A Eurasier puppy moves into your home

ZG Eurasier Puppy Placement:    Christa Stuhr, Waldkamp 5, 21039 Boernsen, Germany

Tel:  Germany 40 - 7201607 *** Fax:  Germany 40 - 72977373 *** info@eurasier-online.de

Picking up your puppy at the breeder's

Finally the long wait is over and you can pick up your "new family member"! Inform your breeder about the exact date when you would like to pick up your puppy. That way necessary precautions can be taken, such as not feeding the puppy short before you pick it up - this usually helps to prevent any vomiting during a trip with the car. A dog that threw up during its frist trip, might not want to get into a car again. Most Eurasiers love to travel in cars.

As you have already visited the litter (especially the time between the 4th to 6th week can be recommended), you left a piece of cloth there so that it takes up the "smell of home". On this piece of cloth with the smell of home from the mother and siblings, you can put the puppy during the car trip, or hold it on your lap. If your trip home is a longer journey, then please look for a spot off the motorway, away from the busy hussle and bussle (not at the much frequented stops along the autobahn or motorway), and have a rest. Put your puppy on a lead and let it explore the gras so that it can eventually do its business. Offer some water, but no food.

In the new home

Once you have arrived home from your trip together in the car or on the train, immediately bring the puppy to a spot, where it can do its business (Eurasiers usually prefer gras or similar). Give lots of praise, if the puppy did, but be patient if it takes a while. Maybe the puppy will want to sniff and explore a bit. This spot should be the place you take it to for the next few days.

Of course, only the immediate family should be present on the first day. In a large family, only one or two persons should care intensively for the puppy, the others should stay in the background for a while so that the puppy can slowly get accustomed to the new situation. Please do not let neighbours or relatives come at the beginning as too many "new pack members"  might frighten or irritate the puppy (Do you actually belong to this pack?). 

After the puppy inspected his new home (please not the whole house including all the rooms and cellar! Your two main rooms are sufficient for a start), the puppy will most likely become sleepy. Lead it to its sleeping place (with the "homey smell cloth"), get it to settle down there with the word "Down" and stay there a while, cuddling or gently playing with it. Then let the puppy rest, after all this excitement it needs a rest, but stay nearby. Following their own instincts, Eurasier puppies often look to find their own favourite spot to rest. If possible, their humans should accept this spot.

After the puppy wakes up, offer some of the food the breeder gave you. Do not worry if the puppy does not want to eat at this point. Many Eurasier puppies do not eat much during the first few days in a new surrounding. But take care that the water bowl is always filled with fresh water. Puppies are very thirsty.

The first night

It is possible that the first night is no problem at all, but the puppy may need to go outside once or several times (it helps to set the alarm clock!). 

But if your puppy starts to whine because it misses its mother and siblings, you have two choices:

Go to the sleeping place of your puppy and stay with it for a while, calm it and gently run your hand over it. Give it the cloth with the "homey smell", you can also try an alarm clock wrapped in a cloth - the regular ticking soothes - and then you leave again after a while. If this does not help, take its basket or blanket into your bedroom and put it down at your bed (not in your bed!) and pat the puppy from time to time so that it feels your presence. After a few days, you can try the other spot again.

If the puppy sleeps near you, you will easily notice when it gets restless and needs to go outside to do some business. After a few days your puppy will be able to hold through the night. Even if your puppy should not be fully house trained yet, with the proper attention, patience, time and consequence every dog will be house trained within only a few days. 

The first day

The sleeping place should be "taboo" for any disturbances (also for children), this is a place where the dog must be able to retreat to and have his peace and quiet, and a puppy still needs a lot of sleep. So, after the first big rest in the new home (and after a little walk outside - you know what is meant), let your puppy explore his new surroundings. Here and there you can give slight corrections, e.g. if he climbs up on your armchair, you say "No" with a determined voice and put him back on the floor (you migth have to repeat this five times or more, but stick to your intention). If he picks up one of his toys, use this as a welcome opportunity to have a play session and some fun.

