Best products from r/samoyeds

Hey! I'm super excited for you!
We've had our pup, Atlas, for almost three months now and have had a bit of time to figure out what we need and what works (obviously we're not as experience as others, but we've figured out the puppy stuff at least!). I did the same thing as you are now, and started preparing months in advance for his arrival, and it has definitely paid off!

• A good quality collar and leash.
  
  We went through a couple styles of collars and are thrilled with the Nylon collar we ordered from DogIds. We ended up paying like.. $60CDN for it, but it was shipped international (US->Northern Canada) and comes with a super nice engraved plate (that won't clink when he walks around). You can find them here: https://www.dogids.com/product/nylon-webbing-scruff-tag-collars/
  
  We ordered the Knot-A-Leash from RuffWear and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The carabiner might seem like overkill, but I've seen other leashes fail. You can find this leash here: http://www.ruffwear.com/Knot-a-Leash-Rope-Dog-Leash_3?sc=2&category=15
  
  We also purchased a harness from Ruffwear (everything from this company is really nice quality) which he had to grow into, and another from our local pet store in the interim. Having a harness on him from the first week of having him has made it much easier to put other things on him (e.g. life jacket).
  
  
• Grooming Tools
  
  More than anything, you will need a comb and a slicker brush (we have a de-shedder as well, but it's not needed with his puppy fur. I know we'll need it in the future though).
  
  We purchased our comb off of amazon, and it's worked great (see: https://www.amazon.ca/Pettom-Inch-Stainless-Steel-Grooming/dp/B014QK743A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504214871&sr=8-2&keywords=pet+grooming+comb).
  
  We purchased the other grooming tools from Walmart, and they work great (Wahl brand, they have a soft orange handle). I don't think you need to go crazy with professional grade tools, unless you plan on having them in a show.
  
  We started brushing Atlas from his first week of arrival to help him get use to it. You can do this by giving him something to chew on while we brush him out. Keep the sessions short to begin with, even just brushing out one leg at a time!
  
  
• Other Stuff That We Purchased
  
  My boyfriend and I built a bay window/kennel for Atlas, but it is still way too big for him. We purchased a soft-sided kennel to sit inside until he's older (see kennel: http://i.imgur.com/F3eVX08.jpg).
  
  We bought a dog bed for Atlas at Canadian tire (Your pup is going to wreck it, so don't spend tons of cash on an orthopedic/memory foam bed).
  
  Toys! Lots of 'em! You'll want to have about 5 toys out at all time for him to play with, and another 5 tucked away so you can rotate through them.
  
  Poop Bags. Amazon. We bought 900 of them for $20.00.
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  Other than stocking up on things to buy, you'll want to schedule LOTS of time with your pup when they first arrive.
  
  Atlas arrived on a Tuesday afternoon, so my boyfriend and I took the rest of the week off, and then we each took half days at work for another two weeks (so someone was always home with him). My boyfriend then had some additional time off on top of that. I honestly believe that because we took the time with him to bond and begin training, it has greatly increased his training process.
  
  As for training, start watching a few training videos now. I've had a lot of success with Zak George's dog training videos (all available on YouTube). You should decide before your pup arrives if you want to use clicker training or not (a 'click' device that you use to tell your pup exactly when they are doing the correct behaviour).
  
  I feel like I could keep writing forever. If you have any specific questions, feel free to send me a message!

While I don't disagree with the other comment, because yes, once your adult dog is older you can skip many months bathing and only need to brush once a week, there are many, many puppies who do not get groomed enough while young and don't ever get used to it. As a result, it ends up being an extremely stressful process for them and because they were not adjusted to it when they were young, this becomes a PROCESS to reverse later on. This is not just in the realm of grooming - there are so many dogs that are so freaked out that they express their anal glands when they go in for nail trims, dogs whose owners don't realize there are areas that mat easily so they have huge golf-ball sized mats behind their ears that need to be cut out, and dogs that are never acclimated to high velocity dryers so when their owner has to inevitably take them to a groomer because they had never chosen to acclimate their dog to basic grooming processes themselves, the dog freaks the hell out while they are there and that ends up being a hit to their wallet - only a groomer can groom them which becomes expensive, and tougher dogs usually command a higher price because of the time and effort needed to get them groomed.

