Hi All

This is my first wall post.

I am bringing home my Patterdale Pup on Thursday. She will be 7 and half weeks old. I have a few questions that I would like some advice on:

1. We are travelling 2 hours to get our pup and so she will have a 2 hour journey on the way home. Any tips for the pups first car journey?
2. I have two cats. Henry who is 18 months and Bob who is 10 months old. Any tips for introducing my pup to the cats?
As we have had Henry from a small kitten who was 6 weeks old (his mother died - so sad!) so he is my baby and very very loving he was cautious of Bob who we rescued from the RSPCA. Bob was 5 months old and was of an unknown background - he is a bit of a nutter and really makes us laugh. Now they are best mates and even groom eachother which is lovely to watch. I just really want my Patterdale pup to fit in, any tips for this?

Both of her parents are family pets and mothers mum was a family pet also. All very placid and lovely family pets. Puppy has been with children as he lady who had the Pups has got a young son.

I am just so excited but want to get off to a good start!! The cats have been house cats until about a month ago, they both have their own little places where they like to sleep and I have got a puppy pen so that my puppy has got her own little place, we will of course not be shutting her in there! Just wanted to make sure she has a safe place.

Any thoughts will be appreciated! I have read of many terriers being best of friends with cats and also read a few sader stories. Its hard but have done lots of research!

We are very active and so will be taking her on lots of walks!

Michie xx

The Patterdale is usually thought of as a working terrer and I have no idea how they get on with cats. It would seem that more of them are being kept as pets now and I will be interested to hear from others who have experiance of them in the domestic situation.

Exciting bringing a new pup into the house, is it the first dog you have owned? Sorry I can't help much but I will be interested in the replies you get and will learn along side you.

Hi Michie,
I can't help with the cat thing as I do not have experience with cats!

But with regard your car journey back with your new puppy (oh how exciting!)
I would recommend taking an open box with newspaper inside and a nice clean blanket for pup to snuggle into, if you can get the breeder to have a piece of blanket that you can take home with you that the mum and littermates have been sitting / laying on with their scent on it, I find this helps lots with pup leaving the nest.
I would strongly recommend that you take someone with you to collect pup, one drive and the other sits in the back seat with pup in the open box.

I collected our first pup (9 years ago now!) about 4 - 5 hours from our home so had a long journey too, we found that pup spent most of his time asleep snuggled into the blanket!!!

Good luck with your new pup and do post pics!!!

I own a bull terrier boy & patterdale/staff x lab girl and 2 cats. When I got my boy the breeder told me they would never get on with cats he was very wrong!  I had 2 older cats and they hated dogs ! As he was a baby only 6 weeks when I brought him home he  really couldn't get near them as they were much faster + wisher they just get out his way. my one cat did used to wait until he was asleep then dive on him and start beating him up but she was a old nasty cat!
When I got a new kitten snoop my boy was very in its face he was 6 months old so held on to his collar all he wanted to do say hello and give him a good sniff.
The most important thing for a while at least is never leave him/her alone with the cats as they might gang up. Is it a girl or boy your getting ?
Stroke the pup then stroke the cats by transfering their smells they become used to each other much quicker your cats will not like this and will quickly move away and groom themselves to get rid of this new odd stink of dog . Feeding them all at the same time will get them used to each other and teach your pup that cat food is not his! Make sure you give your cats lots of cuddles in front of your pup.  You don't want them to end up resenting the new member of the family.
As they are only young too they will all soon get used to each other. My terrier mix tinkerbell plays rough house with my cats and gets beaten up but loves them dearly.
My cats now even come for a walk with us which is great until i see another dog ;0

We are getting bitch puppy.

Ahh that so nice to hear that, I am really looking forward to it!

