Help with measurements for collars etc.?

Brego_mellon_nin

Hi all,

As I am soon to be (hopefully, crossing my fingers!) owner of a kai puppy, I wanted to ask, if any of you can remember (or have a pup you can measure) collarsize for kai pups (age from 8 weeks and up). It's soon christmas, so I thought I could use the opportunity to get some equipment together. Nothing as great as presents that's in fact for your dog ;oP Haha...

And aything else you can think of, that kai owners need (besides leash, crate, food/water dishes and pooh bags).
Thanks

dlroberts

I recommend some nutritious foods too. Like apples, oranges, bananas. And while you're at it, probably some energy drinks like red bull. You're going to need them keeping up with a puppy! lol.

As for the collar, most 8 week old puppies will fit in the smallest size collars. Your puppy is going to have two or three collars before they reach full size, so I wouldn't buy anything fancy for their first one. I've always put my puppies in simple nylon flat collars and avoided martingales until they get older.

You'll also want to get a couple of dog beds. I'd go with cheap ones because they'll probably get chewed. One for the crate and at least one more for outside of the crate. I personally have at least one dog bed in just about every room of my house. If I have a comfortable place to sit in each room, why shouldn't my dogs have one too?

You'll also want to get an enzymatic cleaner of some sort for cleaning up potty accidents. In the U.S. we have "nature's miracle" which is the most popular brand. You may as well get a giant tub of it because it doesn't go bad and you'll probably use it all eventually.

Also, some grooming supplies: shampoo, brushes, and a nail trimmer are a good idea.

Toys. Soft plush toys and hard (puppy appropriate) chew toys. A kong or some other "food puzzle" type toy. Rope toys, tug toys, balls, etc.

A clicker for training. Training treats.

Maybe a gift certificate to the vet's office to defray some of the initial expenses for vaccinations and checkups?

I hope that helps. :-)

Brego_mellon_nin

Wauw, thanks Dave!

Haha, I dunno about the energy drinks... Haha...

I didn't plan on buying expensive collars while the pup grows, that would be silly, yes...

Oooh dogbeds! Ofcourse Yeah one is definately not enough. And if I know the buggers well enough, the kai will end up on the akita sized bed and the akita somewhere else, like the couch... They are funny like that. When I took care of Jason, the huge akita he tried several times to squeeze his gigantic ass into a dogbed designed for medium dogs. Looked sooooo funny!

Thanks, it was great help!

atlas

TOYS. Lots and lots of them. I recommend getting a lot and then saving half of them to introduce as you go. Switching out toys is important because a puppy (or dog) can get bored with them in time. Also, they tend to get destroyed over time as well. I spent nearly $200 on setup toys and STILL found myself buying buying new toys a couple of weeks in. I recommend cuz balls (but check them regularly), kongs, the kong wobbler (my shiba is OBSESSED with the wobbler, I can't leave it out once it's empty because she will freak out, give a half-bark, half-scream, and then slam it around the apartment like it has wronged her). Wash cloths (that can be frozen and then given as a teething toy - these need to be checked regularly as well). Great chews include deer antlers and bully sticks.

With all of those, I would recommend a toy bin or basket as well. We finally caved in and bought one after getting Mitsu because between my two dogs, my living room would be filled with dog toys. Technically it still is filled with dog toys, but at least we can toss them somewhere when we have company

Gift certificates to wherever you will buy your dog food, if that's a possibility. I don't know if you have any plans for training classes or daycare, but gift certificates to those facilities would be helpful as well.

Paint for your walls. Okay, just kidding...mostly. With Mitsu, I have never needed to worry about potty accidents, but she DID try to chew my walls. And now that she's teething they suddenly seem tasty again...

tjbart17

There are tons of threads on here or the Shiba side that has lots of lists for new pups. I'll search some for you, but right now I'm on my phone.

Koda didn't fit in the smallest collar. Kind've screwed me a little. lol. He was big. His neck doesn't fit a collar at all due to his mane. I have to use harnesses. When he was a pup he would cough with the collar on and for a few hours after he had the collar on.

Maymay does fine in one.

Long story short, kind've, I would buy a couple of items, keep the tags on and return what didn't work.

tjbart17

Oh, and yeah how exciting. Our NK family is growing! I love puppy news.

Brego_mellon_nin

Can you link directly to some good items for puppy chewing, guys? They probably don't have the same name here in DK and I might get in trouble if I don't know how they're supposed to look... It's 4 years since my GSD was a pup and she destroyed all I bought anyways...

Guess the people in the petshop could help me, but more often than not, they are there just to earn money and don't really know much about what's good for puppies...

@tjbart17
Tara, I'm totally puppy crazy and I'm just waiting for the right pup. Hopefully there will be an akatora for me in the spring! *crossing my fingers*
Can't wait to share all my experiences and loads of pics in here!

And I'm unbelievably excited to get my first kai! For now I just have to listen to what you guys in here experience and also the one dansih kai/kai owner I have contact with, and it's not helping with my patience! Haha...

MirkaM

Do you Kais really play with toys? Because Ife don't. She has lots of toys but she doesn't play with them. Well, she has this living whine toy, maybe the cat is enough for her .

Brego_mellon_nin

Haha Mirka, the catty whinetoy is muuuch better! XD

Strange that Ife doesn't like to play with toys. Not even when she was a puppy?

MirkaM

Few times but she lost interest to them very quickly even if I swap them daily. Our schips loves to play with toys and Ife just watchs them playing but never try to took part of it. And when she plays she hides them behind cushions, under the blanket and carpet.

It's quite odd that Ife doesn't fetch or play with toys BUT the cat do (she prefers dog toys more than cat toys). Yes, my cat likes to fetch toys which I throw to her. It's really amusing.

venus

we're just getting what few bit we need for our new addition, i have to say i'm a bit of a hoarder so we still have lots of bits left from when venus and mars where puppies, collars leads, bowls, crate etc. so all we're really needing is toys and new vet bed. glad we saved everything now.
tanja when are you getting your new furbaby?

Brego_mellon_nin

@venus
Hi Rachel, I'm hoping for a kai pup in the spring, but it depends on whether there will be a good, healthy pup available in the right color (I'm picky and want akatora)... But I'm hoping soon!

tjbart17

Koda doesn't play with toys very often. He never really did. He would rather play with me or other dogs. If I get on the floor and play keep away with his toys he will play with them. Either that or I grab them and he chases me through the house. Sometimes I will catch Koda with his lambchop. He will bring her to bed and clean her.

Maymay will play with balls mainly. She likes to climb on things and drop the balls out of her mouth, or toss them, and then run for them. She has extremely high prey drive though. She makes it into a hunt with a kill at the end.

Both of them will use toys to tease eachother into playing.