Advice on preparing for puppy

The one thing I’d suggest is getting the book The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete. This book was instrumental in the housebreaking. I had the book for Piper and it was very helpful as it’d been 14 years since I’d had a puppy. By the time I got Blueberry I’d forgotten about this book and I played it by ear…that was a mistake so I bought the book (again…this time on kindle lol) and it made such a difference! Aside from accidents when she was 1 1/2 she was pretty much trained at 4 months. At least until the teenager phase.
Good luck with whatever you get, whether it’s a puppy or a young dog!

 

If you have washable flooring in your home this won't apply, but we have quite a bit of carpet. We ended up putting down a tarp in the living room (it's not a huge room) and then covering that with cheap indoor/outdoor type carpet that you can get at Home Depot or Lowe's. Best decision ever, because no matter how vigilant, accidents do happen and in my experience it's ALWAYS on the carpet! So I did not have the stress of having my carpeting peed on. Just rolled it all up when Meadow was about 6 - 7 months old. Saved my sanity.

Whatever method/author/book advice you use, just be prepared to take an 8 week old puppy out constantly. They just pee a LOT. Sometimes it was every 1/2 hour when Meadow was first home. And of course, tons of socialization, carry pup in your arms everywhere so they see/hear/smell/meet lots of things and people. Once the shots are done it's easier. And introduce early to a friendly big dog if you can. It seems like a lot, but they grow up so fast, and you set the foundation for the rest of their lives. Lastly, just enjoy the puppy! The pup will make you laugh and smile and bring lots of joy.

 

You can also baby proof your home again. Anything bad for a baby is bad for a puppy. We put in baby latches on cabinets and that gave me piece of mind. Most importantly don't forget to enjoy your pup they grow up so fast

 

We bought baby gates off Facebook marketplace. We started with just a small area (downstairs powder-room) with all the comforts of home and a small wire crate. As puppy 'owned' the space, we moved the gates down the hall, then opened up the kitchen/dinette area to him - we took baby steps increasing the space he was allowed. The longest gated area was our family room which has carpet. We cheated and used male wraps on both our boys when they were puppies for a LONG time to protect the carpet at night. Night-time was the hardest for potty training because playtime always erupted once we got into the family room. When play-time erupts, all thoughts of being good with potty training fly out the window - play makes it too hard to concentrate on the bladder!

Puppies do pee ALOT as mentioned before, sometimes every 10 - 15 mins. Be patient! They are like kids, some learn early, some learn late, but they will learn. I took the attitude with one of my kids 'well he won't wear diapers to college!' and he didn't - same thing applies to puppies, they'll get it... eventually. I bought a puppy kit off Amazon that came with a stuffed dog that had heat packs and a beating heart. Deacon, our youngest, slept with his puppy - no heat pack then and no heart beating at that point - until he was over a year old. Great thing for comforting a scared puppy those first few days without momma.

Potty training really isn't set in stone until they're about a year old though, around 8 - 9 months you can expect (and be prepared for...) a 'teenage' stage. This may involve peeing or pooping in the house - with my boys it was pooping for both. It may also involve having everything they know up to that point as far as training be totally forgotten. It may also involve a 'fear stage'. Some of any of that may happen again around 14 - 16 months. Both my boys are November babies (same birthday) and were both trained during two of the coldest winters we've had recently in CT. By the time spring came around, they were both at a point with shots where we could take them out in public and enjoy better weather.

Training and socializing are not a one and done type of thing, it's lifelong. Boredom creates issues and shelties have a ton of energy. You can do nosework games inside which make them use their brains and tires them out.

And finally, get yourself a solid leash, a microchip, a well-fitting harness and work constantly on your recall. You never know when it might be needed, but the day it is you don't want to realize you let that part of training slip. Most of all, HAVE FUN!!!!

 

You could just rig something up with wire and some stakes. There are plastic type Xpens also, don't know how they'd hold up to snow.

 

Fillion was so small I used tomato plant stakes, chicken wire and stapled the wire to the patio posts to rig up a puppy area right off the patio. It held him just fine till he was big enough to handle the yard. He wasn't the type to try to climb over the wire so I got lucky there...