Puppy regret

[Gallaadia]

Hello Doghouse,

We're getting our much wanted puppy next week, but as it approaches, I find I am absolutely WRACKED with fear. I'm terrified of making a mistake and being stuck with a dog I don't want. Even though I've obsessively wanted a dog for a good five years

I'm just afraid of what the reality of a dog looks like. Walks, letting it out to pee all day long, worrying when I need to leave the house and leave it at home, fear of the poop and vomit, worry about the biting one of the DC (in the bitey phase), signing up for a lifetime of early wake ups and having to go out to wee/poo ten times a day.

I don't know wether this is normal last minute panic or if I should listen to myself.

We have all wanted a dog for so long and were waiting til we moved into a house. We're a family of dog lovers and me and OH grew up with dogs and would love the DC to.

And a couple more pointy nose pics.

Few more...

Sofa stealers!

Very hard work but you love them so much so quickly it doesn't matter. Only saying that cos my puppy just slept through the night for the first time...I went to wake her at 5 to check she was ok.

I love those lanky pointies. I’ve got a 7mo 31kg ‘puppy’. He is gorgeous and pretty well behaved given he’s still intact and starting to feel the pull of the hormones but blimey the early puppy weeks are so so hard. Harder than newborn baby months, ime. Bitey (oh so bitey), toileting in the house, very frequent trips to the garden (and mine was pretty good on that front), tied to the house because they haven’t had their jabs and/or can’t walk far and you can’t leave them alone because they get anxious (again I had a v laid back dog in that respect but I still didn’t leave him alone for more than 10mins in the month or so). It feels relentless and neverending. It does get better though. Be clear and consistent on your training and go for force-free methods and it should pay off. You will have periods of ‘one step forward, two steps back’ but they’re living creatures, not robots. Be patient and stick with it (even though you will want to tear your hair out) and it’ll come good in the end. I had read almost everything (or so it feels) before I got my dog and I was still surprised by how much work and emotional labour there is involved in dog ownership.

@DeathByPuppy that is good to hear. I'm still in the really hard work puppy stage and wondering if I'm up to the task. The biting has subsided a bit but the constant attention required and not being able to leave him alone for a minute is unbelievably draining. Especially as I hadn't obviously factored in home schooling 2 children at the same time.

It is absolutely exhausting, I remember my patience being stretched see-through. The lockdown side of things is helpful for some people and spectacularly unhelpful for others, I think. The home schooling + a young and demanding puppy must be very trying indeed and I take my hat off to you!

I had huge regrets about two weeks after our lovely boy came home - just felt overwhelmed with it all. But now we wouldn't be without him! It was definitely hard work for a few months but worth it as he is such great company now.

@SpringerJS I’m right where you were! Good to know it’ll be worth it!

I pa picked and had puppy blues both times, but it was so worth it. After a lot of hard work we have the loveliest, well socialised dogs now.

They can be hard work and stressful. They are also funny and loving and a part of the family.

Yay pointy hounds! We got ours at 9 weeks from rescue. I pretty much cried for 2 weeks with feeling overwhelmed guilty and regretful.

Soon enough it passed! Love her so much and things quickly get easier. I still remember enough not to jump straight back in though! She's a year now and fabulous.

Even since I last posted here our dpuppy has made some positive steps to being a decent law abiding member of our family!!
Trying to detach the ears of our other ddogs has nearly stopped for example..
Toilet roll shredding is still going on sadly.
She encountered rain today for the first time
Def wasn't impressed.
Her fur went crazy and shaggy!!