Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Ready? Set...

As the day approaches for us to bring our new addition home, I am starting to get very nervous. I am excited about having a dog in the house again and about getting to know our new friend but I am a little scared, too.

Although my husband has, I have never owned a puppy before. I have had many dogs over the years but they were all older (2 or more years) when they were acquired. I have never experienced the house breaking or chewing or initial obedience training. I am counting on him to help a lot, but I am still on edge.

I am trying to be smart about this, though. I have been reading almost anything I can get my hands on about puppy care and training and I am going to enroll us in puppy kindergarten as soon as she has a name. (We've narrowed it down to 3 choices.)

I bought some chew toys, a rope bone, and a couple stuffed animals for her to play with. I also got some nice smelling dog shampoo and a "waterless" dog spray for when she has her ears done and can't have a bath for a while. I purchased a couple different grooming tools as well. We have a couple baby gates to keep her confined to the main level of our home for now (we only use our upstairs for storage and a spare bedroom anyway). We are using Gizmo's bowls for now while we look for a stand we like that raises the dishes off the ground. We have an assortment of collars and a leash that is good up to 110 lbs. The crate we ordered should be here by the 3rd and I am going on the 4th to buy food, treats, and a bed.

I think I have all my bases covered. Have I forgotten anything?

4 comments:

tommy said...

you forgot a tommy to play with it :(

KRH said...

Unfortunately the tommy we want is on back-order until March... and we may not get that tommy until October :-(

Jenny said...

Keep in mind, as I've discovered, puppy's systems don't tolerate rawhide very well until they get a little older. I would stick with puppy Nylabones for a while, the kind that aren't edible, until you know whether or not he has a sensitive tummy.
Hee, a tommy to go with it. Nope, you didn't forget that.

KRH said...

I talked to the vet and she said the main concern with rawhide is choking and intestinal blockage if large chunks are torn off and swallowed. So for now, I am using the compressed particle kind as a treat once a day and with supervision. She has done ok so far but she has only had 2 so I don't know if it has had enough time to get through her system... I guess we'll find out :-)