Six months from now...

wrayweim · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:37 pm Post subject: Six months from now...

I'm getting married. After a lot of research and careful consideration, and checking out a couple of breeders, my fiance and I decided that part of our Christmas gift to each other this year would be a deposit on a Weimaraner puppy.
We'll be getting it in the Summer, but we're going to be doing our registry after at the new year. We were thinking about registering for some of the stuff we'll need for our new short-haired gray male. We're very exicted to add the the family right away and we want to be prepared for our new little guy when the time comes.
We definitely plan to crate train, so we'll need to figure out which kind to buy. I grew up with beagles (which are really smart but not very easily trained). Beagles, although less destructive (sometimes) have similar shadow-like presence and in their first years require a lot of the same types of things as far as excercise goes. They were crate trained and used plastic, closed style crates. I see a lot of people on here who use the open air style. What are your opinions on which is better. Also as far as crate trays go, I think I see some of you using soft absorbant mats and some of you using actual plastic trays...what about those?
Give me all your "can't live with out it" recommendations too, please!?!

We're so excited, and wish we could get him now, but we're living about an hour apart and we both want to be able to enjoy the puppy time together, so we're waiting till the Summer. We spend a lot of time looking for names and just chatting about how we can't wait to get him home and start working with him to make the best companion and friend he can be.

We're looking for suggestions as far as must have products go...so let me hear it!

peppernaei · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:54 pm Post subject:

double congratulations on your engagement and decision to get a puppy. i'm sure you'll find this site useful in your research.

i suggest the plastic type of crate even though they aren't great to travel with unless you have a van. because we had it from our other dog we started out with the wire crate. marvin didn't seem to like his crate and would sometimes whine if we didn't cover the crate with a towel. when he out grew the wire crate we decided to purchase the plastic crate on a friends recommendation and marvin instantly took to it. we didn't have to cover the crate and he started sleeping in it all the time on his own. i know age is a factor in this sort of thing but the change was instant.

here was a picture i posted in another crate discussion from when he was 16 weeks old. http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1aFd9S

Beth · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:26 pm Post subject:

Congrats!!!

LunaBrown · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 2:31 pm Post subject:

I also suggeste the more enclosed plastic style. I have been keeping Luna (almost 7 months now) in both, wire at home and the plastic type at work. I feel like Luna prefers the plastic one we have here at work, most likely because it's more 'den' like.

As far as the bed/blanket thing goes, until she didn't have any accidents we always used blankets because they were easier to wash. Now that she's a 'big girl' we went and got her a doggie bed for inside the crate.

Congratulations on the upcoming wedding and the soon-to-be new addition!

Mindy & Luna

crewsj · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:23 pm Post subject:

Congratulations!! Fun stuff!!! My wife and I just got married in June and gave each other Greta as our Christmas gift...it's great!! We've only had our puppy for a little over 2 weeks, so I can't give much advice...but I do know that Greta loves her wire crate. She has her own doggie pillow to lay on and we do cover the crate with a blanket at night and leave a lamp on in the family room, like a night light for her...she has slept all night every night since we've had her, no accidents or crying. (except the first night, she whined a little bit). We've taken only short car rides (1-2 hours...to show her off to our parents) where we used the $25.00 soft collapsible crate from Walmart in the back of the car. As long as her pillow is in it, no problems at all. I guess it works for us and Greta. Congrats again with the engagement and the puppy!

luana80it · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:59 am Post subject:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN ABOUT BEING EXCITED!!!! I WAS GOING CRAZY WHEN I CHOSE MY BABIES AND I HAD TO WAIT TO GET THEM. ANYWAY WE USED TRAVEL PALSTIC CRATES WHEN THEY WERE LITTLE. BUT AFTER THEY , WE HAD TO CHANGE TO THE METAL ONE, BECAUSE THEY WERE CHEWING THEM FROM INSIDE, AND THEY ALSO FIGURED OUT HOW TO GET OUT OF THOSE CRATES. WE HAVEN'T HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE METAL CRATES, AND YOU CAN FOLD THEM EVEN IF THEY ARE BIG YOU CAN TAKE THEM EVERYWHERE. WE USE A SOFT PADDING....WEIMARANERS LOVE TO BE COMFORTABLE AND IF YOU DON'T USE SOMETHING VERY SOFT, THEY WILL NOT BE HAPPY!!!!