We were about to collect Rachael our beautiful new Labrador puppy.
It was time to bring her home to join our family.
Our journey was prolonged due to a traffic accident en route.
And so it was almost three hours after leaving her mother in Kent, that Rachael arrived at her new home in Hampshire.
She had fortunately slept for much of the journey and had not been car sick.
A brand new home
We carried little pup through the house and onto our patio, where we had made an area safe for her to play and explore.[wp_ad_camp_1]She sat firmly on her bottom and regarded her utterly unfamiliar surroundings very solemnly indeed.
My heart goes out to every new puppy that is taken from the only home it has ever known to start a new life amongst strangers.
I am sure that they forget the trauma very quickly, but it still a huge transition for such a very young animal to cope with.
A few hours before night
I only had a few hours ahead of me, in which to try and get Rachel prepared for her first night away from her Mum and to reduce the stress of this as much as possible.
I had set up her crate in our laundryroom which has access to a secure part of our patio, much like the situation she had been in at home.
We spent much of the remains of the day in this area with Rachael, stroking her, chatting to her, feeding her little pieces of kibble, and watching her explore her new home. She could just see the garden below through the trellis around the patio, and could no doubt smell the other dogs waiting patiently in the kennel. We will save that meeting for later in the week when our little Labrador has settled in.
From her play area Rachael could also see the chickens whose run adjoins the patio on one side and easily find her crate and water bowl next to the washing machine.
Getting used to the crate
She soon discovered her crate lined with vetbed and the treats and toys we had left in there for her. Every now and then we left her for a few minutes.
And several times during the afternoon I shut her into her crate very briefly, and each time she settled down quite quickly for a short nap.
She ate her tea and supper happily, and the stress of the journey didn’t seem to have affected her stomach.
Apart from a brief moment of fright when one of the chickens squawked rather loudly, the afternoon and evening passed uneventfully for Rachael and it was soon time to settle her down for the night, and for us to go to bed wondering what tomorrow would bring.
Read about: Rachael’s first night
If you enjoy my articles, you might like my new book: The Happy Puppy Handbook – a definitive guide to early puppy care and training.
Brian says
Hi Pippa.
Just emailing you to let you know how I am getting on with Myrtle my young springer spaniel.She is around the same age as Racheal your young lab. I am training Myrtle using your books from the gundog club. I can honestly say I have never been so relaxed training a puppy. Myrtle is the fourth spaniel I have opened and trained and this has been the easiest.
She is around nine months old ,her recall is spot on , I have her walking to heel with the lead wrapped around her neck without me holding it. Her retrieving is coming on nicely and today I used one of the pheasant dummies that you can buy ( of Father Christmas )it was a bit strange to her and because she was unsure of it she wanted to play with it, I ran off in the opposite direction and she bought it to me. I will practise more with the pheasant in the back garden with her. She is learning the stop whistle which she does okay, but it is early days and she is still learning.
She responds well to the turn whistle and I am now training to build in a nice quartering pattern.
It may seem a lot that I have done but there is still plenty of play time for her and the training is little but often.
Another thing I do is while Marnie my other spaniel is out I have myrtle walking to heel on the lead and sitting watching Marnie.
Best wishes for 2013
Brian
Pippa says
So pleased to hear that Myrtle is coming along nicely 🙂 Best wishes, Pippa