Bringing Your Baby Home

 
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Preparing for your furry babies arrival

Your Bernedoodle is going to need a room or at least a place she/he can call their own, and a cage or crate will fill this bill. You are better off getting one that is big enough for them to use as an adult so that they can grow into it. Most crates come with a removable divider which can be used to section off the crate while they are growning.

 
 

A good idea is to also buy a play pen that can be attached to the crate so your baby has a safe space to hang out and play.

 
 



If at all possible place their crate near your bedroom or a place they hear you or others in your home. This helps them to feel less isolated from their new family and allows them to cope with being away for the first couple of weeks.

Please read your Highfalutin Furry Baby Bernedoodle Owner Manual we send you as your digital binder. There is loads of info in there that we have used over the years. We suggest you print it off and put page protectors on each page in a binder for their life reference.

Make sure there is some sort of noise in the area, it cannot be silent. They have grown up with their siblings who all make a lot of noise so moving to a silent home can be unnerving for them. White noise or sound machines are great! You can see the sound machine we suggest on our recommend product list. And the snuggle puppy (you can purchase that on our page of items to suggest to get before the babies go home). THIS WORKS! They are used to noise in my home.

The pup will need food and water bowls, toys to chew on and play with, a collar and leash, a bag of a good quality dry puppy food, (we send the brand to you) and plenty of training pads if you are going to house trained inside. (These items are all on our recommenced product list you can purchase linked off this site).

The car ride home

The big day arrives, and it is off to pick up the new puppy. Coming home will start out with a car ride. Try to keep this from being an overly stressful experience for the pup. The main problem dogs have with car rides usually is not what we humans refer to as motion sickness, but simple anxiety about the vibrations, sounds, and to a lesser degree, the movement. Many dogs that have developed problems with car rides get nervous or even nauseous before the engine is even started. It is important that this first trip not be a bad experience that regresses into a repetitious behavioural pattern. And to do this often when you get home.

Day of bringing your baby home

You will need to make sure you have the following:

Even though they have been exposed to our vehicles, 4-wheelers, ponies, and golf carts multiple times, the journey to their new home is still an exciting one. Before we deliver the baby to you or you pick up, we try to get the pup to go to the bathroom so there are no floods or surprises stimulated by all the excitement of the ride.
On this first trip home, we break a cardinal rule about traveling with pets…We do not put them in a pet carrier for traveling (we only use one in the aircraft). Remember, they are small and easy to hold, so if at all possible we have someone other than the driver hold the puppy in a blanket or towel and talk to them or in some way try to distract him from the ride. If you do not have anyone to help you with this first ride home then you should make sure that you use your puppy carrier and secure it using a seatbelt. You should always secure your puppy in all subsequent car rides with either a puppy carrier or a harness secured to the car with a seatbelt.

If you have a long way to go and need to stop for the puppy to relieve himself, do not use a highway rest stop. Don’t put them on the floor in public at all! Not even in the airport carpet. At this young age, the puppy has very little, if any, protection from common dog diseases, and these areas can easily be contaminated with the organisms causing these conditions. It’s a very dangerous world out there with viruses. They are not fully protected yet!
No dog parks, no walks around the block, no pet stores, and make sure you carry them and hold them while at the vet. Don’t let them touch the floor. That’s where sick dogs go. I even go to the extent of asking to watch to spray down the table before the baby touches it. Unfortunately even the best vets and vet techs can forget to wipe down a table that had a puppy or dog on it that was highly contagious or even deadly to your baby. And only fully vaccinated puppy/dog visitors.

Being with people the first day home

Leaving their mother and littermates will probably bring about some anxiety. However, this can be greatly diminished if you plan your schedules so that you will be home with the puppy the first 7 days. Some authors suggest leaving the puppy alone and give her time to herself to adjust to the new surroundings. We disagree. In our homes, we plan for this introductory period by keeping the puppy involved with plenty of attention from children and other family members. When we are not with the puppy, they are sleeping. You will be amazed how time spent in this manner will speed up the housebreaking process. It also helps to tire them out during the day so you get some well deserved sleep. If the children are young or are not familiar with how to handle puppies, you should spend some time with them during these first few days explaining common sense rules on how to play with the puppy.

Getting a health check

One of the first things you need to do is get the puppy into a veterinarian for an initial puppy examination. Your vet will be able to make sure your puppy is healthy, recommend what vaccinations are appropriate, and give you plenty of advice on what is safe for you to do with your puppy while they are growing.

