How we prepared for the newest family member and the first meet-up with the litter.
It’s quite hard to point out the exact moment which marks the start of our preparation. Since my research already covered quite a lot of information about taking in and caring for the puppy – everything was kind of clear and put into their designated places inside my head. Like what will be necessary, where to get certain items, what changes are required in our home, how our first weeks with the puppy are going to look like.
When we finally agreed that we will have a four-legged family member and this or the upcoming year will be THE YEAR, I’ve started noting down everything that will be necessary in terms of inventory. There were no talks with any breeders yet, but I’ve already had tons of bookmarks in my browser – crate, collars, leashes, bowls, licking and sniffing mats, treats, grooming items and X amount of other stuff (which were not even that important). This was the easy part.
A bit harder was setting proper house rules – we needed to agree on what will be allowed or not in our household. And here’s where our opinions went in separate ways with pawrent no. 2. I had to prepare a presentation covering the what, how and why something is necessary, why me must do certain things one way or another, what we shouldn’t do, how we should behave ourselves, etc. I’ve put all the information together with examples from proper training, canine behaviours, workshops about puppies and active breeds. Let’s say pawrent no. 2 wasn’t very impressed when he saw my strict requirements (this is just a part of the full list):
- play time is limited and only allowed during certain time, in certain places
- we must prevent signs of stalking or focus on any moving objects, simple window watching is forbidden too
- throwing toys to retrieve without a reason – hard NO
- stepping and being on the sofa or bed – not allowed until adult teeth are fully developed
- no biting – that means no biting us, our clothes, leash, or furniture, even during playtime
- we cannot chase the dog neither at home nor outside
- taking the puppy out for potty periodically – immediately after eating, sleeping, play time, after any high emotions to prevent accidents at home
Pawrent no. 2 didn’t complain that much, he well understood why it was required and how it’s gonna prepare us for a comfortable life with a dog from its early days, so agreed to everything and tried to stick to the rules as much as possible. And he does it still up to this day! 🖤
There were certain points covering the training, obedience, how to properly mark correct and expected behaviour, what to do when puppy doesn’t listen and how to stop unwanted behaviour, how to direct to toys, how to handle fears, etc. Basically, it was like a cheat sheet consisting of main points from all the books, courses and workshops.
So why all this hard work and effort? I really hoped for us to be on the same page when it came to caring for and raising the new family member together. I wanted it to be clear as day, even if I was supposed to be the primary caretaker, we understood that responsibility was as much his as mine and he had to know how to handle certain, more difficult situations without my help. Of course, I also had a little fear of him becoming the fun pawrent by allowing to break some rules without him even realising it…
Next there was a plan – what will our first weeks together are going to look like. How, when and where are we going to socialise the puppy, how we will desensitise it from common triggers, how the house rules will be taught, potty training, basic training and play time for bonding, crate training, leash training, introduction to hedgehog Dipsy, and much more. We tried to stick to a general rule of thumb – each day we must introduce one new experience and it must be as much neutral (or positive) as it can be.
For example – socialisation with surrounding environment from a safe distance or desensitisation to brushing, touching, maybe exploration of a new surface (sand, rocks, grass fields, water) or a new place. It was like a prep sheet or to-do list that should have helped us not forget something or take an opportunity from daily life and use it for training. Another example, a trip to parcel locker can be turned into:
- new experience with a car (desensitisation), driving in a car crate OR
- opportunity to walk by foot and show around the area, which might be more distracting in terms of triggers OR
- opportunity to practise being home alone at its crate
And we tried to live our first weeks by following this approach, so: if I was making bread and preparing the dough – it was a good time to introduce the puppy to the sounds of a standing mixer and see how it reacts, does it bring any emotions for the dog, if so – what kind of emotions and how are they dealt with; if delivery guy comes over – it’s a chance to take the puppy to its crate with a snack while I go answer the door or step outside for a bit. Looking back at that prep sheet – it was way too strict and way too much to experience for a young puppy in such a short time, especially knowing what Bozzi is like now – a.k.a. a little sponge soaking everything into him. But hey – it was a very hard and quick lesson for us, I’ll write about it in the next post what went wrong with such approach.
