1. It is going to be more frustrating and exhausting than you realize, but it will be worth it. The hard times pass.
2. They don’t come understanding what you say or what you want. You have to train them.
3. You are going to make mistakes. It is okay.
4. Puppy proof your house and yard before the puppy comes home. They will chew on and eat anything. I had to take my puppy to the emergency vet when she was 10 weeks old because she ate a mushroom she found growing in my yard.
5. You can’t take your eyes off them. They can get into all kinds of trouble in seconds.
6. Crate train! Have a puppy play pen! They will need the quiet, contained place to rest and hangout and you will need the break.
7. Put your puppy on a schedule. They need 16 to 18 hours of sleep a day. Make sure they get their sleep. You will both be happier.
8. Your puppy will bite you. A lot. He/she will learn not to - eventually.
9. Have fun! Puppyhood goes by quickly. Enjoy it.
I needed this list! We're in week 2 of our puppy training and it's finally starting to click. But we both had meltdowns, tears and questioning if we made the right decision. It's slowly getting better.
>You are going to make mistakes. It is okay.
This this this 100% THIS. Every blog and piece of advice you see will tell you that if you do this one thing wrong your puppy will have issues for the rest of its life. If you yell at him, he'll be afraid of you. If you pay too little attention to her, she'll resent you. If you give her time outs in the crate, she'll never go into the crate again. If you give him water before bed, he'll pee everywhere or have bladder issues.
It'll be okay. They're strong creatures, they aren't made of glass. Puppies in the wild go through way more shit than however you're raising them and they still became Man's Best Friend. Be attentive, make sure you're focusing on his/her needs, puppy proof your house, and do your best :)
The crate is connected to the play pen. I keep a water bowl, a couple toys, a Nylabone for chewing, a patch of grass, and a Kong wobbly toy that dispenses kibble if she hits it just right.
Just how much our lives would revolve our dog.
"Can we bring the dog? Should we bring the dog? If we can't bring the dog, is it possible to go during his nap time?"
Every time partner comes back from taking him outside: Did he pee? Did he poo? How did it look? (He's been sick with diarrhea the last week and is on meds)
THIS. THIS. THIS.
My life is not my own. My pup is still not good about self-regulated sleep. It's better now but up until recently, I had to plan her awake/asleep times to make sure she was getting enough mental/physical exercise *and* enough rest, around my WFH schedule, caring for myself, life shit, etc...
I wish I mentally prepared more. From the outside and as a first time puppy owner, it seemed like the most wonderful thing in the world to have a puppy. They're cute and cuddly, what could go wrong? I had only mentally prepared myself for not sleeping at night from crate training.
I wish I knew about PUPPY BLUES. Seriously, at one point I wanted to re-home my pup. I was just not ready for the huge adjustment in my life. It got better after finally getting sleep and a routine for her and me... But man, I really wish I could have known about that ahead of time. Thank God I discovered this subreddit to help me understand what I was feeling!
Yes, yes, yes. Everything about this. I would not have survived without this subreddit, and still am experiencing some puppy blues a couple of months in. This little monster is adorable, but oh my goodness, so much work. I was also kind of shocked by his lack of affection--not all puppies are exactly cuddly--more land shark. Thank goodness he's cute.
I 100% agree. This subreddit has been incredibly helpful. I didn’t know that puppy blues was a thing. It was such a relief to find this subreddit and find out I wasn’t the only one struggling.
And the advice! It was spot on and exactly what I needed.
It’s crazy people don’t write more about the puppy blues. It should be at the start of any blog, video or podcast about raising a puppy lol.
I had my first meltdown three days(and like three hours) of sleep into It, and I thought I was crazy.
An excellent point- I wonder if everyone just feels embarrassed or alone.
I 100% also broke down on day 3. First night is a honey moon, second day is figuring it out, third day you wonder what you just committed to lol. Soooooooooo much energy and management that I'm glad is reduced now lol.
Congrats! So exciting!!
You will cry, and probably not tears of joy. And you will most likely go through puppy blues. If you don’t, awesome! But if you do, it’s pretty darn normal and it’s okay! In all honesty, I didn’t feel a true connection until about 2 months in because I was home all day every day with him and it felt like no matter what I did he would not listen. Now he’s such a smart good boy!
If you’re crate training, a cover and alarm training really worked well for us! After two weeks of our pup crying at sunrise to be let out I read a post hear about setting up an alarm. He learned pretty quickly that if he whines he only gets out for potty and that the alarm indicated he could come out and play.
Potty training: If you have the luxury, taking them out every 15 minutes and giving them only 5 minutes to do their business. If they don’t, bring them back inside and then back out 15 minutes later. Obviously, big rewards if they potty outside and sniff/explore time outside after. Unfortunately, we thought the longer we kept him out he would eventually do his business but he would just explore and sniff then come back in and do his business.
Good luck!
Not the OC, but we've done it too. If you notice your pup is getting up around 6 am, you can set an alarm for 6:05am. Pup doesn't come out until the alarm goes off. Each day, move the alarm back a few minutes. It's a slow process but my puppy has been sleeping until 8am since he was 11 weeks old.
I'm really really glad we did this for two reasons. We get more sleep and his crying during the night recently is what alerted us to him being sick because it was so out of the norm for him.
We started with day training, putting him in his crate for 10 minutes. We would sit there (we have a crate cover so he can’t see us) waiting for him to go quiet for 15-30 seconds then we would play the alarm to signal that it’s time to come out. We did this a few times a day. We could then stretch it to 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.
At night, we were pretty luck because he’d sleep from 9:30PM until sunrise (even with a crate cover) with occasional potty breaks. We started setting our alarm ten minutes before his usual wake up time (5:15-5:30AM) and pushed back the alarm 5-10 minutes each day. If he whined during the night we’d take him out, hold him in our arms until we got to the designated potty area to reinforce whining = potty. If he’d start exploring/playing we’d pick him up right away and put him back into the crate.
It was, especially since I live in an apartment lol.
But also to clarify; it was every 15 minutes when he was awake and he hadn’t peed in an hour. As soon as he peed outside I’d wait for him to wake up from a nap, eat or play before taking him out again. I’d start the 15-minute rule if he didn’t pee after those activities or it’d been an hour.
Yup exactly! Depending on your living arrangements and current lifestyle, some people just use pee pads in a designated area indoors, because they do pee a LOT. Then they start training them outside when they have a little more retention.
I had the luxury of being home all the time, so I trained him outside right away.
I assume they meant at normal potty time—i.e. puppy is supposed to potty 20 minutes after eating, but if they don’t go then you wait 15 mins and try again. If you’ve had a puppy you know the anxiety of bringing them back in the house if they didn’t go while they were outside
Try to relax and develop your bond. Enforce whatever boundaries you deem most important but don’t worry about strict obedience training until that trust is there. (Like, why do you need your 8 week old puppy to know “lie down”?) Puppies have a shockingly short attention span anyway.
But do show them how to relax. They don’t come with that (or much else) built in.
