“….and their lives were never the same again….”

Today’s the day. At noon we stood in the breeder’s front room, cuddling our puppy, and then drove home….

It will be an uphill battle. We’ve already had the “peeing ourselves awake from a deep sleep”, the attacking every plant in the outside puppy pen, and crashing after a play, but not understanding how to use a bed….

 

I can't remember which gender you were having but he or she is adorable. Yes it's a shock when you haven't had a puppy for a long time. You will sort it out eventually it will take time. I've made a thread on puppy training.
Our next door neighbour got a puppy a couple of weeks ago and it's been a struggle for them after having a older dog.

 

He is SO cute and cuddly. He is just getting used to his forever home and parents.

 

I assume he will grow into that collar.

 

I'm guessing this is your answer to what to do to keep busy after retirement!

What a nice little face

 

We’ve survived the first night.
To be fair to the lad, he’s only had the one toilet accident. We’ve slept for 5 hours in our crate, only asking once to go outside.

He’s now crashed asleep on my lap again - I’m wishing I was sitting somewhere more comfortable than the cold kitchen stone floor!v

yes, @pete , he will more than grow into the collar- a gift from the breeder. I’ve actually put him in Izzy’s first collar now, which is a much better fit!

 

That's great news about you getting through the first night.
How old is he and what is his name?

We've always waited for them to get to sleep, then we'll quietly go up to bed. We trained them to sleep in a crate, especially when we had older dogs at the same time.

 

@Logan, he’s 9.5 weeks, and from a large litter (9 puppies). The breeder wanted to keep them until they were 9 weeks old to help train bite inhibition, and we couldn’t really take him mid-week.

He had access to a crate in the early weeks, but I don’t think the doors were closed. He certainly hadn’t been crated alone before. I think he did really well, considering. It’s just me that’s struggling this morning! Getting up at 5 am is not easy.

 

@Sian in Belgium that's great that the breeder does that. We have the goldies at 7 or 8 weeks and we have to do everything ourselves.
Yes it's the getting up early that's difficult but we get up all the time at 4.45.
The house training was done in 2 weeks but still had to keep an eye on them.
All the best.

 

Absolutely gorgeous ....such a cutie Sian!! Such an adorable expression on his little face!!




Blow that @Logan!! 4:45am for adult dogs !!.. especially in winter!! . My parents always had dogs, usually in pairs, so I grew up with them. My Dad's final dog died just the year before he did.

Obviously we did for puppies and one of us would always get up, very occasionally, if an adult dog gave a nightime 'woof' to be let out to answer a call of nature but as I said that was seldom needed.
They had their breakfast with us around 7:00. Then it was walkies half an hour later .
Before my Dad retired it was a bit earlier maybe, but then Mum would do the walks by herself after we had either gone to school or in latter years gone to work.

I think is depends on what habits you adopt at the very start.

 

He looks full of life, lots of happy times to come

 

@Upsydaisy we started getting up early when hubby was going to work when we had just the first 2 dogs. But as we ended up with 5 dogs it just slowly got earlier and earlier. When hubby got made redundant and he decided to semi retire we just carried on getting up at that time, get used to it and we go to bed early. anyway it's nice to see the sunrise and hear the birds start singing.
Also they don't go in the garden so they have to go for a walk to do anything.

 

I'm a night owl so the very earliest I go to bed is 12:30 but I'm normally awake by 5:30
...thats not saying I always get up then though. I do if I'm in pain as I fidget more and don't like disturbing my hubs. He's up about 6 to go on a walk most mornings which at the moment sadly I can't join him on.
Totally agree about getting up early and hearing the dawn chorus and seeing the sun rise in the summer......but winter is a totally different kettle of fish!!!

 

@Sian in Belgium how are you getting on with the new puppy, you haven't told us his name?

 

Good morning @Logan !

Jura is starting to settle in. When he first arrived, he was a little reserved, but that has now gone completely!! Although we are focusing on calmness and sleep, we are still getting the evening zoomies. We do calm down though…

Toilet training, and crate training - both are going well. Very few accidents indoors, and each one our fault for not seeing the signs. He wants to be clean, he wants to go outside in his pen…
We have settled in the crate overnight (I’m sleeping on a mattress nearby, with the crate in the kitchen). The first night we slept in 2 hour bursts, with a toilet trip in the middle. Then 2.5 hours. The last couple of nights we have slept for 4 hours, with a toilet trip, and then a 3 hour burst - so I’m feeling a lot better! Last night we even managed to not use the puppy pad in the crate!!