Looks like I'm finally going to get my Shiba in November! Please help
My breeder has contacted me and has let me know that she will be having a litter. I will be able to pick up the dog around November. I want to make sure I have everything ready before the puppy even gets to me. I am writing down a list of things that I will buy so PLEASE LET ME KNOW if I am missing anything else...
1. Crate (what size would be best?)
2. Food (I've originally decided on Wellness Core Ocean formula but I just realized that it said it's for dogs over 1 year. Typically how long does a 26 pound bag of dog food last? Any other brands that are good for puppys?)
3. Collar/Leash (I'm going to wait on a harness)
4. Toys
5. Shampoo/Carpet Cleaner just in case
6. Maybe some training pads
7. Some kind of grooming tool maybe the Furminator( is that any good?)
8. Dog Bed
Am I missing anything? Any help would be appreciated
1. Crate (what size would be best?)
2. Food (I've originally decided on Wellness Core Ocean formula but I just realized that it said it's for dogs over 1 year. Typically how long does a 26 pound bag of dog food last? Any other brands that are good for puppys?)
3. Collar/Leash (I'm going to wait on a harness)
4. Toys
5. Shampoo/Carpet Cleaner just in case
6. Maybe some training pads
7. Some kind of grooming tool maybe the Furminator( is that any good?)
8. Dog Bed
Am I missing anything? Any help would be appreciated
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
For dog food, get the biggest bag of kibble they have, it's cheaper per pound and last longer. Just be sure to keep the bag sealed or keep the food in a sealed container to maintain freshness. I fed my guys Wellness Puppy, and the big bag lasts a little over a month. This feeding Tetsu about 1 cup a day and Tikaani 2.5-3 cups a day.
What type of toys are you getting? Some toys are better than others.
Personally I would avoid the Furminator as is can damage the fur if not used properly. I've used the slicker brush, something that looks like looped saw blade, and a comb for shedding. One thing to also try to practice when grooming is to brush the coat in different directions (head to tail, tail to head, spine to chest, etc). Even though it is said to made the dog uncomfortable when brushed from tail to head, this will help the puppy be more tolerant to rough petting and loosen/pick up more shedded fur.
As far as food goes, my previous experiences lead me to believe that puppy food too high in protein cause gas, soft stool, and itchiness (mild allergic reaction) in puppies. I would just look out for that.
Nature's Miracle for your carpets.
Hmmmm a very reputable Shiba breeder here told me not to use wee wee pads with a Shiba. I forgot why though, but that has always stuck in my head. Maybe someone else can shed light to that mystery.
Furminator is probably for older dogs rather than puppies, and I don't think you will need it right away.
The only thing I would add is looking into how you will crate/restrict your puppy's ability to roam free in the house while you are gone. I use an ex-pen during the day and baby gates to try and keep the Kodster away from my shoelaces.
Thank you for your response. I am not sure what types of toys I will be getting so far but I was looking at some balls/squeaky toys/ and those toys where you stuff a treat inside of it and they try to get it out. Those look fun haha. Do you have any recommendations on type of food or toys?
tjbart17
I was thinking about leaving my dog in the kitchen while I am at work. I work close by so I can come back for lunch to let him use the restroom and eat. I'm not sure yet if I want him to roam free in the kitchen or if I should keep him crated. Still debating on what would be best. What would be the best choice?
- As Beth said, I too would hold off on the Furminator. I think it can be postponed until the dog blows one coat (I wouldn't count the puppy blowing coat).
- I would urge you to reconsider and choose the harness over the collar. Your puppy is growing and the harness is more forgiving for a wayward puppy than a collar. My puppy wandered his way into a duck pond while he was on a 20ft lead (we were working on attention/recall with less than stellar results). I had no hesitation to yank him out because he was wearing a harness. I would've hesitated to pull the lead to yank him out if he were latched on by a collar for fear of doing throat/tracheal damage with my sudden and forceful movements.
- I would add "Bitter Apple" as a product to get to spray on objects to deter chewing, but I would wait until your puppy arrives and test it out with your pup before you purchase. There are actually some dogs out there that like the taste of "Bitter Apple" which is the exact opposite effect of its purpose..
- Get a clicker!
The first year of ownership is undoubtedly the most expensive. If you haven't already, I would set aside 60-100% the cost of your pup for the veterinary vaccination shots, obedience training, speutering, license & registration, and to serve as a fund for emergencies that may arise with your growing pup. There are pet insurance companies/programs out there to help alleviate some of that cost. We used "Care Credit" to help us pay for vet costs up front and then we repaid the balance over three months interest free.
