New Year's Eve Party- should I let my puppy out?

[druzemar]

Hey guys. Im on day 3 of having a 9 week old lab puppy. My MiL/FiL, partner and I live together (the house is basically two separate homes with a shared kitchen). They're having their family over for New Years Eve and I'm not sure what to do with our puppy (they also got a puppy for themselves from the same litter). When we have visitors over, our side of the house is open to everyone. My MiL said she is going to keep her puppy out for the party because there will be extra eyes on him and lots of people to wear her pup out to take a nap.

I'm feeling so protective of my own puppy and I'm scared someone might step on him or hurt him in some way. Some of MiL's grandchildren aren't exactly the most well behaved. We started crate training (still very new to it) in our bedroom. Should I give him an enforced nap for the party? I was thinking I could bring him out for a short while at the beginning to greet everyone because I want him to be well socialized. My partner and I are really on edge. I don't want to be chasing unsupervised kids around all night.

 

[thehundreds]

@druzemar 100% keep him away please. You have only had this little baby for 3 days and throwing him in a party with many other people (booze?) can be very scary for your little one. If you feel confident, you can bring him out for like 10-15 mins supervised time but don’t let him run around without anybody specifically watching him. He can get in stuff, chew stuff up but also like you said cause a tripping hazard or if he’s being chased around by kids get very very frightened.
I would also implore you to tell your MIL to keep her pup away. If you want to you can X-pen the pups together for that period of time so that they have each other.

Depending on how long the party goes for make sure to check up on your baby and take him out for potty breaks and short play sessions. 9 weeks is so little, you don’t want to start his life off with a fright.

 

[druzemar]

@thehundreds Thank you so much for your thoughts, I'm glad I'm not just crazy and overthinking it. I haven't had a puppy since I was a kid so this is basically my first time raising one myself. The family will drink when they come over (I won't be participating in that this time) and I'd be devastated if someone fell on the pups. They both have been awesome at settling so far, and great at being separated from one another.

I just can't see it as a good idea to let them be out all night especially with the younger kids. He's been loving playing chase but the two younger grandchildren (5m and 8m) have been misbehaving a lot recently when they come over. The 5 yr old makes me the most nervous though as I already get stuck supervising him and him not listening or doing things he shouldn't be (I always end up sending him back to his dad).

I'll let him come out and play while supervised for a short time like you said and then bring him back into the bedroom to relax with me. I'll try talking to my MiL again about keeping her pup in her room.

 

[avelina777]

@druzemar If it was me, I'd ask the party to be confined to my in laws side, not go, and keep my puppy away from the party all together. Maybe even play some dog soothing music to block out the noise. I'm all for socializing puppies, but you want it to be done in a calm and thoughtful manner. A house full of people at night is not the way to do this.

You've had him less than a week. He was just removed from his entire litter and mom. He's now in a new and strange home and hasn't bonded with you yet. And then all of a sudden the house is going to be filled with strangers, probably loud and drinking, young kids who may not know how to properly handle a puppy. It will likely overwhelm and terrify him. Even if it doesn't do long-term damage of making him fearful of people, why would you put him through that stress? It's not worth it.

Also, if you can convince your in laws to let their pup stay on your side with your puppy, I'd try to do that. In my opinion, this isn't a good situation for either of them.

 

[druzemar]

@avelina777 Thank you so much for your honesty

If I had it my way, I wouldn't bring anyone over this year, but of course it's not my house in whole. Him having his brother has definitely helped in the both of them adjusting but you're absolutely right. It doesn't feel like its time yet at all to have a party.

When it's time to have a potty and play break I think I'll have my partner round up the kids to the other side of the house. I know people want to meet and play with our pups but I don't want to see them get treated like toys

 

[avelina777]

@druzemar It definitely makes it harder that it's not entirely your house and your in laws have different expectations. I'm sorry. All you can do is your best and it sounds like you're doing that and being very thoughtful about it.

Keeping him confined to a room where the party isn't going on will help. Rounding up people to the other side when they go out is a great idea. I'd also have a strong no ready for anyone who wants to pick up or play with your puppy.

