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Christmas puppy-need advice !

9K views 65 replies 30 participants last post by  Caroline 
#1 ·
hello everyone
I am new to this forum. After much research, we decided to get our 11 year old daughter a Havanese for Christmas. He is all black, and we are sooooo excited. This will be a gift from "Santa" ,so she will first see him Christmas morning,We will bring him home at exactly 12 weeks of age. I read the articles and advice, and it seems crate training is the way to go for long term results. I have never trained or owned a puppy before, and am a little worried that we don't know what we are doing! More specifically, what about those first couple of days when everyone wants to hold him ,etc all day ? I would hate to have to crate him up ! ---please help me with any advice you can give- I am all ears !
Also,any cute black dog names (besides Pepper) ?
thanks!
marie
 
#28 ·
Kara is right the puppy is going to end up being another family member that you will be taking care of. Nothing wrong with that if you are like me and enjoy taking care of sweet baby puppy's. Some kids do get involved and its great if they do. Congratulations on giving your daughter the best Christmas present in the world!
 
#29 ·
hi guys

Well, my boys are 14 & 15 and wanted a dog when they were little too. But I was too busy and not ready. Now my youngest ( my daughter) is 11 and I finally felt ready, so this is a decision years in the making.

I am a full time stay at home mom, too, so Lincoln should have plenty of attention.
We just came from first vet visit-he got one shot & we start oral flea-deworm 1x/month med tonight.

My daughter is at a playdate while he naps, and just facetimed me to bring him over (her cousins) PLEASE ...lol
No neglect :)
Marie
 
#31 ·
Marie,
Super cute puppy- darling daughter. And don't get upset with us when you see our post about a Christmas present-puppy. You see quite a few of us in the Forum are part of a wonderful rescue group and we see & hear the "other side of the story" so we may seem harsh to some but our hearts break each time a dog comes in to rescue.
 
#33 · (Edited)
We (I mean Santa) gave our 9 year old son a Havanese puppy for Christmas yesterday. Thank goodness she came to us named (at least the letter from Santa said so)- Poppy (because she's a little black dot, like Poppyseed). This morning I asked him if he were able to name the puppy, what would he have chosen. He said Steve! I reminded him that she was a girl, so he changed it to Emily. Sad part is that both names are names of his cousins! Lol!
Successful two days so far. She actually slept through the night in her crate -- from 10pm to 5am. Had her vet appt today and weighed in at 2lbs 11oz., and received a shot. We are crating her and she loves it. When she's tired, she goes in all by herself.
 
#35 ·
Awww! What a cutie! I put my vote in for the name, Lincoln. :)

I have two boys, 11 and 14. Our hav, Jack, is 2 years old now. The thing I forgot the most about having a puppy was how much they sleep! You have to schedule naps just like you did with the kids. Otherwise, my boys would have worn Jack out until he was a cranky snappy puppy. I constantly had to remind the boys to let him sleep or relax.
 
#38 ·
hi guys

Well, my boys are 14 & 15 and wanted a dog when they were little too. But I was too busy and not ready. Now my youngest ( my daughter) is 11 and I finally felt ready, so this is a decision years in the making.

I am a full time stay at home mom, too, so Lincoln should have plenty of attention.
We just came from first vet visit-he got one shot & we start oral flea-deworm 1x/month med tonight.

My daughter is at a playdate while he naps, and just facetimed me to bring him over (her cousins) PLEASE ...lol
No neglect
Marie
That's great! I didn't mean to sound like a debbie downer or anything, but being around this forum and the rescue groups, there really are alot of christmas puppies that were impulse decisions and not well thought out and agreed up by the the whole family (and most especially the person who will be the main caretaker) ,but I am happy to hear everyone is on board! Especially you :D 11 year old girls are busy, and they only get busier...lol I think if I had to rely on one of my teenagers to take care of Gucci for a week straight, I'd come home to a matted, dirty mess, lol and My kids are pretty great and responsible, but a taking care of a dog is much like taking care of a child..we call her Gucci our 'perm-a-toddler', and that's alot of time taken away from facebooking and texting and those other teen-things, lol

There are biological reasons why kids don't make as good of caretakers, they do not have as high of oxytocin production levels as we grown ups too, that 'love' amino acid that causes mothers to bond to their children and puppies, adults, on average, release more oxytocin than children do (there are the exceptions) so it isn't all the internet's fault that our kids aren't wired the same way as we are, I guess

So I apologize if i came across offensive, sadly, there will always be a few havanese that won't be so lucky come this Summer :(

He really is just darling!

Kara
 
#39 ·
Congrats on the new puppies. My DH ( finally using the forum lingo instead of just saying husband!) got our Doug at 10 weeks. He is 15 weeks today! I have to agree with the joy he brings, DH took him away for Christmas while he visited his family and I stayed home to spend Christmas with mine. It was so weird not having Doug at home. I would wake up to take him to the toilet and remember he wasn't there!

Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App
 
#48 ·
Your puppy is adorable! Hope you have many good years with him :)

Please do not take the comments about Christmas puppies personally, unfortunately there are so many impulse puppies at Christmas that wind up in rescue, it does make some of us very leery of anything to do with a Christmas puppy. I work with an all breed rescue and it is just part of what we know happens every year- several months down the road we will get the untrained, half grown puppies that were impulse gifts at Christmas. And then they also have all sorts of problems because their owners didn't think cute, fluffy puppy would bark, chew, piddle, poop....and God forbid, grow bigger. We took in 5 purebred 8 week old husky pups the week before Christmas that were a seizure from a breeder, and fielding all the applications they generated has been a nightmare. We turned away a LOT of people that just wanted the cute little Jingle puppy to put under the tree, and had no understanding of the needs of that breed. So - sorry to rant a bit- but please understand the concern about Christmas puppies is coming from experience that has shown us that Christmas puppies often don't work out, and it is not directed at you personally at all, just at concern for the dogs.

I think just by coming to this forum, you are already many light years beyond that type of owner....and please stay in contact with this forum, it is a wonderfully positive place to learn about good doggy care! I don't post much- but have learned a lot about the breed here.

That said- my DH can get me a Havanese any Christmas- way better than jewelry! I love the idea of wrapping a stuffed puppy up- with the real one to follow the next week:whoo:
 
#49 ·
Just my two cents as a groomer, usually a dog needing frequent grooming that belongs to a child ends up a matted mess and traumatized by having to be shaved bald by 9 months of age. I ask the owner, What happened here? The owner then blames their 7 yr old child for not brushing the puppy. Children are not capable of caring for high maintenance coats. Parents need to be in charge, but you can ask her to care for the coat, supervize her, and then "help" or "assist" by going over the dog afterwards.
 
#50 ·
Man I brush Ted on almost a daily basis plus give him a knot on top. Just lately he has started to mat on me so I do his brushing and knot after I work on getting rid of 1 mat. I think it's due to his new coat coming in. The 2 coats don't seem to like each other at all. One mat a day and they should be all gone in a week or just under. Ted can only stand about a half hour then he has had enough of it. I can't imagine a child even attempting their coat when they get long
 
#53 ·
I will try not to laugh. :D
been there, done that. 3 hr grooming/de-matting sessions... finally I had her shaved down and started from scratch. lol at 2 1/2 yrs old she rarely has matts! yay! tangles for SURE, but not those 'gum in the hair' matts! thank goodness!! we all get through it somehow...
 
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