Collecting our retriever puppy tomorrow afternoon and now absolutely terrified!

[LovelyMuffins]

Why? I feel overwhelmed and he is not even here yet . Is this normal?

He is a dog. He will do his very best to fit in with you because he is a cute furry free loader who doesn't want to be ousted from his current lap of luxory - as long as you are clear what you need from him he'll keep doing his best to please you. So as long as you want to love him he'll want to make you happy.

Ok so sometimes he'll think out side the box, and decide you wanted the tomato plants murdered and your best bra relocated under the shed. And he'll try and help himself to food like all the two legs do. But he will still be trying his best. All you have to do is believe in him

Lovely, anxiety is (pardon the pun) a bitch. I also suffer with anxiety, so I know of which I speak. It helped me to realise that my anxiety just needs a peg to hang itself on, if it wasn't the dog it would be something else iyswim. Having a new puppy is hard work. It is. It isn't all Andrex adverts and cuddles. It's chewing, stealth ankle attacks with crocodile teeth, peeing everywhere, uprooting house plants and some times purely horrendous doggy behaviour for the sheer joy of it (I'm looking at you, DDog, and your fondness for running upstairs and leaping on the sleeping children). It takes time to adjust. But you will, and honestly the day will come when you'll sit down with a coffee in front of the telly, happy dog snoring at your feet, and you'll suddenly 'get' dog ownership. I found that my pup was a bit like a toddler, in that you'd spend weeks dealing with X behaviour, endlessly training and seemingly getting nowhere, then suddenly the pup takes a developmental leap forward and it clicks. 'Ah, ok, so when I jump up and steal food you don't like that? Gotcha.' All the graft is worth it, and it all aids in the bonding, too. Your pup will adore you.

do you know waht Chickens? You are absolutely right! One of my anxieties is based on motorway driving but it has nothing to do with the road, it is to do with the anxiety attack I had when I was on it. Anxiety has been happy to have me apportion blame to the road itself and now I avoid them as it brings up such fear. Having said that, why this has risen its ugly head again now is making no sense to me whatsoever. Especially since I ahve wanted a dog for such a long time! Talking of dogs,we have had a lovely day today. My nieces and nephews came round today and Hero was quite simply a hero! He did get very boisterous and was doing a lot of growling and nipping (in fun obv) but he is such a happy boy. I'm sure when I have calmed down I will actually enjoy him so much. He really is a breath of fresh air!

AbsolutelyNotHoneyDragon - that is lovely.

Would it help if you took him to training classes? It would be great for him as he would socialise with other dogs and it might help you as it would give you some tools for dealing with any little issues you may have with him. You could do something fun and positive like clicker training and your DCs could be involved as well.

I am looking at training classes Booboostoo. Will get on the case ASAP. I am actually excited about the training aspect. We are working on little things daily. Sit, paw, down!!!! Bit confused about clickers so I you tubed them and they do look goodbut not sure about them as it seems just as quick to say the command as click for it. Happy to try anything though

Well there are a number of different training approaches, and it's all a bit like different parenting techniques, some work well for some children some work well for others, so at the end of the day go with what works for you.

For me, saying the command doesn't really work because dogs don't speak English and it can teach them to ignore the word. The click does not produce behaviour, it marks it for reward (usually food). Behaviour is produced either through a lure, or because it has just been rewarded so it is repeated, or coincidentally.

I felt like you on both occasions. The second time was worse because DH didn't want a dog, so she was totally my responsibility; she still is, and she's four now. I'd definitely get a crate asap, so that you can have some free time when you're not worried about what your puppy's doing.
I would also say, dogs are very adaptable and will fit in with you (eventually). You will be able to leave him alone, and the cats will grow to love him. I hope things are settling down a bit!

thank you posters. I would not say things are calming down but I am! I still feel that dreadful anxious feeling but then I tell myself that I have felt this over the years wihtout a dog so it is not hero's fault. TBH I am looking forward to school resuming as it is a bit diff to handle chidlren and pup as we cannot go out for hours and hours with him. So it is pretty resctricting. I just cannot get over this massive feeling of guilt and angst every time I leave him for an hour to go shopping etc! I would recommend no one gets a dog during holiday time. It is very very hard.