Hi there,

Can anyone advise what the best way to handle the first night a puppys home?

I'm a bit of a soft touch and always assumed that we'd have the pup in the room with us (this would be all the time - not just when she was a pup), but I've read conflicting advice form all sorts of sources. In the first weeks my sister had her min. Schnauser she slept with him right beside her and her tiny pup cuddled right next to the bed - she's had absolutely no problem which him so swears blind by this. Other sites have said to leave the pup but go down reguarly to take her out for the toilet.

So what should I do? And when I get up regularly do I wake her to take her to the loo, or do I wait til she's awake?

Cheers all,

Karen

Hi Karen,

I decided to use a crate for my pup downstairs for 2 reasons;
1. I knew the cats would hate a dog in the house and would take a while to adjust, so upstairs became their part of the house to retreat to,
2. Because in the first year or so the most damage can be done to hips and elbows I didn't want to encourage my puppy to running up and down the stairs.

I slept downstairs for the first few nights until my puppy adjusted to using the crate and then when she needed toilet I would come downstairs and let her into the garden, returning her to the crate when she had finished.

I have never had a problem and now that Molly is an adult, she still won't come upstairs as she knows she isn't allowed.

Hi Karen

I would say that you should think about where you want the pup to sleep as an adult.  Think very carefully - the idea of a dog in the bedroom might sound ok, but be aware that dogs scratch, fart, move around, lick themselves noisily, snore, have noisy dreams (kid you not), smell doggy and so on.  And bear in mind that a large breed dog is going to produce more of all the above than a Min Schnauser!  IF you (and any partners, present or future!) can deal with all that permanently, then go ahead and have your pup in the bedroom with you from the beginning.

But if you think that sounds like too much to deal with, then I would advise you to keep the pup wherever you want it to be as an adult, but sleep in the same room as it for several days, perhaps even the first week.  Make up a bed there, or sleep on the couch.  By then the pup will have got used to being away from mum and littermates and settled in with you, and you can go back to your bedroom!

I would also advise you to use a crate and crate train your pup.  This makes the whole toilet training thing a lot easier and you can also go to sleep and know that nothing will be destroyed or messed on when you wake.

You should get up regularly to take her out and NOT wait for her to tell you, because that way you will be rewarding barking or noise.  At any time you should not let her out if she barks or makes noise - you should anticipate her needing to go out.  At 12 wks she could probably go right through the night but you might not want to try that the first few nights, so set your alarm, for say 2am and let her out then.

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/crate-train.pdf