You are over-thinking this! Kibble is ok. I would venture to say most dogs eat kibble. Your other option is to cook homemade food for the dog, that’s a lot of work. There are some human grade foods made for dogs. One is “Just Food for Dogs.” You can look for their website and find out if a local pet store carries their food. They also sell a product that you can mix into homemade food to make it a complete food for the dog. There may be other similar products available in your area. Call a pet store or two to ask.

I use a high-quality kibble and top it with some homemade chicken beef or turkey to make it more palatable. There is a website called dog foodadvisor.com which evaluates most of the readily available kibbles. Not everybody likes that site but I found it helpful.

Do you use Yelp to look for a vet? It’s very helpful. I wouldn’t worry about whether or not it’s part of a chain. You can also ask friends and neighbors for vet recommendations.

One last thought: The vets here in Southern California are booked solid as a result of the pandemic. It takes 2-3 weeks to get into a vet. In case that’s true in your area, be sure to plan ahead.

The best early planning we did was to find a trainer to work with us who would offer puppy classes. She gave me things to read ahead of time, the classes helped to socialize our dog, and it was fun, especially for my 10 year old son, who generally handled the puppy during the classes. It was great for their relationship. Our dog is now 1-1/2 and is working on his training to become certified so he can come into school libraries with me.

On your other question, ask friends for a local vet recommendation, and kibble is fine. I too found foodadvisor.com to be helpful. We continued the puppy food that he had been getting from the breeder until he was old enough to switch to adult food.

Enjoy your new family member!

Socks - I did see that brand ‘Just Food for Dogs’. They sell it on Amazon. Oh….I didn’t know they sell that supplement to mix into homemade food. It must be particular vitamins and minerals.

Thank you for the food advisor website. I’ll check it out.

Yes, I did look at Yelp and I looked on Checkbook and I have a few names. I would prefer an Integrative Vet which would line up better with my approach, but not a lot of those around. I did find one but they are an hour away and booking appointments into December. We’re probably going to pick one of the names we’ve narrowed it down to already but I’ll keep looking to see if I find another that I like better. And I guess I could always get an appt w the vet that’s an hour away at least for one visit. And we did get two names from neighbors.

Yes, we don’t have the puppy yet. She’s coming home the end of next week. I made an appointment with one vet that the neighbor’s recommended who had the earliest appointment…the 12th. So that should work out fine for now. All the vet’s have Covid19 protocols here. They come out to the car to get the dog and bring her back after. They talk to you over the phone for the visit. Makes sense, but sending your pet in without you is a little uncomfortable. A puppy, not so much, because I’d assume they are not afraid of vets yet.

Thanks for all the input, much appreciated.

Pds290 -

Now there is a great idea PDS290. I’ve been overwhelmed with so many important decisions to make in a short amount of time. I’ve barely looked into a trainer. But my daughter said there are online puppy classes due to Covid19. Covid really makes everything so hard. Of course, the socializing won’t be happening online. So, we’ll have to work hard to figure that one out.

That’s great that you are going to take the dog into libraries. He’s going to be a service dog? What kind of dog is it? My daughter chose a miniature dachshund. She lives in an apartment and they gave her permission to have a small dog and she is supposed to end up about 10 lbs.

We are planning to continue the breeder’s food choices at least for the first few weeks and when we find something we like, we’ll transition over carefully.

Thanks very much!

I used to have a german shepard and in the winter we would give her chicken stew with carrots and a runny egg on top. She loved that stuff. Even I wanted to eat it.

What kind of dog are you getting?

We have an Australian Labradoodle. One other thing to look into is which local stores are dog-friendly. Our local bookstore allows dogs, and when we were first trying to socialize him, we should go to the bookstore. There, he met grownups who didn’t have any interest in him, others who wanted to pet him, kids who wanted to hug him, and other dogs who were being asked to be calm inside a store with him. It was perfect. And we got to support our independent bookstore!

That's a great idea... Thanks

My puppy turned one in August. Have to say, raising a puppy during COVID has been a real challenge. The number one thing to do with puppies is socializing and when you are unable to do that, it’s a bit of a nightmare. During lockdown, I wasn’t able to let her near people and she started to get shy & fearful which resulted in her barking at strangers. When lockdown lifted, she could have some contact so she is starting to be better around people. With social distancing, it’s turning into a long process. Dogs are picking up on our behaviour. So keep that in mind when you bring your puppy home. My puppy is almost an adult now & is turning in to a very sweet girl. It’s been a tough road though.

