What's Next:
Preparing for Your New Puppy
After I receive your deposit, I will continue to add pictures and videos on their page as your puppy matures. Typically nothing "exciting" happens in the videos until the puppies are around 5-6 weeks old. That's when their personalities start showing, and they start running around and playing!
The remaining balance ($1500 with $200 deposit deduction) is due the day of pickup. There is a $100 discount if you pay in cash.
While you're waiting to bring home your new puppy, there are a few things below you can do to prepare.
Puppy Prep:
Food
The puppies eat Blue Buffalo Puppy Food. It can be found online, petsmart, and most big box stores. It is not moistened, just served straight from the bag.
If you plan to feed your puppy a different type of food, I am happy to send you home with some of our food, so there's no need to buy a tiny bag of blue buffalo. You would just start with our food, and each day mix in more of the new food, less of the blue buffalo, until you have only the new food. They only eat about 1/4th of a cup of food a day, but normally I just let them eat until they're full. Also, it's very common for the puppy to have little to no appetite for the first couple of days at its new home.
Feeding Times
To help with house training, I strongly recommend against free feeding and watering your puppy. It's much easier to know when your puppy has to go out if you keep him/her on a feeding routine, and monitor when the puppy eats/drinks. I currently feed them at 7am and in the afternoon around 3pm (any later and they will have overnight accidents). I put the food down for about 5-10 minutes, the puppy eats, then I take it away when it's finished. If the puppy doesn't eat, I still remove the food, and usually they just eat a bigger dinner..... I swear I've never seen one of my dogs eat more than a tablespoon of food each day I do the same with water, but offer it more often, stopping around 6-7pm. (Think of potty training a child, you don't want to give them a giant glass of water right before bedtime.)
House Training
As for house training, please remember how tiny their little digestive systems are. They have to be taken out immediately in the morning, within a couple of minutes after eating (especially breakfast - it's crazy that they have to potty 5 minutes after their morning potty break!). If they're up and playing, they will need to be taken out about 15 minutes into playing, and every time they wake up (even if you're holding them on the couch for a quick nap). We use verbal rewards at this young age when they potty outside.
The difference between house training an 8 week puppy vs a 12 week puppy is huge! When they're only 8 weeks old, there will be frequent accidents, but try not to get discouraged, it will get easier!
At Home Training & Supplies
Before your puppy comes home, start watching the McCann Dog Training Videos. They will help so much!
Here's a great introduction video that covers a lot very quickly: Top 10 Reasons Your Puppy Training Will FAIL
Purchase a small crate to crate train the puppy. We use their crates any time we leave the house, and the dogs think of the crates as beds, not punishments. I will also provide each puppy with a little crate blanket that smells like their litter to make the move easier on them.
I know how hard teeny collars are to find, so I will provide a tiny puppy collar for the first few months at home.
Vet Checkup
The puppies will go to the vet around 7 weeks of age for their checkups and to receive their shots and dewormer (usually NEMEX). I will confirm their shot date with each new owner. They usually get 3 rounds of puppy shots, so you can schedule a vet checkup for round 2 in 4 weeks.
Puppy Pickup
Final payment ($1500 minus deposit) is due upon pickup, and can be paid online. There is a $100 discount if you pay in cash; If you prefer to pay via check, payment must be paid in advance.
Due to previous experiences, puppies are to be picked up by the weekend after their 9 week birthday. If you need to pick up your puppy at a later date, there will be an additional charge of $100 per week (we will also work on house training, simple commands like sit, come, no).
If you would prefer to pick your puppy up at 12 weeks, I will start house training her/him, and teaching basic commands. The puppy will also get his second set of puppy shots, and he will be out and about with us to have many socialization experiences. There is a $500 fee for this service.