To think puppies are hard work! (But worth it).

[TiredAndaBitBored]

He's 5 months old and oh my God... He is a devil.

I'm lay in the bath and it's the first down time I've managed to have since getting home. He's now asleep on the bathroom floor after trying to climb in the bath with me several times and trying desperately to drink my soapy bath water. He loves water and will clamber into the bath whenever I run it.

Aibu to not have expected how difficult puppies were?! I did my research but blimey I feel like I've got another child, constantly watching what he's doing, worrying about what he's just picked up in his mouth, panicking when he goes quiet for a minute in the other room and finding what else he's done when I go in (usually a bin over the floor or torn up cardboard everywhere).

I mean I absolutely love him, he's part of the family (and probably everyone's favourite member). But I can't believe how mischievous something so small can be!

I remember having long baths as it was only place devil puppy couldn't get me - she'd get her paws up on the edge and try to jump in though! It's a phase and funny in retrospect. Miss her now as she died from a tumour last year.

The pics remind me of the time Gatsby was looking right at me all innocent while batting at Jayda, one of our other cats. Kind of a "See, Mum? I'm being a good boy!" (while simultaneously bugging my sister behind Mum's back!)

I love and hate puppies in equal measure. They are adorable little balls of snuggly delight with their little chubby tummies and their funny walks and their squashed faces and big eyes. I just love them! But at the same time, they are demonic little balls of terror who will ruin your life. 😂

I prefer both of my dogs now they're fully-grown. One in particular was a terrible puppy, the number of times I just sat on the floor in my ruined house and cried! She's wonderful now though, so it was all worth it.

Too cute! Welcome to what your pup will look like in 11 years time! Ours still hasn't calmed down yet...! 😂

The sheer bonkeredness. Dh was supposed to be sleeping over at work and I'd purposely not wound my 10 week old foxy up, because biting and growling. He then came in and she's gone crazy, biting his laces (and crotch). She's now in her crate conked out. She can go out on the lead Saturday, thank god.

Lettherebelight sorry to hear that! My boy loves the bath!!! Always trying to get in.

toastfiend the little round pot belly he has when he's just eaten gahhhh I love it ❤️

han01uk gorgeous oh god, still as crazy?!

OP yes! Four leg operations and still has multiple crazy moments! Although compared to the dachshund puppy we have now actually she is quite chilled! 🙈 not that I'm comparing (of course!) but my god cockers are a dream to train in comparison 😱! Enjoy your new best friend!

I feel you Op! We have an almost 4 month old and she can be an absolute terror. She is a cross GSD/ Husky so while a puppy she's mahooosive and very strong with teeth like swords and a jaw that could chomp through cement 😂

She has "mad half hours" as I call them, usually after her walks and her favourite new trick is running along the wood flooring and going skidding into the floor rug, which pushes it up the walls and sofas. DP is away tonight and I stupidly forgot to put gas in the meter so she's tucked up in bed with me keeping me warm, it's adorable but I'll regret it come morning when she's chewing my face off!! 😂

@TiredAndaBitBored OMG cockers are the best! This is our little Colby- he's 8months now (and still a nightmare btw) but this was him a few months ago...

I love the pics! Nicey doggos!

han01uk adoggymama I love the pics, so so sweet!

So far today... wondering where DPs packed lunch had got to. Hear some suspicious rustling. Yep, pup was tucking into his sandwiches.

Thomlin oh how sweet! Hope you've not been chewed to death this morn!

Yep they are an absolute pain in the arse but enjoyable at the same time (is that a even a thing) My first pup was a breeze super easy to train but being a giant worrier the anxiety I felt when he was small and into everything was terrible! We recently adopted a 5 year old dog instead of getting him a puppy companion as I just didn't want to go there again! She has slotted right into the fold so we have been lucky.

Yes the worrying!!! The more mischievous he's getting the more I keep upping his insurance.

I don't think I'll be getting a puppy again, as much as I do love him.

I think that everyone who has dogs will, at some point, have one that is the Puppy From Hell.

My first was a breeze. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have had an obedience champion, I'm sure. Of course, I thought I was a bloody genius trainer, had an exceptionally intelligent dog etc, etc.

