# Advice Needed: Bringing Home a 9-1/2 Week Old



## Huckleberry's Family

Hello, everyone! Our family will be bringing home a 9-1/2-week-old Havanese-Bichon this weekend and I am looking for advice for the first few weeks. We have never had a puppy or dog before and want to form good habits and do right by Huckleberry. It's two adults and two kids, ages 11 and 12. The kids will have primary responsibility for the puppy, although I will be home all day as well and I work from home and will be around when the kids are back at school. 

What are the most important things we need to do? Advice on socialization, crate training and potty training would be most welcome. Also, are there any books you especially recommend? 

Another question - supplies needed. I don't want to overbuy supplies or underbuy supplies -- we will be getting a crate, and I was also thinking of getting a pet pen. Does this make sense?

Thanks!


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## inlovewithhav

I have 2 x-pens (exercise pens) and use both constantly (great price on A*mazon), a crate and lots and lots of toys. The sooner you can get the puppy in play dates/puppy school the better- as much socialization as possible is the best. I took Kipper (in picture) to almost every practice, game/event that I could and he loves to be around people and other animals. I put this in someone else's post and think it is the most important thing for a new puppy owner.... patience. It is like have an infant/toddler again and you will spend your time watching/potty training/training the puppy. I think that I spent 6 weeks in my kitchen with Kipper before I ventured to the living room in the basement where we have a pen with lanolium under it. I can't wait to see new pictures of your new baby and hear about all the stories-
Shelly


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## jessegirl

First of all, congrats! You'll have to post some pics. We have a nearly-18-mo-old and he was our first puppy too so I'll share my 2 cents.

1. I wouldn't assume the kids will have primary responsibility. One of the things we came to realize is that we underestimated the amount of attention a new pup needs. The thing is, you can't let them out of your sight so they either need to be confided or under your close eye at all times. It really takes the whole household to work together to manage.
2. that said, I agree with Shelly that an ex-pen, playpen, or some other mode of confinement is VERY useful. We have a collapse-able, transportable playpen where he can play quietly by himself when we need to be doing things. We take it to people's houses when we bring him with us. We also feed him in there. But keep in mind, he doesn't always want to be in there. Sometimes he will want to play or be with us - hence my first item. 
3. We're doing training as a house-breaking tool and highly recommend it. There are TONS of great online resources for crate training methods and a lot of info on this site.
4. I agree with Shelly -start socialization immediately. We started taking Rollie to parties, BBQs, and introduced him to other dogs right away. Just be mindful of the dogs he comes into contact with until he's up to date on his vaccines. We introduced him to dogs that we knew were fully vaccinated.
5. I'd also start training your pup right away using whatever methods you plan to use. You'll have to go slow, but it's incredible who quickly they respond. We started with the usual - sit - and now Rollie is really aware of what training is, responds well at sessions, and now that we're in the "Adolescence" stage, I really think our early work helped to make him easier to manage at this point.
6. Invest in some good chewies. They'll be your saving grace at the end of the day when your pup still has energy but you need to rest - plus dogs just love to chew. We save his favorite ones for evening when we need that 15 minutes of TV time, but he is still kind of energetic and looking to play - they keep him happy in his playpen - thank goodness!

And most of all, enjoy! No matter how much work they end up being, they're so darned cute and lovable and joyful that it is all worth it!


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## davetgabby

Welcome and congrats. Here is some reading for everyone. 
Before You Get Your Puppy by Ian Dunbar http://www.siriuspup.com/pdfs/before_puppy_sirius.pdf

After You Get Your Puppy by Ian Dunbar http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/AFTER You Get Your Puppy.pdf


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## Huckleberry's Family

Thank you so much for the advice, inlovewithhav, jessegirl, and davetgabby! It has been super helpful. Two days until we get Huckleberry, and our puppy training plans are coming together. A few questions -

1. Can we begin taking the puppy on walks right away? I saw in the document it's good to have the puppy relieve himself and THEN take him for a walk. Can we do this from day one? 

2. It sounds from the document that the puppy needs to be confined pretty much initially. Is this the general idea - put in crate/teach him to like it, every hour take him outside to relieve himself, then a walk/playtime outside his pen/crate when we know his bladder is empty. Then back to crate and repeat every hour?

3. I read somewhere that about 30 minutes of playtime at a time is enough at first and then the puppy should have some quiet time. Is this correct?

4. Finally, my son really wants to know - when is it ok for the puppy to join us in the pool if he wants to?

Thank you and please keep the advice coming!


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## Huckleberry's Family

Oh, yes, another question -- We will be training the dog to go outside to relieve himself, but should we also have a place indoors? And if so, when/why would we actually choose that over outdoors?


