Nights 5 and 6 I got sensible amounts to sleep, she's much more settled, is happy in her crate and loves her grandad coming to visit mid morn while I work 9-12( and I have a sneaky suspicion the feelings mutual) currently I'd say 70% of her toileting is outside so pretty good, I can't complain at all really I just hope she's not like a newborn baby who often lull you into a false sense of security the first week then the shit hits the fan after.
Don't get me wrong though its still hard work particularly during really busy times like before school and tea time where there's so much you have to do you think your heads going to explode. I'm also finding the 9pm to 11pm difficult, trying to stay awake after a really tiring day of working and cleaning cos you don't want downstairs to smell like one great big dog, I can see why so many posters try to steer people away from puppies now.
It's a massive learning curve for me as well understanding the best way to have a pup with my 10&8 dd. I realise now that for a happy house I need to keep pup velcrod to me until we can have supervised play all together, if I so much as answer the phone my younger dd gets a bit stressed out and she's petrified the dogs going to eat a poisonous plant in the garden ( she's pretty highly strung, worse than me and that's saying something)
I have a couple of questions I'd be interested in a general consensus;
How old was your puppy when it had its first bath?
What week did you start training puppy and what was your treat of choice, did anyone give their pup a dicky tum with certain treats?
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
The new Wheaten continued, we're doing ok
Notonaschoolnight · 15/02/2013 13:52
I've never bathed my dog, luckily he doesn't roll in stinky stuff. Most days he swims in the river and gets dried with a super absorbent dog towel. If he's muddy he's wiped down with a damp towel and sleeps in the utility room or in the garden for a couple of hours until the mud's dried and fallen off.
Treats used to be difficult because most things gave him to runs, chicken was OK but not very convenient in dog training class. Now, at 2 yrs old, he can eat anything. He's on his best behaviour when he knows I've got cocktail sausages 
Quick tip as I have to dash. Spray the lead with anti chew spray. I did this once with our puppy and he hasn't done it again. Now the lead means walk and that means fun and sniffs and doggy mates etc....
Agree re socialisation, I just carried ours round the block a few times (probably every other day) but it did help hugely with traffic. Such a small thing but now he doesn't bat an eye at anything, even buses when they let of that loud hissing sound. Probably worth the hassle. I was very naughty and took him out a few days before I was allegedly supposed to.. he is still alive!
Mine will do anything for liver, chicken or hotdog sausages, clicker training is brilliant fun. Plus training only needs to be short 5 minute bursts when you have time.
Tips - put a few bits of food in an egg box, plastic box, snowball whatever, takes them ages to figure out. I coat a chew toy in liver sometimes and he spends ages licking that off. Raw chicken wings take an age for a puppy to eat, as do bones (lovely butcher saves me one each week, last one MUST have been from a dinosaur I swear, puppy thought all his birthdays had come at once ). Plastic bottles make good toys, plastic bottles filled with screws make especially good toys, if bloody noisy, margarine tubs etc too. There's a toy called Tug a Jug which he still hasn't figured out. Old cuddly toys rock too. Get the kids to play 'piggy in the middle' with puppy in the middle (we do this in the kitchen, try not to let puppy jump up), that uses some energy and shares the game.
Our puppy has been bathed a few times, athough he is a Springer and a mud magnet.
I need to chill about cleaning the floor if I am being honest but I don't seem to be able to, it's a new house that we have exactly as we want it for the very first time in our married life, having made do for years and years etc. Confining to the kitchen helps and I bought a steam cleaner that was mentioned here in the Doghouse for a daily once over but, if I am being really honest, that for me is the hardest bit, not the training, time or anything else.
That's my problem not his though and I would change him for the world
I wouldn't change him for the world, unless he miraculously shed the mud at the door, that would be good!
Phone typos as per usual, off not of too
Blimey make it easy for yourself put her to bed when you go to bed and do not go down again until 6.00am
She may surprise you - many/most puppies can go through the night. If she does wee and poo the first night clean up without saying a thing. I would try for a couple of nights unless I really did hear her banging about.
Re busy house times give her a bit of time before this eg a game of tuggy and some clicker training then pop her into her crate for a chill whilst the house is chaotic.
Training treats for a puppy bits of cheese, shicken, hotdog weeny little pieces also I always use their meal time food for training sessions. Throw away the dog bowl a piece of equipment you don' t need.
Just popping in to say I am so 
and this thread is making me nostalgic - not to mention really broody for a pup. 
We had a gorgeous Wheaten girl for 13 fun years and they are the most fantastic dogs. Mine did heelwork to music, agility and obedience over the years and loved nothing more than a good fun training session. (She was a real show-off. 
) She was really quick to catch on with training and responded really well to clicker training in particular.
Bearing in mind you have had plenty of advice already on this thread - my main bit of advice would be to try to relax a little and enjoy her. No doubt about it, having a pup is hard work. You sound very sensible and like you have carefully considered all the things you need to organise and teach her, but remember, it's supposed to be fun - for both of you.
Other than that, dependent on her coat (Irish or American/British) I wouldn't bother bathing her just yet. Their coats are incredibly clean, (assuming they haven't rolled in anything) but as you probably already know, you definitely need to start getting her used to grooming straight away. Once her coat grows, if it's the British soft silky coat it will easily knot and tangle and you need to stay on top of that or it will be painful for her. If you run a comb through her daily or at least every other day, it should avoid painful tangles. At this point, while her coat is at that lovely soft scrunchable stage just use a brush and comb and go over her gently every day, making sure you also handle her ears, paws and tail, so that she get's used to it. She will think it's a game at this age and that's fine, you want her to make positive associations with being groomed. You can move on to encouraging her to stand still for grooming gradually. As her coat grows, I'd recommend a wide toothed comb with really long teeth for staying on top of the tangles on a daily basis. Something like <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1429&bih=674&tbm=isch&tbnid=hX_Baz-K4S-bsM:&imgrefurl=www.rakuten.com/th/stainless-steel-comb.html%3Fid%3Drelevance%26action%3DSort%2BBy&docid=bP5MMJLJMN2D2M&imgurl=images.rakuten.com/PI/0/500/217749493.jpg&w=500&h=500&ei=8lofUfrMG4al4gT8_oCIDw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:95,s:0,i:376&iact=rc&dur=976&sig=106973108099843690726&page=4&tbnh=173&tbnw=150&start=78&ndsp=28&tx=66&ty=130" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">this with good long wide-set teeth, preferable handled for better control.
The SCW society used to sell a video/dvd on grooming that I found really helpful, not sure if they still do, but might be worth finding out. I think that's where I got the advice to buy the long/wide-toothed comb.
Finally, good luck with her and I hope you get as much pleasure, fun and companionship from her over the years as we did with our girly.
Aw, Wheaten kisses - has she tried cleaning your ears out for your yet?
Oh - it's working now.
She's gorgeous! (and she even has the same blanket as our girl did
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