Finally bringing your new Cobberdog puppy home is so exciting! Here’s a quick summary of important things right from Day 1, to make the transition smoother for all of you!
Remember your puppy is still a baby and everything is new and uncertain. Your puppy doesn’t yet know your rules and expectations, and needs your gentle care and guidance.
CHILDREN & YOUR PUPPY This training, for both your children and your puppy, MUST start as soon as puppy comes home to you. The puppy is now part of your ‘pack’, and must learn that he is at the bottom of the order. The children must never be left alone with the new puppy – this will ensure that neither the puppy nor children are harmed, and means that you are present to guide the children in gentle, kind discipline and training for the pup as they interact.
Often, children try to run away from a jumping, nipping puppy but the puppy thinks this is a game and chases them! Teach children to stand ‘still-as-a-post’ and ignore the puppy instead and the puppy will learn quickly how to respond. For many more helpful tips on this subject, visit our Child Safety around Dogs page.
TOILETING Take your puppy outdoors as often as possible for the first couple of weeks. This may seem like a lot of work but the rewards and prevention of accidents will be so worth the effort! Ridgy Didge has a 10 Points to Toilet Training Guide here, that will really help you to successfully and quickly toilet train your pup.
GOOD HABITS You must help your puppy to understand your expectations right from the start – e.g. if you don’t want puppy on the furniture, then you must begin this routine on Day 1. Training good habits requires gentle firmness, consistency from all family members, and rewarding good behaviour. If you remember that the biggest thing your puppy wants is your affection, you can really capitalise on that to reinforce good habits as they are being learned. Our blog Everyday Manners for your Puppy is a great guide to this training.
SOCIALISATION Even with current socialisation restrictions, you can still safely socialise your puppy. Even before your puppy’s vaccinations, you can take your puppy out and about with you. Just remember to avoid dog parks, and if you meet another dog, pick your puppy up. Our blog Early Socialisation for your Puppy has some really great tips for this.
GROOMING Although the coat doesn’t need full grooming attention till around 6 months, we highly recommend that from the start you spend some minutes every day desensitising your puppy to the sound and vibration of clippers! Simply turn the clippers on, and without clipping, run the back of the device over the pup’s head, body and limbs while you stroke and talk to him. Here’s a great little video of a Cobberdog puppy enjoying this! You can use any type of small motorised device to achieve this if you haven’t yet bought clippers – like a men’s shaver. Have a look at our Puppy Grooming page for loads of great grooming information.
EAR CHECKING & CLEANING So simple to do but easy to forget! Make a habit of checking your puppy’s ears when patting your pup – look for signs of redness or odour, and notice if puppy scratches his ear/s. If you do this, you will notice any changes or issues very early and be able to deal with them early. If ears are healthy, cleaning once a month is recommended. See our page on Puppy Ear Cleaning for important information about this.
CRATE TRAINING We advise families to pick up puppy in a crate and continue to use the crate from that time on! Training your puppy to use a crate will provide a safe, undisturbed place for your puppy to go to whenever he needs rest, sleep, refuge or comfort. Crate training will also provide you a safe, easy way to confine your puppy for transporting, rest-times, separation, or to leave at home for short periods when necessary. Crate training is easy, and so very worthwhile, and puppy will love his crate! See our Puppy Crate Training for more on this.
If you would like to adopt a Ridgy Didge Australian Cobberdog, please read our Adopting a Puppy information, before you continue the adoption process. For more information, pm us on Facebook, or contact us at our website. Like and follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with ongoing puppy news and announcements.