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## inlovewithhav

Taking the puppy on walks right away all depends on if he has all his shots. If he does yes start getting him used to going for walks and pottying outside. If not just concentrate on getting him used to his indoor potty (he will need it until he is older). Kipper went out on his leash to potty so it was very easy to transition him to leash walking from there. 
I confined Kipper to his x-pen whenever I couldn't watch him or was not home. This was for his safety as well as the safety of my floors. We are still potty training but there are those on here that have trained their pups very quickly and successfully using the method you mentioned. I just couldn't becuase I work outside of the home.
I always let Kipper tell me when he was done playing, again it varied depending on how much alone time he had that day. Now that my children are home with him during the day he needs considerably less attention from me when I get home but is still VERY happy to see his Mommy.
LOL- Um the pool, if you want him to swim with you I would suggest taking him in the water from the start, I would just make sure an adult had him until he felt comfortable to be in the water. Most Hav's don't like it though, there are a couple who enjoy it but more often then not they prefer to stay on dry land.
The potty debate 
Kipper has both an indoor potty pad as well as access to go outside when he needs to. He prefers to go outside BUT if I am not home and he can't get anyone else's attention then he can use his potty pads. This is completely a decision that is yours and Hucklebee's to make. I have an older larger dog so he knows that he is supposed to go outside and wants to be like her which helps with potty training. If you don't want an indoor option then you don't have to have one but if you live somewhere that has nasty storms or really bad winters it may be something to consider. Congratulations again and I can't wait to see photo's.


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## jessegirl

I'll chime in on a couple of your questions:

_1. Can we begin taking the puppy on walks right away? I saw in the document it's good to have the puppy relieve himself and THEN take him for a walk. Can we do this from day one? 

Here's the advice we were given on walks. Avoid walking in grass and anywhere that an unknown and potentially sick dog could be. We walked with Rollie on our street, and kept him on the pavement so we could be sure he wouldn't be stepping in anything. However, I know a lot of people strictly avoid this until the pup has had the 3rd parvo/distemper vaccine. My take was that the socialization of being out, meeting new people, and safe dogs was really important and the risk on pavement was low.

2. It sounds from the document that the puppy needs to be confined pretty much initially. Is this the general idea - put in crate/teach him to like it, every hour take him outside to relieve himself, then a walk/playtime outside his pen/crate when we know his bladder is empty. Then back to crate and repeat every hour?

They basically need to be confined any time you or someone in your household cannot give them 100% attention, which brings me to your next question . . .

3. I read somewhere that about 30 minutes of playtime at a time is enough at first and then the puppy should have some quiet time. Is this correct?

Yeah, puppies tire quickly. At 8 or 9 weeks, your pup will want to play like crazy for a while and QUICKLY crash. You'll notice that the pup naps a lot (and thank goodness for that!). But you can have the pup out of confinement for non-play activities too like brief training sessions, exploration of the space (although I'd definitely limit the rooms your pup is allowed in until he/she is housebroken - we let Rollie in the kitchen and living room only). I agree that after a period of activity, it is good to give the pup some quite time b/c puppers may need/want to nap, but may be so excited about what's happening that puppers "forgets" to actually sleep. Although Rollie always made time for sleep. The first night home he put himself in his crate to nap!_


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## davetgabby

Huckleberry's Family said:


> Thank you so much for the advice, inlovewithhav, jessegirl, and davetgabby! It has been super helpful. Two days until we get Huckleberry, and our puppy training plans are coming together. A few questions -
> 
> 1. Can we begin taking the puppy on walks right away? I saw in the document it's good to have the puppy relieve himself and THEN take him for a walk. Can we do this from day one?
> 
> 2. It sounds from the document that the puppy needs to be confined pretty much initially. Is this the general idea - put in crate/teach him to like it, every hour take him outside to relieve himself, then a walk/playtime outside his pen/crate when we know his bladder is empty. Then back to crate and repeat every hour?
> 
> 3. I read somewhere that about 30 minutes of playtime at a time is enough at first and then the puppy should have some quiet time. Is this correct?
> 
> 4. Finally, my son really wants to know - when is it ok for the puppy to join us in the pool if he wants to?
> 
> Thank you and please keep the advice coming!


no one, yes but stay away from dog frequented areas. yes eliminate at home and then as a reward, go for walk.

no. two yes cofine when you are unable to watch him.

no three play as long as you want , just remember to take him out every hour

no . four no problem with pool , but you have to desensitize him to water slowly ,don't force him in.

no five if you can be with him round the clock for a couple of months there is no need to train indoors.


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## krandall

There may be no need to train indoors, but many people still find it more convenient to have acceptable indoor and outdoor potty spots!


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## Huckleberry's Family

Well, Huckleberry is now part of the family! He's been great sleeping at night, no whining at all, and he's SO sweet. Potty training is going so-so. Everytime we've given him a little freedom, he's gone, so we've got him super tight to us/his crate today. 

At ten weeks, how long might he be able to hold it? He's holding it pretty long - I thought it would be 60-75 minutes, but it's definitely been longer, so we're taking him out over and over with no results. Is this common?

Thanks!


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