The Mindful Puppy Blog
By PAPIA ROWE
Picking up the puppies
Wow – after so many weeks so being in lockdown, we were so grateful, not only for the health of New Zealand, but also for the chance to pick up our puppies at the right time. The puppy bedroom had already been in place in our house for several weeks so that our older dogs had the opportunity to get used to it being there before they were imposed upon with puppies. Our puppy food was stocked up and we had bowls, kongs, nylabones and bedding ready and waiting for them in their puppy bedroom.
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Our breeder had set aside a good hour to manage the handover of the puppies. They were set up in a crate waiting for us while she took us through the paperwork, basic healthcare, the vaccination booklet and the bag of goodies that were included. It also meant that the puppies had a whole hour in their home environment while we were there. They got to get familiar with the sound of our voices, our scent and mannerisms before we took them away from all they knew to start the next part of their lives. Before we left, we had a few minutes while the breeder and us played with them a little in their front room and of course, the first “toilet time” with us before we put them in our car.
We had prepared for the journey home with the puppies. Back twenty years ago, before we knew anything about good canine care, we just put the puppy on my lap while Darran drove us the short journey home. We know better now and hope that you all do too! Now we do know better how to care for and keep our puppy safe, we put a crate into the back of our minivan. Not everyone has one of these, but most people have enough space in their car to put the backseats down and put a crate in there. If you are looking at safety – then nothing beats putting your dog in a crate when driving. I know that it is easy to buy a car harness for your dog – but actually, very few of the car harnesses designed for dogs that are sold in New Zealand have actually passed any safety trials for car travel. This means that should you be in a car accident – the dog is likely to be thrown out of the vehicle or on to you at high speed. So, we have a crate for travel in the car and we have another crate in the puppy bedroom. For me, it’s like a pair of shoes – you can never have enough of them!
The journey home was very LOUD! Our little Star clearly objected to the sounds and feeling of being in a vehicle and made his views very clear for the whole of the 20-minute journey home. Yay!!? Ah – the joys of sore ears and upset little puppies. Twinkle on the other hand was absolutely fine on the way home in the car – you just never know how it’s going to be?
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