Our new puppy arrives in 4 days time!

[oxocube]

Am sooooooooooo excited and happy. We lost our lovely dog very recently to cancer - very quick and unexpected - but I found I just didn't want to be without a dog for long. I had become so used to the companionship, the lifestyle of daily walks in the woods etc. She will be 8 weeks, a Golden Retriever bitch. She is adorable!!

Dogs are addictive, aren't they?

As someone who is involved in rescue I think that it is appalling that you should be buying a pedigree pup and that you should immediately

GIVE HER TO ME!!

Seriously, I do of course subscribe to the 'why breed and buy when others die?' theory but while there are puppies being bred and I'm not PM to legislate tighter controls on breeding ( ), then the important thing is to have loving owners for these pups, and I'm sure you'll be just that. I hope you'll have years and years of happiness together and I WANT PICTURES!

Val

Ooh enjoy!!! Just make sure you stock up on the earplugs for the nighttime!! :O

I am on countdown, 4 weeks till I get my puppy.

Congratulations! My goldie is 6 months and he has never yet cried at night, or asked to go for a pee, not even when crated all night by himself right at the beginning (he was 7 wks). He is lovely.

Val, our old dog (still makes me sad to say that) was a rescue dog who came to us at 2 years old. He was adorable, a lab cross. He was v hard work during the first 6 months and couldn't be left alone at all during the first 8 weeks. But he turned out to be the most special dog imaginable. It was pure luck (fate?) that I happened to come across these pups. But I think its the right thing to do. Will post photos soon - just set up the crate etc and am doggy shopping tomorrow for new chew toys, collar, leash etc.

oxocube - so sorry for your loss, i lost my old boy to the dreaded C last year and it was fast... we lasted almost 3 weeks before we got another dog and it was fate, wasnt looking, was going to wait until i wasnt grieving etc etc, but we got our puppy and he is fantastic, the absolute best - now a year old and we all love him to bits. He has helped the children so so much and well incase you havent guessed we LOVE him.

oxocube, being serious now, I think I know how you feel. When I lost my ex-pound dog SBT cross very suddenly to a stroke, 3 years ago, I too ended up with a pup. Admittedly he was a rescue too, mine was his 3rd home and he was only 7 weeks old but pup as he was, he was right for us.

Have a wonderful, happy time with your new friend.

I found it awful being dogless. My dear old dog died last June aged 14 and I cried buckets. Like yours, my dog was very much part my life.

Just before Christmas we brought home our new hairy baby, who is great fun and really helped to (partially) fill the big hole our old friend left.

Congratulations on your new hairy friend!

Well, she has been here for 3 days now and is adorable! Kids and I slept downstairs so far but they are going back to own beds tonight! The pup cried a little the first night but seemed much more settled on Sat and Sunday. She is v quick at picking up the house training and is already whining at the door to go out to pee and poo in the garden.

She is responding to her name and I'm trying to convince myself that she is learning the command 'sit' . The only slight dificulty we have is that she really doesn't seem interested in her crate at all. She is now fast asleep behind the sofa, despite a lovely cozy crate with blankets, treats and toys in a quiet corner. Any tips? I would like to be able to leave her safely in her crate at night time, knowing she can't chew wires, hurt herself etc but whenever I put her in it she gets up and leaves and if I close the door, she cries piteously. Am I doing something wrong?

feed her meals inside the crate

play with her with her toys in there

do all sorts

leave it open during the day, make it inviting

Had her food bowl beside the crate but have now put it inside to see if it makes a difference. She just drags her toys out again when I put them inside!! Will persevere as it seems to be the favoured method of training