New puppy anxiety!

[KittyVonCatsworth]

This feels almost like it did when I bought my daughter home after having her! We pick up our 10 week beautiful boy tomorrow and the nerves are kicking in. I've got the basics I think, crate, bowls, harness, booked an appointment with a puppy trainer. My whole day's are filled with puppy reading but I think I'm getting overwhelmed with information. My main concern for him is his food (he currently gets canned food) and his separation anxiety.

Any advice for the first 4 weeks?

Thank you!

To ask what breed? Puppies are really hard work but you sound like you have everything in place. Are you going to place puppy pads near the door in case of accidents? He may cry for the first couple of nights (ours never did but a lot do) but persevere and keep him in his crate. He will soon settle. Good luck and keep us updated!!

I was exactly the same . I didn't sleep the night before we brought our puppy home . She's been the best thing that happened to us.

First couple of nights she cried and we didn't get any sleep, then I realised she hated the crate , third night no crate and she slept on her bed every night from 10pm til 7 every night . I also very lucky as she isn't destructive and quite very chilled out.

Every day i took her somewhere different , carrying her til her second injections , so she got used to different noises etc .

I also changed her food to raw food , we are feeding her Bella and Duke and she loves it.

Once she was here my anxiety settled down and we just got into a routine .

Also we took her into the garden every 30minutes , lots of praise for toileting . If it's raining have a old towel need the door with coat and shoes for you . We didn't use puppy pads . Took 4 days to house train her .

Also I have a long training lead to take her out with , to give her a bit of freedom bur also to help with recall training

He's labrador 😍

I bought 200 puppy pads, that was the first purchase! I've taken the rest of the week working from home and my husband is at home all days anyway.

It's only a 20 minute drive to pick him up and I read that as soon as we get him home to take him to pee outside where it'll be the place he will need to pee.

It's so exciting but daunting too.

Are you going to be attempting to work from home? I'd really advise taking some time off.

Thank you islaviolent! Thank you for the recommendation for food too as that's my main worry. We've been collecting old towels from friends in preparation so that's been a good shout.

4 days is amazing going for training, well done!

My advice would be to ditch the 200 puppy pads! They just teach them it's ok to wee indoors and slow down house training. Take him outdoors every half hour or so. Lots of praise and play if he wees/poos when you do. If he doesn't do anything then bring him calmly indoors with no fuss and take him out again soon.

Firstly, don’t worry about how long toilet training takes, each dog is different. My first dog was toilet trained within 3 days (he pretty much came toilet trained from the breeder, she said she had noticed that he was the one in the litter that took himself outside each time). Our second dog took a few weeks. I was shocked, as we’d done it once before and she had our older dog there setting an example.

Food wise, just make sure you swap them over gradually. A sudden swap can upset their stomachs.

Try to enjoy the next few days, but if you find that you are not, google puppy blues and realise that it is normal to be worried.

I’d take a couple of weeks off between you and your husband if you can. Pups need constant supervision and it’s really hard to wfh with a pup (my pup has just turned one and we were working from home). I’d also ditch the puppy pads, just aim to go outside right from the off. You’ll get to know the signs but in those initial weeks take them out every 30 mins.

Switching food should be done slowly over a couple of days. If you’re switching to dry food, use some of the meal allowance for training because you reward a lot in the early days. With a labrador that helps get them trained.

Pup might cry the first few nights. With dog1, she cried for the first night and we ended up moving her crate to beside our bed for a night or two. Then it got moved to the hall, then the bottom of the stairs and finally where it was going to stay.

With puppies, start as you mean to go on and everyone in the house needs to do the same. Think about the dog you want. Do you want a dog that begs for food? Do you want a dog that gets on the sofa? Do you want a dog that lays under the table when you’re eating? Whatever you do or don’t want when it’s a 30kg adult, you should implement now when it’s a puppy. Don’t let it get away with something because it’s tiny and cute otherwise it will be harder to train them out of it later.

You will question what you’ve done, that’s normal. It does get easier (then gets a bit harder again as they’re teens, then easier again).

My advice is never ever use a puppy pad. All they do is encourage the dog to toilet inside and prolong the toilet training!

At eight weeks they can toilet in the garden - take them out all the time - every 20-30 minutes when awake, after food, drink, play, training and naps. Clean up any accidents with Simple Solution. And get up in the night to take them to the toilet.

Don't use pads. I see loads of threads on here from posters who have struggled with toilet training and 99% of them used pads as puppies.

