My smart puppy is 8.5 weeks old ...

[AlphaBravoHenryFoxtons]

and she can fetch a tennis ball and bring it back to me. The tennis ball is almost as big as she is.

Pfft, my dog could sit, wait, fetch and drop a ball, knew his name and come by that age.

She's totally normal and not gifted you know.

Sorry, couldn't resist, rofl

I so want a dog. I know it's going to happen for us soon.

Your puppy sounds uber-amazing

Mine would do that at 8 weeks, by six months he had perfected the 'fuck you' expression as he preferred chasing bikes and joggers, they were far more interesting than a boring tennis ball.
I'm sure you won't make the same mistake I did and let up on the training because you think they've got it. The little whatsit is just lulling you into a false sense of security whilst they plot world domination. It's a good thing they are amazingly cute.

You meanies.

She's house trained too. Sleeps all night without mess.

I'm just overjoyed with our new little family member. I've never had a pet before, neither has DH. We've talked about and researched getting a dog for so long and I definitely expected it to be hard work and little joy in the early days. It's definitely hard work. But oh boy, the absolute joy!

If Oxford interviewed dogs for places, they would definitely want to see her.

Genuinely though - they're like little sponges at that age, get as many commands as you can (without confusing her obviously) as early as possible so they're cemented in there before she gets old enough to consider whether she wants to do them or not, lol.

The vet gave me a sample of Science-plan food. I've just served her two dishes for lunch: one small bowl of James Wellbeloved and a small bowl of the Science Plan stuff. She much prefers the Science Plan to the James Wellbeloved puppy food stuff I've been giving her. (Though most of all she loved the finely chopped sautéed chicken breast I made for her yesterday.) Do you think it would be OK to move on to the Science-plan stuff? It will be the second time I've changed her food which I realise isn't ideal.

Boo. I thought my puppy was special because she can fetch, sit, is house trained and sleeps all night but now I find out she is just average.

Good job she is the prettiest puppy in the world!