Congratulations on Your New Puppy!
Here is what you need to know when your puppy goes home.
You’re embarking on a brand new adventure! As your puppy’s breeder, your puppy’s happiness & health, AND your education & long-term success are our priority.
Please take a moment to read this guide for your puppy’s first months home.
Adoption Day!
We will meet at my home on pickup day. Plan on visiting for 20 minutes or so, so we can discuss your puppy and what to prepare for during your first days home! Then you will make your final payment, sign your puppy Health Guarantee, take a photo, and you’re ready to go!
In your puppy pack, you will find: your Puppy Health Record, a signed health check confirmation paper & parasite screening results from the vet, your puppy’s sale contract/Health Guarantee, printed info on crate training, and all these topics below!
Final Payment
Your puppy final balance can be found in your email, in the deposit receipt/statement sent to you when you placed your puppy deposit. It is also recorded in your puppy’s Health Guarantee/Conditions of Sale agreement from pickup day. You can also email Brooke to confirm the amount, including sales tax for puppies sold in MN and WI. Accepted forms of payment are cash or a personal check written to our business name.
Traveling Home
For the car ride, I recommend a crate and a “puppy go bag.” First, bring a crate with a small toy & chewy to keep your puppy quiet and content on the way home. I also recommend packing a puppy “go bag”— bring along some wet wipes, paper towels, collar & lead, a blanket, and some clean toys & chews in case things get soiled. If your travel is more than 1-2 hours, you should plan on at least one potty & stretch break. A good rule of thumb is to plan a potty break every 2 hours. Avoid high-traffic pet areas like dog parks or busy rest stops at first since your puppy isn’t fully vaccinated yet. Grass near a gas station or quiet parking lot is a good choice!
Your Puppy’s Food
Is your puppy’s food on the way? If you haven’t yet ordered the food and vitamins for your puppy, please do so! Transitioning home is the biggest step in your puppy’s life so far. A consistent diet will support his/her health for the adjustment! Go to www.loveyourfurbaby.com and order the 20-lb lb bag of All Life Stages dog food, and a 30-count bottle of the Wellness Supplement (at minimum). To qualify for our Extended Health Guarantee, we require that you feed these two items to your puppy for a lifetime. That’s how much we trust this nutrition. We also love the Turkey Berry Chewies and Beef Snack Sticks for training and crate time.
Microchip Info
Your puppy is registered with Buddy ID, an online database for your puppy’s microchip. A Welcome email is sent when I register your puppy before pickup day. If you don’t see the email please check your spam folder. If it’s not there, let me know and I can resend it! Please locate the email, and login and confirm your account! This is a lifetime account and helps keep your puppy safe. Your puppy’s chip number is in your Health Guarantee and on your puppy’s Health Record. Your vet can also scan the microchip on the back of your puppy’s neck to add the chip number to your puppy’s file. There’s no charge to you… I have that covered.
First Vet Appointment
New Puppy Exam
Please schedule an adoption exam with your vet for within the first 5 days home (on or before the date in your Health Guarantee). At the new puppy exam, you will meet your vet, establish care, and make sure your little puppy is adjusting to his/her new home well! This is the policy under Minnesota state law for the protection of new families & new pets. At a first vet visit, the vet typically will have you fill out new patient paperwork, weigh your puppy, do an overall wellness exam, and give you a new puppy info packet.
Your puppy’s first wellness exam takes place the week before pickup! For vaccines, our puppies have 2 rounds of NeoPar vaccine, at 5 and 7 weeks old (fully vaccinated for Parvovirus). Your puppy is also up-to-date on recommended parasite/worm prevention.