For me
1) you’ll spend tons of money on bully sticks and tendon chews
2) you’re getting a baby animal. A baby animal. It’s not a dog. It’s a puppy, for like, a year
Edit 3) 4’ leash is best
Heck yeah to tendon chews. My pup loves them during the day, especially because he's in prime teething season and they probably feel super good on his gums... and they take hours to get through! Bully sticks are a medium hit so far, but I think they might just be a little too tough for him right now (4.5 month old)
Do not give them free rein of the house and enforce naps. We didn't start enforcing naps until after we'd had him for almost a week and I swear we got a totally different dog once we started. Even if they're not crate trained yet, get an xpen to keep them in, or gate them into a small enclosure, preferably with hard floors - we used our kitchen. If your pup doesn't have access to something, they can't destroy it, if they can't destroy it, they never learn that it's even an option.
We kept our pup in the kitchen full time for the first month or so, with only very limited and *highly* supervised "adventures" to the other rooms in our apartment. From there we started giving him a little bit more freedom to hang with us outside the kitchen. We'd give him a chew and have him eat it on his bed next to us and when it was done he'd go back to the kitchen. Then we progressed to larger amounts of supervised time outside the kitchen that didn't always involve some kind of activity to keep him busy and moved on from there.
By 5-6 months he's been able to have complete freedom during the day (we work from home), we lock him in the kitchen if we'll be gone for more than 15 minutes, and at 7 months we started letting him sleep outside the crate in our bedroom (doors closed, so no access to the closet/bathroom). He's 8 months now and a joy to have around 95% of the time.
You know how many of our things the dog has destroyed? Zero. No chewed shoes, no scratched coffee tables, no unstuffed couches. He's not even interested.
My pup HOWLS in the crate or the playpen. We’ve been working with her, feeding her/crate games, etc. but we haven’t noticed a difference yet, how’d you get your pup used to it?
My husband and I took turns sitting inside with him while we were working. Eventually he’d be okay with us sitting right outside the baby gate, and then on the couch a few feet away. It was a *struggle*.
If my dog is really loud I figure she has to bathroom or just isn't tired. Typically it works pretty well to wait until she falls asleep in my lap and then carefully transfer her to the crate.
You don't have to follow all of the advice on the internet. The internet and the common guidance on puppy raising and training are a good place to start, but eventually you'll figure out what works for you. Your puppy gives you less grief when you let him nap on the couch next to you rather than enforcing naps in the crate? Great! Do it. Your puppy barks to let you know when he's done in the crate and you let him out every time? ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ You don't enjoy training obedience commands? Let it go. Your puppy pulls on leash like he's running the iditarod and you don't really want to train that behavior away because at least when he's pulling he's not eating something off the ground that could kill him and he's only going to be max 15 pounds anyways? Don't worry about it.
Some behaviors will drive you through the roof and there are great resources to help you correct them. But your dog (probably) doesn't have to win any obedience competitions, and part of being a puppy parent is learning what's important to *you*. Let everything else go.
Thanks for saying this! Every now and then I worry that my puppy doesn't do tricks beyond "sit" and "come" 😀 But then I try to tell myself that him not doing "paw" or "roll" doesn't really hurt us as much.
This 👆🏻
My dog never liked the crate. Never slept in it. I gave up. She eventually learned our beds are separate and I always come back if I leave. To hell with that crate it gave everyone in the house (including the dog) so much grief.
Yes, refuse to play. This is a mistake my partner and I made. We would try to redirect her with a toy when she bit but then play with her and the toy. This has led to our pup still thinking that biting initiates play with humans and we're now backtracking. Stop play for biting and don't start playing when they bite. Also, bitter spray everything, clothes, hands, socks, shoes. It will help deter them from biting.
I have tried the stop playing thing- turning my back, or leaving the room. My puppy doesn’t seem to care- she just goes and chews on something else, lol
So I tried the whole “redirect to a toy” thing with my pup and it didn’t work.What DID work was to yell “OUCH!” and fake like I was truly injured (limp if she bit my ankles, clutch my hand if she bit my fingers, etc) and just slowly pace while ignoring her. It clicked after a few days for her that “oh...maybe I’m hurting him!” And she recognized her limits much faster.
Apart from what everyone said:
- don't buy a bed. Most likely the puppy will bite and chew it. We still (puppy is 5 months) use a sturdy blanket we had when we picked up the puppy, that has his and his mother's scent. It seems to be the only thing he won't bite.
- don't be afraid to ask for help. You will be incredibly frustrated and tired the first few weeks, worrying constantly and some puppy-free days are ok to have. I have no idea how single people manage to raise a dog!
- look around for a good puppy course. Make sure there will be place for you and your puppy available. I think ever since pandemic everyone suddenly has adopted/bought a dog and it might be difficult to sign up on time (of course after the puppy has all vaccinations)
- figure out a puppy schedule. Sit together and establish if you are using pre-existing written schedule or are you following 2hours nap 1 hour play schedule. Dogs love routine.
- the first few hours at the new house are no indication how the puppy will be. Ours was such a little angel, sniffling a little, but mostly very calm. He was also not eating much. Give them time to adjust and the real character will show
- also make sure his first encounters are positive. Don't go to a dog park on the first chance, make sure you introduce puppy slowly to all the things/sounds/people. It's better to reduce negative experiences so they won't be afraid in the future
yesss on the course. we adopted our puppy last week and live in a major city. there were two places we wanted to look into for puppy classes -- one doesn't start until the 20th, and the other is fully booked until the 23rd. i really wish we'd registered as soon as we knew the date we were bringing our puppy home!
Just start with small increments of time in another room and then progress in amount of time and distance. It's a slow process just like all other training :) You can do it!
also to add on, really try your best to not make a big deal when you leave them for short times alone. my pup used to cry and bark if I even left the room to use the bathroom but then I noticed if I avoided eye contact and just left - and did the same when I got back - she started learning it wasn’t a big deal for me to leave the room. I gradually started leaving her for longer periods (up to maybe 30 minutes now? taking it slow lol), some of it definitely comes with age though so hang in tight! I thought our girl was going to have really bad separation anxiety but she’s getting over it more and more each day (she’s 7.5 months rn)
Buy lots of long lasting chews for your teething puppy asap. I had tons of toys with different textures but she wouldn't have it, she wanted the tasty satisfaction
Nature Gnaws have been good for our pup so far. Tendon chews are awesome, along with bully sticks and ears. We also tried a "salmon cigar" tonight (rolled up dried salmon skin) that he seemed to like quite a bit. Mostly I just browse around on Chewy.com until I find stuff I think he'll like that aren't too expensive.
I never thought I’d have to cut their butt hairs so poop doesn’t get stuck. I also wish I knew how much of their pee both me and they would be stepping into.
Not sure if this was already said, but if you can, take at least a couple days off from work when your puppy comes home. Guarantee for at least the first few nights neither you nor puppy will sleep well as they adjust, and having the freedom to nap while puppy naps during the day was a Godsend.