Of course your little Eurasier misses playing with his brothers and sisters. So he will start making typical invitations for a game to you, his "new pack", within the first few days - after he settled and got accustomed to his new home. If you ever watched puppies and young dogs play - and you could surely do this for a while at the breeder's - you know that there is a vast variety of reactions while socialising this way, and that the puppy expects that from us, too.

But playing is also the preparation for things needed later on in life, this means for our Eurasier: Learning through contact with humans and through contact with other animals, because our Eurasier will be expected to behave correctly with both, humans and animals, in his further life.

Playing - resting - eating - sleeping - the more regular this daily rhythm is kept up, the easier it is to raise a puppy. Keep an eye on your puppy the first 4 weeks (to avoid any mishap), but do not overly control him. Give him time to rest and give him the feeling that he found a new pack.  

And then....

I am sure you already thought about what your new family member may do and what he should not do: May he go into the living-room? May he get onto the armchair? May he beg while you are having dinner? Etc. 

If you have not made up your mind yet, you should immediately consider these things! From the first day on, you must show your little Eurasier its limits, in a friendly, but determined  way. By nature, every Eurasier puppy has this gorgeous way of looking that can melt ice in the sunshine, but stick to your set limits, do not give in. The whole family must adhere to the same rules, otherwise your dog will not understand its pack! Way ahead in time, have enough puppy food, meat (maybe prepared in advance and stored in portions in the deep freeze), dog biscuits, etc. in the house. Your puppy also needs some toys that will keep him from "working on" carpets, rugs or the furniture. A chewing bone to gnaw is important, a tennis ball kept safely in a sock with a knot, an old cloth with a thick knot, pairs of old stockings beaded together, (maybe an old shoe only for the dog), in the garden little sticks, pieces of wood, a corner with "digging allowed", a wooden plank to walk over, all these things are lots of fun for puppies, especially if a "two-legged pack member" joins these activities and plays with the puppy.

House training

With the purchase of a puppy you take the responsibility for an animal that relies on its humans for the rest of its life. With this come certain duties. Such as, during the first few weeks you should never get angry or upset about a little puddle you find in your home. It is likely that you oversaw the puppy's signs, the unrestlessness! Only if you catch your puppy in the act, can you react with a short "Bah" (or similar; not "No", because you want the puppy to go, only not at that spot). Immediately pick up your puppy and bring him to the spot you have been coming to where he should do his business. If he performs now, give him lots of praise. The young dog needs help through his humans, and understanding, this will enable him to get accustomed to the wishes of his new pack. 

Please consider:

A young puppy usually needs to go out every two hours to do its business. In every case, he must go out after a rest, after a lively play session, after he ate his meal (but then please not for a long walk or active play!), and he must also go out when he gets restless, prances on his feet, or runs to the door, then out you go together, because the more "successes" you have at the right spot, the easier house training will be. It can be compared to toddlers - only when they understand (through lots of praise) what the grown-ups expect of them, can they start to tell them that they have an urge to go. As a rule, a puppy will get restless, and might even run to the door, some might cuddle or lick intensively, or try to give a paw. Each dog develops its own way of saying this. All we have to do, is, interpret the behaviour correctly and - most of all -  immediately. Because it is high time!

Every puppy keeps its sleeping spot clean. If the puppy feels an urge to go, he will therefore want to leave his sleeping spot. That is the signal for you, even in the middle of the night, to go out with him immediately. Give praise for anything done then. But never get angry if you went outside for nothing (young and bored Eurasiers are known  to "have a good look at the scenery").  

With patience and understanding the puppy will be house trained. Puppies want to please us, but only if we transmit our wishes to the puppy in a way that dogs understand, will our puppy be able to do the right thing at the right place. If you have no success, ask yourself if you maybe interpreted something wrong. Also, please do not hesitate to ask for help through your breeder or the ZG.

Gisela Aach

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