We've chosen our puppy!!! Talk me through the first few days please

[SmileAndNod]

All being well, after a very long time, our new arrival will be here at the weekend . what should we be doing in those first few days? What should the children be especially aware of - obviously not disturbing it when it's in its crate or when it's eating. What are the mistakes I'm likely to make?

I'm worried that I'm going to ruin a beautiful dog. I'm easily seduced by big puppy eyes and so I'm likely to give in to everything, but I also know that it has to fit in with us to some extent. I'm particularly anxious about leaving it for the school run twice a day (45 mins max) next week. Will it be ok? I don't want it to suffer from being separated but I can't be with it 24 hours.

The vet check is booked, we have puppy classes are booked to start mid November, I'm waiting on the microchip number to sort out insurance. We have a crate, vet bed, blankets, hot water bottle, toys, food, bowls, collar / lead, tag, grooming mitt, shampoo etc.Is there anything else?

I know I'm probably being over anxious (I do suffer with it) but we've waited so long I'm worried something still will go wrong...

Lastly and this probably will make me sound crazy but when I was getting the travel crate cleaned up I looked up at the fridge to see a photo of our old dog. It's 5 years since we lost him and I feel a bit weird having a new puppy. Like its kind of disloyal in a way?

I thought I would write a few points as they pop into my head.

1. Make sure puppy gets plenty of down time to sleep and relax:
2. Only main issue in 45 min is the possible need for your puppy to go to the toilet.
3. Puppy is highly likely to cry for the first few nights. Be aware of this and decide a plan now and stick to it.
4. If you want to change food do this gradually.
5. Expect accidents and get a good specific cleaner that gets rid of the smell so puppy isn't tempted to do again. Also make sure take puppy out in regular basis, every 20-30 min to start with.
6. Make sure you socialise puppy even before they can go out for walks. E.g can you take with you in school run and carry?
7. Start training your puppy early with short sessions and lots of praise.

As above and...

The big one for children - when it bites them (and it will, it's what puppies do, lol) don't run or squeal...that'll encourage him to carry on trying to play like that.

If he's not crate trained already, be aware that it's not a quick process, it's not just a case if sticking them in and hoping for the best, you do have to work at making it their happy place before you leave them in it.

As for the biting, the breeder told us to gently move its head away along with a firm NO. is that right? DS has been practicing all weekend on his sisters

So what do we do to make a crate a happy place? Toys? Treats?

Unfortunately I can't take him on school run - dogs not allowed on premises and DD is still of an age where we have to take her into class and it's still hit and miss whether toddler DD will walk nicely. We aim to carry him out for a nose as much as possible in the early and though, I had thought about trying my baby carrier but was met with a look by DH!

This is an excellent book
www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Puppy-Days-Start-Right/dp/0964151871

and Sophia Yin has a lot of good you tube videos too

gently move its head away along with a firm NO.

A firm NO from me on that one! Best method is to give a high pitched yelp withdraw all attention but turning your back and crossing your arms for a few seconds. This will mimic what puppies do in the litter when one of their siblings gets too rough.

Decide the rules now and STICK TO THEM. Eg. is pup allowed on furniture? Where will he sleep? It's not fair to allow him to do things now, then change your mind as he gets bigger.

Finally, and arguable the most important thing, upload a photo of the pup to MN for me to get puppy-broody over.

Re: the "disloyalty". I won't go into details but we're agonising over this now. My lovely friend told me that you getting another dog isn't disloyal to the one you had before - it's wanting to honour the lovely memories you made together by opening your heart to another dog. It's a bit twee, but it does make me feel a bit better!

We are 3 days in to new puppyhood.

So far he's been a dream. Early days though. In his crate he has vetbed, a towel from his mum, water bowl, a few toys - a soft ropey one and a Kong type treat one and a teething ring. A blanket on the top. He's been as good as gold with the toilet training. He was 10 weeks old when we got him and the breeder had done a lot to toilet train him already. We take him out after food, after play, after a sleep and every half hour and so far we've had just one accident in the house. He's managed to go overnight from about midnight to 6am in the crate and stayed dry. He does cry for about 10 minutes then settles down. We did leave him once yesterday and today in the crate for about 30 minutes as I had to pick someone up from the station and he was fine.

On the subject of disloyalty, we lost our beloved boy just two months ago and I am still heartbroken. I would rather have him back than have the puppy but as a wise mumsnetter said on another thread, when a dog dies they take a piece of your heart but when you get a new dog, they give you a part of theirs to make your heart whole again.

