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Doberman puppy countdown - opinions and advice needed!

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Poppy's Mum

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Hi all,

We have a beautiful female Doberman puppy starting her new life with us in two weeks (and counting!). She will be 8 weeks and myself and hubby are doing are due diligence and trying to get as much advice from all sources as we can. There are a couple of questions that we'd appreciate your thoughts on:

Breeder lives about 3 and a half hours away, any tips on keeping the car journey back as positive for pup as possible? Any dobe owners know what size car harness might be appropriate? (She will be in the back with me but I want to know she's safe and secure as well)

Any opinions on Churchill or LV pet insurance?

Bathing - we'd like her to get used to the odd bath or shower down as we're out in the country, so post-vaccinations she'll most likely be getting quite muddy around here. Any tips?

We live down hill from our local village, about a 15 minute walk, we dont want to over exercise at all, but at what age will she likely be able to do the walk and back on the lead?

We have said to the breeder we have an annual family camping trip when pup is 13 weeks, no kids, but one other pup of similar age, again, we do not intend to have long walks, but mainly just to pub and back, are there any non-fashion plain dog carrier bags that would carry a large pup if she does get tired while we are out? Please note, we are NOT talking glam, just a modest bag (at a modest price). Or even non dog specific bags anyone knows of?

And just for a nice debate, as we've encountered strong opinions both ways, would you put her name on an id tag? (Along with the legally required info).

Thanks everyone!
 
How lovely, a new baby. You must be really excited.

I don't know about Churchill or LV, but when I insured Rosie, I shopped around and found Tesco to be about the best. They have an excellent reputation for paying without fuss also, should you make a claim.

I doubt you'll get a car harness to fit an eight weeker. Could you borrow a small cage or cat carrier that you could sit on the back seat with the seat belt around it? She would be less likely to be sickly travelling that way.

I think the recommendation for walking a pup is five minutes per month of age, twice a day, so for a twelve week old, it would be fifteen minutes, twice a day.

Look forward to hearing all about her when she comes home.

Susan x
 
Hi Poppy's Mum and welcome to DogForum :)

I bet you are so excited! I would be :) You know we have a little rule here don't you? Photos are obligatory, especially of cutesy pie babies :)

For the journey home I imagine that she will sleep in the back of the car and when she's little the most suitable thing to do with her is to put her in a box that is secured on the back seat, or wherever she will be in the car long term. She will be growing so quickly that a harness is likely to only fit for a few weeks. Do you have a cat carrier or similar? Put her in there with a cloth that smells of her mum and she'll be happy and secure in there then you'll need to just stop for a loo break every half hour when she's awake.

When it comes to insurance I'm not a good advisor, as I cancelled all of mine and run a fund to pay for my vet bills instead. I had all of my animals insured for 20 years, but working out the net costs over that time led me to scrapping it all and running a savings account where I put the money that would have been premiums instead. This may only be suitable if you have multiple animals though, so I'm not advocating this as a course for everybody.

Bathing- start from early on just with taking her in the bathroom (assuming that you're going to bathe her in there) and giving her a treat for being in the right place and being happy with it. Then wet a cloth and wipe her paws with it and give her a treat for being calm, then graduate onto getting more of her wet and it all being fine. Showers make a big hissing sound which takes getting used to for dogs and they REALLY don't like getting the spray down their ears or on their face so if you want to shower her down you will need to do it with the shower head in your hand directing the jet. Use warm water and lots of positive language and rewards and soon it will be normal and fine that she's having a wash down after a muddy walk. I call Molly upstairs when it's time to clean the mud off and she comes up the stairs and climbs into the bath all by herself, and that's a really positive way for things to be. She needs to be rinsed down at least once a week and it would be a real pain if we had to fight with her to get her into the bath constantly.

The walk down to the village seems like a great opportunity to do daily lead practice. The Kennel Club recommends 5 minutes of exercise per month of age, up to twice a day, so that would suggest that a walk to the village and back (being half an hour) would not be possible until she's 6 months old. However, lead walking is nothing like as intensive as the running about that is generally referred to as 'exercise' so that can come forwards considerably.

For a bag for carrying Poppy can I recommend that you see if you can pick up a second hand baby sling of the 'Liberty sling' variety? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liberty-Padded-Sling-Ketchup-Cotton/dp/B001GZHO48/ref=sr_1_18?s=baby&ie=UTF8&qid=1366205869&sr=1-18 This sort of thing. I've seen so many GSD pups being carried around happily in this sort of sling and I think they should be so much more comfortable for both you and the dog than a bag that you have to use your arms to carry- pups get really rather heavy really very quickly ;)

I wouldn't put her name on the tag, just yours, postcode and every possible phone number you can think of, including your vet's number. I have my dog's name on her tag, but the chances of anybody getting her to go to them aren't very low. A puppy who doesn't know not to talk to everybody and who is extra cute is a different matter.

Please give her a snuggle off me when you have the chance :)
 
no advice, just thought i'd share my jealousy, dobermans are lovely, never met a puppy one, but i bet they are amazing...

Actually i do have a bit, no to putting the name on the tag. I have my dogs name on his, as he escaped once and took himself on an enormous walk across the city to find me. Numerous people tried to catch him or call him over, and failed. I felt like writing his name down his side in marker pen after that, and i figure i'd prefer someone to catch him and have him safe, than have him running about. I also figure that no-one would steal, a crusty old blind whippet; cute little doberman pup, is another matter entirely.

