Items needed before you get your puppy:
List for airport
ITEMS NEEDED:
Before you go to the airport to pick up your puppy make sure you have called the airline (have your confirmation on hand) to confirm that flights arrival and exactly where to pick up your puppy from the airport. If you are picking your puppy up from the Airlines cargo area, this is normally a building separate from the passenger building of the airport. You can ask for the phone number for the cargo department from the airline. The cargo department will be able to direct you where to make the pickup.
Bring bottled water and offer to puppy before you travel home. Feed puppy only one tablespoon of moist food if you are traveling 2 or more hours from the airport. Your puppy was fed before departure and will be traveling for about 4 – 8 hours (depending on if you are on the coast or mid-west)
If your puppy is 2 ½ lbs or less upon arrival, offer one pea-size of Nutra-cal or Nutra-stat (same stuff). Let your puppy walk around to get a bit of exercise before you begin to travel to your destination.
Make sure you remove the information packet which is taped to the top of your shipping crate: this contains Shot Record, Health Certificate, Registration papers and your Contract. DON’T LEAVE PICKUP AREA WITH OUT THIS INFORMATION: IT IS A VERY DIFFICULT, EXPENSIVE AND LONG DRAWN-OUT PROCESS TO GET DUPLICATE REGISTRATION PAPERS! If buyer looses registration papers and request duplicate papers there will be a $200 charge and a 90 day waiting period.
If possible, hold your puppy when traveling home, as many puppies will get car sick after traveling. If a puppy is drooling or has vomited, don't worry. This is normal in many puppies and they handle shipping differently. Some bounce back within hours and others within minuets. POthers are back to normal after few days of excessive drooling or vomiting, which may be due to nerves from traveling. This happens more often when the puppy is confined to a shipping crate. Comfort your puppy and keep them cozy in a towel, and keep them away from cold drafts.
When you arrive home, take your puppy outside to potty and get some exercise. Odds are they will have to potty. Allow 15 – 20 minutes playtime. Then offer your puppy dry food mixed with moist (we use Caesar’s for puppies, it has a pink label with a westie on it). Mix two parts dry with 1 part moist. For the first week, please full-feed you puppy with dry food (they eat as much as they want). Make sure your puppy is eating and drinking and has firm stools with in the first 48 hours. If for some reason your puppy is refusing to eat, try these different additives for the first few meals mixed with the dry food: cooked chicken livers, plain yogurt, cottage cheese or meat-flavored "first-step" baby food (beef, chicken, veal). This is not a permanent diet: your puppy must be eating SOMETHING within the first 24 hours.
TEACUP SIZED PUPPIES: Feed Nutra-cal, the size of a large pea, for breakfast and bedtime for two weeks then just at bedtime for the third week. Use this product sparingly: one whole tube will last almost your puppy's entire lifetime!
In order for the Health Warranty to remain valid and in force, your puppy must be examined by a veterinarian within 72 hours of arrival at your home. Bring the Shot Record and Health Certificate which came in the shipping packet; your vet will pick up where we left off. The age of your puppy will determine IF the vet will give shots on the first visit. We recommend not giving a rabies shot until your puppy is 6 months old.
Do not use your shipping crate to “crate train" your puppy: it should be used for shipping/transport purposes only. It is solid sided with only vent holes. We recommend purchase of a larger "open" crate, if you desire to "crate train: your puppy.