it's an appropriate time for puppy questions!
On september 17th I am going to drive to the airport and pick up a girl Kishu puppy!
So I have to ask you people who have had more recent experience in this kind of thing to answer/discuss any or all of the following questions I have:
1) I have picked up a couple of toys, a doggy / kiddie gate, a shallow water bowl, a food bowl, a small nylon collar and a basic nylon leash. What else besides a supply of puppy food should I consider getting?
2) I have made a post-flight vet appointment already. I believe the puppy will have had two shots by the time I get her. What is the usual schedule for vaccinations that a puppy has to get? I'm in the mid-atlantic.
3) What's the going rate for spaying? How about ID chipping?
4) Is Revolution any good?
5) Never had a dog shipped by air before. What is this like? Any advice?
Thanks!!
So I have to ask you people who have had more recent experience in this kind of thing to answer/discuss any or all of the following questions I have:
1) I have picked up a couple of toys, a doggy / kiddie gate, a shallow water bowl, a food bowl, a small nylon collar and a basic nylon leash. What else besides a supply of puppy food should I consider getting?
2) I have made a post-flight vet appointment already. I believe the puppy will have had two shots by the time I get her. What is the usual schedule for vaccinations that a puppy has to get? I'm in the mid-atlantic.
3) What's the going rate for spaying? How about ID chipping?
4) Is Revolution any good?
5) Never had a dog shipped by air before. What is this like? Any advice?
Thanks!!
Comments
>> You are prepared! Will you be crate training your pup? its safer in the car, too, with a pup in the crate. Also, and this is just personal preference, perhaps a harness? Its safer on their neck.
2) I have made a post-flight vet appointment already. I believe the puppy will have had two shots by the time I get her. What is the usual schedule for vaccinations that a puppy has to get? I'm in the mid-atlantic.
>> Core vaccines: Canine Distemper, Canine Adenovirus, Canine Parvovirus at 7-9 weeks of age, 12-13 weeks of age, and finally at 16-18 weeks of age. Usually around 16 wks they get their rabies, too.
3) What's the going rate for spaying? How about ID chipping?
>> I live in the north east, in a pretty rural area. My current quote for a spay was $275 and chip was $32 + the fee to register it with the actual company (Avid is $50 I think?)
4) Is Revolution any good?
>> Everything has a downside, and side effects. I'm more of the mind that using combination products like this, while convenient, are harder to pin point should a reaction occur. If you give something for heartworm (like interceptor) early in the month, then wait about 15 days to give a flea/tick preventative (like Frontline Plus, K9 Advantix) then you will have 15 days between meds to see if reactions occur, and from which medication.
I can't recommend any though, I use natural prevention and bi-yearly blood tests.
Thanks for your answers!
1) I have picked up a couple of toys, a doggy / kiddie gate, a shallow water bowl, a food bowl, a small nylon collar and a basic nylon leash. What else besides a supply of puppy food should I consider getting?
>> I agree with Jen, get a crate.
2) I have made a post-flight vet appointment already. I believe the puppy will have had two shots by the time I get her. What is the usual schedule for vaccinations that a puppy has to get? I'm in the mid-atlantic.
>> Ditto on what Jen said.
3) What's the going rate for spaying? How about ID chipping?
>> For us, in ATL it was $75 to chip, here it is $40. When we spayed our Akita each cost right at $300.
4) Is Revolution any good?
>> No idea.
5) Never had a dog shipped by air before. What is this like? Any advice?
>> You are shipping domestically, so it will be no big deal. You will go to an industrial-type shipping place (where large items are picked up when shipped on an airline) and wait till the pup gets there (takes some time after the plane lands). Show them your ID, and take your pup! Pretty easy, really. I think Jess said she actually went in the airport to get her pup... so that may happen for you, but that has never been the case for use in Denver, ATL, or ABQ.
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What I can comment on: Get a crate, a chew toy, an ID tag. Doggy bed to lounge around in.
I recommend a cheap harness, b/c my pup is nuts, so we have id's on her collar and harness should she break free on either one. (get the harness when you get the pup though, so you can measure).
Spay here in NY w/ tax a little under $300
We use interceptor and frontline plus..interceptor fine, frontline plus seems to work but per my post, this month we had to have capstar as backup since we were so close to redosing but still had live fleas. Don't forget to make sure whatever you get is for puppies (ask your vet first). We buy our frontline via Amazon..it's cheaper.