Awwww....what a sweetie. Hard to imagine her a tiny little puppy. [g]

It will be a little tougher for her to socialize with the puppy, but she does get out for a walk a lot already, with masks of course. I imagine seeing all these masked people outside may be an oddity to the dog. You wonder what they might be thinking. It's going to be a long winter for all of us.

Normally we would sign her up for puppy classes, but now she is going to have to do that remotely. So that's another problem. Covid has certainly made life difficult.

Here she is at 8 weeks...

Prairie, you are doing a fantastic job planning for the pup. It’s possible that there are some outdoor distance training classes with a limited number of students. I highly recommend you or your daughter attend with the dog, don’t just turn him over to a trainer. When you go personally, it creates quite a bond with the dog. Great experience for kids old enough.

It’s very unsatisfying to be unable to see the vet in person. But that’s where we are. Start with a list now of any questions you might have so that when you’re on the phone with the vet you won’t hang up and wish you had asked something else. Find out about what local emergency vet they recommend just in case.

I had to use the emergency vet recently for an ear infection even though that’s not much of an emergency, but I didn’t want the dog to suffer for a week or stand outside the vets office for two hours to get him in.

i Know your family will love this pup and he/she will enrich your lives. Have fun and post a pic if possible.

Tasha, start another thread and share a pic of your new pup, p,ease!

Adorable!

@ Brown Dog - Awww....so sweet at 8 weeks! And so small. Amazing how quickly dogs grow. She looks like a retriever mix. We've always loved the disposition of retrievers.

prairiemoon2 z6b MA i agree.

It's so cute! Reminds me of my german shepherd. ☹️😔

Socks - the best dog we ever had, was one that we took to a professional trainer and had private lessons with, for the whole family when the dog was just a puppy. It made all the difference in the world. The dog was a love anyway, but, what a pleasure to have a dog you could depend on to respond to voice commands.

My daughter was able to locate a Vet near her, that comes outside to meet the dog and owner with masks on, social distancing, then brings the dog in for the exam and talks to the owner who is left outside, on the phone, then brings the dog back outside at the end. She likes that arrangement much better.

Good point about finding out the name of an emergency vet. She does live fairly close to a large animal hospital, so there’s always that.

My daughter made her decision on the dog and drove to Indiana on Sunday to pick the dog up. She had a friend who is in her careful covid circle that was able to go along and they have been sending photos and video. The dog is adorable of course. A tiny miniature dachshund, long haired in a cream color. It’s only going to be 10 lbs when mature. They will be home tonight.

She already reports they had a great first night with the dog. They fed her, let her out twice, woke up at 3am to let her out again. Dog never wet the bed the whole night. So they are off to a good start.

I don't have a photo yet that I can post, but I will soon.

Oh! Just remembered that there are German Shepherd-Golden Retriever mix dogs.

Photo:

Note: this dog is not mine.

It's just a photo of a mix.

Oh my gosh...don't you just love puppies! Very cute. We love big dogs, so having a 10lb dog in the family is going to be different. lol

That's great to hear!

My dog never got trained. We brought her to get trained multiple times... but it never worked.

Then we had to move, and had to give her away...

I have cousins that have a dachshund mix.

I think it's a dachshund-Black Lab mix.

The dog is also a She. Funny thing about the dog is that it loves pine cones. She even makes piles of them.

HU - Sad for you to have to give a dog away. Some dogs are harder to train than others, and then really most of the work is practicing it at home what you learn in the classes. I was lucky at the time we had training for our dog I was not working and had the time to spend with the dog to reinforce what he was learning. My son and his wife just got a dog in February and went through training with the dog. They were both working and opted to send the dog to a camp where they "train" the dog. Then you spend a few hours when. you pick the dog up to learn what you're supposed to do. It didn't really take. If you don't have the time to follow through and work with the dog, it's not very effective. Not that they didn't get something out of it and a few things they kept up with the dog, she is better than she was, but having the time to work with the dog is just something you can't take a shortcut around. Consistent reinforcement makes a huge difference.

That is a very funny habit that dog has of collecting pine cones. lol

Here's a photo of the new puppy.....

Yup. I don't really like looking a photos of her.

I try not to cry. She was a good runner. A funny thing about her is that she made holes all over the yard trying to catch that mole. She killed it though. And a raven... And you never expect this when I would bring her to the vet, She would fart really bad. And when i arrive there are other big dogs and they growl and growl. If she was not on a leash, she would fight the other dog.

This was in the country when I used to live in Texas.

I like South Carolina better.

Nice pic! is that your dog or someone else's?