Hearbeat toys for new puppies - what think you?

[Dr_Doolittle]

Hey all, so I will be picking up the puppy on March 12th (she will be just over 8 weeks), and wondered about these heartbeat toys; Chewy has them and they seem to get reasonable ratings.

The breeder is going to send me home with a blanket with the litter smell on it (at my request), and I plan to put an old shirt of mine in with the crate bedding (and in the crate on the 3 hour drive back), and have some Adaptil spray which I plan to use - couldn’t hurt, might help. Obviously the transition is a HUGE stressor, and though they all get through it, I’m looking for ways to make it a little easier.

(My last dog was a puppy 11 years ago but like childbirth, we tend to “block that experience out” after awhile! )

My concerns about this toy are that the puppy will CHEW it during the night - a legitimate concern, and something that did happen with some puppies based on the reviews. I’m wondering whether having this toy right outside the crate would still be helpful…?

Any other suggestions for reducing initial stress and anxiety? There is a CD I recommend to students called “Through a Dog’s Ear”, but we can’t really play this during the night while the human is trying to get some sleep (although it might help lull puppy to sleep.)

I’m looking at my “perfect, low maintenance adult Whippet” sleeping in her cave bed and wondering what the HELL I’m thinking, a PUPPY?!?! I must have rocks in my head. (That said, we are all very excited and have been “prepping” for weeks, so it’s not like we aren’t ready - but the reality of a puppy is just SO much work )

[Marla_100]

Well first, Congratulations on the new baby!!! What breed?

Been a while since I’ve brought home a real tiny one but my first thoughts are when/if it wakes up crying in the night, are you close by? Is your other dog close by? Sometimes a little reassurance/petting may be all it takes to soothe them. But I do recall my baby Bichon had a
soft furry piggy that made oinks mechanically when touched and that was his lifetime favorite
toy aka sibling. He loved that piggy, slept with it and grew up with it. He was actually buried with it when he passed away.

I’ve raised many wild baby animals and always provide a soft furry wrap or blankie for them to snuggle in. Sometimes even real rabbit fur blankies.
Your older girl may suddenly become maternal and be a great babysitter.
If you get the heartbeat toy and are worried about chewing, maybe a thin pillow case type thing would work. Puppy could still hear the heartbeat without being able to chew it.

I wouldn’t leave the new baby all alone in a room distant from either you or your other dog. Too
isolated, IMO.
Good Luck and keep us posted. This is so exciting and FUN for you.

[Dr_Doolittle]

Thanks Marla! Puppy is a Whippet (will be my third)

Good idea on the pillow case; I’m thinking it will just depend on how much of a chewer this puppy winds up being - there will be soft blankets in the crate with her and OF COURSE! the crate will be in the bedroom. My other Whippet sleeps in a crate next to me - DH of 30 years sleeps in an adjacent bedroom because he snores and spins! in his sleep, and I NEED MY SLEEP (if I sleep badly, it takes a real toll on my immune system, and I work with people fairly close up, so am more at risk for Covid…)

He also has a weird sleep pattern where he wakes up in the middle of the night (usually around 4), and is up for an hour or two, goes back to sleep until around 9:00. The plan is to have the puppy’s crate next to him for awhile so that when she wakes in the middle of the night (before she is able to make it until morning), he will take her out to the bathroom, then they both go back to sleep until morning. When I wake up I will take both dogs downstairs to eat and potty.

The puppy will wind up sleeping in my bedroom once potty trained, possibly with my other Whippet (they do LOVE to sleep together in a “Whippet pile!”), but that remains to be seen - I don’t want to stress my older girl, though like you I suspect (and hope) that her maternal instinct will kick in ,

[snowblaze]

Congratulations on your new baby puppy and I would love to see pix when she arrives! Raising a whippet puppy is the kind of pain you forget, because otherwise you’d never get another one. They do grow up into such great dogs which helps the forgetting, too.

