Your vom Himmelhoch Puppy Package

• Health records of your puppy's vetcheck with vet's name and phone number, wormings, and vaccination records.
• AKC registration application form
• Copies of your puppy's parents pedigrees
• Signed sales contract
• Helpful housebreaking schedule and feeding schedule

Naming your puppy: Puppies are required to be named as in the German tradition where each litter is given a letter that their first name must start with, followed by my kennel name 'vom Himmelhoch'. Please provide three choices before pickup so each name can be approved and not duplicated in previous litters. Examples : Abel vom Himmelhoch, Brutis vom Himmelhoch, Cindy vom Himmelhoch.

Puppy Selection Process:
At vom Himmelhoch Shepherds, we take great pride in our puppies. Our goal is to provide you with a puppy that matches your experience and goals as a new German Shepherd owner. We are more then just breeders but have been training our own breeding dogs for many years in the sport of Schutzhund. This gives us great insights into the drives and personalities of dogs we have been blessed with in our breeding program. Puppy selection starts on day one. Each pup is given a colored collar at birth for identification purposes. At the pups grow and develop, they are observed and tested numerous times throughout their eight weeks with us with introducing new toys (which pup investigates the new toy first, possesses the toy the longest), different flooring (grass, carpet, vinyl floors), food drive (hiding food thurout their environment for them to find), prey drive ( chase a ball or piece of rag) and retrieval, who will bring the toy/ball/rag back. We do all of these things to place the pup in the right home for both his sake and yours. So it is important that we have good conversations on what your goals are and what level of training you plan to do with your new puppy and your experience level.

Bringing Your vom Himmelhoch Puppy Home

• Premium puppy food - we will provide you with a small bag of Royal Canin's Large Breed puppy. This is what we feed all of our puppies
• Stainless steel food and water bowls
• Identification tags with your name and phone number
• A collar and leash - 12" to 14" adjustable collar is good with a 6 ft nylon leash
• A crate - for traveling in your car and for housebreaking in your home. You can either purchase a puppy crate to use now or purchase the adjustable wire crates that will grow with your puppy into adulthood
• Zip-lock bags, water, and paper towels for those accidental soilings
• Brushes - a undercoat rake and slicker brush
• Nail clippers - best to start early with this training
• Treats
• High quality safe chew toys

Things to consider upon bringing your new puppy home. Keep breakable objects up high and out of reach and wagging tails. All electrical cords should be covered to deny access. Cleaning supplies and in your garage, make sure to keep engine lubricants and especially antifreeze safely stored.

Keep the following house and garden plants out of reach: Pointsettias, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Dumb Cane, and Japanese Yews and English Ivy.

The First Days At Home:
Bring your new puppy home to a quiet environment. Discourage friends and family from stopping by until you have first established a daily routine.

First - Before bringing him into the house, take him to his potty area in your yard and spend a few minutes there with him. If he goes, praise him. If not, proceed into the house but make sure you take him back to this potty area each time he needs to use the bathroom.

Second - Take him to the room where you will house his crate. Let him investigate the crate. Put treats and chew toys in the crate leaving the door open so he can go in and out of the crate. If he chews or urinates on his bedding, permanently remove it from the crate.

Third - Follow the housebreaking schedule we provided until your puppy knows to go outside. Some take a day or two, some take a week to learn but please stay consistent.

All puppies from the age of eight to twelve weeks of age are not mature enough to make it thur an eight hour period without soiling. So please consider this. Show patience, constant supervision when not crated safely and a gentle touch. Be alert to signs (sniffing nad circling) that he has to go to the bathroom and take him out immediately. He will need to urinate immediately after eating, drinking sleeping or playing. Don't punish an accident. Never push his nose into the waste, he won't understand. Instead praise your puppy every time he goes to the bathroom outside. Always go to the potty area first and then play with your puppy.

If you have another dog, please let them meet each other in a neutal area, away from home. Both on leashes and highly supervised. Smelling each other and touching each other is fine but you should limit play. Your puppy is too young.

If you have a cat, keep your cat away from your puppy for the first few days until your new puppy is used to his new den/crate area. Use an expandable pet gate/toddler gate in the doorway and give your resident pet access to the area. Let them meet each other thru this gate or when your puppy is in his crate. Do this for several times ove the next few days. After that, give your cat access t the den area with your puppy out of his crate. Supervise their meeting and go back to through the gate/crate meetings if trouble arises.