2 WEEKS!! Help!

[Corgi_Princess]

Panda is coming "home" August 17th, on a plane from South Dakota. I am very excited but also, a bit nervous! What should I get for her?? What type of crate, toys, food bowls (stainless steel right?), brushes, etc should I get for her?? As a teenager, I dont have a very large budget, and havent found a good job yet

Thanks! Any tips on how to get her acclimated, etc would be wonderful

p.s for those interested in the newsletter, or interested in contributing, please PM me, I need good articles or photos!! Thanks again

[Jespah]

I suggest starting with a book. For you, not her. I know I did lots of research before bringing home Riley. I think the book I got was called "I just got a puppy - help!"
You don't need to overwhelm her with toys, a few small soft stuffies will be great - you've got lots of years to find out what she'll love. Either a ceramic or stainless steel bowl is good, try and get a crate that will be big enough for her as she grows so you won't have to spend money every few months and a very soft brush just to get her used to being brushed that won't scratch her baby skin.
Get less, you can always get more!

Deb

[Fluffypants]

Great advice Deb! I agree!

Originally Posted by Jespah

you can always get more!

SOOOOOOO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jane Austen]

Would it be ridiculous of me to suggest looking for dog crates at a thrift store?I got my crate at a church yard sale, five dollars. It is just the right size and you just have to wash it up and you're ready to go. It came with a nice vinyl pad. I also picked up a retractable lead for a dollar, longer than the one I originally bought for Duchess, I use it every day.
We are all very happy and excited for you. Look forward to getting to know you and Panda. The name is very fitting for a Corgi. I may steal it if I get another dog.

[minnesotaCorgi]

I blew a lot of money on puppy stuff before I got Penny at the end of June. Out of everything I’ve bought, these are the things I’ve used:

1. Smaller stainless steel bowls with the rubber tread on the bottom.
2. A few toys made out of rope, Kongs (the smallest size) and plushy toys. I bought some Kong peanut butter stuff’N to fill up the Kong toy with as a treat. She hasn’t shown much interest in Nylabones or anything that’s too hard and plastic. She also likes to chase toy balls. Instead of rawhides, I give her "Sam's Yams" dried sweet potato chewz. Yep...dried yam treats.
3. Lots of paper towels and a spray that neutralizes the odor of doggy mess. I use the “Nature’s Miracle” brand.
4. Nail clippers—the guillotine type—and styptic powder.
5. The smallest nylon body harness and most narrow nylon leash I could find.
6. Baby/Pet gates to block access to certain rooms/areas
7. Doggy poop bags. I supposed you could use leftover plastic grocery bags instead.

I also bought a grooming brush, but haven’t used it yet. I think I spent too much money starting out. Don't feel pressured to buy every type of toy you see like I did.

Ask your breeder what food he/she currently feeds Panda. That will probably create the least amount of digestive disruption and make the food decision easiest for you. I also bought a tall, plastic food storage bin at target to keep her food in.

I assume Panda will be flying in a crate provided by the breeder. That is how my puppy was shipped from Oklahoma to Minnesota. The crate was 24” L x 16 W x 14” H. When I asked the vet if she thought the crate was too big for crate training, she said no. That was nice because it saved me from having to buy a crate.

Bring towels and maybe a thermos of warm water in case you need to clean up a crate mess at the airport. When Penny arrived, the breeder put some shredded newspaper in the crate. Penny did poo/pee during the flight, but it wasn’t bad enough where I needed to use the towel and water that I brought. I just washed her off using a little puppy shampoo after she had a chance to sniff around the apartment.

As far as getting the puppy acclimated, when I first got home, I let Penny out of the crate and let her sniff and explore my apartment. I’m glad I did this; however, she sort of felt at liberty to poop and pee wherever she felt like it, so watch out for that.

I decided to go with crate-training over puppy papers. For the first two weeks, she was either in her crate or in a controlled area where I could keep a close eye on her during playtime. That way I could catch her right away if she started doing her business. When she was in her crate, she was always close to me whatever room I was in, including bedtime. This made her feel like she was with me.

As far as learning resources, I’m a little anal-retentive and like to think I can prepare for anything. I bought a ton of books about puppy training and Corgis. Out of all the books I bought, you could probably get enough good information out of Puppies for Dummies or Housetraining for Dummies. They were pretty helpful; however, I gotta’ admit that you can read all the books you want beforehand, but some things you won’t be able to learn until you actually get Panda. You’ve also got an excellent resource of real-life experiences at this website. There are things I’ve learned at this site that I couldn’t have learned from a book.

Congratulations on your new family member. Panda will be very loved in her new home.

