hi all.I have herd before that its a good idea to give a new puppy a toy puppy to substitute the brothers and sisters the pup willmiss.Is this right? as i thought that a pup would rip it to shreds..and eat the stuffing!
its sounds in principle a great idea.
Im getting my Newf pup in 3 and a half weeks...any suggestions? ( ive got a blanket for her that me and Saul have been sleeping on to make it smell of us , also the breeders gonna give me some vet bed that smells of mum)

All my pups get a teddy bear. I usually get them second hand from a charity shop and you need to watch that their eyes/nose are secure. Buy them preferably as plain as possible eg: no ribbons etc. I have had puppies suck them but they rarely chew them :-)

Baby teddy bears from Mothercare are really good - the fabric is nice and short, the eyes and noses are secure and they're only half stuffed so feel really soft and floppy.

Holly regularly shakes hers to death and it still looks lovely. Best of all - it goes in the washing machine :D

Fiona
x x x

At least in my experience...they don't start ripping into stuff until later puppyhood :rolleyes: Chienne still has the soft 'sheepskin' ball that she took a fancy to at 8 weeks old. I have to keep rescuing it from Samma though and 7 years of 'loving' has made it look quite ragged :D

this is great advice, she'll be 8 weeks when we get her , i was just worried that being a big breed ( Newfoundland) it may have been less advisable to put a soft toy in with her.Perhaps i should go with a bigger one?

I have just been into my local pet shop to get some advice & the lovely lady in there askeed me if I had a soft toy ready for him when we get him home!!! she said to make sure it is large enough that he can flop on it as that is what the siblings in the litter do.
she also said after 40 years of keeping dogs she has never had a young puppy rip a soft toy up !! but then she added she has never owned a labrador apparently these like to chew anything!!!!

thankfuilly we are having an OES so hopefully he wont chew too much !!

Jude

i have an old pound puppy i had as a girl ( many years ago...!!) i might steal it back from my girls bedroom to be the pups companion!!

If it helps at all - when we visited our new pup, Dizzy about two weeks before we collected her, we took with us a blanket to the breeders house. So when we collected her it smelt of us and her family too. (Not a nice combo but she loves it :D ) She still gums on it even now, when she is sleepy, and even carries it up to bed with her at night. It is really bizarre to see but soooo cute. Apparently, both her mum, nan & sisters all do it too - although none of the boys bother!! LOL After a few weeks I washed it (I couldn't stand the smell anymore!:D ) and she still loves it. It is definatly a ploy I would use again in the future. She has settled in brilliantly , even with our other dog, and we are sure the blanket helped.
Best of luck with your new pup - keep us all updated, we all love to keep up with all thes new babies :)
Sharon
Salem & Dizzy

Funnily enough the supermarket Asda sells big toys for much cheaper than you can get them elsewhere. My afghan loves soft toys, and has one as big as her! :)