There was only one thing left – preparing the home to be puppy proofed. It was exactly one year when we have moved in to our own house and we still didn’t have doors inside, nor fence nor gates, nothing on the stairs to stop puppy from coming upstairs. We had to go room by room, checking every corner of the house and hide everything that could potentially attract new family member to inspect it itself. It was a good thing that both pawrents are partly millennials – we didn’t need to spare much time for this as our so beloved minimal home design was very convenient for raising a dog. You won’t find any small figurines or photo frames on our cabinets and tv shelves, there are no table cloths or magazines lying around on the coffee table, all electrical cords are hidden, no carpets yet, trash bins and food are out of sight – hidden as well. Basically perfection – we recommend a half finished house for any new puppy owners, great environment.
With all the preparations going on, the day has come for the first meet up with the litter, which was about 6 weeks old at the time. I was nervous like I was going to take an exam (after all, the breeders were very reputable and pretty serious, and some random girl without any border collie experience comes to pick out a puppy of a working line). From the early morning it was impossible for me to focus on work, I had my phone put to charge all the time, just in case it gets low battery during the drive. The trip was quite long, 2.5 hours just to get to the place, it was pouring rain that day too, and my drive goal was the unfamiliar city – Šiauliai. It’s funny how our hedgehog Dipsy is also from the same city, maybe it’s a sign? All through the drive I was mentally rehearsing what I was going to say, like a report – how we’ve been preparing and how we’re waiting already for the new family member, how we’re going to raise the puppy, what training we’ll do, in what kind of activities will we participate, where we’ll travel in the future, etc. And when I finally reached my destination – everything just went poof, I sighed with a light heart, as a stone was lifted from it. The breeders I met were like parents – simple, generous and kind, extremely loving and fond of their dogs, took me into their home with open hands.
I remember as it was yesterday, they said “we’ll bring them all into the room, they haven’t explored it here yet, so it should be interesting for all of us“. And I see 5 little black dumplings being brought into the room – such fluffy little clouds, very out of proportion with their little noses and ears. As soon as they were set on the floor – each to its own went to play and explore, except one with the green collar. His goal was me as he dashed straight into my lap – climbed up, comfortably sat down and looked into the eyes. Did my heart skip a beat? Yes. Was it Bozzi? Of course.
While we were chatting and getting to know each other, I was told about the remaining available puppies of the litter – only 3 were still looking for home, all boys and all black, only the tip of the nose was white, white chest and white coloured paws. One of them, as breeders said and I myself witnessed it – was a true demon, fully black as a night, crazy little devil, leader of the litter, always first in action. At the time they had plans to keep the puppy for themselves or at least grow him under supervision for longer, as even for experienced trainers – he was gonna be a tough nut to crack. As far as I know, as of now he has found his forever home, and let me tell you – he got so well behaved (with all the help from the breeders themselves, of course), it’s hard to even recognise him as the little devil he was. We had met with him when the boys were 4 months old – the difference is clear as day, it’s like a different dog completely. The other one was a bit more fluffy around the neck and its chest, white line going from his nose to the middle of between the eyes – he was very similar to Bozzi, both from the looks and from character, maybe a bit braver. His name now is Zero (greetings if you read this!) – we keep in touch with him, they’re still very much alike even after growing out of puppy bodies and fluff, like true brothers! And then there was Bozzi – at the time, he was the calmest, but brave enough to explore freely, played nicely with others, even had an off switch when he decided to go to rest while others were still playing. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, if you could only see our faces and reaction when a few days later after bringing him home – he was the complete opposite and we were starting to think that we have brought the demon brother…
But during that first encounter with the litter, we settled on the green collar puppy – he was going to join our family when the time comes, and we only had to wait for that precious day 🖤 Just look at our small noseless boy 🫶🏻
