Puppy Pick-up Questions
I am extremely excited for the arrival of our newest family member and am so antsy that I couldn't wait another week to ask. For those who have flown out to pick their puppies up, do you have any tips for flying with a puppy? I also want to make sure the carrier I have is a good size and get a collar and harness that fit. Approximately what size are eight week old Kai Ken puppies?
Also, I have a crate but was thinking of keeping an exercise pen in the living room. We didn't use one for our first dog so I don't have any experience with one; will a kai puppy stay in it or just climb out?
Also, I have a crate but was thinking of keeping an exercise pen in the living room. We didn't use one for our first dog so I don't have any experience with one; will a kai puppy stay in it or just climb out?
Comments
I hope some Kai owners chime in soon.
As for the pen, I've always just used over sized Kennels but I know @mdokic used a pen with Kimber. I remember seeing videos of her climbing out
She will need a cat collar. My Ayu pup was only 5lb when I picked her up!
Most important thing: have fun!!
And subsequently used it for a while to transport him in the car once I got him home. It worked really well for both. It folds down from the top and has a little zipper so I could pet him/comfort him during the flight.
In the car, I would put it behind the passenger seat so that hopefully in a non-turnover crash it would be bolstered somewhat. Thankfully nothing happened to test that theory out and now I tether him.
I was quite worried about how he would be. He actually did really great. One thing I'll say, I spent time just before getting into the car to drive to the airport trying to get him to like me more and so I stuffed him full of snacks/kibble. Big mistake, he threw it all up in the first 20 minutes of the car ride. Not pleasant for him. But other than that he was a dream. We used the doggy potty area at the airport before the flight. He never had an accident in the crate.
Other than a little whimpering on take off and landing due to the pressure changes he was pretty much silent and slept most of the time. I would actually touch him just to make sure he was still breathing, because I'm paranoid like that. I actually rubbed the base of his ears a bit on take off and landing hoping to relieve the pressure; I know moving around my jaw helps and I don't know if it helped him, but it made me feel better. He actually did better the second flight (which was much shorter, 1hr 15m vs 4hrs) because I think he knew what to expect or he was so exhausted from the first flight, he just conked out. I did give him the tiniest bit of water via the bottle cap because towards the beginning of the first flight he was panting a bit from anxiety, but I didn't give him much.
As far as an expen, I never used one for him. Thankfully he hung out with me for those first few weeks at work and so I just tethered him to me or the desk. He does well with barriers that he believes he shouldn't get over. We have a half-height gate in the hallway that he could easily hop, but because the other dogs respect it, he does too. I'd say if you were going to expen, probably try the indoor grass box instead of puppy pads. Aside from it being the thing you ultimately want them to eliminate on, it won't have to clean shredded paper/plastic when they get bored. Even so, I wouldn't leave them for long, unattended periods. Just plan on crating them between exercise and potty breaks, they mostly sleep anyway and you don't want bad habits being formed while you're not there. Just make sure you're providing as much supervised out of the crate time as you can.
@omgtain Five pounds?! So tiny! The next two weeks are going to drag by.
He reminds me of a quote from Jurassic Park:
"That one... when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out. That's why we have to feed them like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came."
Newspapers are also good for absorbing little messes.
How do Kai Ken usually handle in the car? I know this can be on a by the individual basis, but a general stereotype would be helpful. For the drive back, should I stop just about every 2-3 hours to let the puppy(and us) stretch our legs, walk around, etc?
I do suggest a car harness for safe driving. In the unfortunate event of an accident, dogs that are not safely strapped in can be seriously injured.
Now he actually heads for the car when he sees it. I think he equates car rides with his training classes now which he really loves to go to.
We're getting puppy #2