IMPORTANT STUFF TO KNOW BEFORE APPLYING FOR A PUPPY
It is true that puppies are cute, soft and cuddly and provide us with many warm fuzzy moments BUT it is important to know that puppies are HARD WORK, can sometimes be frustrating, can sometimes chew our possessions, wee on things and dig in our newly planted garden.
Before you decide to get a puppy you need to do your research and ask yourself these questions:
- Will the labradoodle breed suit you and your lifestyle?
- Do you have the time to give to a puppy/dog for the rest of its life and especially able to take time of work when the puppy first comes home to you for the first 2 weeks at least.
- Do you have sufficient funds should your puppy/dog become ill and need veterinary treatment and to provide ongoing medications for worming, tick and flea? Like little humans, puppies can eat things that they shouldn't and end can up in emergency with a twisted bowel from an irritated gut or worse, from a lodged foreign object.
- Are you prepared to engage with a qualified trainer and commit to the training so that you can learn to communicate to your puppy/dog?
- Are you prepared to crate train your puppy overnight which yes will mean broken sleep! Toilet training can be a long and frustrating process with many accidents inside. Is this something that you are prepared to ride through?
- Puppies love to chew things. Their teeth are moving and it feels good to chew on the new lounge suite that you have just paid a lot of money for. Are you aware and prepared for this and know how to manage a puppy that loves to chew?
- Getting a puppy for company for an existing dog can be a great idea BUT only if you are happy with the obedience and behaviour of your existing dog. A puppy is not a fix all for a troubled older dog and can sometimes be 'double trouble' if you do not have an understanding of how to train a puppy/dog.
A NOTE FOR FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN
It is lovely for children to grow up with any animal but particularly special for a child to have a dog as a pet and companion. If you have young children then are a few things that you need to be aware of.
- If you have young children under the age of 16, then the puppy is not your child’s pet or your child’s sole responsibility. You, as the parent of your children, are the primary care giver for the puppy. You would not allow a young child to take responsibility for a human baby so the same goes for a puppy.
- You are never to leave a young child and a puppy unsupervised. A young child can inadvertently do things to a puppy that could scar the puppy for the rest of its life. Plus, a puppy needs strict guidelines and boundaries and if these are not consistent then you will have trouble training your puppy
- Puppies have very sharp teeth and they like to play with them. This is absolutely normal behaviour for a puppy. If the puppy’s teeth connect with a young child's skin it will hurt and the more that child screams the more the puppy will do it. A puppy needs to grow up in a calm environment and children need to learn how to play and behave with a puppy from you and from a reputable trainer.
- Puppies, like human babies, need time out and space away from children. You will need to have an area or a puppy pen where the puppy can go to for sleep and time out and your children should not be allowed to go into the puppy’s space nor wake a sleeping puppy.
- Children can inadvertently undo the training that we do with our puppies. It can be very confusing for the puppy when there are mixed messages. You need to be aware of this and make sure that your children understand how to engage with the puppy and are never left alone with the puppy.