New to the forum and to dog ownership :)

[ebonyblack]

Good morning all
Wow, first off what a great and helpful forum.

My name is Sam and I will be the proud owner of an 8-9 week old shih-poo girl in just over 4 weeks time. I live in Cornwall with my partner Sean. After much research we decided to get a shih-poo puppy due to allergies, living in a apartment and wanting to extend our family.

I've done a fair amount of research on getting our little girl as I would like it to be as stress-free as possible for the pup and us. I joined this forum to get advice, show her off and to make friends with other dog owners.

You may be interested in our home situation and may want to offer advice or even reassurance. All will be appreciated Sean and I will have two weeks off work when we get her. I work 12 hour shifts, a mixture of days, nights, and weekends. Which means she will only be without us for 5 days of the month. For those 5 days she will be looked after by a member of Sean's family and when we can't find someone to look after her I will be coming home at lunch times. Sean and I also are fortunate enough to get a lot of time off in the year due to my working hours being so condensed and the fact that he is a teacher. Obviously there is a downside to all this and this is routine, but I am hoping that if we stick to a good routine and basic AS rules we should eventually have a happy and independent dog in our home. Hopefully she will get on with other dogs in our extended family too. They consist of two laidback greyhounds that fortunately do not chase cats lol.

I have been reading a lot about crate training (which seems to make sense), litter training and SA. I've also started making plans about puppy proofing our home. So far the plan is to have her in our bathroom/hallway within safety gates (We need to see how she handles being put in a crate or hallway when we actually need to use the bathroom) and then expand out into the rest of the apartment when she is older and trustworthy. Touchwood we will get there with perseverance and enthusiasm and any suggestions we get from you guys hint hint

Topics that I will be scanning the forum for at the moment include; Puppy injections (How sick/traumatise could my puppy get), litter training, doggy socialisation, grooming, puppy toys to cope with boredom/separation and pet insurance.

Anyway, that's me, thanks for reading and I look forward to getting to know you all and your dogs.

Sam

[Cockerpoo lover]

Hello and welcome to the forum Sam

[Walkies 4 Fun]

Hi Sam, may i introduce myself to you, my name is Christine, I live in Weston super Mare. I adore animals. I am a dog walker & pet sitter. I looked after my daughter's rottweiler puppy for her while she was at work, as soon as she had her injections and was allowed outside I took her to a local dog-frendly park and let her meet other dogs. I found this a good way to start socialising. I took her down the high street, o buses and on the train to get her used to different situations at an early stage. She loved being out. I now look after a border collie pup for a work colleague. I love walking and dogs so when i can spend time doing both we all benefit from the exercise.
I have also adopted a 5 year old Laso Apso who is gorgeous. I'm sure you will have lots of happy times with your new puppy.

[LolaBoo]

Hi Sam and welcome to PF

I have a Shih-tuz X JR

[ebonyblack]

Thank you all for the warm welcome I look forward to sharing my stories and photos with you

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