Next Vaccines
At your appointment, schedule your puppy’s next shots with your vet. Typically this will be a 4-way vaccine, called a “puppy distemper” shot. It is usually DAPP. This is the first in a series of 3. You can either give the first of the 3 shots at your appointment, or you can schedule a future appointment for the vaccine. The 3 shots will be 3 weeks apart. Your puppy should complete them by 5-6 months old. I recommend waiting to do
your puppy’s rabies shot until he/she is close to 6 months old (the legally mandated age), so the vaccines are staggered and Puppy’s immune system isn’t overloaded. Please follow your vet’s recommendations for other optional vaccines, like
Bordetella (kennel cough), Leptospirosis, Lyme Disease, etc. In the future, I recommend following a vaccine “titer” protocol, and updating vaccines as needed based on the titer tests for your dog to see if they still have immunity, or if it’s time for a booster.
Parasite, Flea, & Tick Prevention
I recommend two name-brand products: Frontline Plus and Heartgard. Heartgard prevents intestinal worms, parasites, and heartworm in dogs, and should be given year round. Usually the vet will require a blood test before prescribing… ask your vet about this. Frontline kills fleas and ticks that come in contact with your dog’s skin. Administer topical Frontline Plus all the warm months of the year, April through November.
I do NOT recommend giving your Doodle Nexgard, Simparica or similar products, which are chewable flea/tick preventatives. They are less tested, and can cause neurological damage in some dogs. Side effects are rare, but topical (on the skin) flea/tick control is the most controlled & reliable. The worst side effect from topical flea/tick control is a rash; the worst side effect of chewable flea/tick control is seizures and death. So I prefer to be on the safe side.
Pet Insurance
I encourage you to consider PetsBest Pet Insurance, for at least the first year of life. The full year of EssentialCoverage protection with the EssentialWellness add-on is about $500/year, and has an excellent reimbursement policy when you submit receipts for eligible care. It is a very reputable company with excellent customer service. Please contact your vet before signing up, to be sure they accept PetsBest.
You are also pre-registered for a free month of Trupanion Pet Insurance! You will get an email from the company with instructions on how to confirm this free month. Please do so to medically/financially protect you and your puppy in the case of accident or injury for those first 30 days home. With the stress of a new environment and separation from their littermates, the first two weeks home are a critical period for your puppy. Sometimes illnesses or parasites can pop up. I want you & your puppy to be protected & secure if something were to go wrong! You will need to activate this offer within 24 hours of bringing your puppy home.
Your exclusive Trupanion activation code is BR1BG32620. (in NY BR2BG32620). Copy this code and paste it to activate your offer!
This can only be done after I register you, and within 24 hours of your scheduled pickup day!
First Groom
You can start looking for a groomer any time, and plan on a first puppy groom at about 5-6 months old. It is typical for groomers to book several months out for new clients! Some require puppy shots to be completed before the first appointment. Call your groomer of choice and ask what vaccines they require. Seek a groomer that uses a gentle approach, offers a puppy intro groom session to acclimate your puppy slowly, and where your puppy won’t be cage-dried or be kenneled for hours waiting for their turn (it can be scary and new, and a potty accident might happen). Bring photos of what you want your puppy to look like to your Doodle’s grooming appointments. Your groomer will discuss expectations with you and can educate you on how to brush your puppy as well, and how often to schedule grooming, to get the results you’re hoping for.
Training
If you’re looking for a training resource, I recommend Baxter & Bella Online Puppy School. To sign up with a 25% discount, use our partner code BROOKEMARIES! Please also take advantage of their free weekly podcasts! There are now close to 200 episodes and they are priceless for any dog owner. I recently sent an email highlighting some of my favorite puppy prep podcasts. I encourage you to check them out! They’re a fun, lighthearted and helpful listen. Go to www.baxterandbella.com to learn more.
Use Partner code BROOKEMARIES at checkout for your referral discount!
A Helpful Listen
I recommend listening to one or more of these podcasts from Baxter & Bella! Each is short, 15-25 minutes long. You could even put them on in the car on your way here to get your puppy, or on the drive home. Find them on your podcast app on your phone or go to www.baxterandbella.com/podcast-roadmap for a full guide on the best episodes based on your puppy’s age.
Episode #57 An Emergency Guide for Your New Puppy
Episode #49 New Puppy Rules
Episode #43 Realistic Expectations