For a young puppy, you have the best chance of making sure that none of this happens by frontloading the expectations with your little guy or gal and creating a consistent grooming routine. Even if you don't buy your own high velocity dryer, introduce them to the sensations early and often - vacuum cleaner acclimation for the noises, and some people use Shop Vacs or leaf blowers as they do a nice, adequate job on drying young puppy coat. My dog's breeder recommended bathing every week or so until the puppy was 4-6 months old, then dropping down to monthly until they're an adult - you can do this but really make sure you wash all the shampoo and conditioner out so you do not dry the skin. My puppy was tougher due to the fact we had to go to a crazy pet store to do a DIY wash, so we bathed him weekly to get him used to it until 8 months. Once the dog is an adult you can go months without bathing for sure.

When the dog is a puppy, it's important to comb down to the skin to remove mats and tangles a couple times a week. I did it every 2-3 days. This will be hard because it might be annoying or hurt a puppy, and once they realize they have teeth, they will not be afraid to use them, so it's really easy to put it off. Part of the reason it is annoying for a puppy is because as the puppy ages they have a mix of puppy and adult coat, which causes difficult tangles to extract sometimes, and detangling can be a painful process. I made this cheatsheet of spots to take special care with that mat easily especially during various coat transitions so if you focus on these more often you can prevent mats before they even start. Search YouTube for videos on how to groom and line comb dogs, there are tons that will help you with your technique. In general, as long as a dog isn't too tangled, I use a cheap but quality undercoat rake for the big spots a couple times a week to get the undercoat out and prevent matting, which allows me to spot-linecomb the problem areas. I also use a pin brush for the tail (the tines on this model are about 5mm too long than what Sammy people recommended me), although some people prefer to line comb the tail. Slicker brushes are also great for the topcoat, or if you are trying to get that super poofy blown out coat - slickering when the dog is 3/4ths dry from the skin up will get you that "straightening iron"-esque poofy marshmallow look and that's usually how it's done for shown dogs.

Don't forget to handle your puppy's paws and play with it's feet daily, trim nails once every 1-2 weeks, and open to their mouth to inspect their bite (to make sure that if something happens in the future, you or a vet can inspect their teeth without any issue). All of these tend to be very important things that help a lot when your puppy becomes an adult.

We were extra careful with our puppy because we were very lax with a lot of these things with our older dog, a small dog who used to readily accept nail trims, and now she thrashes and snaps so badly we cannot do it at home and have to take her to a groomer and force-feed her chicken nuggets while the groomer does her paws, and absolutely resents baths. We tried very hard to make sure our Samoyed didn't have to go through those levels of stress especially since he's way larger and we wouldn't be able to control him the same if we needed to. My dog is now almost 2, and he's so chill about bathing and grooming now that it's not even remotely a stressful process, even though he was absolutely NOT fun to groom during adolescence (this is a picture of him being dried after not being bathed for almost 2 months). Drying him is actually pretty fun and relaxing and even though honestly I skimp on combing and brushing quite a bit, when we end up doing it he will lay for me nicely and do okay because of all the work we put into him when he was young. :)

Hi! Glad to hear you’ve been able to get a Sammy!!

As you’ve only had the dog for 3 days, this isn’t surprising at all!! It’s going to take weeks and even months of repetitive training to help your infant dog learn what you expect from them.

There’s a couple of different strategies for crate training and potty training your dog.

Your puppy is naturally a pack animal, and has just been separated from their pack, and so being alone at this stage can of course leave them upset. It’s going to be a slow process of acclimatising them to the crate, and spending time away from you.

Things that might help are making sure they’re exercised and played with well before giving them crate time. How often are they at home alone? Are you at home with them all day at the moment? How often did you get up to help them potty outside overnight? At this stage it’d be normal to expect to get up 1-2 times overnight to ensure they don’t have an accident.

Some helpful resources for you would be some of the Reddit threads in positive reinforcement based training, or some books or YouTube videos. As Sammy’s are so bright, they can be a handful initially, but do respond well to training, especially incentive based and positive reinforcement training, and a well trained Sammy is a friend for life!!