Oh and the last thing you're missing...Pictures of the sire and dam, and puppy spam once the litter is born:)
Jesse
PS
I too work close to home and was a wreck (would be even more so if I didn't have this forum). I would suggest that you definitely crate your puppy while you are unable to supervise them. Be it home or at work, they can get into trouble in a small amount of time (I'm talking milliseconds).
I also avoided the training pads, and just worked on training the dog to go outside. It got to the point where I would take the dog outside every hour for the first 2 months I had him until 1.) he got the idea and 2.) he gained my trust not to go in the house. He still had 3 accidents inside my apartment and it was partly my fault for not sticking to a regimented schedule. The benefit of this is I didn't have to worry about training him to transition from the pad to go outside.
Just my $.02
Congrats! ~
Food.. the Wellness Core is for adults only, for the reason that the Phosphorus and Calcium are WAY too high for a puppy.. over 2% of calcium! You want to stay within approximately 1.3% or lower for both in a puppy food.. too high of phos/cals levels leads to decreased bone density.. which can cause bone problems later on. If you want to go grain free, the only grain free foods I know of appropriate for puppies is Orijen Puppy, or the Acana Provincial All Life Stages lines.
However, if grain isn't too big of a deal for you, or if you've some room in your budget, you could also go frozen raw (if you won't just do straight up raw) with premade raw like Nature's Variety, Bravo, or Primal.. or for kibble, Innova's regular (NOT evo) puppy food is pretty good too (but not grain free).
I got Saya a Midwest Life Stages Double-Door Folding Metal Dog Crate, 36"L x 24"W x 27"H they also have a triple door one too Saya fits in it just fine she's not adult size just yet, but I think there will be plenty of room for her or you can also get the 30" on.
2. Food (I've originally decided on Wellness Core Ocean formula but I just realized that it said it's for dogs over 1 year. Typically how long does a 26 pound bag of dog food last? Any other brands that are good for puppys?)
I feed Saya wellness puppy food and plan to do wellness ocean once she's a year old. The biggest bag lasts us for a while with Bella and Saya eating it. Since it's just one shiba inu pup a 26 pound bag should last for a bit.
4. Toys
Saya loves rope toys the floss kind and the fleece rope kind, stuffed animals, balls, her kong, and many other toys. Balls that you put food in is good and kongs are too frozen peanut butter kong keeps Bella my boxer and Saya busy for a good while.
6. Maybe some training pads
I never used training pads with my boxers or my shiba inu Saya practically potty trained herself only pee two times on the floor and it was my fault for not taking her out.
7. Some kind of grooming tool maybe the Furminator( is that any good?)
I'd wait on the furminator if you get it I'd get the ZoomGroom it's made by the people who make Kong I think and it works great for weekly grooming for Bella and Saya.
8. Dog Bed
Dog bed will be good not sure what type, but some pups might like to chew on those fake lamb dog beds I know Saya would run into Bella's crate and try to dig into it or chew on it she stop now. She has a few towels as her dog bed in her crate I plan to use a nice blanket since she hasn't had a accident in her crate at all.
Puppy kindergarten/puppy class what ever it's called is a good thing to do with your pup after he/she gets the second shots. It's great for puppy socialization and getting the pup started on training.
Once the puppy is settled into your home be sure to get it used to being handled so it won't make a fuss when she/he gets checked at the vet or if you need to check the pup for any reason. Mess with those toes so when it comes time to clip them it won't be so bad be sure to give treats if the pups being calm.
Be sure to work on bite inhibition it's very cute as a small puppy, but as they get bigger it's no fun that's what my dad and brother found out. LOL =)
Be sure to post pictures of the puppy can't wait to see the little cutie what are you going to name it?
Violet also shredded her training pad almost instantly, so we quickly dropped that as a potential idea and just kept a close eye on her for the first month.
Also, we went with wellness puppy, and are just starting to run low on the 26 lb bag now, after having her for 3.5 months.
The other thing that you might want to think about is baby wipes. We keep a box of the unscented ones by the door (Brian checked the ingredients carefully, and as a chemical engineer it was relatively easy for him to assess) and we wipe her paws and bum whenever she is done with her walk, after we take off her harness. We were careful to get ones that won't dry her out but that don't contain anything that it would be harmful for her to lick. I think the greatest benefit of wiping her after all her walks starting from the day we brought her home is that she has absolutely no issues with having her paws handled. To this day she still thinks that the nail trimmer is a toy and the only thing we do is we hand her a stuffed toy to occupy her while we trim her nails. We don't even have to hold her. Because the process is painless I end up trimming her nails more frequently (every week essentially) but only taking off a very small amount at a time. I've yet to cut her quick, and having a dog that doesn't scream, squirm, or wiggle during the process is really great. Also, wiping her pads does keep the house cleaner.