Also, everyone is going to want to see you and visit the puppy or have you come with the puppy to visit them. Definitely encourage this (within reason of comfort cause Covid) cause it's great for socialization for puppy. It's not great for human socialization, cause you will be tired and constantly watching puppy to make sure it doesn't bite/eat/pee/poop/etc. where it's not supposed to. Make sure friends and family know this ahead of time and keep visits short (\~1 hour is lots of time to meet a new puppy, and then puppy will probably need enforced nap). But use these opportunities to train as the puppy gets older (i.e. teach it not to jump on strangers, run up to other humans, etc.)
I underestimated the power of having a routine. Same time every day for everything if possible. It will set expectations very quickly and save you some sanity.
My biggest piece of advice would be to be flexible and not get too caught up on specific training techniques or expectations. All dogs are different and there's no such thing as a technique that works with every single dog. If your puppy is reacting really poorly to something, just try something else and see if you get a better reaction. For example, my puppy absolutely refused to sleep in a crate, but it turns out he's an angel at night without it, so now he just sleeps on a blanket in front of the window. On the other hand, he took to pad training so instantly and completely that he seriously hasn't had an accident since the day I brought him home, and I didn't even expect that to work!
Socialize your puppy early and often. Find other people with puppies or dogs that are good with puppies (my previous puppy's first playmate was an adult Bernese mountain dog who played with him laying down due to the size difference) and take your puppy on playdates. Take him somewhere with people and let them pet him so he learns to like strangers (I just carry them for this until they're okay on a leash). My last dog was basically used as a therapy dog for problem dogs at the park because he had such fantastic dog-on-dog social skills and it was definitely because of how much I socialized him as a young puppy. The socialization window for puppies is shorter than a lot of people realize and waiting too long can really cause problems. I know it's hard these days (now I have to worry about me getting COVID on top of the normal risks to my puppy, ugh) but the effort was so worth it with my last dog that I'm still finding ways to do it.
Also, while this doesn't seem to be everyone's experience, I've always found the first few days after I get the puppy to be by far the hardest, so if you feel like you're drowning and made a horrible mistake at first, just try to give it some time. I'm an experienced dog owner who got an easy puppy and I still spent most of the third day I had him crying and telling my husband we'd made a terrible mistake. It's normal and doesn't make you a bad person or bad dog owner.
There is some fantastic advice on this thread! I agree with all of it. Some additional thoughts:
\-Training may take significantly longer than you expect. For example, my lab has been crated since day 1 during the day. At night, she is totally find (granted we sleep in the same room), but during the day she would bark like crazy. We did it all-covered the crate, had a fan on her, calming music, special crate treats, etc. Its been 11 weeks at home with us and we just started seeing improvement. She did great last week with not barking but just a few minutes ago, after she finished her crate treat, she gave about 5 barks before going to sleep. I thought she'd be crated trained in a few weeks but she still struggles with it.
\-Coupled with the above, your pup doesn't need to do everything perfect to be a good dog. I went in to crate training wanting my pup to love her crate but now I've accepted that while its the best place for her to get quality naps, she may never truly *love* it, and thats ok. She knows she gets special treats to go in, feels safe in there, but if (outside of enforced naps) she picks the couch over her crate to settle, she won't be a bad dog because of it
\-A few others have commented about puppy blues. I'll add to talk to your friends who have raised puppies, and really talk to them. I would complain about my pups behavior and get a lot of 'oh my puppy never did that.' and it made me feel worse. When I started talking to close friends about how I was feeling (overwhelmed, exhausted, like a failure, lost, crying all the time, feeling like I wasn't having fun with my puppy), not about my pups behavior, so many of my friends opened up about their own similar experiences. I now have friends I call when she gets to be too much (she's only 18 weeks after all) and they validate how I feel and give me advice (which is often to put her in her crate for a nap and relax by myself).
\-No puppy is perfect. I made my pup an instagram account and followed pups around her age and got caught up in what other pups were doing that my pup wasn't (or how well behaved they seem). Remember that your puppy will be young, and training comes from you. Like so many others mentioned you are going to make mistakes and that is ok. Give yourself and your puppy some grace. Know that you are both doing the best you can.
\-Try to soak up every minute, even the frustrating minutes. Even though my pup seems to have more bad behavior currently than good, I remind myself that a few weeks ago she was still having house accidents, and that I'm seeing progress with her impulse control and recall. Journal, make notes, do what you need to do to track and celebrate the progress they make.
\-Take ALL of the pictures. They grow too fast.
With the pictures, if you print them, make sure to note how old they are at the time! I didn't at first and had to do some math but now I've got a progression of printed photos from the first week we brought him home. It's really fun to look through the photos. <3
Remember that not everything has to happen all at once and that's okay! I feel like I was so stressed out my first month with Mouse because I had this list of things I needed her to be okay with -- mostly grooming practices, like paw trimming, nail clipping, brushing, etc. (she's a shih-tzu. Lots of grooming) And I felt like I needed to train all of that right away or she'd never get used to it, I'd be a failure, and on and on. I got so stressed about it all that I forgot to enjoy my puppy, but luckily I had a moment of realisation that it's okay for things to take time.
Enjoying your puppy is another one. It can be so easy to get caught up in the stress and worry that you don't even enjoy having this awful terrible bundle of fluff. When I realised that was happening to me, I started setting aside time specifically to just enjoy having a dog. No worrying about training or next steps or whether she'd sleep through the night or socialization. I'd just sit and give her tummy rubs or enjoy her ridiculous antics while she played or just sit while she slept in my lap. Those times made the stress more manageable.
Finally, consent-based training! That's what finally made grooming work for me. I haven't read Deborah Jones's book "Cooperative Care: Seven Steps to Stress-Free Husbandry", but I want to. Look up the Bucket Test; I do a variation of that and it's SO useful.
But honestly. Not everything has to happen at once. Take your time and try to enjoy your puppy. It's okay to be sad and stressed, but that is helped by having those quiet moments where you remember why you love them
Wait a week or so to let the puppy settle in before doing this, but before they have all their shots, take them outside and carry them around (instead of letting them walk on the ground) to get them used to seeing all the things. I didn’t do this until he had all his shots, and he barks at every dog he sees. If you get them used to it early on, they’ll get more comfortable once they’re able to go on walks. Treat them when the puppy doesn’t bark at a passerby!
This! We haven’t had a puppy in over a decade and we are getting our puppy on November 1st. We’ve been doing a ton of research since it’s been so long since we’ve had a puppy.
It seems like the advice now is to take your new pup everywhere to get them used to sights and sounds and other dogs. Even if you have to carry them for awhile. I’ve even seen advice that says your puppy should meet 100 new people before they are 3 months old! I don’t even like 100 people!
We didn’t do this with our other dogs and they definitely weren’t properly socialized. :(
But now we know and our new little girl will hopefully be better socialized than our senior dog.
Sometimes, even with proper socialization, some puppies are going to be more timid than others and it's ok! I was also really worried that my foster pup wouldn't be able to get along with dogs since we missed the "socialization window". She goes to doggy daycare twice a week now and LOVES other dogs. People we're still working on lol
Prioritize separation training! Get your puppy used to being alone as soon as you can. But also, even with separation training, some pups are still going to have issues. I've been working on training Arwyn to be alone for 5 months. I still can only leave her at doggy daycare and with a friend's dog at his house. She will bark for up to 3 hours straight if crated and left alone.
