How often should I play with puppy?

[knitknack]

We picked up an 8 week old Bedlington on Saturday! He's my dream dog - I've wanted one since I was 19 and I'm now 41! I needed to be sure the time was right... The kids are older now and can help (10 and 13) and DH works at home.

He's so gorgeous!!!! It's 1/2 term so I've spent all week playing with him and doing the night shift etc. I've fenced off a part of our garden and we play out there and in the house. (Great, except he keeps pulling the flowers off all my roses they bounding joyfully around the garden with them, am hoping roses won't do him too much harm!)

Anyway, my question! Yesterday my shoulder froze (v rare but does happen to me occasionally, prob because I slept on the sofa for puppy's first couple if nights) so we didn't play as much. Which has made me realise that he DOES need to learn to amuse himself. So how often SHOULD you play with your puppy? And how often should he be expected to amuse himself? He's very good - he's currently chopping on one of ds's dinosaurs (willingly donated).

Also, his nighttime bed is the area under the stairs which is gated off with a babydan(!) and I put him there when we eat at the table. Should I be putting him in there during the day also?

Many thanks for any puppy advice!

[soddinghormones]

Not an expert by any means as our first puppy is now 10 months old but I can tell you what we did if that helps

Puppies need a lot of sleep, a bit like babies, but sometimes they can find it hard to settle if there's lots of action so as soon as we saw him getting sleepy we popped him into his crate which had a blanket draped over it to make it more den-like. He slept much better in there as he could switch off

We took him out for loads of little socialisation trips - all the new experiences really tired him out. We carried him everywhere so he could see things from the safety of out arms - took him up the road to sit outside the cafe and watch the world go by, took him to the park, took him to the stables where dd rides to see horses, took him to Pets at Home and to friends with friendly vaccinated adult dogs

We had a trainer come to the house for a couple of sessions to show us the basics of clicker training so we could start on things like sit, down, wait etc

We also got him used to being on his own for short periods, gradually building it up so he was happy to be left for slightly longer periods. The longest he's left now is 3 hours on occasion and he's shown no signs of stress at all - usually fast asleep on the sofa when we get home

[Gooner123]

That's good advice from soddinghormones,& pretty much what we did,get him to experience as much as poss,& keep having fun with him.
I love beddys,& grew up with one ( currently got a beddyXwhippet )you've got a dog there with a huge prey drive so getting him used to cats now will be a good thing ( ours killed 3 ) he wasn't introduced to them when young.

[knitknack]

Thanks guys that's really helpful! Socialisation trips are a great idea. He's only had his first round of jabs but we can carry him :)

We've two cats who are very patiently tolerating him, so I'm hoping that'll help with the prey drive.... We also have an abundance of rabbits in the fields around us so it's going to be interesting when he's grown.....!!!

[Gooner123]

Those rabbits need to make a will soon !
Just out of interest is he a pedigree or from working stock ?also I'd love to see a piccy or two.
Oh just a warning,ours liked going down the bunny holes too,& could be gone for hrs at a time,he was a pedigree.

[MsRyanGosling]

I'm picking up my new Bedlington on Sunday I am away camping ATM and have to keep stopping myself packing up and going home early so I can get him!

He'll be 8w3d.

[knitknack]

Aw, Bedlington are SO lovely - both DH and I are head over heels...

Goober his dad's pedigree but mum is working... So a mix of the two!

I'll see if I can post a pic...

[knitknack]

Bedlington! He's not easy to photograph :D. His face has gone much lighter already, as have his legs (he'll be 'blue' eventually)

[knitknack]

Gooner! Sorry!

[Gooner123]

Ahh he's very cute,I met two beddys yesterday while out with my Stan,& they were the complete opposite to our old beddy,totally useless hunters,but they were adorable,one was sandy coloured & so cute.
Thanks for putting the pics up too
Here's my boy,can you see the beddy in him.

[knitknack]

Oh you can! Look at that coat! He's lovely - aren't dogs brilliant?!