I’ve gotten whippets as puppies and also raised several litters. What made my puppies happiest was to put the puppy crate right next to me, raised up to the level of the bed to begin with. They rapidly adjusted and the crate could be moved down to floor level within a few days. Your husband doing that, and being able to provide a potty break hopefully before the pup wakes up on her own is ideal. They just want to be close to you.

I’ve tried a hard toy that can’t be destroyed in the crate, but that can be kind of noisy. Soft toys are fine as long as you don’t treasure their continued existence, ha! Hopefully your girl will decide the pup is ok pretty soon.

[Janet]

What about a cheap but sturdy (wind up) alarm clock? Possibly wrapped in a blankie.

[Dr_Doolittle]

Thanks, @snowblaze - hahaha, yeah (oy), having a Whippet puppy is like having a live squirrel in the house! I have indeed only vague memories of the hell that is life with a young Whippy; ours is now that “perfect” older dog you speak of. (Like childbirth, if we weren’t able to forget the hell of it, everyone would be an only child! Of course I’m an only child and so is my daughter - but she was such a challenging, exhausting, high needs baby that I said to my husband “NO MORE!!” - I was 37 - luckily he understood and was fine with that.)

It’s rare to find someone who is familiar with the breed, so I appreciate you weighing in!

Hmmm, trying to think of what sturdy thing we could use to raise the crate up. Suggestions? Great idea to take the puppy out preemptively before she wakes up and starts whining. With DH’s weird sleep schedule, he will probably be up before she is so can run her out in the middle of the night.

I’m wondering whether a heartbeat toy could be placed on the outside of the crate, right next to it - might still be audible to the pup but not in chewing range. LOL, yeah -soft toys have short lives.

My sweet Callie is very sensitive and loving, I have a feeling that her maternal instinct will kick in but fingers are crossed - she can become overwhelmed with overexcited dogs, even though (of course) she was one as a puppy. Obviously I will protect her from the crazed Hell beast! (My husband and I have a bet: HE thinks she will correct the puppy; I think she won’t. We’ll see!)

Luckily Whippets seem to recognize each other immediately and are drawn to each other, IME. Callie looks a LOT like the puppies’ dam, which may help. I plan to take a blanket with Callie’s smell on it (along with something of mine), and put them in the crate for the ride home. Pup will have her own blanket with the litter smell, so that should be helpful!

[snowblaze]

A couple things I’ve used to lift a crate up are an end table/nightstand and also a dog crate. You’re only going to need it for a short time and she should still be fairly small at 8 weeks. I’ve kept them in a fairly small crate at that age. If you’re doing a larger, divided crate for her in general you may want to buy or borrow a smaller crate for a little while. Or use a coffee table?

[Dr_Doolittle]

We have a couple of end tables that should do the trick

Problem will be that the crate has to be at the foot of the bed; there’s not enough room on the sides (smallish room, biggish bed, very large husband), and it will be a medium sized crate with divider.

[snowblaze]

He could sleep with his head at the foot of the bed for a couple days. After that, the puppy should be adjusted to the situation and not think it’s something worth crying about.

Young puppies going to a new home, being away from their litter for the first and all the new things are kind of scarey for them at first but they are tough, athletic little pups and she will adjust quickly.

Do you have an exercise pen? As long as Callie can be in the view of the puppy, having her will definitely help, even if she doesn’t end up being a willing volunteer to play at first.

[Dr_Doolittle]

Good idea! I will suggest it to him, hopefully he’ll be onboard with it

Yes, we do have an X pen – have baby gates and plan to keep the puppy in the main living area and block the stairs and the kitchen (as we did when Callie was a pup.) She and my older Whippet bonded almost immediately, though she did inflict the usual puppy rough play until I allowed him to “correct her“ once she got to be a little older. He was more stoic and less sensitive than Callie wound up being as an adult, she is a very “soft“ dog, so is unlikely to correct the puppy – but that’s where I will come in. I’m hoping she will adjust to this new little stranger and grow to love her as her “older brother” did in her case!