Feeding the puppy

Puppy eating, what, when, and how to feed puppies becomes a major issue on the first day. Many new owners worry that without his mother’s milk, their pup is going to have a hard time adjusting to his new home. It is a good idea to continue feeding the same type and brand of food. We have a strict rule of feeding the same brand so there isn’t any recalls. We send the brands in the link when we send it to you in email or text message. Most people are soon surprised how well puppies make it through this transition because they do not understand how far along dogs are in their development at 9-12 weeks of age. Most puppies start eating dog food at 30 days of age. Even though their eyes did not open until 10 to 14 days old, just ten days later, puppies are ready to start on something in addition to Mom’s milk. We take dry puppy food, soak it in warm water for thirty minutes, goats milk, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, organic baby rice cereal, coconut oil, and blend it, giving it to the litter when they are 21 days old. The first day, they may only stick their noses in it and try to lick some of the liquid. But after that, they eat and they eat very well.
As soon as possible, the amount of goats milk mixed in the food is decreased, and then finally eliminated. This depends on how fast the teeth are coming in. We always tell all new puppy owners to use a dry food formulated for puppies. Most 7 week old dogs can eat this, as it comes from the bag, without any problem

*Trouble shooting your puppies stool

Our puppies are raised in a non-kennel environment where they are allowed to experience the world as they grow. They are taken out for little romps and walks on our property. They walk over the ground where the deer have been, leaping rabbits that leave behind droppings, the chatty squirrel that loves to tease them, lots of birds, and the numerous roaming cats that love to search for mice in the fields. We even have horses and our neighbors have loads of chickens and other farm animals. Our puppies enjoy learning about life and living in the real world, which means they are exposed to real world things, like giardia and coccidia. We do everything we can to prevent this but we will not restrict our puppies to a kennel life. Puppies can be infected with giardia by simple things such as walking over dirt and licking their paws, drinking water from a puddle, licking the grass where a wild bird pooped, etc..
It’s an easy fix and we are very familiar with the easy way to treat it. It doesn’t effect your babies life and isn’t contagious to people as others say. They can also show no signs of having Giardia but the vet will insist they have it if they send a fecal sample away.
Many families who receive puppies take them in for a vet exam the first few days. The vet will do a well check, which sometimes includes doing a fecal test.

Please be aware that only the expensive SNAP test is a conclusive one, so any other test is not 100% reliable.

There can be false positives or negatives. There can also be small traces of Giardia that your pup shows no signs of. They still have solid stool and are eating and drinking just fine. If they do run the SNAP test and it shows Giardia, they will likely want to treat with metronidazole or fenbendazole even if your puppy is not symptomatic. We definitely suggest NOT using Metronidazole. It’s not effective. Liquid Panacur or Safegard works well if given the proper dosage. Very frustrating because this can make them have very soft or runny stool. Then you end up coming back to me thinking they came with intended issues. Trust me, I really don’t want to deal with any upset families or further more, complaints. We will let your baby run and play outside, preventing your furry child to be in a crate all day. That’s just wrong. So we do take that chance of exposer to wildlife and do take precautions and pre treat before they go home.

If coccidia shows up in a fecal test, that is common. That is easily fixed by Albon and can be gone in 7 days. This is stress induced and wouldn’t show on the fecal test since they shed this after they relocate. Even with Giardia it can shed after they are relocated and stressed. Research is showing that EVERY puppy/dog harbors this in their system.

Worms are also something we treat for. From the age of 2 weeks and all the way from 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks leading to home, we treat for all types of worms. Mom can pass them through their milk and we also deworm Momma! This is unfortunately a common thing we always make sure to kick before they leave us. Having a clean/clear fecal exam. Once in a while, they have had treatment that will show a clear fecal and will have a small amount in their system without showing this on the fecal at the time of the exam. Pyrantal is a common dewormer that is used and nips this immediately. We never send a baby home with any positive fecals.

Any breeder staying they don’t pre treat for the things mentioned above, may be not 100% transparent. We consider it like your children going to school or daycare and picking up something due to being socialized. It happens and it’s ok. It’s something that is fixable and the world will keep turning and all will be alright, promise.

Ears with puppies are hard to grab and pluck hair. It will hurt them and we don’t like to do that. Instead leaving that to groomers when they are older and can be more easily accessible to professionals. With hair comes moisture and yeast. We alway suggest you try to dry your babies inside of the ears as best you can after a bath. Unfortunately it’s hard to due and just the littlest part of water can result in an ear infection which is common is any poodle blended breed. One thing which may be helpful is to gently insert a small cotton ball (not a Q-tip) into their ear before bathing. This can help keep moisture out of their ears. There is also drying powder available that seems to help as well. There is a one and done medication you can ask your vet about that helps kick your ear infection. Please keep in mind this breed does love the water if exposed early on. Remember to socialize them as much as possible.

The main reason why we are sharing this with you again is that these babies are LIVE beings like you and I. We do everything in our power to ensure they don’t pick up any of these things. Unfortunately like your own children that go into school or daycare, bugs are everywhere. And you will see that it’s impossible to keep a toddler (essentially which these furry babies are) out of all the goodies that they can pick up.

Everything is fixable. And it’s not contagious. It’s a simple fix with the RIGHT vet. (Many vets will soak you and say the breeder is the worst thing in the world). This is obviously not the intention we have. Please be educated and conservative with the treatments that can be an easy fix. With that being said, please finish your round of shots, stay on your schedule we provide (including your food schedule) and stay calm. We are here for you and know it’s not uncommon for your baby to lick or eat something out there that could give them a surprise.

We can’t wait to watch your baby flourish and grow with your family! We have an amazing community and furry family that is here to help you through all the fun ups and downs of raising your Highfalutin Furry Baby!