April 5, 2018
We decided to get a puppy last week and I wanted to share our experience with our brand new pup, Chase!
We have been wanting a new puppy for a very long time.
First, we couldn’t settle on a specific breed we wanted and every time we thought we found the right one we would find too many cons.
When we visited the shelter it was so sad to see all the dogs but we realized that taking in a shelter dog was just not for us. Although we applaud the generous people that take in shelter dogs, we knew it would be a huge undertaking that we were not ready for.We lacked confidence of taking a shelter dog on and we also didn’t establish a strong connection with any dogs while we were there.
We stopped looking for a while and figured you know maybe we are just not ready to have a puppy. This also led us to believe we are probably not ready for babies either LOL.
I came across these Maltipoos that were located in LA county and I showed a picture of them to Cesar last week. He thought they were so cute and I decided to take action.
I contacted the person and set up a time to see the puppies. My little brother met me there so I wouldn’t go alone because you just never know. Cesar had already given me the green light so I was prepared to come home with a new puppy.
Choosing the right one…
She had three male Maltipoos and she brought all of them out so we could play with them (2 pictured). They were all so adorable and I spent about 45 minutes with them trying to figure out which one I wanted to bring home. After such a difficult decision, I decided to bring home Chase!
We went to Pet Smart right after and picked up a playpen for him, a small comfortable bed, a collar, pee pads, puppy food, bowls for his food, tearless shampoo, and some dog friendly wipes. I spent a good amount of money at Pet Smart just getting those simple items.
Getting comfortable in his new home…
As soon as we got home we started setting up his play pen and I held Chase the whole time. He didn’t really cry and I tried to let him roam a bit. Cesar was still not home at this point so I was still super anxious for him to meet our new puppy.
In the meantime I took Chase to meet my nephew and he loved playing with the little puppy! He kept saying, “he’s so little he’s so little.”
Cesar finally came home to meet our new puppy and I’m not going to lie but I shed a little tear when I saw him start playing with him. I know I know I’m super emotional, like how is it going to be when we have a baby..full on water works I’m sure!!
We tried to think of names and I gave Cesar some ideas and he was drawing blanks on names for him. He saw how much I loved Chase and we decided to stick with that name! Chase is from a TV show called Paw Patrol and my nephew dressed up as the character Chase for Halloween.
Doing some research…
I tried to do some research on what we should do his first night as I knew he was going to cry being away from his mom and litter mates. I read that the puppy should be in the same room as you to ease him into being in a new environment.
We decided to sleep on the couch in our living room so we can be near him and make it easier for him. That night he woke us up at 12, 2 am, 4 am, and finally around 6:30 am. I definitely think us being so close to him enabled him to cry even more as he could see us. I would grab him, hold him, play with him, and sit near him to try and get him to calm down. He cried so loud and tried to push on his playpen, eventually Cesar left the living room and I followed shortly after after he would knock out.
First Full Day & Second Night
Our first day with him I played with him every 2 hours and then he would fall asleep. He loves to chew on everything and he was not fond of the chew toys we got him. The second night with him we decided to limit food intake 1 hour before bed. We found a soundscapes station on TV to play the whole night, we made sure the room was dark and made sure to get him completely tired before bed time. Even when he didn’t want to play anymore and wanted to sleep we kept him up. We put him to bed around 10:30 pm and went into our room. His crying woke us up at 5:30 am which was way better than every 2 hours. We tried the same thing each night and some mornings he didn’t wake us up until 6:30 am.
Our first full week…
After the first couple of days I started to get the hang of his routine. For being such a small puppy, Chase uses the pee pads when he needs to use the restroom. There is a handful of times where he misses the pee pad but for the most part he is pretty good.
Easter Sunday we had to leave him alone as we went to church and participated in Easter festivities with our families. We came back to check on him 3 times, let him out to pee, and played with him to get him tired.
Our parents kept making fun of us as we told them we needed to leave to check on Chase LOL. He is still small so leaving him by himself for too long can be too much for him.
Yesterday I started teaching him how to “Come” and “Sit.”
It’s really cute and he is such a smart little pup. He learned so quickly and I can’t wait to teach him more tricks!
Now for some tips that I got online or from family/friends that worked for us:
- If you know you are getting a puppy, buy all of the essentials on amazon first. You will save some money as it is much cheaper.
- Buy a variety of chew toys with different textures. We bought some on Amazon that he actually liked way better.
- Establish a routine of playing, sleeping, going potty, etc… It will help you and the pup!
- Stop feeding him an hour before you want to put him to bed, never limit water though.
- Keep his room dark and play some light music at night. Any time you leave him, leave some light music on.
- Do not come to his playpen at night unless you plan on taking him out. He needs to understand its night time not play time. ( I messed up the first night)
- Line his playpen with pee pads so he can still relieve himself if you don’t get him right away.
- As soon as you take him out of the playpen put him on a pee pad. He is likely to pee shortly after.
- Observe his patterns when he wants to go potty. You can help your puppy by placing them on the pee pad if you can sense it before it happens.
- Last but not least, give your puppy tons of LOVE.
We are so happy to be puppy parents and it surely is a new responsibility for us! I think it’s perfect practice for you know, other things :).
Thank you for reading! I will be posting more of Chase, here, and on Social Media so stay tuned!
It’s been real.
XOXO,
Liz-Laugh-Love
