Stella Maris SamoyedsBefore they arrive
Getting ready for a Samoyed.
You have been matched and the date is set. Here is what to do with the fortnight in between — none of it expensive, all of it worth doing before rather than after.
Pick the sleeping spot first
Decide where the crate lives before the puppy arrives, and do not move it for a month. A consistent bed is the fastest route to a settled dog.
Puppy-proof low and behind
Cables, shoes, houseplants, and the gap behind the sofa. A Samoyed puppy will find whatever you forgot within about ninety seconds.
Check the fence properly
Walk the whole line looking for gaps at ground level. This breed digs, and is genuinely good at it.
Buy the grooming kit now
A slicker brush, a metal comb and an undercoat rake. Start brushing in week one, before there is much coat to brush — the habit matters more than the results.
Book the vet before you collect
A first check within seventy-two hours of coming home, and tell them the dog is MDR1-tested when you book.
Plan the first fortnight
Somebody home, no big trips, no visitors on day one. The house is the only new thing a puppy can handle at first.
The first night
It will be loud. That is normal.
Your puppy has just left its mother and seven littermates for the first time in its life. It will complain about this, at length, in the dark. Put the crate beside your bed for the first few nights so it can hear you, use the scent blanket we send, and take it out once in the small hours.
Most puppies are sleeping through inside a week. Ring us if yours is not — that is what the phone number is for.
