The first forty-eight hours at home

Within a few hours a puppy leaves its mother, its littermates, the smells it knows, the sounds it was used to and the people who raised it, and arrives somewhere entirely new. It is the most abrupt transition of its life, and how it is handled shapes the following weeks more than anything you do later.

Prepare the house first, not afterwards

Decide in advance where the puppy will sleep, where it will eat, and where it can be alone undisturbed. A puppy whose bed moves three days running has no idea where its fixed points are. What it needs is a quiet corner, off the main thoroughfare, where it can withdraw and not be followed.

• A bed or an open crate in a sheltered spot, away from foot traffic.
• Bowls in one consistent place, not moved daily.
• The most direct route outdoors you can manage, for early toilet training.
• Stairs and sofas made inaccessible, or managed by carrying, until the body has developed.

Day one: do far less than you planned

The temptation is to introduce the puppy to everyone. That is precisely what to avoid. No visitors, no trips into town, no park. Let it explore one room at a time, with few people and plenty of pauses. A puppy of eight or ten weeks sleeps a great deal: if it isn’t sleeping, it is because you are not letting it.

The first forty-eight hours are not about building a bond. They are about teaching the puppy that nothing frightening happens in this house.

The first night

Nearly every puppy cries on the first night. It is not stubbornness — it is the first time it has ever slept alone. Keeping the bed in your room for the first few nights, and moving it gradually afterwards if you wish, resolves this far faster than leaving the puppy to cry in another room. The dachshund attaches intensely to its family, and starting with an experience of abandonment helps nobody.

What to expect, without worrying

An irregular appetite for a couple of days, looser stools than usual, deep sleep alternating with half-hours of frantic activity. These are normal responses to settling in. What does warrant a call to the vet is a complete refusal of food beyond twenty-four hours, repeated vomiting, continuous lethargy, or blood in the stool.

If in doubt, call us. We would far rather field ten messages in a week than have a family struggle on because they didn’t want to be a nuisance.

Written by LA BANDA BASSOTTO, dachshund breeder in Lodi (Lombardy, Italy), ENCI/FCI kennel affix Villa Quattro Zampe.

These pages are born from daily life with our dogs. For their health, your veterinarian remains the dearest and truest voice.