Preparing for Puppy!

It's only two long days away.... The cutest little black pit bull pup from Mid American Bully Breed Rescue, will be joining our little family. While Taricha is moping around the house, complaining about snow, I am dutifully preparing for the oncoming onslaught.

I have the luxury of having a big mostly empty house. This is the animal room which is now clean and puppy proofed. This room is where puppy will be spending most of his time until potty training is under control. The big thing on the left is an old mattress against the wall, which is awesome kitty playground, its their favorite place and if a puppy chews it a bit, thats okay. The litter box will be moving upstairs, which is gated off so that the cats have their sanctuary until they adjust. Usually takes the two cats about a week to come back downstairs whenever a new animal arrives.

Poor kitties dont know what's going to hit them.

The baby gates have come back out. Actually they came out a week ago! I've blocked off random parts of the house for no reason and changed them around  at times. We played games around them and generally made the gates a normal thing to deal with. Taricha could very easily jump over but she knows better, its a mental barrier and I hope we get puppy to understand this too.

Another thing I re-introduced, or worked on a little more to freshen it up, is kennel training. Taricha is great around the house, I trust her! She will go sleep in her kennel on her own but she's rarely actually locked up. When puppy is here, there may be times with new things going on in which I need Taricha out of the way completely. (ie. one on one training, cleaning messes, puppy play dates, time-outs). New puppy will go through the same kennel training. I feel Taricha will be able to set a good example now after the extra work!

Most of this old house is hardwood which is ideal for cleaning up puppy messes. Unfortunately due to the flow of the house, the animal room/puppy den only makes sense in this side carpeted room. So, I made sure the carpets where spic and span, that no previous smells would entice puppy to do his business there. Not that we have ever had accidents in the house! Just want to be sure! I invested in the  good quality puppy training pads too, the ones that claim to have a scent to attract them. I wonder if they really work. Potty training will be our #1 priority, as our new pup is only 10 weeks old and I am slightly OCD about a clean house!

The rest of the house got a thorough cleaning and puppy-proofing as well. Cords hidden. Bits picked up. Bottom shelves emptied. Surfaces cleared. Anything four feet and down must be boring and un-fun to chew and play with.

I signed the little black tornado up for puppy socialization classes weeks ago! Check!

There is a roommate human in this house, by the way. We don't mention him much but thats because he's not around much! Despite this, he'll be involved with the puppy at times so I took a moment to think about some simple rules for other people to abide by, to help with puppy's ongoing training, and wrote them down for my roommate. Simple stuff that anyone can do, even his friends that come and go constantly! The first is, 100% supervision unless in a kennel. Then it's, No mouthing/biting. No Face licking. No jumping on you. The solution for all three is turn around and ignore until he stops. The page I wrote up mostly stresses to ignore the bad and praise the good, easy. I thought about a few other things I wanted or didnt want and wrote it down. Now the whole house is clear on what's going on and my goals, to PREVENT issues in the future.

I wanted to work in the yard and fix some spots in the fence but well... two feet of snow denied me this pleasure. Taricha and I have enjoyed shopping over the last couple weeks instead, hitting a few different stores to find new beds, puppy shampoo, puppy food (Taricha is on weight control foods so this is ganna get complicated but I digress...) cleaning supplies, new leashes and a little harness. Oh and way too many chews and toys.... The dog isnt even here yet and it's completely spoiled.

So the house is ready. We are fully stocked up. I hope Taricha is ready for this too.

I have made sure and will always make sure that Taricha knows she is my special girl. Even through the house chaos and snow boredom, we've found ways to have our adventures together these last few weeks. Now a new big adventure begins......



I really dont know what to expect, when it comes down to it. And anything I prepare for wont happen and everything I dont, will. What are some things YOU have experienced when bringing a new puppy into the home?  Pros and cons? How hard is potty training, really? (from day one, Taricha never had an issue so potty training is a totally new thing to me.) IM ALLL PUPPY CRAZYYYYYYYY!

PS..... We still cannot come up with a name.... !