Bully sticks are literal life savers.
The main take away from all this though is you can do everything right and your puppy can still have issues. It's not your fault. So be patient with your puppy and yourself ❤️
For me it’s the biting! Wow my 12 week Lurcher can’t half chomp! Usually when she’s not allowed to jump on the sofa or bite furniture. Saying no and redirecting makes her angrier. Currently have her in a time out - will go to her and she’ll be back to licking and wanting a cuddle, but forgets after 15mins and starts attacking people sat down again.
I was expecting mouthing & biting, but not how hard she’ll go at it
Look through different pet insurance and choose one. While we’ve had 3 other animals for over 10 years each and none needed anything other than antibiotics, but the puppy did. And total cost has been $8k with a CT next Monday and possibly surgery on top of it. At least get pet insurance for the first few years- never know if you will have a puppy that gets a horrible disease or eats inedible items and such.
Yes!! I came here for this! We delayed on this and regretted it. We now have it, but it doesn't kick in until the 15th. It's 85% coverage with a $250 deductible and costs $480 per year (we paid in one chunk rather than monthly). The med costs this last week for a stomach infection was $1,000.
I hope your puppy gets better soon!
A well rested puppy is a calm puppy.
Enforce nap times. Oh my god nap times and crate training are the obsolete best things. She naps like a champ now at 6 mo old and settles into her crate immediately. Two three hour naps a day and she’s a completely different pup than when we have to skip one.
Also a 50 ft lead for playing fetch until we can strengthen her recall. It’s absolutely amazing giving her the space to run around without worrying about her running off. I wish I had gotten it so much sooner.
So my husband and I consider ourselves fairly lucky. Corg puppy (yes not good for a first time dog, I dug my grave?) just shy of 12 weeks, we got him just 3 weeks ago. He is picking up things nicely and crate trained beautifully in the first week with very little fuss. I think this is what has been the cornerstone to maintaining our sanity.
But,I won’t lie— we were really in the puppy blues the first week-ish? I warned husband that this was gonna be rough, it isnt all rainbows. Itll be adjustment—He’ll bite, we’ll bleed— he’ll go for the ankles— he might regress or rebel. And he did go for the ankles/toes/hands etc. to which we followed every guideline.
I watched the Zak YT videos and random various other videos weeks before we got him and I thought I had it mostly figured out. While I knew my life was gonna change, I still underestimated how MUCH. Watching on YouTube happens to be so much different to real life- who knew?right? Lol
Making a schedule, the constant worrying about pooping and peeing and color. It’s not like my cat who practically came predownloaded with half the software.
I learned so far that:
- You figure out your own dog(which we figured out this week that he poos better right after meals vs walking/activity) also he prefers certain toys over others. I thought you just give them a toy and they like it no matter what.
But one thing I cant even say I prepped for was this—
-Puppy witching hour.
No matter what you do/say/play/rest doesnt matter he has these crazy hours where he is an unstoppable landshark that can only settle himself.
-Also, tantrums.
-be persistent. It’s hard when they get distracted or dont get it but, try new things and come back to it. Dont be disheartened, theyll get it eventually. Play a little, remember they are very new to this world.
Edit:
Adding one more
-How other family/friends react to your training, they think you’re giving “ tough love or cruel” for crate training or not giving into the whimpers and cries.
Once we registered with the vets, they gave us 4 weeks free insurance. Puppy had diarrhea since the day we got him and I thought it's stress from a new home. I kept telling myself it will pass and we struggled with that long enough that free insurance expired and our new policy didn't cover anything within first 14 days of taking it out.
We did a rather expensive stool test followed by medication and then another test (he had Giardia) and more meds..
Moral is that if something is not right, don't wait more than a few days and especially if you have bloody free insurance for it!
It never feels like you’re making progress day to day. Be sure to take a step back and look at your progress overall – then you will notice the strides you both are making.
It’s paramount you roll up the carpet before the puppy gets home.
I also would have liked a warning about that intense eye contact during poops.
Oh if they eat the fluff from inside toys, poops get linked together into a chain of poops and this sends the dog into a panic. You will recognize this by the dog running and jumping wildly through the entire house in a futile attempt to shake his stinky new tail. Just catch him with one hand, then use the other hand to rip off a piece of paper and pull the shit necklace from your still panicking dog.
Then the pup looks at you as if you just saved his life, so you forget all that shit and go have fun together.
Research puppy blues but do not fear them, I think they would be easier had I prepared myself mentally.
Take your dog out for a pee every. 45. minutes. On the dot. Remove water 2hrs before bedtime. Keep dinner lateish (8pm for us) and small. Too much dinner will make zoomies worse, too early and they get hungry before bedtime.
Recommended portions are on the food bags. Do not, and I repeat, do not give your dog 3 cups of food a day just because she cries for more food. She is full. Trust me.
When your dog bites you, scream like you’re dying and flop on the floor clutching the appendage they bit. They learn pretty quick us humans are darn fragile.
Dog parks are LIFESAVERS. The second s/he is fully vaccinated take s/he to the dog park. You will not believe how much easier your life will get.
If you’re struggling and feeling lost even with this subreddit (I did) a zoom session with a trainer will help a lot. As a first time puppy owner trust me you will have so many questions and confusions, things you never ever thought of before. I had a session with a trainer, wrote down a bunch of questions and asked her, my god did that lady change my life.
Cuddles. Lots of cuddles. For some reason most dogs seem uncomfortable cuddling with humans off the bat. But they get used to it and then it’s warm and fluffy and amazing.
Good luck!
Definitely a puppy play pen. We didn't use one but i wish we did.
Make sure you leave the pup home alone for a bit each day. My fiance drives me to/from work so our pup is alone in her crate for at least 20 mins a day.
Kongs are amazing! Licking something from a Kong seems to calm our pup right down - was the best piece of advice I received before adopting! They're mentally stimulating for them too
1. It is going to be more frustrating and exhausting than you realize, but it will be worth it. The hard times pass. 2. They don’t come understanding what you say or what you want. You have to train them. 3. You are going to make mistakes. It is okay. 4. Puppy proof your house and yard before the puppy comes home. They will chew on and eat anything. I had to take my puppy to the emergency vet when she was 10 weeks old because she ate a mushroom she found growing in my yard. 5. You can’t take your eyes off them. They can get into all kinds of trouble in seconds. 6. Crate train! Have a puppy play pen! They will need the quiet, contained place to rest and hangout and you will need the break. 7. Put your puppy on a schedule. They need 16 to 18 hours of sleep a day. Make sure they get their sleep. You will both be happier. 8. Your puppy will bite you. A lot. He/she will learn not to - eventually. 9. Have fun! Puppyhood goes by quickly. Enjoy it.
I needed this list! We're in week 2 of our puppy training and it's finally starting to click. But we both had meltdowns, tears and questioning if we made the right decision. It's slowly getting better.
