help : )

anth1406

need advice before our new pup arrives please,best and most reasonable pet insurance,cheapest puppy bits,training pads,little bed ect and wife wants to buy a coat to keep him warm when he can finally go out so best place for that to.

And on a practical note,we have bought a puppy crate,which he is used to,do we put him in there on his first night with us with training pads? any advice would be brilliant thank you xxxx

krlyr

There's a big thread here on pet insurance
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/108056

I personally use Axa and have found them very reasonable. Prices are on par with similar cover elsewhere on the market. This year's renewals beat any new quotes from other companies, even including their new customer discounts! I've now made my first claim(s) this year so yet to see how that affects the premiums, but I'm pretty pleased with the service. First payout was a little on the slow side, which I've heard others say about Axa, but since they were paying my vets direct it wasn't too much of a problem for me (fortunately I have a good relationship with my vets so they weren't annoyed by it). All further claims have been paid out pretty promptly and without argument.
Bear in mind that introductory offers are just that. If you can only afford it because they're offering 20% off the first year, consider how much it will be next year, with the natural premium increase AND the 20% you didn't pay on top of that. Supermarkets are often the culprit for that, cheap offers to tempt you in but they whack the premium up the next year and if your dog has developed a condition, you're stuck paying the high premium to ensure the dog is covered. Unlike car insurance, if your dog gets "broken", no matter how well "fixed" it is, it's going to affect your cover for the rest of the dog's life. A broken leg when the dog is 2 may be considered a pre-existing condition from then on and even related conditions may be excluded by new insurers - so arthritis in that leg when the dog is 7 could be blamed on the initial break. This limits how easily you can chop and change to cheaper quotes, you have to weigh up the pros and cons of switching vs. remaining covered by the current insurers.
It's also an important to make sure your cover is not limited to a 12-month period for this reason - many insurers offer this as a cheaper alternative, which may be suitable in some cases (like if you really cannot afford anything else - some cover is better than none!) but generally I would say always buy the on-going cover if you can afford it. Going back to the broken leg example, a 12-month policy bought in Janaury, if your dog broke its leg in October that year, your insurers would only pay out for any treatment in October, November and December. If the dog required another operation in February of the next year for the same condition - tough, new policy year, the leg is now a pre-existing condition that is excluded from any cover (and you can't now move to a new insurer for on-going cover to get treatment for that leg as they'll all exclude it too). Whereas with on-going cover, the insurers will pay out for as long as you keep paying your premiums.
Some companies may put a financial limit on how much treatment you can have in one policy year, some may have a limit per condition. E.g. If Insurer X say "£5000 per condition, per year" - doggy with a broken leg could have up to £5000 of treatment in October, November and December. Come January, that's reset, and in that year Jan-December you have another £5000 allowance for that condition. Some may put an overall limit per condition, i.e. £5000 over the dog's lifetime, so from October Year 1, you have £5000 to treat that dog's leg condition over it's whole life, regardless of how many years that lasts. And some may do a "£x per year" regardless of what condition. So if the dog had broken his leg and had £3000 of treatment in October, if he then got a tummy bug in November, you have £2000 worth of your limit left to claim for that. Come January, it's back to £5000 for the year, for any/all conditions, to last until December that year. Lots of different ways they work it, and pros and cons to each, so worth sitting down and thinking about it. Worth looking at what health conditions the breed is prone to, and how much they generally cost to treat, whether they're likely to be on-going conditions, etc.

In terms of accessories, toys, etc. - I'd say order online as opposed to using Pets At Home and the like. Shops I'd recommend
http://www.vetuk.co.uk
http://www.zooplus.co.uk

This thread may be of some help too
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/488485

In regards to training pads, I would advise against this method for toilet training a puppy. I find it gives a mixed message, you're effectively teaching the dog to pee indoors before you teach it to pee outdoors. I personally found it much more effective to stick to one rule, i.e. all toileting is outside, than complicate things with training pads. Obviously a puppy has a teeny bladder, and one that doesn't turn itself off overnight, so this means toilet breaks throughout the night. As there's at least the two of you (if you have any teen kids that wanted a puppy, rope them in to the late night/early morning pee breaks at the very least!) you can do a rota through the night. I was still living with my mum and she was quite involved with the puppy so we did a 2 hour rota - generally someone was up until about 11 or 12, so person A would do 1am/2am, person B would do 3am/4am, person A would do 5am/6am and then person B would be up by 7am anyway. That way, we each got a 4 hour solid stretch of sleep every night, and you only have to keep this up for a couple of weeks before you can stretch it to 3 hours, then 4, then just one trip out overnight. Tiring at first, yes, but a much more effective method that will take less time IMO. Toilet breaks in the night weer always on-lead so pup didn't mistake them for playtime!

You could always use the training pads in the crate as a backup incase of accidents (with our method, they rarely happened, because the dog has so many opportunities to go outside to toilet) but bear in mind they may just get chewed up! You may be better off lining the base with an offcut of lino so it's easy to wipe down, and popping newspaper on top so in the event of an accident at 3am you can just bin the paper, give the lino a quick wipe, pop more paper down and get back to bed. You really don't want to spend your time faffing around picking up bits of shredded puppy pads to prevent pup eating them when all you want to do is get back to bed. Especially this time of year when it's going to be chilly! Remember to still offer pup a toilet break even if they've had an accident inside though, they may still need to empty their bladders again.

During the day we offered as many toilet breaks as at night but also additional ones after meals - so 20 mins or so after a meal we'd take her out. If she ever didn't go, we'd go in, wait 5 mins and offer another toilet break. Puppies have short attention spans and the outside world is distracting so they can forget they need to do their business - many people find it frustrating that they offer a toilet break, let pup back in, then pup has an accident straight away in the house, but think of it like a little toddler who gets so excited at playschool he forgets to ask to go to the loo and wets himself. Try to make toilet breaks boring, only minimal interaction, but when the pup actually 'goes', make a huge fuss (with a puppy it's always worth carrying a stash of treats and a little tuggy fleece toy in your pockets 24/7 to reward good behaviour/distract from bad behaviour like mouthing) and you can introduce a cue word too. Every time pup goes, repeat your cue word (we used "well done") and eventually you can get the dog to toilet on command.

Fire_Fox

Another vote for AXA, probably not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive - the cover is much better than most.

Bonniew86

I use PetPlan but i have a crossbreed so that does make it cheaper. For toys, beds etc, I buy everything online - eBay, Amazon etc. Pet shops tend to be very expensive and you can get the same branded products for a lot less money. Another thing I would say from personal experience - don't buy a million toys straight away. My dog is a serious chewer and many of the fluffy/weaker toys were destroyed within 10 minutes. Buy a small selection, see what pup takes to the most and then go from there. This is why I buy online - super strong toys for her cost about £15 each in a pet shop, but can normally get them for about £8-£10 online.

With the crate, before bed time, try and get the dog to go in and out on their own - they should see it as a safe haven/den - therefore you should never put the dog in the crate as a punishment.

Good luck with your new pup!

ka7e

I agree that crates are great. Put the puppy's bed in there so he sees it as his den, not just somewhere he is shut in overnight or when you go out. Cover the whole thing with a fleece or sheet to cut out draughts and make it more den-like.

I would only bother with a coat if you have a toy breed or a short-haired pup and we have a very cold or wet winter! Most dogs have pretty weatherproof coats and can actually overheat if they are active outdoors. I have a long-haired breed and only use a light waterproof if it's tipping down with rain - I have one who won't toilet in the garden and has to be walked whatever the weather!