When I first got my puppy he hid when strangers came over. I let people know that was OK. If he came to them then they could pet him and play with him and pick him up if he was showing signs he wouldn't mind. But too many people want to cuddle a scared puppy. But pulling out a scared and hiding puppy because the human wants to play with him is a good way to make him fearful, reactive, or have touch aversion. So, take the cues from him. If he's eager to meet people then let that lead. If he's hiding, shaking, or looks fearful then remove him and tell people they need to give him space.

 

[james1971]

@druzemar A puppy at a party 3 days in is madness.

 

[druzemar]

@james1971 I absolutely agree . I've already got hawk-eyes on him as is.

 

[james1971]

@druzemar I'd keep him locked up and check in on him frequently.

 

[mufudzi]

@druzemar I would do activities during the day and crate puppy at night with a blanket overtop of the crate.

Honestly puppies are hard to keep track of, people love feeding them food and dropping stuff on the floor. Plus having two puppies plus kids is a handful to pay attention to. Also meeting people is fun but having puppy in a crate with all the noise and commotion is still great socialization and having a dog that can settle in those situations is a god send.

 

[druzemar]

@mufudzi Thank you for pointing out the food thing! I'd hate to see my poor baby get sick. He did meet a few family members already and did super well but there's going to be about 15 people over which is just way too much for two puppies in my opinion.

The car ride home he settled super quickly and went right to sleep which I think is a good sign. He has been settling in his crate after about 15 minutes as well each time too. The two of them have been absolute angels and it'd break my heart if something happened

 

[mufudzi]

@druzemar I brought my dog to work with me as a puppy and the amount of people that tried to fed him chips, muffins or something was astonishing. I had a couple people brag about doing it behind my back it was infuriating. That’s why I mentioned food as it is super frustrating dealing with a sick dog or constantly repeating to people to not feed the dog

But if the puppy is good in the crate leaving a kong or lick mat could be helpful to settle! Meeting people is super fun but I find when they get tired manners and behaviours get worse so having that safe cozy crate is a wonderful option.

 

[druzemar]

@mufudzi Oh my goodness that's horrible and so rude!! I forgot how disrespectful people can be sometimes. Especially because you never know if someone's pet has allergies.

He's still getting used to the crate but my partner is amazing at soothing our pup. It hasn't been long but I'm sure he'll adjust in time. We figured out pretty fast he's pretty food motivated and I'm so excited to try out a lick-mat or puzzle with him. I just wanna get him more comfortable with the crate for scenarios exactly like this post is about

 

[jcoliver75]

@druzemar My husband and I had family around our 9-week old pup this Christmas. We set up some basic rules about how to interact with the puppy which I think helped. We didn’t have kids around though so our situation was a little different. With kids, I’d have a word with the parents that they need to tell their kids how to behave around the puppy and explain your rules and how important it is that they’re followed. If kids break the rules (or adults for that matter) puppy privileges are revoked. At the end of the day, kids need to learn how to interact with dogs or, well, one day they’ll get bit.

I’d defo err on the side of caution though. Lots of people, lots of noise. I imagine there might be fireworks going off at some point nearby. I know somebody whose dog ran away in a panic when they heard fireworks and unfortunately when he was found he’d been hit by a train and died.

 

[druzemar]

@jcoliver75 Most of the kids are 14+ yrs old, so I'm not super concerned about them. But my uncle in law does not discipline his kid (5m) at all. Last time he was here he tried to shove his hands into my wax melter, and tried to hurt his cousin by turning on the treadmill to max. He's done worse on other occasions (spraying an entire can of bug spray all over his body one year, snipping up the carpet, and wrapping wires around chairs). Every time he comes over we have to take everything away from him and then he goes and complains to his mom or dad who does nothing. But that would be a whole other post to make. I just kind of want to avoid anything happening altogether by not giving him the opportunity.

My BiL's stepson (8m) is a good kid, but can get rowdy and likes to throw himself all over the place and just generally doesn't listen lately to anyone.

We live in the woods so fireworks arent a concern fortunately, but of course the woods come with its own set of problems.

I'll still talk to everyone anyways since I'll have to bring my pup out for a play and potty break from the crate.