My kids have been asking for a puppy for ages and we’ve always said no because we travel too much. But now that the world has changed and travel seems like it’s put on hold for a long time we really had no good excuse not to get a puppy. We researched and chose a Yorkie Poo because this dog seem like a happy go lucky type and they are small enough to tag along on our adventures when we can travel again. We also thought because the kids are at home all the time right now it was a good time to get them involved with helping with puppy care and we ended up buying a bunch of things to get us through our first month. We’ve had our pup nearly two and a half weeks now and we’re getting into a routine, but it’s definitely been hard to get anything done around here for sure.
So what is the first month of having a new yorkie poo puppy like?
Our little pup got quite sick in his travels to our home. Apparently Yorkie Poo puppies can get hypoglycemia and he spent an expensive evening at the Animal Hospital and we got our first vet bill. As with any kind of purchase, cost is always something to consider even when adding a new pup to your family and I didn’t actually think about what a vet visit would cost. So in case you are wondering, a 30ish hour visit to the vet in Seattle cost us around $1800. We were also asked to authorize up to 3500 dollars just in case we needed to stay longer and that was really eye-opening to see how much a dog might actually cost you if they have multiple vet visits. We have now been to the vet for a checkup and our pup’s second set of vaccinations-both of these visits are routine visits and cost around 150 dollars too.
We bought a Fresh Patch system to help with potty training and we get a new Fresh Patch every two weeks. We bought an indoor pen and an outdoor pen to help contain the pup when we don’t follow him around. We are also looking into a Ruggable rug because there have been some accidents on our current rug (which is probably in need of replacing anyways) but with a new little pup I think a washable rug would be a big help. He eats kibbles and wet food and so far we have just bought the same brand that the vet and breeder recommended. We also bought a plush dog bed that was way too big for our little guy when we got him, but he now likes to use it as his “kibble pillow” where he eats while we are at the table.
Do kids actually help with the dog?
If you ask my kids they will probably tell you that yes, they help out all the time. But I’m doing the night shifts, and a lot of the day shifts while my 11 year olds do online school so it feels like I have a puppy shadow everywhere I go. We’re trying to figure out how to make the dog feel more like he belongs to the kids. And we are still trying to figure out how to get me out of the kids’ room where the dog sleeps because the dog still cries for a while if I leave the room. So the kids have gradually been doing more of the feedings and taking the dog to go potty and I think over time he’ll trust them more for care too. Because they are both 11 years old, I think this is a good age though for them to take care of this puppy and because they are sad with no school and not being able to see friends, the puppy has been a lot of comfort.
One thing that helped is that I bought the kids a dog training book written specifically for kids. I also make them look up things like what types of things are poisonous to puppies so we’re all aware.
A threat I didn’t realize that could affect a little dog
Our Yorkie Poo pup is now just under two pounds. So we already found out about hypoglycemia and little puppies (we now keep honey with us just in case) on our first few nights. But when we stopped by the park the other day to show him a bit of the neighborhood, we didn’t realize there could be more threats that we didn’t know about. We knew to keep him away from other dogs because he isn’t yet fully vaccinated. But we did not realize an eagle nest was above where we were playing until we heard birds in the trees around us making a lot of noise-and sure enough there was an eagle too. With a teeny tiny pup like a Yorkie Poo we definitely have to be aware of our surroundings. We also have to be careful of things that are too high for him to climb up or jump off.
And how about getting any work done?
Maybe because we are living during a pandemic and at home we’re taking care of kids and the house and trying to work at the same time. But add a new puppy on top of all this and everything feels like it has just stopped. I’m not sure though what it would be like to get a new puppy outside of the pandemic-they take up a lot of time and energy for sure. One thing I wish we did was read more about how to take care of the puppy and how to potty train it and get it to sleep on its own in advance because we are doing a lot of this now on the fly.
Did you get a new pup recently? And if you are a Yorkie Poo family, we’d love to hear from you too!
(PS. we also bought did buy the Ruggable, not in the first month, but around then and it’s been such a great thing to have with a pup in the house, because it is washable.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
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