I would also say that you won't get any work done while trying to look after an eight week old puppy they need constant supervision.

We have a Labrador- hard work as a puppy but we survived!

My recommendations would be to join the Facebook group 'dog training advice and support' and to look at the books/website by Pippa Mattinson www.thelabradorsite.com

Labradors are renowned to be exceptionally friendly and 'fun' however this can make recall tricky. We were very inexperienced and did all the 'socialisation' wrong so I wish we had put more effort into teaching him to ignore other people and dogs.

Join dog training advice and support on Facebook. The guides are brilliant and you learn so much from reading the posts from people that need more help.

And yes - ditch the pads unless you want them going on any indoor soft surface!

Separation anxiety with a puppy is normal - they are a social species and need to be with their pack (Ie you). It gets worse only if they are left alone before they are ready (not the other way around - Ie don’t let it cry out - raise a confident dog that knows you’ll be there when it needs)
Oh and food - yeah we had a lot of the runs to begin with but it does settle. We feed a variety now and he eats (and eliminates!) a lot better than other dogs we know that only eat one type and flavour (guess a bit like human that only eat certain things and then get a tummy upset with new things)

Lastly - puppy blues are a thing: don’t feel bad if you do feel bad at any point x

I brought my puppy home last week, he's now 8 weeks. The first 2 nights were hard and he cried all night. I let him out to wee on the puppy pad and I would cuddle him for a while before returning him to his carrier. He just needed reassurance. By the 4th night he was sleeping through but wetting his bed, so I now set my alarm twice during the night to allow him to pee and it seems to be working. His anxiety seems to have gone now and he's very settled at night. During the day he goes to the puppy pad to wee but he is pooing anywhere and I quickly move him to the pad if I see him do it. The pads are gradually being moved to the back door.
Take a blanket and a soft toy to rub on his mum's fur so he gets the scent and that should settle help a little.

Good luck today ! Hope it goes well x

How are you doing ? I'm in another thread about anxiety with a puppy on here and there are a lot of us who are feeling the same you are not alone ❤️

I'm another one who wouldn't bother with puppy pads, they just train them to do it indoors. Just take him out every time he moves 😂 after sleep, after meals, after playtime, and it's useful to use a word (guide dogs use "busy busy") when he's done one and give him loads of praise and a treat. He will then associate the word/phrase with toileting and you can get him to go when you want him to.

I went very slow and steady
I stayed near the crate at night for ages because mine needed to wee a lot and so we stayed in room near back door. Didnt use pads. Some people told me to let her cry etc but glad I didn't as she is not a demanding dog and has been a total pleasure to train but also daft and fun.
Pippa Mathesons Total Recall book was great and dog is very reliable.
I did have moments of feeling overwhelmed but better when I remembered that is normal! I worked hard on gentle crate training and it went well but we didn't need it for long during the day. I would like my dog to sleep on my bed all night as she is so cosy but she takes herself off to her crate in the middle of the night as she seems to prefer it!
Have fun

He's home! He was sick on the way home in the basket, poor thing. A bit nervous coming in and going outside but now he's bouncing in the garden, had his first poo on the grass so lots of "clever, good boys" a wee inside and outside. He's settling in nicely and we'll see how he settles in tonight.

Thank you for all your support, tips and tricks ❤

Hopefully you'll see the pic on where he's decided to have a nap.

He is adorable! whenever we have had a pup we have always slept downstairs with him fir the first week taking it in turns just while they get settled and so it wa seasier to take them out wee. We dont use a crate we just had a bed in the living room and I stayed downstairs and after a week I went up to bed. We also brought a little camera so we could see what they were up to and majority of the time they were in the bed fast asleep. I'd set an alarm to let them out in the early hours too. I know this isnt for everyone but its something that worked for us and it reduced the crying alot. Whenever they got out of bed we just out them back in their bed and it didnt take long before they were sleeping through. I made sure it was calm before bed and a steady routine telly off, lights off, out toilet, back in, little cuddle and off to bed. Enjoy your pup.

We've got a now nearly 8 month lab and some of the things I'm really glad we did and didn't do and things I wish I'd known etc...

Nap time - they need LOTS of naps. They can sleep to to 20 hours in the first months. They can get over stimulated and over tired very quickly. We took the first few weeks off to be with pup and husband WFH and we did treat it like a military operation. We kept a white board chart of his naps, feeds, play, treats, toilet trips etc and we got to know his routine really quickly and did "enforce" naps at certain times that did lead to about a minutes whining then a FAST ASLEEP pup much happier and calmer an hour or so later. You'll be knackered so nap when he does if you can!