Thanks so much

Hi, remember to take for the car journey

Old newspaper
Kitchen roll or toilet roll
Wet wipes or cleaning up cloths
Bottle of water
Bin liner or carrier bags (for soiledpaper/cloths )
Small bowl for a drink
Old towel

You never know how much you will use so better to be safe, methinks

When we brought our pup home we were very lucky, he never poo'd wee'd or got sick.
I had him on my lap wrapped in a cot duvet, he was so tiny( the box stayed on the seat) I just stroked him gently and let him sniff my fingers or let my hand just lay on him to feel my warmth, he slept most of the way home...

Good luck

That's great a little girl..
She'll be fine on the jounrey home I drove from Devon to birmingham for my pup and the only time he screamed is when I started the car!!
Once we were on the road he just crashed out on my boyfriends lap most of the way.
Cheers & best of luck x

Ahh thats so sweet! We are leaving at 8am on Thursday to collect her! Cannot wait to get her home!

I am also glad that my boyfriend is driving so I get to have the cuddles on the way home

I am also glad that my boyfriend is driving so I get to have the cuddles on the way home

Ha ha, we did that, but had to keep stopping every now and then so OH could have a good look/stroke/cuddle

Took us longer to get home than it did to get there !!!

And wear old clothes cos pup might miss the towel you have taken for him to be sick on and hit you instead (speaking from that precise experience mysefl LOL)

My Patt (Charlie) is now 22 weeks - & I have a cat whose 16yrs!  The cat isn't keen, but our Charlie is exceedingly interested in saying "hello" & just deseperate for the cat to "play" with him....  trouble is he is a tad in the cats face when he tries to initiate these "games" (which the cats a tad too old for in any case!)

So far it's ended up with the cat staying out of the dogs way most of the time - & lots of barking & hissing goes on when they are together.  Having said that, weirdly - they get on just fine at night & sleep very close to each other.....

To be honest, & against some of the advice on here - I've let them just get on with it & sort themselves out. 

Have to add here tho - didnt leave them on their own at all until Charlie was bigger, as when I first got him - he was way smaller than the cat.....

There are a few websites around on Patts - most of which are for the working strain, & all advise against having a Patt with a cat.....  Can't say as it's caused me too many problems really tho'.

Glad to hear that Charlie and your cat are doing fine. Just goes to show all the hype about these terrier's are killers of cats  Yeah Right ha ha!!
Must say your photo of him he looks adorable.. Cute little man

My patterdale is petrified of cats, she only has to see one out on a walk and she goes all skittish and starts yelping.  I would recommend patterdales though, mine's got a wonderful nature, in fact even though I work and am out of the house for 6 hours a day, she is wonderful in the house and doesn't make any mess and is not destructive at all.  We've only had her 6 months even though she is 18 months old and she's adapted to her new routine wonderfully.  I cannot praise this breed enough.

I never realised how good this breed were until I got my girl I know shes only got 1/4 in her but she is so together and a brilliant little dog . People think she is a pup as she is so cute looking.
She loves my cats and every other cat she sees her tail wags like mad as it does when she sees kids too.

I always thought that patterdales were like a more hard core jack russell so not good as family pets only for working.

>I know shes only got 1/4 in her

Perhaps the other 3/4 has made a difference!

yeah true could be the labrador dad ? she does seem very more terrier like her very feisty- her only lab trait I can see is she loves to swim oh and her floppy black ears

Just thought I would let you know how she is getting on with the cats... It has been 2 and half weeks now and Crystal (the pup) loves the cats. They were a bit frightened of her but my youngest cat Bob has really taken to her. When I play with her in the garden Bob joins in and chases the ball!!! He always wins as well as he is much faster!!! Henry my other car is still a bit scared but its getting there! I think its good that Crystal stood her ground a little bit with them!!!

Michie xxxxx

hiya i not long got a jack russel cross patterdale her names brandy and she is lovely my eldest cat is scared of her but my youngest one whos 4 loves to play with her , shes 8 weeks old , patterdales are lovley u made a good choice in pup

I def agree! I think she is scared of Hen, my eldest cat but she loves to play with Bob and they are so sweet together!

Patjacks are lovely looking dogs!!! x x