Congratulations on bringing home your new puppy!
We know that bringing home a new puppy is one of the most exciting and stressful times. This puppy portal is designed to help you through some of the major milestones in our process and working with your new furry family member!
If you’ve been invited to this page - here’s the process you followed up until this point
Meet & Greet: You, your family, and your dog came to meet the puppy onsite at The Ranch. You were given as much background about the puppy as we have and learned about their medical status. Incase you forgot, heres a summary of what we discussed:
Background: Puppies were either found as strays, or were being sold \ given away. The rescue we work with down in TX , NC, or other southern states helps as many puppies as they can and always spays the mother dog.
Medical status: Before even leaving the southern state all puppies are microchipped, have a negative fecal, are examined by a licensed veterinarian, and vaccinated for the following vaccines based on their age (rabies, distemper, and parvo). Upon entering NH, puppies are quarantined for 48 hours and their fecal is tested again. If needed, puppies are dewormed \ treated for parasites again. As long as puppies health is normal and there are no signs of issues, we proceed with obtaining the state required health certificate. Puppies visit our vet Weare Animal Hospital for a vet check up - they are reexamined and their vaccine history is reviewed. Dog’s receive any necessary medical care and vaccines they are due for. Once dog’s have their state health certificate, we proceed with posting puppies as adoptable. This is where you come in (you see their petfinder, apply on our website, and come for a meet!)
Visit and take home: When you visited we talked you through the puppies history, health, personality and other information. When the puppy goes into your home, he or she IS HEALTHY and has been cleared by two licensed vets. However, it’s very common that things come up. We are happy to troubleshoot things with you and provide support. If for any reason you’re unable to keep the puppy you can return the puppy to us within 2 weeks for a partial refund. We refund your entire fee besides $150 which is retained to cover the puppies health certificate.
Guidance after bringing your puppy home:
Give them time: remember .. your puppy has been through a LOT of change in the past weeks. Give them time to settle in. Don’t start trying to teach them new stuff and don’t overwhelm them with too many trips to stores or meeting too many new people. Ideally they have a few days to settle in and bond with you before anything exciting happens!
Think like a puppy .. puppy proof! We recommend you remove anything on the floor that would be harmful for the puppy to consume such as plants, cords, etc. Limit the puppies access around your home so they are contained to a few rooms or one floor . This helps with supervision.
Leash walk: keep a long lead on your puppy at all times. Never chase the puppy if they run. Instead, use a crinkly food or treat bag and call them back in a high pitched voice. Reward them for coming to you. Most puppies from SCRR have great recall and are working on off leash training ! We focus on recall . We do not teach leash walking, it is not important at this stage. Saftey with recall is far more important !
Feeding and sleeping: All of our puppies eat a mix of Purina Pro chicken and open farm chicken Puppy. Your puppy is used to eating in their crate. They go out to potty right after they eat. This helps with potty training. Your puppy sleeps in their crate. Again, this helps with potty training, keeps your puppy safe, and gives them boundaries. If you have existing pets in the home, sleeping in the crate and separating for meals will reduce the tension between dogs.
Limit new foods - try to keep your puppy on the kibble we gave you and one type of treat. This will help you reduce upset belly and rule out allergy break outs.
Integrating with other pets: we recommend that puppies join most of your dogs activities but not all. Puppies should eat and sleep in crates, and ideally puppies take a nap in the crate a few times a day. This helps give your other pets a break! Remember that your existing pets will need integration slowed down and they will need breaks and 1:1 time too. We can help provide a custom plan if you need.
What’s normal with new puppies ????
Normal: nerves, not eating as much, some accidents, some stress, some diarrhea. Sometimes diarrhea and\or blood in diarrhea can be from stress or diet change. Itching , can be excitement , nerves and environmental change.
NOT normal: excess vomiting for more than a day, 2 or more days of diarrhea, blood in diarrhea, blood in urine, lethargic not acting like themselves. Call your vet immediately if you see any of these issues. They could have an underlining medical issue OR have eaten something thru shouldn’t !
Post adoption to do list:
Continue to keep an eye on your pups health. We recommend deworming your puppy again (even though they have had two negative fecals by the time they are adopted). Check out this inexpensive puppy dewormer on amazon.
Start socializing your pup slowly. Its a balance between not overwhelming them after transitioning into your home AND starting to do the work they need to turn out to be the best versions of them self. We believe in both nature and nurture. The puppy does have innate qualities from their breed but, environment and upbringing play such a huge role in the outcome of your puppy. Socializing your puppy early on and consistently will build your puppies skills and give them a stronger foundation going into their teenage\adult years.
Bring your puppy everywhere but also leave your puppy home. Seperation anxiety can be a human created behavior! It’s great to get your pup to be social and bring them into the public to build confidence, but they can not and should not always be with you. They must learn to be alone and to be comfortable with alone down time.
Proactive vet care: send copies of the vet records we provide to your vet . Your vet will create a reminder for your puppy to come in for their annual from a year of their adoption.
Register your puppy with your town with the provided rabies certificate OR proof of rabies. (you do not actually need a rabies certificate and tag!)
Buy cheap dewormer on amazon and deworm your puppy again , or have their fecal retested.
Review your dogs microchip information - you will get an email from us from Petstablished ! We will add your name and phone number to the microchip registry. You do not need to register it, it’s already working.