[Corgi_Princess]

Thanks for all the help. The breeder states the puppy comes with its travel "carrier". Is this a crate? I am slightly confused, I associate carriers as being much smaller.

[Michael Romanos]

The travel crate that my Taylor came in when flown to me, had to be returned by courier post to the breeder.

Toys are important but ge few of them and go for quality which equates to long lasting, and one that makes noises like squeaks, and one that is particularily great for exercising teeth and jaws - perhaps a ropey thing. But discarded clothes and slippers are great. For 90 percent of all dogs, plastic bowls etc are fine ( they don't create any allergies or promote pink noses for the great majority of dogs) - and cheap. I made the mistake of purchasing a lovely cane basket with a padded floor with teddy bear designs for Taylor's bed. First thing he did was chew on the whicker cane and he was unrelenting. The sharp cane pieces were very dangerous to any dog let alone a Corgi pup. So I went out and brought a dog mattress for a medium size dog and a sheep skin wool rug to go over the mattress. And he has had that unchewed ever since as his bed.

First thing for grooming is a steel comb with narrow teeth. A brush can come a little later.

THe breeder should place something in his travel crate that he has taken a liking to - such as a soft toy or a piece of material.

[tandemgal]

deleted by T-Gal

[corgimom]

I know that I bought Cody way too many toys - I was enjoying this because my previous Pem, a Rescue never played with toys - so I was so excited to have a puppy that wanted to play. I ended up giving a bunch of toys away to a neighbor dog.

Cody's favorites are a Babble ball(which talks), a bouncy rubber ball which lights up and makes laser sounds. a clothlike frisbee, his squeeky hedgehog,
a lightweight sized soccer ball for the backyard and some other squeeky toys
that he has. He really does love balls and I have various sizes and weights for him; and some other squeeky toys - he loves things that squeek. I also have a Kong for him that I will put Plain yogurt in and freeze it and then give it to him once it is frozen. He likes that and it keeps him occupied for 20 to 30 minutes.

I wouldn't offer your new pup any old shoes, because they don't know the difference between old shoes and new ones. Cody used to steal our laundry and shoes all the time when we first got him; so I had to train him not to do that, but I must admit, it was cute to watch the thief in action at first.

Linda

[Corgi_Princess]

Tandemgal- Thanks for the advice. Panda was actually named for the rare red tree pandas, which the Fargo zoo has so I am excited to get to see them in person! I was thinking about going to a ceramics place where you can design the bowl, and have red pandas put on it, what do you think??

Thanks for all the tips, I thought she was coming in late August so 2 weeks is a bit of a shock!!! A good one though perhaps

The carrier she travels in is ours to keep, and I will ask the breeder what size it is when I call her today to verify all the neccesary information, I.E when to pick her up...so excited We live in a 1375 sq foot apartment, but there is lots of grass surrounding the complex, and 2 dog parks in Fargo for when she is older and has her license

Also, any advice for adjusting the 1 yr old manx kitty to the puppy? She is tailess too, I guess we love our wiggly butts here in North Dakota!!

[corgimom]

CorgiPrincess,

I have three cats and all I can say is "time" for adjustment between the cat and the dog. I had another previous pem prior to Cody, but that did not matter to my cats, because this was a "brand new addition" and they did not like him and his high activity level. When you bring Panda
home, I would leave her in her crate and let the cat smell the dog - expect some hissing and other noises. I know you are going to want to let Panda run around, so put your cat in another room with a litter box so she can feel safe. Cody loved their tails, but in your case, your cat
has none.

I think that Panda will find your cat fascinating and the cat may not appreciate it, but it will work out. Make sure your cat has a place of her own to get away from Panda. We have a two story house and my cats decided to stay up there for almost a month(only venturing down when they saw him in his crate) - I never thought they would join the family again, but they did. I even had to put another litter box upstairs for them to use. Evenutally my cats, on their own, decided to come down and be around him more and it all just worked itself out.

Of course, I had to train Cody not to chase the cats, which was not easy, but it has worked out and they now sit side by side with no problems; one cat even taunts him now and encourages him to chase him which they both seem to enjoy, but he has never shown any aggression towards the cats whatsoever, however, one of my cats showed major aggression to Cody at first and I had to watch that very carefully - now they go nose to nose with no problems.

So with time and patience it will work out, maybe sooner than you think, but I think Panda will see your cat as a big toy at first. Panda will soon learn where his boundries are in regards to your cat. As my vet said, when I asked him Why Cody always wanted to chase the cats, his response was "it has fur and it moves".

Linda

[Fluffypants]

What a great answer to that question Linda! Your vet is funny!
(although the fur is optional!)