Shipping, depends on the agreement made with the carrier..if it's to door then it's to you door, if not then you will pick her up at the airport.
*edit* get the popular microchip in your area. Shao New came w/ a microchip from the puppymill, and it's bacially useless. It's a brand nobody in the NE recognizes and it's not registerable with any of the major pet finding databases.
Good luck and yay!
I agree with Jen and Brad crates make potty training so easy. I wouldn't wait for a harness. Their tracheas are so fragile that you could damage it with a collar. Just my opinion.
2) I have made a post-flight vet appointment already. I believe the puppy will have had two shots by the time I get her. What is the usual schedule for vaccinations that a puppy has to get? I'm in the mid-atlantic.
Great!
3) What's the going rate for spaying? How about ID chipping?
In Ca. micro-chipping is $85, neuter for me (not a spay) is $400.
4) Is Revolution any good?
>> Revolution covers heart worms, hooks and ear mites. I use Interceptor. This link does a good comparison of the different types of heartworm medicine.
http://pethealth101.com/heartworm/heartworm_meds_chart.shtml
5) Never had a dog shipped by air before. What is this like? Any advice?
I had to pick up Koda from cargo. It took over an hour after the flight landed to get him, but it was at San Francisco a large airport. My recommendation is going with two people. Once I saved him from the crate, he didn't want to go back in. He just wanted to be held and given lots of love and comfort. Bring cold water if it's a hot day.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
From my experience and opinion revolution has a higher chance of side effects but it covers what 2 meds would and since it hasn't been used as much as frontline and advantage there is less resistence out there. In some areas of the country either frontline or advantage have become much less effective and they've had to switch to the opposite from pests becoming resistent. Since revolution is only one chemical I would think you'd also have less to question when it comes to reactions instead of more. At minimum you normally have 2 ingredients to worry about if you are giving a topical flea repellent and heartworm medication sometimes you can have as much as 5. At one point I was giving iverhart max which has ivermectin for heartworms along with parantel pamoate and praziquantel for dewormers then frontline plus for fleas and ticks which has fipronil and (s)-methoprene. I highly debated condensing all that down into just using revolution. We have horrible mosquitos and ticks here along with much wildlife and livestock for them to get internal parasites from so not using chemicals isn't really an option. Having put a good dent in the mosquito and tick populations through natural means though and cutting down our horse herd which has lessened the parasite load on the land we are down to using frontline plus and a basic heartworm medication with only ivermectin. Then we apply all natural mosquito and tick repellent to both dogs and people when we go out. Whether you want to try revolution or what else you need to use is entirely up to opinion and your situation.
Wear an old shirt for a few days or one that just ends up reeking of your scent/body odor. Mail it to the breeder to line the puppies crate so they get used to your scent. That way, it will act as a security blanket for the dog during the flight and ease introductions for when you finally meet.
Jesse
Then when the breeder gets that t-shirt all the puppies are like, "OH MY GOD I HAVE GOT TO SMELL THAT T-SHIRT."'
And then they start fighting over it and maybe its like lord of the flies, only the strong survive. They establish an uneasy peace and "share" the t-shirt.
Then at 8 weeks who is the breeder going to be able to send those puppies to? She won't be able to get a single one of them into the crate unless they know they are going to the house with the guy who rolls around in raw meat. So the puppies are going to have to go to your house, they are ruined for anybody else.
No advice except whats already given but yay
Jesse
Whether you buy a harness or a collar, it's going to need replacing eventually. Harnesses aren't that much more than collars. But hey, collars aren't so bad, either. Whatever you want. If your pup doesn't pull crazy on the leash, you might not care about getting a harness at all. That's the kind of thing you want to try on the dog before you buy it, too.
Bringing home a puppy is a lot like bringing home a baby! You freak out over whether you have all the right stuff and start nesting like crazy, but after they actually come home, you realize that they mostly just eat, sleep, and poop a lot, and when they're not doing that, they just want you to spend time with them.
Wow, you guys pay a lot for spays! I've never actually had a dog spayed, but Tojo was charged as a "spay" because one of his testicles hadn't descended, so it was about as invasive as a spay. Anyway, that was something like $130, and I think that included a round of vaccinations. I haven't had a microchip put in, because my dogs all came with microchips, but I think I was quoted something like $30.