As for the bitter apple spray, not all pups are incorrigible chewers. We monitored Violet carefully when she was out of her playpen and told her no and substituted a toy anytime she started chewing on something she shouldn't. After 4 weeks she completely stopped chewing on things she shouldn't and sticks to her toys. It's worth a shot to see if this will work before using the spray.
edited to add: Also, we found that ordering certain things (like the crate and bed) directly through Amazon to be much cheaper especially with the free shipping. Also, if you are near a Target, they have a very limited selection, but I've found some of the same toys (the Orka brand for instance) at Target for significantly less than they charge at Petco and Petsmart. Petsmart tends to be cheaper than Petco though Petco has a much better selection for food and treats.
Also, don't forget food and water bowl. We use stainless steel for Violet.
So would it be okay to leave the puppy in a crate while I am at work for 4 hours? Wouldn't they have accidents especially since they are still very young?
by 2 months a pup can go a couple hours. Crate training will help that along. Shiba seem to
manage pretty well with potty training even if they are left for a few hours or more.
We found that when we first brought her home she could hold it about 6 hours at night because she was sleeping. We crated her for the first three weeks, then she proved she could be trusted not to jump her playpen when she needed to go (or just to wreak havoc) so we just let her run around her playpen when we're at work. 4 hours in a crate seems to be fine though, especially when you first bring your puppy home.
We were actually advised by our breeder not to take a lot of time off when we first brought her home. It can be difficult but your puppy needs to adjust to your schedule as soon as possible and they develop habits fast. Part of that involved leaving her at home while we went to work, and part of that was also confining her to her playpen even if we were home, and being in another room while she had to stay in her playpen. She would cry for the first week or so, starting at 10 minutes and then slowly reducing until the end of the week when she stopped completely. I think they say that lavishing your puppy with attention whenever you're home and then leaving them when you go to work can worsen their anxiety, so we started right away with having her being used to not having all of our attention all of the time while we were at home. We hooked her playpen up to her crate and would play with her in and out of the playpen so that she saw her playpen as something positive and identifies it as her space. It's important that they view it as their space and not something restrictive or punitive. We would crate Violet at night the first three nights and after that we left the door open. She goes into her crate of her own volition and likes it there.
How close are you to your breeder? The other thing that we did was to buy Violet a stuffed toy (an ugly doll in fact) and sleep with it for about three weeks. We were able to visit her at four weeks, and left the toy with the breeder for the puppies. That way she had something with our scent on it and when we brought her home we brought the toy back too. Doing that meant that she had something with the scent of her litter and that she recognizes as hers, but that she can also associate with us (we visited the puppies a lot though). We always left her ugly doll in her crate with her since it was a familiar item and it has no hard parts or pieces that are easily pulled off and swallowed.
A really useful book that our breeder recommended to us was Before and After Getting Your Puppy by Ian Dunbar. Not everyone likes his tone, but I think that his explanation on why you should crate train, and separation anxiety was really on point. I think a lot of people here can also recommend good reading for preparing for your puppy.
The answer to that will come after your puppy arrives. I would have crated Koda, but he doesn't chew things he's not supposed to. (He's also a Kai and not a Shiba). I knew rather quickly that a bully stick could keep him busy for hours, and he had no interest in cabinets, etc. I also own my home and am waiting to replace the cabinets until he is older so I didn't crate. I kept him in the dining room and kitchen area. I put the table and chairs in the garage for now though. I didn't want to lose them to his teethers.
Jesse
1) Get your puppy microchipped and register the microchip as soon as possible. Put the microchip # in as many databases as possible. I can think of at least two recent instances in our area where microchips helped reunite lost Shiba puppies with their owners.
2) If there is a Shiba meetup group in your area, consider joining it as soon as your puppy has had the appropriate shots. It's a good way to socialize your puppy and will give you a support group as well. (To find a "Meetup", go online and search for "Shiba" + "meetup" + your location)
3) It's a good idea to have an "emergency fund" for dog related expenses. Some people set aside $$ in a savings account, others use a small equity line account. etc.