I'm off to go look on google images at dobe puppies. :)
 
Thank you all, so welcoming and helpful! Our breeder has a fabric sided crate she's giving us, so we'll use that I think. Pictures below, when we went to meet her I was overrun with 8 dobe pups, its the best antidepressant you can get! Bliss.

20130410_151048.jpg

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Oh she is adorable!

Welcome to Dog Forum - I am Anna :)
 
Hi all, a quick update, we pick up Poppy on Saturday! Ridiculously excited but have three questions that I would love your opinion on:

1. I've read a lot on giving puppy her first home bath as soon as we get back from picking her up, I am not totally convinced, as it is going to be after a 3 and a half hour car journey and I do t want to overwhelm her even more - any thoughts on when would be the best time?

2. I want to get her used to teeth cleaning, should I be starting this straight away or wait until teething? Are adult dog toothpastes ok, I cant seem to find puppy specific.

3. 4 days after picking her up I will need to go to an appointment it will take at most 1 hour and 45 minutes, can she be left in her crate for this time? I hate to leave her but I absolutely cant take her with me or leave her in the car, I would be even more worried. She will also have her first jab later that day, so I don't want to freak her out with too many car trips. Thoughts welcomed!
 
Oh one more before I forget! My next door neighbour mentioned not letting her run around in the back garden until her jabs in case she catches something like parvo- is this a legitimate concern, shall I keep her inside until after her 10weeks? Or am I now becoming a neurotic new puppy mum??!

Thanks all!
 
hiya! Eeek i bet you are excited!

I would play it by ear on the bathing thing, unless she is really grubby for some reason, which she shouldn't be. I agree that it might be a bit much for her first day, when you are just getting to know each other, and will be trying to keep her calm and things. I'd save it for day 2 or 3, as it is a bit of a shock for them!

Leaving her for an hour and 45, may well be ok if she is a calm little thing and you have got her a bit tired first, so she sleeps. Might be worth having a practise run for an hour or so on day 3...

Teeth brushing for puppies, don't know about the toothpaste, i'd imagine it'd be fine, but you could just practise with your finger, or the little finger doobery with just water on it or something. The toothpaste stuff isn't like the human one, my dog just tries to lick it off as its going on, it must taste good.

I think it is fine for them to go on the gound outside in your own yard, if no other dogs, or ones that have had their jabs have been there. You'll need to for toileting anyway presumably. I'd watch her carefully tho as they will investigate things and eat things that could be bad, (like cat poo :( ) i'd ask her breeder what she thinks..

Cannot wait to see more photo's, am very jealous of you :)

my quest to look at dobe puppies on the internet led me to some strange discoveries, white or cream dobies (who knew about them?), and the ear trimming and pinning thing, thank goodness its not allowed here, x
 
Thanks for such a complete reply! Yes, really glad cropping is illegal, hate that severe look, they are such softies really. Will definitely be taking her out on the patio, I guess neighbour was more worried about the grass and foxes, but I will speak to breeder (trying to limit the stupid questions I ask her to prevent looking like a naive prat, but it wont be long until she realises anyway!). I will be scouring the garden for everything beforehand harmful. Whilst I'm being cheeky, does anyone think this recipe would be ok for little one? http://www.bullwrinkle.com/Assets/Recipes/Peanut%20Butter%20Dog%20Biscuits.htm

Thanks again, so glad I found this forum, lovely to have all your help x
 
i'd just write a huge list and ask her them all! She'll be glad you are intending on doing things properly, and there's loads of conflicting advice out there. Our puppies at work investigated the garden at about 5 or 6 weeks, but then we don't get foxes as its walled. Hmm, maybe don't listen to me on that one (or anything!), someone else'll know i'm sure. :)

biccys look ok, its up to you, you can always dip them in your tea if they don't go down too well :)
 
We have our new addition! Our Poppy was the perfect traveller, she lay next to and on me for the whole 4 hour journey (traffic), didn't whine once, we stopped at services halfway, she had a little water, no toilet and waited until 30seconds after she hit out of the car onto the driveway, never been so proud!

We had no large accidents in the house, plenty of fun with her new blankets and toys (Mr Pickles the soft blue dog was a natural winner) then bed at 11pm, straight to sleep in her open crate in kitchen, an ignored whine at 5am, then came down at 6.30 (couldn't help myself) to find her sitting up perfectly in her bed.

So far, so very good.

Mandatory pictures for some reason upload upside down, give me a while to figure it out!
 
blimey! She's amazingly lovely! What a sweet little face, i love dogs with little orange blobs for eyebrows, my childhood dog had them.

Keep 'em coming, though i am seething with jealousy, :)
 
Well we've had a bbq and chilled out in the garden (chasing her around trying to get her to sit under an umbrella was ridiculous, I'm sure my dogternal instincts will calm down soon). She crashed out on the cool sofa so picture of the little munchkin out for the count...

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haha i have the same prob with mine, he will lie in the sun, literally until he is sick. I have a foil blanket and a few sticks to create him a bit of shade when he's out for the count. Or i put a wet tea towel over him.

She is so lovely, those huge paws! :)
 
She's gorgeous :)

And yes, they wilfully ignore all rules on whether they should let themselves cook in the sun, whether they should eat cow pats, whether they really should throw themselves off that river bank when they don't know how deep the water is...

It's quite normal, and no, you won't fret any less about her as she grows. Sorry and all that.

I don't bother with creating shade or putting tea towels over Molly. I just take her to a river and throw her floating ball in and say 'fetch' :)
 
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