Pup will cry first few nights and it will break your heart but remind yourself he's safe, fed, loved, clean, warm etc and you'll get through it. we physically reassured him - sniff of our hand, soothing noises and he'd settle. We reminded each other too be calm when it felt really upsetting (and I did struggle mentally/ethically with pup missing his mum/siblings and it made me question taking a puppy on but fact is the breeders would not have kept all of the puppies, most people cannot do this and ours seemed happy and settled within a few days really).

Carried him to toilet spot after every meal/play/nap from crate and gave command word to empty his tank and he got it sussed in a few days. Minimal accidents. First week, carried quietly with no vocal interaction other than command word to go to loo during night.

Made his crate den like - cover and we dim the lights nearest him at night.

Wish I'd not been so bouncy greeting him in the morning - now I just very calmly and silently open crate door at 7, he has slow, yawning wake up then toddles out to the loo himself. I was too "excited" in first month greeting him and he took my cue. Fuss now comes after toilet!

Walking on lead - stop when/if he pulls. I have cried actual tears in first few months of him pulling. Now I've learnt to be calmer, the "walk" might be a sniffy half hour meander but pulling is gradually disappearing and when I stop dead he looks back at me and rushes back to heel. I do lots of sit/stay/downs in lots of different situations with lots of traffic/noise/people distractions so his eyes are on me. We do not greet every dog we see - or person! Often just sit at bus stops and benches to watch world and their smells go by and try to keep focus on me.

We fed meals by hand initially to build up eye contact and bond then used kongs, snuffle mat, take handful of meal allowance kibble to train basics. We very occasionally use a bowl to feed but when we do he always has to sit and wait before being told "take it" and tucking in.

Doorway manners - sit and wait at heel before going in and out of doorways. He's picked this up quickly.

Visitor manners - getting pup to sit when people enter house and not jump up excitedly. He has not picked this up so quickly but getting there.

Lots of popping his collar/harness/lead on and off to just go to garden/front gate to get him used to it and not to get so geed up each time it's put on him.

Introducing pup to lots of household noises - I'm so glad we did this with the vacuum cleaner as a) it gets used A LOT to deal with his shedding b) he's utterly non-plussed by it. And umbrellas! Lots of walks in the garden with brollies popping open means he hasn't batted an eyelid during our glorious British summer. All things we did pre-pup - guitar playing, music, noisy cooking, food processor, coffee grinder - all regular noises to him now.

Took him out in all weather - howling rain and wind, hail. During the heatwave walked him very early and then he basically slept on the kitchen tiles all day.

Car journeys with window open. Get used to routine, noise, seatbelt. We did drive by pettings when he wasn't fully vaccinated. I think we could have made a fortune.

I had and still have terrible puppy blues thinking I'm not doing the right thing/feeling overwhelmed but I really love being with pup and he makes me laugh and I cannot imagine him not being in our home so don't beat yourself up if you get any negative feelings - it's normal as it's such a big life change but you might breeze through it . I did not appreciate how much it would change our daily life.

Get your pup used to being dried off with towels - paws and body. We did not do this so now a towel is the most exciting thing in the world! Though he will completely ignore a hanging teatowel as they are always there and boring to him (a lesson in making things high value). Addressing this with a drying coat and lickimat!

We used baby gates to stairs and kitchen and were strict in his access to the house and have been able to relax this over past few months and he's been really good (touch wood). We leave him now max 2 hours (with Blink webcam with sound) to pop out for a drink and can check in on him and he's a chilled little soul. We time it so he is basically ready for a nap so he crashes out.

Something that really threw up was how much he reacted to the worming medication our breeder recommended - it really affected his behaviour for a good 24 hours (whining, distressed, disrupted sleep) and was very worrying. We've since changed the type we use and much better.

Pup has a very good doggy friend in a mate's older working gun dog and he has learnt good off lead behaviours from her.

What I wish I had really, really known - to be far more direct to other owners who let their dogs off lead - ask them to recall their boisterous, verging on aggressive dogs coming up to our pup's on lead face. We've had a few horrible interactions - our pup on lead, others off with owner unable to gain control of them. I totally follow my gut now and clip ours back on lead and walk away very purposefully!

He is such a kind, fun, sociable pup - he makes me laugh every day. I hope you have a lovely time getting to know your pup.

(We are big fans of Lez Graham's books - recommend them!)