A useful book is Perfect Puppy in 7 Days Perfect Puppy in 7 Days: How to Start Your Puppy Off Right https://www.amazon.com/dp/0964151871/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_CcnTAb1WQG7C4

You might find these YouTube videos useful: https://youtu.be/Y00iHQeTzdY
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL91WyqCpBlSVqbu_CghxAH_WvnkiybG3O

And a broader explanation on positive reinforcement puppy training: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL91WyqCpBlSWIn66BlXRN_gQy4hgHcqGv

Hey! I'll gladly share what I use:

• This is the grooming table, it makes brushing and drying them a lot easier.
  
  
• This is the dryer I use, but you don't need something as powerful, there are plenty of cheaper alternatives, I just like that one because it does the job quickly. Here is a cheaper dryer that some of my Sammy owner friends also use.
  
  
• Comb
  
  
• Pin Brush
  
  I can't find the brands of some of the other brushes I use as I bought them at dog shows but here are some alternatives:
  
  
• Slicker brush
  
  
• Rake
  
  
  For shampoo you don't really need to spend money on show quality whitening shampoo, I only use it for show bathing, for a regular bath I use this shampoo, it is sold at Petco.
  
  
• Conditioning/Detangling spray that you can use during the weekly brush to get the tangles and matts out easier and to moisturize the coat.
  
  So these are the basics :) For the regular weekly brush what I usually do is spray the detangling spray all over the coat, paying particular attention to the more matted areas (behind the ears, on the thighs etc.) then I start gently brushing the dog with the Rake, this will get the largest tangles out. Then I line comb using the Comb, line combing means you comb the coat in small sections (lines), here is a good video that shows how to line comb. Then I use the Slicker Brush on their legs, brushing them against the grain. To finish off I brush the tail with the Pin Brush and lightly go over the rest of the coat with it as well, brushing against the grain around the neck. Never use anything but the pin brush on the tail because it is the gentlest brush you have so it won't break the hair on the tail which regrows very slowly if you damage it.
  
  I know it sounds complicated but it really doesn't take a long time, takes me about 20 mins per dog once a week and their coats look great :) Bathing is a whole other story but you don't need to bathe a Samoyed very often at all.
  
  
  

You can teach him how to play with the plastic puzzles; when he starts to chew on them (or otherwise not play with it correctly) say no and take it away for a minute then give it back and repeat. Give extra treats when he is on track to figuring it out to encourage that behavior. My favorite puzzle toy/feeder is the Kong Wobbler, I swear it's indestructible! There's a bone toy that's a bone with rubber cups on it that slide that has held up exceptionally as well.

Or if your dog is like mine and finds it way more fun to eat the puzzles than solve them, I recommend lots of trick training. Clicker training is so much fun and you can teach your dog just about anything with it! Sometimes I just google "cool dog tricks" and pick a random one to work on.

Nose work is also great, and it sounds like you've kind of started with the hiding treats around the house thing. I like to get boxes or cups and hide stuff under or in them while she is out of the room and then let her try to find it. If you search "nose work games" lots of good stuff comes up you can try.

Do you know any other dogs he could play with? Dog on dog play always seems to be more tiring than walks for my pup.

White Pine all the way. They have a rather unique and very soft webbing that is specifically designed for Samoyed fur. The website's a little broken, but they're legit.

http://www.whitepineoutfitters.com

When I emailed them for initial purchase asking basically the same question you have, this was their response:

>"At 8 weeks she’ll fit into our Mini Soft Slip, size Medium (CAA08). The matching lead is our Mini Soft Web Lead, in 6’ (LBA0972). It has a nice lightweight bolt snap suitable for a puppy that age. At that age a harness is a bit much. Just getting used to a collar will be enough for her!

>As she outgrows the Mini Soft Slip, I would move her into our 9/16” Soft Slip, size small; with the matching 6’ lead being our 9/16” Soft Web Lead (LBA0972). This will also be a good adult collar and lead for her.

>The harness I recommend is our Tracking Harness. At about 30 lbs she should fit into our Tracking Harness, size medium and available in our 1” webbing (HTA1695). If you want to get her into a harness before that, the next size down is our size small and is available in our 9/16” Soft Web (HTA0993)."

We got the Mini Soft Slip Collar with the 9/16" Soft Web lead. As she got bigger, we kept the lead and just upgraded the collar size and added a buckle collar so we could take it off for grooming more easily. It's all great quality and has held up very well to her chewing.

