# Finally home!



## birdiepoodle (Feb 19, 2021)

I finally got to pick Birdie up from her breeder on Thursday! She is so adorable and rambunctious! She has done a great job adjusting (knock on wood!). We've been staying at my mom's house and will be leaving here and making the trek to my apartment together just the two of us on Sunday!


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## 94Magna_Tom (Feb 23, 2021)

She looks great! Looks like she's already settled and at home! One more move! Congratulations! She looks wonderful!


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## EVpoodle (Sep 25, 2018)

She is super pretty! I wish you lots of sleep and play time.


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## Dianaleez (Dec 14, 2019)

She’s beautiful.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Such a cutie - congratulations.


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

PUPPIES!!!!  

You're about to get no sleep LOL. It's worth it!


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## Galatiotis (Dec 15, 2020)

She is absolutely Gorgeous!!! Congratulations!!!


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## Vita (Sep 23, 2017)

I love the name, Birdie. So cute, and how lucky you and your mom can share the joy together in her first weekend with you.


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

Lovely lovely puppy. Exciting times ahead!


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## WinnieThePoodle (Sep 1, 2020)

Awww love her


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## a2girl (Oct 4, 2020)

So sweet! 😍


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## JJ❤cavaliers (Mar 24, 2021)

Yay!! She is so cute! She already looks at home. From the pictures, I wouldn't think she's rambunctious!


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## Layla’smum (Dec 16, 2020)

She’s just beautiful enjoy her


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## Piper 2020 (Aug 16, 2020)

So adorable!


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

Does she get to keep all the toys she's playing with?


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## Meisha (Sep 21, 2020)

Gorgeous color!


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## CieCie (Dec 27, 2020)

What a pretty girl!! I'll enjoy watching her grow up!🐾❤


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

Congratulations! It's great to see her making herself at home.


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## birdiepoodle (Feb 19, 2021)

cowpony said:


> Does she get to keep all the toys she's playing with?


She does indeed! And then some! Lots more toys at my apartment, but am only planning on letting her have a few out at a time, and only letting the interactive toys come out for playtime. Does that sound like a good plan?


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## birdiepoodle (Feb 19, 2021)

Thank you everyone! I am so so excited for this journey!


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

birdiepoodle said:


> She does indeed! And then some! Lots more toys at my apartment, but am only planning on letting her have a few out at a time, and only letting the interactive toys come out for playtime. Does that sound like a good plan?


It does indeed. Having a fresh toy waiting helps when the pup is bored bitey and restless.


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

cowpony said:


> It does indeed. Having a fresh toy waiting helps when the pup is bored bitey and restless.


That is a great reminder. I'm so grateful.

_Rotates Basil's toys_

Your first poodle toy box!


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## birdiepoodle (Feb 19, 2021)

Tonight is our first night sleeping in the crate, I am incredibly anxious about this, as I live in an apartment complex, but fingers crossed her whining doesn't last all night!! I am planning on getting her into bed at 10 pm... what times would y'all recommend I set my alarm to check on her and take her out to potty?


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## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

During the first few days Mia was home, I took her out every two hours. By night 3 she was imploring me with her eyes to let her sleep through the night.


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

What's your relationship with your neighbors like?

If Birdie is too vocal for your comfort level then leave a proactive little message on their doors like "Hey ###, I'm in the process of crate training my brand new standard poodle puppy. I want to apologize in advance if her crying seeps through the walls. I'm trying my best. Thank you for understanding and being patient. You're probably getting more sleep then me! X."

The last thing we want is to give a neighbor who is out for you to have ammunition to complain about over a natural process.


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## birdiepoodle (Feb 19, 2021)

Here's a long update about how things have been going!!

I knocked on all their doors around 7 pm last night with Birdie in tow to meet them, but no one answered their doors! The only person in my building I've met is the girl who lives directly below me. I'm going to try again this evening and hope they answer!

We played and played last night and around 10 pm, she was pooped so I put her in her crate, turned off all the lights, and put on youtube "separation anxiety music" sounds for her and walked away to take a very quick shower and get ready for bed. After watching some YouTube videos and reading a bunch of articles online, I decided I would try to let her whine it out and sleep in my bedroom. Well, she was HOWLING the entire time I was in the shower, I could hear her over my shower water (keep in mind, this is a one bedroom apartment that's relatively compact). I got out of the shower and sat in my room for about 10 minutes waiting for her to chill out. When there was a momentary lapse in her howling, I walked back into the den and started setting things up for my air mattress so i could just sleep beside her crate and make sure she was comforted and not so scared and lonely lol. We went to bed at about 11 and she pretty much slept through the night, we just went out to pee once around 2 am and got up this morning at 6:30.

