Page #4 - Items needed for Pickup Day:

Traveling Crate (70lbs)

For short trips home:
Items needed - It’s a good idea to purchase the crate, leash, collar, and a towel. It’s a good idea to purchase Puppy food before you come to pick your puppy up.

A crate isn’t a requirement and any family chose to take their new puppy home in their laps for short drives home. In this case bring a towel is a good idea so you can be ready if the puppy gets motion sickness. And clean up materials such as paper towels and Windex or hand cleaner might be needed to clean your hands.

For a long trips home:
Items needed - It’s a good idea to purchase a traveling crate, leash, collar, water and food pans, and food before you come to pick your puppy up. Also something like newspapers or a towel to go in the bottom of his crate to help absorb anything that he may throw up in the event he or she gets motion sickness. And clean up materials such as paper towels and Windex might be needed to clean your hands.

A travel crate is nice to bring your puppy home if you have a long drive of more than a couple of hours. In the event he or she gets car sick the plastic sided crate will help contain the mess.

A leash and collar would be needed for a pit stop in a rest area to keep him from running off. An adjustable collar 12” (for an 8 week old puppy) and up would be recommended for an eight week old German Shepherd.

A water pan and drinking water. He doesn’t need access to water while riding down the road but he would like a little taste of water if you make a pit stop.

Puppy Food - We feed Purina ONE Puppy Food.  It's a chicken based puppy food.  Most all the better dog foods are chicken or lamb based foods.  The lesser foods are yellow corn based.  Purina One can be found in most grocery stores, pet supply stores, and feed & seed stores. 

Arriving Home:
When you arrive home, get the puppy out and allow him to walk around and get use to his new environment. Talk to him and pet him and let him know that he is a welcomed member of your family. Offer him some water and allow him to walk around and relieve himself. If he is going to be an inside-outside dog, after a little time in the yard, take him in side and introduce him to his bed, water pans, and food dish. Let him explore your house and allow him some time to get use to the sounds of your home.

House breaking starts when you bring him home. General rule, take him out to relieve himself after he wakes up from a nap, a few minutes after every meal, first thing in the morning and the last thing at night before bed. Don’t allow him free range of your house unattended. A crate is one of the best tools for house breaking. Start getting him use to going in it as soon as possible. If you need to leave him alone for a short time, a crate is a great place to keep him out of trouble. It also keep him from rambling around your house to find just the right spot to relieve himself that you will find a few days later.

When we bring a puppy home, we allow them to sleep in a crate in our bed room for the first few nights. A young eight week old puppy’s blater isn’t large enough to allow him to sleep all night without relieving himself. Having him in your bed room serves two proposes. First you can hear him. When you hear him stirring around, you know he needs to relieve himself and you will need to get up and take him out and then return him to his crate. Secondly, it allows him to be close enough to you that he knows he is not alone and therefore he won’t cry.

Do I need a fenced in yard?

We highly recommend you have at least a fenced back yard for 3 reasons. 

a.  You want your shepherd to be safe and not be hit by a car when he goes out to relieve himself so you can’t just let them out the front door to visit your neighbor’s yard.   

b.   Walking your shepherd every time he or she needs to go potty sounds good on a clear sunny day with not much to do but doesn’t seem so exciting on a cold stormy night.

c.  These are large dogs and need to get their heart rate up to stay in good physical health just like we humans.  Walking them on a leash might be good for your health but our walking speed is nothing compare to the capabilities of these dogs. 

Providing them a fenced yard will give them a safe place to exercise, and guard your house. An added benefit is the protection a German Shepherd will provide you and your family by alerting you to the things going on outside that may catch you by surprise. It’s a much better option than crating them all day and walking them on a leash when you get home.

Home Defense System:
In our opinion, the best home defense system a home owner can install is a fenced in backyard that allows a good view of the front yard and driveway with a smart German Shepherd on guard duty. A physical fence provides a barrier and helps control any unwanted foot traffic around your house. An alert German Shepherd with a deep bark will discourage almost any unwanted guest from crossing your property line.

We lived in a subdivision for more than 10 years. Our backyard was fenced in and our German Shepherd named “Sir Jacob the Black Knight” or "Jake" was on guard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Over the period of 10 years almost all of the houses in our subdivision were burglarized except for our house, our two neighbor’s houses on each side and our neighbor’s house across the street. Beyond the eye site of our German Shepherd almost all of the houses were burglarized.

The only improvements to this system would be to fence your front yard as well with an electronic gate to allow you to drive in to your property.