For harnesses, we started with the Julius K9 Mini when she was maybe 3 months old. It's durable and has velcro for service/therapy/working patches. However, she has slipped out of it once. It still just barely fits her now at 7 months old, but she's petite.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B008IJ3TXU/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My favorite harness for her is the Sleepypod Clickit Seatbelt harness. Even as a walking harness, it helps her pulling far more than just a collar or the Julius K-9. Unfortunately, ours has a defect where the top straps come loose. We're going to sew them down once she's full sized in a month or two.

The black and pink is normal :) She'll start gaining more dark pigmentation as she gets older. That's nothing to worry about!

I second the Musher's Secret. It'll protect her paws and keep them from getting too dry and cracking. Also, put it on right before a walk to protect her paws from the ice melt (salt) that is often used. Then wipe her paws off immediately when you get back.

I bought my boy some cheap boots for now, since his paws may grow. Be sure to let her get used to them slowly, as they may need to be broken in, just like human shoes. Also, if she has dewclaws, make sure they don't get caught on the boots. One way to prevent this is to buy socks or boot liners to cover the dewclaws. Vet wrap can also be used to protect the dewclaws and protect her paws while breaking in the boots.

I like this pair of boots for the price. Here are some [boot liners] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00LHXQTQS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483897676&sr=8-1&keywords=dog+boot+liners).

Be patient with the boots. Most dogs hate them at first.

Good luck! :)

We also got our first samoyed (and first dog) three months ago!

Crate training works like a charm for the night!
Also this article was a life-saver for our Sammy (it was too bad we read it too late (at like 4 month old)), hopefully you can start sooner and have better luck!

Also we used this turf potty training mat for training him indoors so that the surface was close to the grass/turf he used outdoors and didn't confuse him. In order to minimize cleaning, we placed training pads under the turf and that worked well for us. Make sure to treat him every time he goes on the mat indoors! :)

I didn't realize my girl's first heat was coming until someone saw a spot of blood on the wood floor just as she walked by. We realized she had been cleaning herself, so it wasn't obvious that way, and she swelled a bit, but not half as much as the vet had indicated, so I just didn't realize. So just be aware that it might not be THAT obvious, even once it has started.

Keep her away from other dogs during walks. If you have her wear panties it can be a sign to other dog walkers to keep a wide berth.

You can feed her chlorophyll pills which I'm told by experienced Samoyed folks, masks the odor. Her poop will turn green, but that's not a problem. I forget the dosage amount--I'll try to look that up. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZL5D7Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1 You can also spray her back end with classic Right Guard, in the spray can. That also masks the smell.

A lot of breeder contracts tell you not to spay them before 2 years of age. Different breeds grow at different rates and Sams need somewhere around 18 mos. to 2 years to mature fully and for their growth plates to close. If you spay before the growth plates close (the sex hormones regulate growth), their bone growth can finish up uneven. This can lead to more likelihood of hip dysplasia and joint/ligament issues. There are also risks of her getting a "spay coat." Spayed dogs tend to have a decrease in metabolism and an increase in appetite, and will often put on weight. Do a little research if you can, on the pros and cons, before making a decision.

Addition: I gave my girl one chlorophyll capsule in the morning and one in the evening, with some spray cheese.

Great post.

I'd like to add-One of my absolute most essential tools for my sam - a rake, specifically one with very wide teeth. This is the one I've got: Coastal Pet - Safari Long Tooth Undercoat Dog Rake

Once they start to blow their coat, it's absolutely essential (helps gently pull all of the loose fur off). I had a smaller one for when he was a pup and it worked great!

It works great so far! The material is nice quality. Here it is on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071HHY2NK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I just had this with my girl. She has kinda a light creamish mask and I thought maybe it was darkening with age. I tried this stuff https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01782L0WO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and it totally cleaned and whitened her face, turns out it was dirt stains. I lathered her fur (being very careful not to get it in her eyes!) and left it on for a few minutes, then rinsed it out -- worked great. I'm sure there are other comparable products as well...

I and using a rake brush similar to this (I think mine has shorter spikes)brush Right now I’m just doing one or two passes when he falls asleep, sometimes I can get more depending on how hard he sleeps. I got him about a month ago. I This is good information thank you

Furminator is not a good choice for sammies...they are designed rip/cut out undercoat, which shouldn't be done to a sammy.

We use something like this for an undercoat rake provided to us when we picked up our dog.