Is it normal to find a puppy hard work?

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I have had my puppy for nearly 2 months now and i am finding it very hard work. I just need reassurance that this is normal, and that it will get better!

I have had to change my whole routine - puppy wakes up early, so I am going to bed much earlier. Dd is tired because even though she goes to bed early, the puppy wakes her up. When we are at home, have to constantly think about what the puppy is doing and whether it needs to go out for a wee, etc.

Constantly worrying about when he is going to do the next poo. Unable to crack the mealtime and poo schedule - try to give him last meal around 6 pm but he doesn't poo last thing at night - seems to love pooing in the middle of the night.

He is a lovely puppy but the pre-puppy days seem so relaxed in comparison...

Erm yes.

It's like babies. But more concentrated, you've got the teens to contend with soon
No one tells you till its too late.

It's worth it though

Yes. But it does get better, at least it becomes different!
Would not be without him at the moment (6 months old) but life was certainly easier with a 12 year old rescue dog!

yes! mine was such hard work. We had him at 4weeks which didn't help, due to being a rescued puppy from a puppy farm. I was bottle feeding mine till he was 6 weeks. It was like having a baby.

The poo think I can relate too, our puppy was so irratic with his pooing. We would feed him then wait about 1hour take him out...nothing. Take him out every 30min nothing. Eventually would have to go to bed. Wake up MASSIVE POO!

persevere it does get better. He is now a fully house trained mad cocker.

Thanks for the reassurance!!

The house training thing is hard because so many people say their puppy was fully trained after three week, clean at night after a week, etc. And it makes me feel like i have a stupid dog or am doing something wrong.... And he is not stupid!

rubbish, dogs house train at their own pace, so please don't feel you are doing anythign wrong or that puppy is stupid. Mine was near to 6 months before I would happily say he is house trained, and now at nearly 2 we still have the odd accident. Don't worry im sure puppy will get the hang of it

Oh lord yes. My 6 month old has started weeing and pooing in the middle of the night, just as I thought we'd got it sorted. I think it's because she's gone to two meals a day now. She's also just starting to be a teenage hooligan. I seem to remember that goes on for about a year!

We've just got an 8 week old lab/springer cross though and the 6 month old seems a doddle compared. Admittedly it's more work keeping them separate to stop pup getting squished and doing all the training and stuff with two dogs but it is amazing how quickly time passes and you forget.

Nothing like puppy kisses though! :)

It's exactly like having a baby, although you go through all the phases a lot faster and you don't have quite the same emotional attachment. Like babies all puppies are different so don't be freaked out by competitive dog ownership! Also different puppies will be good at different things so you may be smirking when your friend's oh-so-perfectly-toilet-trained puppy pisses off with no recall!

Are you going to training classes?

Yy they are all different and even when you think you've cracked it they are like children and can have mishaps when distracted/ change of routine etc. Our puppy got there at around 5 ish months but he can still wee on the floor when he gets excited, he dashes for the back door trying to hold it in leaving a lovely path of droplets - thanks puppy...
Bio washing powder is your friend.

Yes puppies are really hard work. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying, or got really lucky. Pest arrived at 11 weeks old early may. She was mostly clean in the house by August with the odd relapse. Finally stopped waking me up at 4 am for a wee in September. Cleaned up the last accident the week before christmas. Teenage mischief was fun too! She is now 2 and still chews stuff and bin raids given half a chance.

Yes it's hard work and Yes it does get better.

Give me wee and poo and chewing everything any day... our six-month-old puppy is house trained but has recently decided the day starts at 4am :(

Sleep deprivation is possibly the worst thing in the world!

At what age do puppies sleep on to a decent hour? 6am would be fine by me!

Yes. You're nearly out pf the first woods. If you're lucky you'll get a bit of a break before the teenageryness and a whole different set of challenges come along!