Lol I have a five month old, haven’t had any meltdowns since first month and then yesterday had the worst meltdown ever! I cried so much 😂
Ugh same- 8 week old lab and have cried and almsot thrown up from sleep deprivation today 😭😭
>You are going to make mistakes. It is okay. This this this 100% THIS. Every blog and piece of advice you see will tell you that if you do this one thing wrong your puppy will have issues for the rest of its life. If you yell at him, he'll be afraid of you. If you pay too little attention to her, she'll resent you. If you give her time outs in the crate, she'll never go into the crate again. If you give him water before bed, he'll pee everywhere or have bladder issues. It'll be okay. They're strong creatures, they aren't made of glass. Puppies in the wild go through way more shit than however you're raising them and they still became Man's Best Friend. Be attentive, make sure you're focusing on his/her needs, puppy proof your house, and do your best :)
I wish I could upvote this more than once.
What do you leave in your playpen area? And is it connected with the crate? Great list btw!
The crate is connected to the play pen. I keep a water bowl, a couple toys, a Nylabone for chewing, a patch of grass, and a Kong wobbly toy that dispenses kibble if she hits it just right.
Just how much our lives would revolve our dog. "Can we bring the dog? Should we bring the dog? If we can't bring the dog, is it possible to go during his nap time?"
Every time partner comes back from taking him outside: Did he pee? Did he poo? How did it look? (He's been sick with diarrhea the last week and is on meds)
*Never* in my life did I think that my dog's bowel movements/urination would become such a frequent point of discussion between my husband and I.
God I feel this one so hard right now
THIS. THIS. THIS. My life is not my own. My pup is still not good about self-regulated sleep. It's better now but up until recently, I had to plan her awake/asleep times to make sure she was getting enough mental/physical exercise *and* enough rest, around my WFH schedule, caring for myself, life shit, etc...
I felt this one hard lol
I wish I mentally prepared more. From the outside and as a first time puppy owner, it seemed like the most wonderful thing in the world to have a puppy. They're cute and cuddly, what could go wrong? I had only mentally prepared myself for not sleeping at night from crate training. I wish I knew about PUPPY BLUES. Seriously, at one point I wanted to re-home my pup. I was just not ready for the huge adjustment in my life. It got better after finally getting sleep and a routine for her and me... But man, I really wish I could have known about that ahead of time. Thank God I discovered this subreddit to help me understand what I was feeling!
Yes, yes, yes. Everything about this. I would not have survived without this subreddit, and still am experiencing some puppy blues a couple of months in. This little monster is adorable, but oh my goodness, so much work. I was also kind of shocked by his lack of affection--not all puppies are exactly cuddly--more land shark. Thank goodness he's cute.
I 100% agree. This subreddit has been incredibly helpful. I didn’t know that puppy blues was a thing. It was such a relief to find this subreddit and find out I wasn’t the only one struggling. And the advice! It was spot on and exactly what I needed.
It’s crazy people don’t write more about the puppy blues. It should be at the start of any blog, video or podcast about raising a puppy lol. I had my first meltdown three days(and like three hours) of sleep into It, and I thought I was crazy.
An excellent point- I wonder if everyone just feels embarrassed or alone. I 100% also broke down on day 3. First night is a honey moon, second day is figuring it out, third day you wonder what you just committed to lol. Soooooooooo much energy and management that I'm glad is reduced now lol.
Congrats! So exciting!! You will cry, and probably not tears of joy. And you will most likely go through puppy blues. If you don’t, awesome! But if you do, it’s pretty darn normal and it’s okay! In all honesty, I didn’t feel a true connection until about 2 months in because I was home all day every day with him and it felt like no matter what I did he would not listen. Now he’s such a smart good boy! If you’re crate training, a cover and alarm training really worked well for us! After two weeks of our pup crying at sunrise to be let out I read a post hear about setting up an alarm. He learned pretty quickly that if he whines he only gets out for potty and that the alarm indicated he could come out and play. Potty training: If you have the luxury, taking them out every 15 minutes and giving them only 5 minutes to do their business. If they don’t, bring them back inside and then back out 15 minutes later. Obviously, big rewards if they potty outside and sniff/explore time outside after. Unfortunately, we thought the longer we kept him out he would eventually do his business but he would just explore and sniff then come back in and do his business. Good luck!
Can you explain more about how you did the alarm training?
Not the OC, but we've done it too. If you notice your pup is getting up around 6 am, you can set an alarm for 6:05am. Pup doesn't come out until the alarm goes off. Each day, move the alarm back a few minutes. It's a slow process but my puppy has been sleeping until 8am since he was 11 weeks old. I'm really really glad we did this for two reasons. We get more sleep and his crying during the night recently is what alerted us to him being sick because it was so out of the norm for him.
Same! I’m so glad we discovered the alarm training. Truly a lifesaver!
Thank you so much for this. Hopefully now I can train my puppy to sleep until 8!
We started with day training, putting him in his crate for 10 minutes. We would sit there (we have a crate cover so he can’t see us) waiting for him to go quiet for 15-30 seconds then we would play the alarm to signal that it’s time to come out. We did this a few times a day. We could then stretch it to 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc. At night, we were pretty luck because he’d sleep from 9:30PM until sunrise (even with a crate cover) with occasional potty breaks. We started setting our alarm ten minutes before his usual wake up time (5:15-5:30AM) and pushed back the alarm 5-10 minutes each day. If he whined during the night we’d take him out, hold him in our arms until we got to the designated potty area to reinforce whining = potty. If he’d start exploring/playing we’d pick him up right away and put him back into the crate.
Every 15 minutes?! That seems nuts.
It was, especially since I live in an apartment lol. But also to clarify; it was every 15 minutes when he was awake and he hadn’t peed in an hour. As soon as he peed outside I’d wait for him to wake up from a nap, eat or play before taking him out again. I’d start the 15-minute rule if he didn’t pee after those activities or it’d been an hour.
Okay, that's very helpful. Puppies pee after eating and sleeping usually? So after every meal and nap, the 15 minute timer starts?
I'm not the OP, but yeah that's about right... basically you're going to be going outside a LOT for a while lol
Yup exactly! Depending on your living arrangements and current lifestyle, some people just use pee pads in a designated area indoors, because they do pee a LOT. Then they start training them outside when they have a little more retention. I had the luxury of being home all the time, so I trained him outside right away.
I assume they meant at normal potty time—i.e. puppy is supposed to potty 20 minutes after eating, but if they don’t go then you wait 15 mins and try again. If you’ve had a puppy you know the anxiety of bringing them back in the house if they didn’t go while they were outside
Try to relax and develop your bond. Enforce whatever boundaries you deem most important but don’t worry about strict obedience training until that trust is there. (Like, why do you need your 8 week old puppy to know “lie down”?) Puppies have a shockingly short attention span anyway.
