Hi! Congrats on the new baby! How old will your pup be when you get him/her? They only stay little for about a week! You will be amazed how fast they grow! We didn't kennel train Riley, but I would say you need to get a BIG one unless you want to keep buying a new one every couple months. Maybe someone else can answer that question better than I can. As for toys, we bought tons of rubber squeaky toys, stuffed animals, ect., which he immediately shredded! lol The only thing that he didn't / couldn't tear up were the Kongs. I don't know if you have ever seen them, but you can get them at PetSmart or any pet store like that. They are made of really tough rubber and are pretty much indestructible. You can stuff them with treats or even regular dog food, and it will keep them busy for an hour! As Riley got older, he is 3 now, he stopped shredding other toys,( he loves anything that makes a noise), but he still gets excited when I fill up one of his kongs for him! The rope toys seemed to work well too. You know the ones that have big knots on the end and you can play tug-of-war with? The held up pretty good too. For the fur?????? You wont have to worry too much with a puppy, it's after the first year when they "blow their coat". I had heard this phrase before and didn't think too much about it until it happened. We have tried every brush, comb, vacum , ( we even bought a shop vac) The BEST thing we found was a comb called the Furminator. They have a web site, you should check it out. They show a video of someone using it, and it really works just like it shows on the video. We were amazed! It doesn't look like anything special, but it works! They are a bit pricey compared to other brushes/ combs but well worth it. I think we paid 45.00 or so for ours, but I have seen them on Amazon for about half that. I hate to sound like a commercial, but they do have a money back guarantee, and it is so worth it.

Please keep us updated about your new baby. And of course, we want to see "baby pictures" Again, Congrats!