Here is our little one.

That's a lovely thought bestiswest I still miss my dog, but then I still miss our previous family dog who died just before I went to uni. I'm hoping our new puppy will like the same walks, holidays, places etc. Your new little one is adorable. Looks like a gorgeous bundle of fluff

We have a similar crate set up - a pad, vet bed, a blanket, a few toys Inc a puppy kong, a water bowl and a blanket over the top, though it's under the stairs anyway so nice and den like. I think we're getting a piece of towel from the litter too. I hope it goes as well for us.

I can't remember the puppy days from before - our family all have a lot to learn in the next few weeks!

I still miss the dog I had when I was 14 and I am 52 now.

What type of puppy are you getting?

He has just barked at the dog on Doc Martin on TV. I think he surprised himself.

I have a now very good 6 month old cocker.
My advice is don't be weak. It is a dog not a baby human and it needs to cope with reasonable separation and confinement.
I settled wotsitpup the first few nights by sitting next to his crate (not viable to him) and watching the iPad in the dark - was just like settling a baby and worked brilliantly - I did that 3 nights I think and he sleeps all night. Don't put the crate upstairs on in your bedroom they need to settle on their own.
Secondly puppy pads will teach the puppy to use them - go directly to toile ting outside. Take the puppy out regularly and stay out there until it has eliminated - you might want to buy a massive fleece this time of year! The more religious you are about this the quicker they get it. We took 4 days I was amazed.
As you say you have kids don't think the pup needs to be with them
All
The time - allow it quiet time just with you - my kids are 6 and 3 and my dog stays in the kitchen with me when I'm
Cooking or whatever - never unsupervised with the kids. We use a stair gate across the door. Puppies like babies get over stimulated.

Declutter your house of everything it can reach - it will chew it/rip it to pieces!

Make sure you have a good coat and wellies - you will be out in all weathers from now on

Lastly don't worry. My puppy was a pain at first but now he's great and the kids have got so much out of him. We have amazing beach/country walks every weekend and they love it. No regrets

crate training

With respect to the biting, I've found that any attention rewards it with some puppies, yelping, saying no...they can all be interpreted as joining in the playing, what worked best with the current dog, who was horrendous at that point was completely ignoring him, doing nothing that could be taken as attention or might be exciting and dropping a toy beside him...then giving him attention and playing with the toy.

It did mean toys had to be in reach, they were stashed everywhere, lol.

Some people advocate walking away and leaving the room, but I found with him that it just meant you were walking away with a puppy attached to you.

Thank you I've read the crate training article and that makes complete sense. I think we have it set up correctly I guess time will tell.

Didn't sleep last night as d day approaches. I was never good at leaving my babies to cry and attended to their every whimper (still do, no wonder I'm knackered) and I think I do have potential for treating the puppy as a baby human

I think I'm having my first WTF are we doing moment...

We are now 3 weeks into having our GR pup. Our beautiful collie kelpie x was PTS in May at the grand old age of 17 so having a puppy has been a whole new experience. She is a lovely little thing who's very keen to learn. I keep one of her meals (kibble) back and use it as training rewards. As a puppy she's very 'mouthy' so we have had the whole grabbing clothes, trying to chew hands etc. The way I've dealt with that is by being firm and consistent whilst offering something else to chew instead. I have had a few WTF moments, especially as DH is unsure of her when she's trying to grab his dressing gown or trousers etc as he's misinterpreting play for aggression. He is worse than the kids! Our pup is crate trained and she's been great from day one. She's more than happy to go in it and sleeps in it all night. I also have one for the car which she has no issue going in either. As for housetraining, I haven't bothered with puppy pads as I dudn't want to confuse her that sometimes it's ok to pee in the house and sometimes it isn't so we've chosen outside for toileting from the minute she came home and we have had minimal accidents. The two we have had were my fault as I missed the signs of her wanting to go. She is truly a delight and is a lovely little soul.

excellent advice wotsit absolutely - capitalise on training whilst young
loads of down time
away from children/constant stimulation
feeling over sorry for them (being separated, etc) will build anxiety. Although small, with their own safe space they will learn very quickly to self-settle and be on their own and to be left alone.
the 'ouch/yelp' and remove hand and turn away, having something ready to put in mouth at greetings so dpup doesn't instantly grab onto clothes/feet/hands

lots of dpups on here at the moment, oh lovely dpuppies!! enjoy you will get into a routine pretty quickly, and like someone else said, if you geet cracking on the toileting routine it can be sorted very quick.