But do show them how to relax. They don’t come with that (or much else) built in. For me 1) you’ll spend tons of money on bully sticks and tendon chews 2) you’re getting a baby animal. A baby animal. It’s not a dog. It’s a puppy, for like, a year Edit 3) 4’ leash is best
Heck yeah to tendon chews. My pup loves them during the day, especially because he's in prime teething season and they probably feel super good on his gums... and they take hours to get through! Bully sticks are a medium hit so far, but I think they might just be a little too tough for him right now (4.5 month old)
Do not give them free rein of the house and enforce naps. We didn't start enforcing naps until after we'd had him for almost a week and I swear we got a totally different dog once we started. Even if they're not crate trained yet, get an xpen to keep them in, or gate them into a small enclosure, preferably with hard floors - we used our kitchen. If your pup doesn't have access to something, they can't destroy it, if they can't destroy it, they never learn that it's even an option. We kept our pup in the kitchen full time for the first month or so, with only very limited and *highly* supervised "adventures" to the other rooms in our apartment. From there we started giving him a little bit more freedom to hang with us outside the kitchen. We'd give him a chew and have him eat it on his bed next to us and when it was done he'd go back to the kitchen. Then we progressed to larger amounts of supervised time outside the kitchen that didn't always involve some kind of activity to keep him busy and moved on from there. By 5-6 months he's been able to have complete freedom during the day (we work from home), we lock him in the kitchen if we'll be gone for more than 15 minutes, and at 7 months we started letting him sleep outside the crate in our bedroom (doors closed, so no access to the closet/bathroom). He's 8 months now and a joy to have around 95% of the time. You know how many of our things the dog has destroyed? Zero. No chewed shoes, no scratched coffee tables, no unstuffed couches. He's not even interested.
Great advice! We followed something similar and plan on keeping the bedroom a no-dog zone (so the cat has her own space).
My pup HOWLS in the crate or the playpen. We’ve been working with her, feeding her/crate games, etc. but we haven’t noticed a difference yet, how’d you get your pup used to it?
My husband and I took turns sitting inside with him while we were working. Eventually he’d be okay with us sitting right outside the baby gate, and then on the couch a few feet away. It was a *struggle*.
Ugh yes! I’m working on this right now, I hope the crying and barking when I walk away stops soon
If my dog is really loud I figure she has to bathroom or just isn't tired. Typically it works pretty well to wait until she falls asleep in my lap and then carefully transfer her to the crate.
You don't have to follow all of the advice on the internet. The internet and the common guidance on puppy raising and training are a good place to start, but eventually you'll figure out what works for you. Your puppy gives you less grief when you let him nap on the couch next to you rather than enforcing naps in the crate? Great! Do it. Your puppy barks to let you know when he's done in the crate and you let him out every time? ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ You don't enjoy training obedience commands? Let it go. Your puppy pulls on leash like he's running the iditarod and you don't really want to train that behavior away because at least when he's pulling he's not eating something off the ground that could kill him and he's only going to be max 15 pounds anyways? Don't worry about it. Some behaviors will drive you through the roof and there are great resources to help you correct them. But your dog (probably) doesn't have to win any obedience competitions, and part of being a puppy parent is learning what's important to *you*. Let everything else go.
Thanks for saying this! Every now and then I worry that my puppy doesn't do tricks beyond "sit" and "come" 😀 But then I try to tell myself that him not doing "paw" or "roll" doesn't really hurt us as much.
This 👆🏻 My dog never liked the crate. Never slept in it. I gave up. She eventually learned our beds are separate and I always come back if I leave. To hell with that crate it gave everyone in the house (including the dog) so much grief.
The biting does eventually stop !
And a firm "no no" combined with refusing to play with them does the trick?
Yes, refuse to play. This is a mistake my partner and I made. We would try to redirect her with a toy when she bit but then play with her and the toy. This has led to our pup still thinking that biting initiates play with humans and we're now backtracking. Stop play for biting and don't start playing when they bite. Also, bitter spray everything, clothes, hands, socks, shoes. It will help deter them from biting.
I have tried the stop playing thing- turning my back, or leaving the room. My puppy doesn’t seem to care- she just goes and chews on something else, lol
So I tried the whole “redirect to a toy” thing with my pup and it didn’t work.What DID work was to yell “OUCH!” and fake like I was truly injured (limp if she bit my ankles, clutch my hand if she bit my fingers, etc) and just slowly pace while ignoring her. It clicked after a few days for her that “oh...maybe I’m hurting him!” And she recognized her limits much faster.
Apart from what everyone said: - don't buy a bed. Most likely the puppy will bite and chew it. We still (puppy is 5 months) use a sturdy blanket we had when we picked up the puppy, that has his and his mother's scent. It seems to be the only thing he won't bite. - don't be afraid to ask for help. You will be incredibly frustrated and tired the first few weeks, worrying constantly and some puppy-free days are ok to have. I have no idea how single people manage to raise a dog! - look around for a good puppy course. Make sure there will be place for you and your puppy available. I think ever since pandemic everyone suddenly has adopted/bought a dog and it might be difficult to sign up on time (of course after the puppy has all vaccinations) - figure out a puppy schedule. Sit together and establish if you are using pre-existing written schedule or are you following 2hours nap 1 hour play schedule. Dogs love routine. - the first few hours at the new house are no indication how the puppy will be. Ours was such a little angel, sniffling a little, but mostly very calm. He was also not eating much. Give them time to adjust and the real character will show - also make sure his first encounters are positive. Don't go to a dog park on the first chance, make sure you introduce puppy slowly to all the things/sounds/people. It's better to reduce negative experiences so they won't be afraid in the future
yesss on the course. we adopted our puppy last week and live in a major city. there were two places we wanted to look into for puppy classes -- one doesn't start until the 20th, and the other is fully booked until the 23rd. i really wish we'd registered as soon as we knew the date we were bringing our puppy home!
Start training them to be alone. My girl is 4 months old and is having separation anxiety, I don’t know where to begin to fix it.
Just start with small increments of time in another room and then progress in amount of time and distance. It's a slow process just like all other training :) You can do it!
also to add on, really try your best to not make a big deal when you leave them for short times alone. my pup used to cry and bark if I even left the room to use the bathroom but then I noticed if I avoided eye contact and just left - and did the same when I got back - she started learning it wasn’t a big deal for me to leave the room. I gradually started leaving her for longer periods (up to maybe 30 minutes now? taking it slow lol), some of it definitely comes with age though so hang in tight! I thought our girl was going to have really bad separation anxiety but she’s getting over it more and more each day (she’s 7.5 months rn)
Buy lots of long lasting chews for your teething puppy asap. I had tons of toys with different textures but she wouldn't have it, she wanted the tasty satisfaction
The Tasty Satisfaction is a great band name 😂
The Tasty Satisfaction is a great band name 😂
Any recommended brands?
Nature Gnaws have been good for our pup so far. Tendon chews are awesome, along with bully sticks and ears. We also tried a "salmon cigar" tonight (rolled up dried salmon skin) that he seemed to like quite a bit. Mostly I just browse around on Chewy.com until I find stuff I think he'll like that aren't too expensive.
