I will not contribute to more puppies when so many needs homes already. Hubbie wants to microchip also.

So, all going well I should have pics tomorrow. I wonder how sulky my kitty will be? - bless his cotton socks!

 

[Steel]

Well we have had a long and eventful day. We visited 2 lovely playful collie pups about 2 hours away which were beautiful but seemed to love to chase cats. Out of respect for our little cutie they were out of the running straight away.

So we are trying this little chappie... Who is as yet unnamed, but we have affectionately been calling him Bear -I wonder if you can guess why?

 

[Steel]

Puppy

 

[Steel]

Puppy and the cat have not yet been introduced. It has been a long day for us and we will settle the pup in an unused bathroom with all the necessities for the night and gradually start an introduction next week.

The puppy seems very calm which is surprising considering the chaos of the shelter (not in a bad way). We knew his mother who hubbie rescued from a main road and cared for her for a little while. She had a chain embedded in her neck and had been mistreated then abandoned. We couldn’t keep her at the time as we lived in a high density estate. She had a litter of pups shortly after going to the shelter and this is the last pup to be homed. His mother was rehomed a little while ago by a friend of my husband.

Wish us luck.

 

[AmberGretchen]

OMG Steel he is GORGEOUS

What a handsome guy!!

It sounds like things are going really well so far - taking your time settling him in and making introductions with kitty is a fantastic idea, and gives the best odds of success for the dog and the cat as well as you guys. That''s wonderful that you guys are being so patient and responsible already - you sound so eager to learn and so ready to do the right things that I have no doubt you will be wonderful doggie parents. Keeping him in a confined space like the bathroom is just perfect to start - he can feel safe in there and not have too much freedom to get stressed out or into trouble. I''m sure you already know this but do be very careful to never leave him and kitty alone unsupervised until you are completely totally 100% absolutely beyond certain he would never go after the cat.

I''m so glad that link was helpful - its been an incredible resource for me as a dog volunteer and cat owner. Good for you for being so on top of things re: getting him neutered and microchipped - it will be such a good investment and you''ll be so glad you did it.

Your new pup looks just like a younger version of a gorgeous doggie who is in an agility class I volunteer to help teach on Sundays. If your pup has tons of energy and is smart, food-motivated and eager-to-please (he looks like a herding dog mix and they commonly are all of these things), you may want to consider enrolling him in obedience and then agility or flyball or frisbee classes when he gets older. These are all really wonderful ways to bond with your dog and give him mental and physical stimulation. But that''s all much later - for now, enoy your beautiful new family member, and please keep us updated on how its going. Congratulations!

 

[Mandarine]

How cute is he!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????

The cutest!!! I love puppies! He has such a sweet face!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dark dogs are my favorite, they have so much personality! I love the temporary name too! It fits him perfectly! We call my dog "the little black bear" (he is only like 20 lbs)...this one would be the big black bear!!!!

Good luck and give him hugs from me!!!

M~

 

[bee*]

aww he''s gorgeous!!! He looks so cuddly! I love him!

 

[Steel]

Awh, shucks! If puppy could read I''m sure he''d be blushing.

Its funny, our kitty is sitting outside the door of that bathroom about 2 foot away from the door. Its almost like he knows who is in there and is keeping guard like a little night watch cat. He is such a sweetie.

I will keep you updated on his progress but please post any ideas for names you have. I have google''d it and I like Cole (or Coal!) so far. Our kitty cat is Henry and his departed brother was George so we kinda had a royal theme going so we are also considering Louis!

Let me know what you think?

 

[Steel]

A small step for mankind, a giant leap for kitty-puppy relations...

 

[Steel]

I am having trouble sizing....

 

[Steel]

.

 

[Love in Bloom]

Congrats and thanks for posting pics of your new baby!!! That shot on the sofa is priceless

 

[Steel]

So, almost 1 week on....

Puppy is a very quick learner. Hubbie has taught him among other commands: Sit, Stay(almost

), Go to bed, ''''Potty'''', No, Give me the paw, Down and so on. Puppy is very clever.
We set up a child gate at the kitchen door and placed it off the ground so that Henry can crawl under and visit puppy in the kitchen when he wants, it gives him control over how much interaction he wants with the doggie. Also it limits the interaction the dog can have with Henry if kitty chooses to leave. It has been so effective and has made integration easy peasie.
Also we bought Henry a covered cat loo, like a cat carry box but is a kitty toilet instead of his usual open tray. He loves it. Can go in there and have a really good scratch about. Even thought it is rooms away from the doggie I felt it would give Henry greater security with a doggie in the house to be comfortable at potty time.

I was so worry that Henry would react badly to the doggie but he seems to be ''in control'' and not at all stressed. He has swipped puppie and given him a well deserved Hiss but thats about it. I hope it all goes well as puppie really is adorable.

That is - when he is good

 

[Steel]

Thanks Love in Bloom for the double vote of confidence

.

The process of puppy naming is at a standstill. After numerous sterling suggestions (including: Leon, Louis, Hunter and my all time favourite - Cole

) Hubbie is not convinced and puppie is still called puppie.

Can you pretty please offer any suggestions ?

 

[WTNLVR]

What a cute and funny pic! I had a Collie Shep mix years ago and it was the best mix. I think the Collie part just adds that really attached, caring, guard dog (in a good way) characteristic. He looks like a love. Good luck!

 

[door knob solitaire]

I adore the sofa shot too! And love that THAT REALLY big puppy feels so comfortable on the lap of his new daddy. Like there was no doubt he would be any where else! Those paws...I think you got yourself a bear too! There may be a day that you will have to sit on his lap!!

On to the naming. What is your hubby into? We know the pup is black and a big ol babe...but is there something we can use to tie the two together?

Congrats! And thanks SOOOOOO MUCH for adopting one in need of a home. Looks like he was made for yours. (OK maybe the cat is still out on that one...give it time.)

one less in need of a home!!! Yippee!!!

DKS

 

[Skippy123]

Oh, what a cute puppy!!!