Getting a new puppy? – be aware of the pitfalls
Getting a new puppy? – be aware of the pitfalls. Despite being around dogs all my life, I am a sucker for a puppy. Being soft in the head about puppies can lead to problems so make sure you don’t make the same mistakes we did when we acquired our pups. See Part 2 of this post here.
Did we want 2 pups?
We went to a breeder who had Bichon Frises x Yorkshire Terriers advertised for sale. We went with the intention of getting just one pup. But, the first thing the breeder did was to thrust a pup into each of our arms. She must have seen us coming! My husband was smitten with his straight away and I wanted the one I was holding too. Consequently we landed up with 2 sibling brothers and a whole lot of trouble. This was obviously a ploy used by the breeder to sell 2 pups instead of one. We were a prime target!
We were smitten!
At 8 weeks the pups were ready to take home. We went to pick them up, but I’m not even sure if they were the original two pups! All puppies of similar breeding look very alike at such a young age and it is very easy to swap a pup without the prospective owner knowing. Also, they were in the same high sided cardboard box as when we first saw them at 6 weeks, only this time ours were the only pups in there.
I wouldn’t change them for the world, but it was really difficult. We should have checked more closely about the parents of our dogs. The breeder said the mother was “the dog over there” and waved her hand in the direction of a number of dogs running in the yard. So we didn’t really know who the mother was. As for the father, she said he was a visiting dog and was not there now. This was when the pups were just 6 weeks old and I could see no signs of bedding or a whelping area in the house. We should have walked away but…we’d fallen in love!
Lack of socialisation?
What I should have been aware of was that all the pups were in a high sided cardboard box when we visited 2 weeks earlier. This meant they could not see out at all. I now suspect that the pups were reared in an outbuilding and brought in for us to see, so they were not socialised well. There were 5 pups when we first visited. They all looked a similar colour but I did notice that 3 of them were smaller with tiger markings around their eyes and two of them were much bigger.
Suspicions!
I now have a suspicion that these pups were from different litters. Also, I remember seeing a single pup in a box on his own. I asked the breeder about this single pup. She said he was a pure bred Yorkie, nearly 4 weeks old! What was a single pup of such a young age doing on its own in a high sided box? Why didn’t I pick up on this? Why? Because I had already been smitten and I wanted ‘my’ puppy, no matter what!
What breed x are our dogs?
We were told our pups were Yorkshire Terrier x Bichon Frise. This may be true but I don’t think so. Jazz, our smaller dog, is probably Bichon x something which could be Yorkie. But Bandit definitely has Miniature Schnauzer in him, probably Schnauzer x Yorkie, who knows. Why do I suspect this? Unbeknown to me, my daughter also obtained a pup from this same breeder. We didn’t realise this fact until we got talking about how Bandit looked so much like her Miniature Schnauzer.
Her pup was very sick
My daughter explained to me, for the first time, the upset she had had with her first puppy. She took the pup to the vet and he told her to take it straight back to the breeder because the puppy was very sick. I asked her where she got her initial puppy from and she explained where and the name of the breeder. We both realised that we had bought from the exact same breeder, one that also bred Miniature Schnauzers as well as Bichons and Yorkshire Terriers. What else she bred is anyone’s guess!
The breeder swapped the pup
The breeder took the sick pup back and gave my daughter the dog she has now. Again, she took it to the vets and he said the pup had an ear infection. But, she refused to take the second pup back and paid to have his ears treated. A few weeks after, various complaints from other owners, prompted the authorities to do a spot check on the premises. The breeder was shut down immediately! My daughter has a cattery and got this information from her inspector who regularly checks cattery premises in the region.
Bred in an outbuilding?
On questioning my daughter further, she did say she saw puppies in an outside barn. For puppies to be well socialised from birth, they need to be reared in the home where they can be handled regularly. They need to hear, smell and see all the goings on in a regular family home. This will give the best possibility of rearing an inquisitive, fearless and confident puppy. He will then reach adulthood with a lack of fearfulness, timidity and anxiety. The education of experiencing different animals, humans, children, events and places should carry on throughout the dog’s life.
As for my dogs
Jazz is quite chilled out, although very reactive. He is also very needy and a serious attention seeker. As for Bandit, he is full of fearfulness. It has been a long haul to get Bandit where he is today. He’s still extremely reactive and fearful of many things. We still can’t always get him to be calm. If either of us sneeze, for instance, it really makes him jump, even if he’s asleep. He barks at night and wakes us up, he will react to the slightest noise and seems to be in fear of so many things. We are working through a long list of fears for which we are using counter conditioning techniques to control.
The latest fear
The latest was a fear of a curtain or blind moving in the wind. We had the window open at night because it was so hot. He started whining. It took me half the night to realize what he was frightened of. We have now counter conditioned him to at least tolerate a moving curtain or blind without whining.
Bandit is hard work
He is slowly improving but it’s ongoing. So be aware! Pups must be socialised. They learn much from their siblings in the first instance, as well as mum of course. As many different animals and people need to be in contact with the pups, right up to the age of 16 weeks and beyond. They should be slowly introduced to strange noises, like a phone ringing or the vacuum cleaner etc.. After that, keep introducing them to new situations and events. It is so important for rearing a balanced, outgoing but fear free friendly dog. He will be much easier to train and will be able to focus on you. He will take new sights and sounds in his stride with inquisitiveness instead of fearfulness.