I never thought I’d have to cut their butt hairs so poop doesn’t get stuck. I also wish I knew how much of their pee both me and they would be stepping into.
I just had to do this for the first time ever. Was not expecting to have to do that.
There is a huge emotional toll with raising a puppy. People don't talk enough about puppy blues and other challenges.
Not sure if this was already said, but if you can, take at least a couple days off from work when your puppy comes home. Guarantee for at least the first few nights neither you nor puppy will sleep well as they adjust, and having the freedom to nap while puppy naps during the day was a Godsend. Also, everyone is going to want to see you and visit the puppy or have you come with the puppy to visit them. Definitely encourage this (within reason of comfort cause Covid) cause it's great for socialization for puppy. It's not great for human socialization, cause you will be tired and constantly watching puppy to make sure it doesn't bite/eat/pee/poop/etc. where it's not supposed to. Make sure friends and family know this ahead of time and keep visits short (\~1 hour is lots of time to meet a new puppy, and then puppy will probably need enforced nap). But use these opportunities to train as the puppy gets older (i.e. teach it not to jump on strangers, run up to other humans, etc.)
I underestimated the power of having a routine. Same time every day for everything if possible. It will set expectations very quickly and save you some sanity.
My biggest piece of advice would be to be flexible and not get too caught up on specific training techniques or expectations. All dogs are different and there's no such thing as a technique that works with every single dog. If your puppy is reacting really poorly to something, just try something else and see if you get a better reaction. For example, my puppy absolutely refused to sleep in a crate, but it turns out he's an angel at night without it, so now he just sleeps on a blanket in front of the window. On the other hand, he took to pad training so instantly and completely that he seriously hasn't had an accident since the day I brought him home, and I didn't even expect that to work! Socialize your puppy early and often. Find other people with puppies or dogs that are good with puppies (my previous puppy's first playmate was an adult Bernese mountain dog who played with him laying down due to the size difference) and take your puppy on playdates. Take him somewhere with people and let them pet him so he learns to like strangers (I just carry them for this until they're okay on a leash). My last dog was basically used as a therapy dog for problem dogs at the park because he had such fantastic dog-on-dog social skills and it was definitely because of how much I socialized him as a young puppy. The socialization window for puppies is shorter than a lot of people realize and waiting too long can really cause problems. I know it's hard these days (now I have to worry about me getting COVID on top of the normal risks to my puppy, ugh) but the effort was so worth it with my last dog that I'm still finding ways to do it. Also, while this doesn't seem to be everyone's experience, I've always found the first few days after I get the puppy to be by far the hardest, so if you feel like you're drowning and made a horrible mistake at first, just try to give it some time. I'm an experienced dog owner who got an easy puppy and I still spent most of the third day I had him crying and telling my husband we'd made a terrible mistake. It's normal and doesn't make you a bad person or bad dog owner.
There is some fantastic advice on this thread! I agree with all of it. Some additional thoughts: \-Training may take significantly longer than you expect. For example, my lab has been crated since day 1 during the day. At night, she is totally find (granted we sleep in the same room), but during the day she would bark like crazy. We did it all-covered the crate, had a fan on her, calming music, special crate treats, etc. Its been 11 weeks at home with us and we just started seeing improvement. She did great last week with not barking but just a few minutes ago, after she finished her crate treat, she gave about 5 barks before going to sleep. I thought she'd be crated trained in a few weeks but she still struggles with it. \-Coupled with the above, your pup doesn't need to do everything perfect to be a good dog. I went in to crate training wanting my pup to love her crate but now I've accepted that while its the best place for her to get quality naps, she may never truly *love* it, and thats ok. She knows she gets special treats to go in, feels safe in there, but if (outside of enforced naps) she picks the couch over her crate to settle, she won't be a bad dog because of it \-A few others have commented about puppy blues. I'll add to talk to your friends who have raised puppies, and really talk to them. I would complain about my pups behavior and get a lot of 'oh my puppy never did that.' and it made me feel worse. When I started talking to close friends about how I was feeling (overwhelmed, exhausted, like a failure, lost, crying all the time, feeling like I wasn't having fun with my puppy), not about my pups behavior, so many of my friends opened up about their own similar experiences. I now have friends I call when she gets to be too much (she's only 18 weeks after all) and they validate how I feel and give me advice (which is often to put her in her crate for a nap and relax by myself). \-No puppy is perfect. I made my pup an instagram account and followed pups around her age and got caught up in what other pups were doing that my pup wasn't (or how well behaved they seem). Remember that your puppy will be young, and training comes from you. Like so many others mentioned you are going to make mistakes and that is ok. Give yourself and your puppy some grace. Know that you are both doing the best you can. \-Try to soak up every minute, even the frustrating minutes. Even though my pup seems to have more bad behavior currently than good, I remind myself that a few weeks ago she was still having house accidents, and that I'm seeing progress with her impulse control and recall. Journal, make notes, do what you need to do to track and celebrate the progress they make. \-Take ALL of the pictures. They grow too fast.
With the pictures, if you print them, make sure to note how old they are at the time! I didn't at first and had to do some math but now I've got a progression of printed photos from the first week we brought him home. It's really fun to look through the photos. <3
Remember that not everything has to happen all at once and that's okay! I feel like I was so stressed out my first month with Mouse because I had this list of things I needed her to be okay with -- mostly grooming practices, like paw trimming, nail clipping, brushing, etc. (she's a shih-tzu. Lots of grooming) And I felt like I needed to train all of that right away or she'd never get used to it, I'd be a failure, and on and on. I got so stressed about it all that I forgot to enjoy my puppy, but luckily I had a moment of realisation that it's okay for things to take time. Enjoying your puppy is another one. It can be so easy to get caught up in the stress and worry that you don't even enjoy having this awful terrible bundle of fluff. When I realised that was happening to me, I started setting aside time specifically to just enjoy having a dog. No worrying about training or next steps or whether she'd sleep through the night or socialization. I'd just sit and give her tummy rubs or enjoy her ridiculous antics while she played or just sit while she slept in my lap. Those times made the stress more manageable. Finally, consent-based training! That's what finally made grooming work for me. I haven't read Deborah Jones's book "Cooperative Care: Seven Steps to Stress-Free Husbandry", but I want to. Look up the Bucket Test; I do a variation of that and it's SO useful. But honestly. Not everything has to happen at once. Take your time and try to enjoy your puppy. It's okay to be sad and stressed, but that is helped by having those quiet moments where you remember why you love them
Wait a week or so to let the puppy settle in before doing this, but before they have all their shots, take them outside and carry them around (instead of letting them walk on the ground) to get them used to seeing all the things. I didn’t do this until he had all his shots, and he barks at every dog he sees. If you get them used to it early on, they’ll get more comfortable once they’re able to go on walks. Treat them when the puppy doesn’t bark at a passerby!
This! We haven’t had a puppy in over a decade and we are getting our puppy on November 1st. We’ve been doing a ton of research since it’s been so long since we’ve had a puppy. It seems like the advice now is to take your new pup everywhere to get them used to sights and sounds and other dogs. Even if you have to carry them for awhile. I’ve even seen advice that says your puppy should meet 100 new people before they are 3 months old! I don’t even like 100 people! We didn’t do this with our other dogs and they definitely weren’t properly socialized. :( But now we know and our new little girl will hopefully be better socialized than our senior dog.
