Puppy arrives on Friday !

[Humansatnav]

Aww and EEEK! Excited and terrified in equal mesure . Please talk to bme about what to expect- I'm 42 and the last time I had a puppy in my life I was 5

Warm pjs/socks and dressing gown are a must as I seemed spent a large amount of time in my garden in middle of night

I'm also 42 and we got our puppy 3 weeks ago. Like you I was so very excited yet terrified.

I can honestly say it is the best thing that we/I ever did. I love him so so much already and 100's of poo and pee later wont change that.

I had to spend the first two nights downstairs with pup as he was distraught. In the dead of night I actually thought I had made a major mistake getting him but by night 3 he slept through and was totally settled.

Make sure you have plenty of puppy training pads/mats, kitchen roll and anti bac spray. Good luck and enjoy!!!

Lots of newspapers and kitchen roll to soak up messes.
Comfy dressing gown for frequent and midnight trips to the garden. Shoes too.
Crate with comedy cushion, small hot bottle wrapped up, towels to cover crate and crate cosy den.
Patience to take out every 10-15 mins and additionally after every nap,play, excitement,mmeal, drink. D this very frequently for first month and you'll have a dog trained within three months.
Bowls and food.
Basic doggy cleaning products for messes these are special ones that don't contain ammonia which smells to them of urine.
Puppy chew toys. I suggest puppy kong which can be filled with cheese, bananas, liver and frozen.
Cheap liver from supermarkets to chuck in oven, bake and freeze for healthy tasty high value training treats.
I would avoid puppy pads as it confuses them.

Uhm. Not comedy cushion. Comfy cushion.

I love the idea of a comedy cushion. .
I know we have everything on the puppy book list, but I keep checking everything. Its worse than expecting the dc!

We've just got our first pup too! Bio soap powder will do for cleaning up the mess. Chewy toys. If you care about your stuff, keep it out of reach of the pup! treats. Lots of treats! Whatever routine you can muster.

Bio soap powder- will get tomorrow.

Have you got a crate? They're great for poochy to sleep in overnight and help with housetraining. (I can talk, my 5 month old is still terrible by the evenings - but she never wees or poos in her crate and is starting to go outside most of the time, in the day!)

It is also great to have a safe place to leave pup if you need to, for brief periods as they can do themselves serious harm, chewing things they shouldn't.

Puppy toys? Mine loved her puppy Kong, her Kong teddy we bought on the day we got her remains her fave toy, probably, and a tuggy rope toy she also had from almost day 1, she still plays with now.

Toys become very important in the first few weeks as young pups are mouthy and puppy biting is a real issue. Not from Day 1 as pup may need to settle down and feel confident with you, first.

Enjoy!

It goes so fast. We can't believe how fast she has grown in the past 3 months since we had her. Take LOTS of photos. You'll regret it if you don't!

Got crate, bed, collar and lead, bowls, food, toys, blanket is with breeders. Been stockpiling old newspapers. Got a hot water bottle. Getting bio washing powder and pooh bags tonight. Bound to have forgotten something!

What is she?

Put everything away that you value - including phone chargers, tv remotes and anything with trailing wires that looks like fun! Save up cardboard boxes, toilet roll insides etc for that awful 7pm madness. Deffo recommend a crate but make it a great place to be, blankets, toys and kongs in there. And cover it over at night like a budgie cage! Have fun!!

He is a cross - springer/ lab mum , springer Dad. He is called Otis.

*Lab dad, .

Bio soap powder do you mean u use that for the carpet or to soak up puddles on laminate?

Yes yes to boxes.
Mine is right now jumping on and off a shreddies box ...

OP have you got a puppy grooming brush and comb?
Toothbrush and toothpaste?
They need to get used to having those things done early on.

Also useful is a dog bath towel - they are really handy as they dry pup much quicker and keep pup warm.

I use bio soap powder dissolved in water on the carpet. The enzymes in it break down the urine so the carpet won't smell of urine to a dog, who then goes repeatedly in the same place they can smell their old wees...

I looked at some purpose-made pet mess cleaning products - but even in T K Maxx where there's a heavy discount, they were expensive and when I read the labels I realised they were essentially just solutions of some kind of bio detergent with maybe scents in... Aldi's bio powder is two quid odd a big box, so it was a no-brainer!

Not sure about laminate. But bottom line is, even if it smells clean to us, dogs have a much better sense of smell and so you need something with enzymes in to break the thing down chemically.

Good tip Joffrey.

Thankyou Joffrey great tip.

Only use positive, science based training, ignore anything which mentions packs or dominance, these are not only thoroughly discredited but also damaging. The Fbook group is really good.
When he's teething give him your recycling, they need to bite and chew for months and months and months.

Most importantly, cuddle him incessantly, he'll be happiest in your arms not crying alone, take tonnes of photos, smell his baby smell, listen to the snuffly puppy noise he'll make when he's sleeping and you're cuddling him, in the blink of an eye he'll be a creaky old boy with a grey moustache, cherish him.

I've used it on old stains, too. Not sure how you're meant to do it, but I make up a solution in an old detergent bottle, then it's ready when I need it. Leave it on for a while to give it a chance to work, then rinse it off or it can leave a white mark (and like an idiot I have a black carpet). Came across this tip when I had my elderly dog who had the odd accident - not many at all, fortunately but she was occasionally ill towards the end.

He has been a star- we just need to understand what he is trying to tell us- he already lets us know when he needs a pooh and when he wants a cuddle. Last night was patchy but he is being so good for 8 weeks - We are happily exhausted