any puppy experts? Just got a new puppy...

[geekgrrl]

a 7 week old golden retriever - he's gorgeous and very popular with the children.
I'm a bit nervous about all the puppy training and socialization - we had a bitch when I was a child but she wasn't very well behaved and I was only 7 when we got her, so it's not a useful experience (though at least I know what behaviour I want to avoid).
House training for instance - the pup is very good about pooing outside but wees are still hit and miss. How long will it take? And what about nighttimes - at the moment we take turns taking him out in the middle of the night (2-3 am or so) for toileting - how much longer will we have to do this?

Definitely take him to puppy socialising classes/ training as soon as he's old enough. It made the world of difference to our lab (although we didn't get him till he was 12 weeks old). As soon as we got him we left him alone at night from the start (although, I stress he was older than yours) and cleaned up puddles in the morning. This stopped pretty quickly - he has an enclosed area for night and I don't think he liked soiling it. He was clean at night about a week before he was trained in the rest of the house.
I found the first 2 months really hard and if we hadn't had the training and the support of the centre (I used to phone in a crisis) I don't know if I would have kept him. We've had him since Jan and he's already really settled down - I never expected it to happen this quickly.

We bought a dog pen - its like a fireguard but has 6 foldable sections. We penned ours into his bed area at night and covered the floor with newspaper. We never took him out in the night - just let him pee on the paper away from the bed. They are not overly keen on doing their business in the vicinity of their beds, so what you do is every morning without fail, greet them and straight outside into the garden whilst you clean up the papers etc. They soon catch on this way.
Certainly take him to puppy socialisation and then training. This has 2 benefits - the dog will learn to be sociable, and when he moves on to training the most important part starts. Training you! If you are nervous, the dog will be nervous. Training will teach you what the dog is doing/saying and teach you the appropriate way to handle it. Well worth it, and you can get the whole family involved too if you find the right class

sorry no advice - congrats though - go on, post a pic!

well, that's good news about the nighttimes then. :) We put him and his dog bed into the utility room at night, I'll put some newspaper out for him and see how it goes. Standing outside in the pouring rain at 3am does not hold much appeal...
We only got him on Saturday, so I need to get in touch with the vet tomorrow anyway re. jabs, I'll ask them about classes.
Thanks for the tips, keep them coming please!

we have had our 2 black labs from pups, both female.
we had puppy training pads down for night then when the had the idea that they had to go outside for a wee also, they held on all night. we put them out just before bed then as soon as we wake up.
one was better than the other with accidents but as with kids and potty training, u hav to expect the accidents! pus are only baby dogs!
i cant remeber how long it went on for but the bad one followed the good ones lead in the end.
i never took them to training classes or anything. we had body harnesses instead of collars for walking and we always went to places to walk them where they could be safely off the lead. because they were pups, in the large open spaces they were too afraid to stray too far from our legs. i always got comments on how good they were off the lead.
we graudually introduced walks where the leads were necessary and they were just fine.
the initial 5 mins of a lead walk can be difficult as they pull a bit to begin with but i think thats more because i dont get the time to take them out as often as i should some days.
i must say, i believe there is some truth in what people say about bitches being a bit calmer and not as exciteable as males.
this worked for me and ours are very well behaved- im quite proud of myself- dh didnt help one iota.
they behave well off the lead, they leave other dogs alone if i tell them to, they come when i call, the stop running when i tell them (whilst chasing squirrels etc!)
i dont know about leaving them alone- thats why we got 2. we bought one on a sunday and by the wednesday i went back for another as her pining for her litter mates was driving me mad!
hope some of this rambling helps!
:)

will post a pic tomorrow - he's just like the andrex puppy.