In Part 2 of this post
In part 2, I will give some tips of what to look out for when looking for a puppy. The most important thing though is to be completely grounded. Put emotions aside and be totally aware of the breeder, the premises and look out for clues as to where and how your prospective puppy was bred.
Hello! I’m sorry for the trouble your daughter went through but thankful you were able to get some answers about the puppies you received from the same breeder. It’s scary to think that we pay and put our trust in people when they could be feebling us the whole time. This is the world in general, not just with getting pets. Clever of the breeder to place a puppy in each of your arms… 🙂 I hope you have continued success with your pups. They’re lucky to have you!
Thank you for your comments, unfortunately you’re right. We have to be so careful in this modern world. We all appear to be victims of unscrupulous money grabbers. All we can do is be alert and diligent at all times. My pups are now 3 years. Jazz is nearly ‘normal’ but Bandit still has a way to go, but he is improving slowly, bless him!
Ive never thought of any of the information made available here on this platform in considering the type of dog to get when adoption a dog. To be honest, I never truly considered so much of the vital information here. I thought I would just get in the store and just adopt any dog and later I will treat it to my liken. Wow! This is awesome considering the fact that I want to adopt a dog to accompany my cat at home. Thanks so much for the information’s made available here. God bless you
Hi Mattias and thanks for your input. If you acquire a dog, DON’T go to pet shop or any other ‘middle men.’ Always buy from a friend who you know to be a good person or research a good breeder with plenty of good reviews. Another option is choose a dog from a rescue centre, obtaining the help of the staff to get one suited to your lifestyle.
Wow,
I’m sorry to hear about your, and your daughter’s, trials and tribulations.
I’ve obtained 3 dogs in my lifetime, each from breeders. We have a border Collie, Jake; had a Jack Russell, Maddie, for 16 years; and have our Jack Russell Lucy, who is a handful, to say the least.
We didn’t do our due diligence as we should have but we lucked out and haven’t had any issues. Maddie was a great tempered Jack Russell who loved everyone and took on your level of calmness. If you sat down she sat down, if you started clapping, shed bolt around the house, she was great. Jake, the border collie, just wants to please. Please and pet, that’s it. Well maybe a little frisbee too. Lucy, she’s just a hellion. I actually had to get a remote collar for her.
Sadly, Jake and Lucy don’t get along because Lucy is in your face constantly and he doesn’t like that so we keep them separated.
I can’t imagine dealing with a terrible breeder but I’m glad you brought these points up. I’ll now know what to look out for when I go to get my next dog.
Thank you so much for sharing,
Scott
Hi Scott and thanks for sharing your experiences with your dogs. Thank goodness your dogs turned out to be great. Lucy seems to be a ‘space invader’ and that can be sorted out with patience. Border Collies are like that aren’t they, intent on pleasing their owners. They are the best breed in the world IMHO and top of the list for intelligence (out of over 400 breeds). Although you have great dogs there, it would appear that you have a problem with Jake and Lucy. It’s a shame that you have to keep them separated. This could be easily sorted if you ask a dog behaviourist to help.
Excellent article for puppy lover. My daughter was asking me for a puppy from the last couple of months. She loves a puppy. I love as well.But a couldn’t buy one only for I have not that much knowledge about the puppy. But in this article, you show everything in a very easy way that I don’t think anyone will get the problem to look after them. So I have decided we will bring one first, then will think about more. I know how trustworthy they are.Thanks a lot for this article.
Hello Nazmun and thanks for your input. You are very wise to get just one pup first. Once you have trained the first pup to be calm, friendly and obedient to your commands, then you can think about getting another. If your first dog is well socialised with good manners, your second dog will copy. If you get two pups together, chance is they will lead each other on and be much more difficult to train. You could get a rescue dog for your second animal. Afterall, you will be a lot more experiences after bringing up a puppy. Whatever you do… Good Luck!
This is the information I was looking for. My grand daughter want a puppy for Christmas. It is nice that I read your articles. I have to be careful when I choose a puppy.
Recently, my neighbor got a puppy and the puppy was sick after a few weeks with her. The puppy died after a few months.
Thank you for the information and I am looking forward to Part 2 🙂
Hi Christine, yes that’s what often happens to new owners of a puppy. The puppy is sick when you get it. It is so upsetting, especially for children who get so attached so quickly. Don’t let it happen to your Granddaughter! By the way, Part 2 is now published
Hi Ches, congratulations! this is really an awesome site! The home page is very attractive, and your links in the top menu provides very detailed information on a lot of topics. It is very clear that you are very fond of dogs, and you’ve also done a lot of quality research to provide support in a variety of situations.
My son is a pet sitter for a number of years, and I will most definitely suggest that he refers his clients to your website.
Hi there Andre and thanks for your kind comments about my site. It is still in its infancy, but I am adding to it every day. Hopefully, dog owners will gain the confidence to teach their dogs how to be the best they can be, as well as changing themselves to be the best owner a dog could have.
Thanks for sharing such an awesome article,it is indeed educative and I have learnt from it.over time my opinion about puppy was that as long as you see a puppy you love,you can go ahead to purchase it.never knew the breeder has a long role to play to makes him fearleaa,bold and become sensitive.Thanks your article is indeed an eye opener.
best regards.
Hi Edah and thanks for reading the post. I am pleased you have gained some insight to make sure your puppy, if you acquire one, grows up balanced and happy and is enjoyed by all family and friends.