My second was the PFH. He was also exceptionally intelligent, so managed to be naughty in ways you'd never imagine a dog would think of. He could open doors and climb (eg, up the front of a rolltop desk so he could get the phone and destroy it - he hated phones). He could get onto the kitchen worktop in no time at all, and he was only 14.5" at the shoulder. He managed to get on a chair, onto the kitchen table, and make the leap on to the worktop. He found it amusing to grab wet washing while you were hanging it out, and run off up the garden with it. He found it amusing to tug my friend's lurcher's tail to make her chase him. It took 2 years before I learned to outwit him. I swear he nearly drove me mad.

The next one, same breed as Puppy From Hell, was a female, and much, much easier. She was still naughty, but nothing like the scale of PFH, and she didn't have his "don't give a fuck" attitude. She was a lot more bonded to me, whereas he loved everyone. She had no time for my ExH!

My friend was on her 4th or 5th dog before she got a PFH. She used to ring me in tears, telling me what dreadful thing she'd done now. She sounded just friends who are at the end of their tether with a baby who won't stop crying, or a nightmare toddler. The puppy turned out to be a fantastic dog, but she really put my friend through it.

If he's food orientated (luckily our cocker isn't massively!),watch everything! Every bag,every cupboard... last week we were at the vets having the dachshund's stomach emptied after a bag of chocolate raisins... 🙈 he actually is the devil. So good luck!

I don't think we realised how much hard work it would be, although we knew it would be quite hard. My younger dog is 15 months, I could do with him calming down a bit more, hoping by the time he is two he will be. The three year old is pretty chilled out now.

han01uk absolutely food orientated! Lost nearly a full Terry's chocolate orange to him the other day.

My partner tells me off because I would literally take him to the vets for a sneeze. I rushed him off when we first got him because he had the runs (as most do) and I panicked. He was fine and it was just being in a new environment. Cost us next to £100 though

My dog swallowed half a tennis ball, and chewed up a plastic packet of vitamins - he also went to dog training and we should’ve gone back!

Of course, I thought I was a bloody genius trainer, had an exceptionally intelligent dog etc, etc.

Ha ha. Yes. I made that mistake too. My first dog was so easy, so placid and so obedient from the start. Of course I thought it was me. Ha ha ha. How naive. I just didn't realise that dogs, like people, have their own personalities and I was just lucky. Puppy 2 was puppy from hell. They are the same breed (retriever) and only 13 months apart in age, but totally different dogs. Pup2 destroyed and harassed everything and everyone. He could jump from the floor onto the worktop (nearly onto the hob of my cooker one day that had three pans of boiling water on it) from about 12 weeks old. I had to have child gates everywhere to keep him contained. Even pup1 who loves him from the beginning and is the most patient boy ever kept looking at me with a "wtf have you done?" Look.

They are now adult dogs and the most wonderful company. My two and my dad's GSD are currently stretched out on the floor by my mother in law's bed, keeping her company as she's not having a good day and they make her smile when nothing else can.

Those months of pain are worth it for the dogs that they have become.

I must be doing something wrong in my training because he gets it and then reverts to not getting it again the following week...!

I'm looking forward to having a grown dog, as much as I love him.

We got a new puppy a few weeks ago. DDog looked very askance at us when he arrived, and we realised how lucky we were with DDog, who is lovely and placid. DPup is okay, not a PFH, but we can't take our eyes off him. He'll chew anything and when he eats, it doesn't touch the sides. The first time he was given food he couldn't just swallow (we don't think he chews!) he cried in frustration. He's got over that now.

DDog isn't interested in food and is only fed when he asks. DPup is a walking stomach! They are terriers, so far too clever for their own good. DPup will pee on the puppy pads, but will also pee and shit on the carpet, too. He is completely reliable through the night and has been apart from one night at the beginning.

I am so glad that I am not the one at home with DPup. That said, I love the little toerag.

If you think cockers are crazy, look at the Sprocker groups on Facebook-
(Springer/Cocker cross) They're lunatics!

Yes my retriever fully comprehended his training, he just wasn’t that interested in being obedient if there wasn’t an immediate treat forthcoming. If anything he is too clever. Stinker dog :)

If you think cockers are crazy, look at the Sprocker groups on Facebook-
(Springer/Cocker cross) They're lunatics!

My friend has a sprocker (and 2 working cockers). You have to drink your tea standing up at her house, because lunatic sprocker takes a flying leap at you the minute you sit down. He loves everyone so much that he sort of lies on you, and wags his whole body.

He's mad as a box of frogs but utterly adorable.