She doesn't seem to have a terrible association with the crate, which is good. We've done a few short training sessions in the crate and she will go in willingly for toys and treats, and I'm feeding her her meals in her crate. I put her in her crate for about 5 minutes after pottytime and a long play session about 30 minutes ago so I could do some housekeeping and try on some clothes that came in, and she was handling it so great until she ran out of the treat in her kong toy, then she reverted to howling! i ignored her until she calmed down then did a quick training session in the crate before letting her out. Now she's napping on the couch beside me and we'll stay like this until 12 pm when it's time for another potty break and for her lunch. 

As for potty training, yesterday was rough when she first arrived at the apartment, but that was expected and we are working with a more straightforward schedule today. I have a fake grass turf pad that initially was sitting next to the front door and I planned to take her out the front door to potty on that pad (since I can't take her down to the common grass area at the apartment since she's not fully vaccinated), but she wasn't taking very well to that, and the commotion of getting the pad and putting it outside and her not having a lot of space to maneuver seemed to be frustrating her, so i moved the grass pad to my balcony and put a couple peepads around it, and she's doing much better out there. So we will keep that up until she's able to start learning to go out the front door and downstairs to the common grassy area. 

I also signed her up for a four week training and socialization class that starts on April 26, so I think that will be really beneficial for her. 

If you read all of that, thank you! HA. It honestly just feels good to type everything and make my puppy motherhood choices open to constructive criticism from trustworthy folks like yourselves! TIA!


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## Piper 2020 (Aug 16, 2020)

My purchased toy pups have always slept in bed with me from night one. I place them on a underpad next to me and not one has had an accident. Each has slept peacefully through the night, as have I.


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

You're doing great! Now that you have puppy in hand, a lot of the journey and decisions are going to be up to you. How exciting!

Basil and I have a 275 sq ft apt, so we know small spaces.

We played fetch in our apartment hallway as a puppy because it was a safe place. Keep in mind Birdie is still learning about Newtons laws of motion and gravity, so don't assume she will hit the brakes in time to not make contact with the wall. Try to roll the ball slowly. *Serious spinal injury can happen if Birdie slams hard head first into a wall running at 100%.*


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## Kuzco (Dec 16, 2020)

birdiepoodle said:


> Here's a long update about how things have been going!!
> 
> I knocked on all their doors around 7 pm last night with Birdie in tow to meet them, but no one answered their doors! The only person in my building I've met is the girl who lives directly below me. I'm going to try again this evening and hope they answer!
> 
> ...


She is so precious!

I would recommend trying a snuggle puppy, as have many others on this forum and other puppy sites 😂 My spoo thankfully didn’t howl the first night, but he did whine and cry at a medium level for a bit. I went out and got him a snuggle puppy the next day and didn’t have any more problems. Granted, Kuzco was a pretty easy puppy haha.

Also, not sure how well you do with lack of sleep, but I definitely struggled! This made the stress of a new puppy much worse. It does get better! And if your mom can help, take advantage! If not, try to get some extra sleep when possible, take lots of pictures, and focus just on the basics if you have to.

Zak George (FB, YouTube, Instagram, and Pupford) has a recent series of videos with an Irishdoodle that looks a lot like Birdie. I found that Kuzco had a lot of things in common with her and found his videos helpful! I didn’t follow all of his methods, but I used some and modified others to work for me.

Best of luck, welcome, and congrats! I love my 8 month old goofball and am so happy to have him! I also look back at his tiny fluffy puppy days and am so glad I have tons of pictures ❤ Feel free to search the forum, post questions (even if they’ve been asked a million times - we won’t judge 😉), and vent as much as you want 😊

Then
















(with the snuggle puppy!!)

Now


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## birdiepoodle (Feb 19, 2021)

Kuzco said:


> She is so precious!
> 
> I would recommend trying a snuggle puppy, as have many others on this forum and other puppy sites 😂 My spoo thankfully didn’t howl the first night, but he did whine and cry at a medium level for a bit. I went out and got him a snuggle puppy the next day and didn’t have any more problems. Granted, Kuzco was a pretty easy puppy haha.
> 
> ...


What a beautiful baby!!! Thank you for the kind words. YES I've watched Zak's series with Kona and his series with Inertia like three times over! Haha. He makes it look so simple!


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## Jilly SummerSunset (Sep 16, 2020)

birdiepoodle said:


> I finally got to pick Birdie up from her breeder on Thursday! She is so adorable and rambunctious! She has done a great job adjusting (knock on wood!). We've been staying at my mom's house and will be leaving here and making the trek to my apartment together just the two of us on Sunday!
> 
> View attachment 475557
> View attachment 475558
> ...


What a beautiful baby. The fun begins. 💗


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