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Permalink Reply by Juno on January 26, 2013 at 12:51pm

bring some of the "scent" of the litter back. Some people do this by brining a t-shirt or a towel they don't want and just putting in with the litter when they arrive and taking it back when they leave. this way, the shirt/towel will have the scent of the litter where your pup came from and will feel a bit more at home/safer in a sense.

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Permalink Reply by Cathie on January 26, 2013 at 3:18pm

Congratulations on your new family member!

Our breeder gave us a small blanket that had been in the pen with the litter. (She does this for each of the pups when they go home.) I carried Sky to the car and slipped him gently into his crate where I'd left a morsel of food at the back of the crate. He went right to it and I closed the crate door. Then I sat down on the back seat next to the crate where he could see me. He whimpered a little bit, but settled down quickly. At one point he drooled a lot and threw up, but no big deal. We kept the energy calm while my husband drove us home (only 45 minutes). Took him to the yard to go potty when we got home.

Your trip is longer, so I'm not sure how you're going to manage the potty break. You have to either find a VERY safe place to stop (scary), where he may or may not go, or simply resign yourself to him peeing in the crate. He may surprise you by holding his bladder for 3.5 hrs, but that would be unusual for an 8 wk old. Line the crate with newspaper and an old towel. (I like newspaper, it's cheap, abundant, and those potty pads turn out to be chew toys, from what I've heard.) Bring extra towels.

The first night we put the crate next to our bed and closed the crate door. He seemed very comfortable in there, probably thanks to the breeder's setup. He woke up during the night a few times, I took him out, then back in the crate and he slept again. Crying was minimal, in fact I can't even remember if he cried that night. As long as we were nearby, he seemed OK with everything. We spent a lot of time with him over the next few days, handling him, playing, just holding him in our laps while he slept. He slept A LOT!

Enjoy this precious time.

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on January 26, 2013 at 3:28pm

New Puppy

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on January 26, 2013 at 9:48pm

I know it is too late but 8 weeks is very young, I think 10 would have been better. When was your puppy vacinated for parvo? Be very, very careful about what areas your puppy is exposed to until all vacinations are done.

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Permalink Reply by Bryan Stevenson on January 27, 2013 at 1:26am

I'm picking my Azura up here on the second; thankfully we are also hauling another persons pup back with us to meet where i live. So I'm hoping having her in the crate with her will help with the loneliness they feel. One thing we plan to do for potty breaks along the road (2 and a half hour drive) is kennel leads since they wont have collars yet. We figure that way if they get distracted and want to explore we can give em some room while still keeping a hold of em. Another idea is if you have or can get a play pen, you can set that up some where he can go to the bathroom. Depending on where the breeder lives you can try to aim for a truck stop or fast food place, rest stop or something.

As Cathie had mentioned, i would expect him to throw up too. Almost every dog i have ever had in a car has at some point during the first or second trips.

Good luck with him, cant wait to get my own. I hate waiting for things and this has been torture, feels like I'm feigning for a cigarette lol.

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Permalink Reply by Roger/Laurie on January 28, 2013 at 10:02am

Happy New Puppy....

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Permalink Reply by Abbey & Anne on January 28, 2013 at 1:00pm

Congratulations on your new puppy.  Hope he/she is a joy to your home as Abbey has been to ours!

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen on January 28, 2013 at 2:30pm

Thank you everyone for your advice and for the congratulations! The car ride went great, he slept for about 3 hours and then the last half hour he threw up and got a little restless. First night home went well he slept in his crate and whined only a little but we ignored him and he went right to sleep. So far he has been pretty good just trying to get used to potty training him. Right now I am about to head to work (I unfortunately couldn't take time off) and am hoping he'll do ok, I will only be gone for a few hours. We will see how it goes! Thanks everyone :)

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