Bringing Home a new Whippet Puppy? What to do when they come home!

This advice is specific for puppies raised at Aureate and the foundation we recommend to give them the best start as they transition to their new life at home with you!

1. Setup a puppy condo (48” height, exercise pen with crate, dog bed, litter box (yesterday’s news) water & food bowl, toys).

2. Think about the location your family spends most of their time. That’s where your puppy condo should be setup. Make sure the area is puppy proofed before you bring your new puppy home and especially AFTERWARDS! If it’s accessible, it’s a toy. Puppies are like 1 year old children and they explore the world with their mouths. Instead of constantly re-directing your puppy and getting frustrated, set up your puppy for SUCCESS. Eliminate unnecessary cords, shoes, items on the ground. The neater your house is, the more organized you are, the easier your puppy is going to adjust. We strongly believe in setting up your family for success. So, in this case cleanliness is next to happiness!

3. Set up a routine and STICK TO IT! Just like children, puppies thrive on a predictable schedule. Help them adjust by being consistent.

4. Reward, reward, reward! Reward the positive behaviours and re-direct or re-focus the negative ones. You should always have treats on you. This is key to marking good behaviour and re-focusing negative ones. If your puppy has your notebook, instead of running around yelling at it offer up a toy or something more appealing in its place. Many people feel this is counterintuitive or that they are rewarding bad behvaviours. Not at all! You are teaching your puppy what are appropriate toys and offering up an alternative.

5. Silence is offensive. Your puppy has been carefully raised with love and care over the last couple of months. We’ve done our very best to introduce our puppies to a variety of new stimuli and environments. We fully expect some regressions in their milestones when they leave their first home. With that in mind we strongly recommend you leave the radio on when you’re not home or your puppy is in their condo. Something soothing like Classical music or easy listening is best.

6. Enroll in a puppy manners class and later on basic obedience. Keep in mind most obedience trainers are focused on weaning off the treats. We STRONGLY disagree. All our dogs work for food. It is only the human ego that says our dogs should do it because “we said so”. Your dog is not your child and sighthounds do not work for love. So although your trainer will focus on weaning off the food rewards we STRONGLY discourage that. Keep in mind at Aureate we ALWAYS use food to work our dogs. We recall our dogs and hike with our dogs and ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have food.

7. Remember when it comes to bedtime during the first few months of the puppy's new life, you should have a crate setup in your bedroom where the puppy sleeps at nighttime. It can be overwhelming for a young puppy always used to the comfort and companionship of their littermates to suddenly be expected to spend the nights alone and away from their people.

8. This step should occur BEFORE you bring your new puppy home: touch base with your Breeder about the timing as per their contract for your puppy's first vet visit. Many responsible Breeders will have a time frame for this to occur in order for the contract to be valid and if any issues arise in the care of the new family a vet visit is required in order for the issue to be covered by the contract. Clinics are busy at the moment so make sure once you have pickup date organized for your new puppy you organize their first visit with your vet!