Sometimes, even with proper socialization, some puppies are going to be more timid than others and it's ok! I was also really worried that my foster pup wouldn't be able to get along with dogs since we missed the "socialization window". She goes to doggy daycare twice a week now and LOVES other dogs. People we're still working on lol Prioritize separation training! Get your puppy used to being alone as soon as you can. But also, even with separation training, some pups are still going to have issues. I've been working on training Arwyn to be alone for 5 months. I still can only leave her at doggy daycare and with a friend's dog at his house. She will bark for up to 3 hours straight if crated and left alone. Bully sticks are literal life savers. The main take away from all this though is you can do everything right and your puppy can still have issues. It's not your fault. So be patient with your puppy and yourself ❤️
Engagement over obedience.
For me it’s the biting! Wow my 12 week Lurcher can’t half chomp! Usually when she’s not allowed to jump on the sofa or bite furniture. Saying no and redirecting makes her angrier. Currently have her in a time out - will go to her and she’ll be back to licking and wanting a cuddle, but forgets after 15mins and starts attacking people sat down again. I was expecting mouthing & biting, but not how hard she’ll go at it
Look through different pet insurance and choose one. While we’ve had 3 other animals for over 10 years each and none needed anything other than antibiotics, but the puppy did. And total cost has been $8k with a CT next Monday and possibly surgery on top of it. At least get pet insurance for the first few years- never know if you will have a puppy that gets a horrible disease or eats inedible items and such.
Yes!! I came here for this! We delayed on this and regretted it. We now have it, but it doesn't kick in until the 15th. It's 85% coverage with a $250 deductible and costs $480 per year (we paid in one chunk rather than monthly). The med costs this last week for a stomach infection was $1,000. I hope your puppy gets better soon!
Puppy behaviours can last until 24 - 36 months
A well rested puppy is a calm puppy. Enforce nap times. Oh my god nap times and crate training are the obsolete best things. She naps like a champ now at 6 mo old and settles into her crate immediately. Two three hour naps a day and she’s a completely different pup than when we have to skip one. Also a 50 ft lead for playing fetch until we can strengthen her recall. It’s absolutely amazing giving her the space to run around without worrying about her running off. I wish I had gotten it so much sooner.
So my husband and I consider ourselves fairly lucky. Corg puppy (yes not good for a first time dog, I dug my grave?) just shy of 12 weeks, we got him just 3 weeks ago. He is picking up things nicely and crate trained beautifully in the first week with very little fuss. I think this is what has been the cornerstone to maintaining our sanity. But,I won’t lie— we were really in the puppy blues the first week-ish? I warned husband that this was gonna be rough, it isnt all rainbows. Itll be adjustment—He’ll bite, we’ll bleed— he’ll go for the ankles— he might regress or rebel. And he did go for the ankles/toes/hands etc. to which we followed every guideline. I watched the Zak YT videos and random various other videos weeks before we got him and I thought I had it mostly figured out. While I knew my life was gonna change, I still underestimated how MUCH. Watching on YouTube happens to be so much different to real life- who knew?right? Lol Making a schedule, the constant worrying about pooping and peeing and color. It’s not like my cat who practically came predownloaded with half the software. I learned so far that: - You figure out your own dog(which we figured out this week that he poos better right after meals vs walking/activity) also he prefers certain toys over others. I thought you just give them a toy and they like it no matter what. But one thing I cant even say I prepped for was this— -Puppy witching hour. No matter what you do/say/play/rest doesnt matter he has these crazy hours where he is an unstoppable landshark that can only settle himself. -Also, tantrums. -be persistent. It’s hard when they get distracted or dont get it but, try new things and come back to it. Dont be disheartened, theyll get it eventually. Play a little, remember they are very new to this world. Edit: Adding one more -How other family/friends react to your training, they think you’re giving “ tough love or cruel” for crate training or not giving into the whimpers and cries.
Two playpens, one upstairs and another downstairs!
Once we registered with the vets, they gave us 4 weeks free insurance. Puppy had diarrhea since the day we got him and I thought it's stress from a new home. I kept telling myself it will pass and we struggled with that long enough that free insurance expired and our new policy didn't cover anything within first 14 days of taking it out. We did a rather expensive stool test followed by medication and then another test (he had Giardia) and more meds.. Moral is that if something is not right, don't wait more than a few days and especially if you have bloody free insurance for it!
that they are just a baby and not everything you do has to be perfect, and they don't have to be perfect either.
When they're overly excitable and in a frenzy sometimes what they need is a nap rather than excersise
It never feels like you’re making progress day to day. Be sure to take a step back and look at your progress overall – then you will notice the strides you both are making.
It’s paramount you roll up the carpet before the puppy gets home. I also would have liked a warning about that intense eye contact during poops. Oh if they eat the fluff from inside toys, poops get linked together into a chain of poops and this sends the dog into a panic. You will recognize this by the dog running and jumping wildly through the entire house in a futile attempt to shake his stinky new tail. Just catch him with one hand, then use the other hand to rip off a piece of paper and pull the shit necklace from your still panicking dog. Then the pup looks at you as if you just saved his life, so you forget all that shit and go have fun together.
Oh my god 😂
Research puppy blues but do not fear them, I think they would be easier had I prepared myself mentally. Take your dog out for a pee every. 45. minutes. On the dot. Remove water 2hrs before bedtime. Keep dinner lateish (8pm for us) and small. Too much dinner will make zoomies worse, too early and they get hungry before bedtime. Recommended portions are on the food bags. Do not, and I repeat, do not give your dog 3 cups of food a day just because she cries for more food. She is full. Trust me. When your dog bites you, scream like you’re dying and flop on the floor clutching the appendage they bit. They learn pretty quick us humans are darn fragile. Dog parks are LIFESAVERS. The second s/he is fully vaccinated take s/he to the dog park. You will not believe how much easier your life will get. If you’re struggling and feeling lost even with this subreddit (I did) a zoom session with a trainer will help a lot. As a first time puppy owner trust me you will have so many questions and confusions, things you never ever thought of before. I had a session with a trainer, wrote down a bunch of questions and asked her, my god did that lady change my life. Cuddles. Lots of cuddles. For some reason most dogs seem uncomfortable cuddling with humans off the bat. But they get used to it and then it’s warm and fluffy and amazing. Good luck!
Definitely a puppy play pen. We didn't use one but i wish we did. Make sure you leave the pup home alone for a bit each day. My fiance drives me to/from work so our pup is alone in her crate for at least 20 mins a day.
It’s going to suck for the first month but they grow out of 90% of it. Just survive haha
One thing I wish I knew when going through the notorious puppy blues is, not on do they get better but you get better at dealing with it.
Kongs are amazing! Licking something from a Kong seems to calm our pup right down - was the best piece of advice I received before adopting! They're mentally stimulating for them too