Nee puppy.. will it get harder?

[Pumpkin5piced]

After reading how hard having a puppy is I was well and truly prepared for the worst and having doubts about my decision. I was and still am for the first few months or years to be awful based on what people say.
I bought my pup home on Friday. She’s had me up every hour in the night, barks more than id like and is a bit nippy but it’s nowhere near as bad as I thought. Im extremely tired but we’ve finally mastered the crate today so hoping for a better sleep tonight. She’s not having too many accidents indoors. Im expecting the biting to get much worse especially as she grows and can reach the sofa! Supervising her 24/7 is tiring, but she’s happy for me to offer about elsewhere now if one of the kids are with her and now she’s happy to have the crate shut I should be able to get stuff done.
Is this it, or will it get much harder?

The hardest time for us was the period before they can go out for a walk Once they can get rid of their energy they are a lot more contented indoors and you can wear them out a bit easier !

It will get harder before it gets easier - I would say you need to expect challenging behaviour of some sort for at least the first eighteen months, potentially longer depending on the breed.

Absolutely. It will get worse then better then worse then better, for 12-18 months. That’s pups for you

Im hoping I’ve convinced myself it’s going to be so bad, that actually it won’t be as bad as what I expect so I’ll cope better.
I’ve never had a dog before even as a child.

The biting will definitely get worse unfortunately.

I wouldn't worry too much. Our pup was a dream. Yes it was tiring and yes you need eyes in the back of your head but he was nothing like some of the stories you read on MN. He was even great as a teen.

Mine was fine after all you describe. I really struggled with the weeing and the guilt of leaving her overnight but once we mastered that she is literally no problem whatsoever. She's 2 now and I wouldn't be without her.
She never went through the biting stage either but is a small dog. Jack russell size.

The bits I was expecting to be hard weren't but there have been challenges I wasn't expecting. We only ever had two toilet accidents indoors and puppy wasn't very bitey compared to what I'd read. Yes some of our clothes now have holes, but it was all easily managed and we never really had evening witching hours. But she's still rubbish at sleeping overnight at nearly 6 months and we've resorted to having her in our bed as the lack of sleep was killing me.

I didnt find it as hard as people say either - mine toilet trained really quickly and never barked. The biting was annoying but passes quickly. However he did go through stages of being an utter ratbag at about 5-6 months and then again at 12 months (selective hearing, losing recall kind of thing).

Honestly, if you know it's going to take work, I don't think you'll find it that hard at all.

The hardest part about having a puppy (IMO) is when things don't go as you think they'll go.

So in your case, it could be that your pup develops a bad habit despite your hard work, and maybe you find it hard to correct that. For instance, if your pup starts barking excessively all the time, or refusing to go in crate, or destructively chewing, or reactivity issues, or whatever.

You'll be fine either way. Don't worry!

I don't know if it's worse, but the challenges are different.
AwkwardPup's second teething stage around 5-6 months was hard; we were well practiced with providing chews, frozen tea towels etc, but he completely lost his recall and was a shit in other ways as he was uncomfortable.
Adolescence (he's just turned 1) is a whole other challenge too; he's definitely got his own mind and ideas now, and he's more confident, so will happily fuck off into the woods after a squirrel whereas when he was younger he wouldn't leave our sight. Recall is much much better now, but you do need good treats every now and then so he thinks it's worth his time

Nope, my pup was so much better than I'd prepared myself for.

He's 8 months now and has always slept really well and been happy to be left for up to four hours. He was a bit nippy but got over it quickly. He came toilet trained by the breeder, he's had two accidents in the entire time we have owned him. He's chewed the odd thing but nothing precious or expensive. He's lovely.

He's definitely coming into his teenage years, he pulls more on his lead and has selective hearing but still not in the way I've seen it described.

I was the reluctant dog owner in our household so I wonder if that is why I was prepared for worse?

It really depends.

Firstly not all pups are difficult. I have had cocker spaniels for 20 years. Even with the bite stage I have never found it as horrendous as some people do. O have even fostered young cockers who have been separated from their mother and cared for them. Still not found it that bad. And cocker puppies are famous for being bitey.

I tend to think its my expectations. I expect it to be hard work and horrendous, so it never feels as bad. And after so many attempts we have a training system that seems to work well.

However, we just adopted some sort of poodle mix. Again, I expected it to be a tough time and she was a dream. She arrived at 10 weeks. We have had her 12 weeks. Very little biting. Toilet training was so easy (maybe because of the older 2) sleeps well. So quiet. She is so well behaved I was worried there was something wrong. My vet pointed out it because I am used to crazy spaniels and she was fine.

It could be that the puppy will get worse. It could be that puppy is a dream. It could be down to your realistic expectations of how hard puppies can be.

Only time will tell.

More to the point what is she abs where are the photos ❤️

It’ll get worse in some ways and better in others. Then you’ll think it’s going well and they’ll hit their teens 😂

Getting her settled at night will make a huge difference! My dd and I took turns at sleeping on the sofa for the first week, but now we don't hear a peep out of her.

I have 2 dogs, a 7yr old springer x patterdale and a 6mth old dachshund.

Our older dog was breeze until she hit the teen stage, then she was challenging, but on the whole she's really easy to live with and train.

I bought the devil sausage, or princess pissy pants as she's called, with my eyes wide open knowing they can be "difficult". And she is!! I wouldn't be without her, but I'm not looking forward to the teen stage with her.

You never know op, you might just have an easy puppy. I found mine trained really quickly as pups, I defo put the work in though. They all went through a naughty phase when going through the ‘teenage’ stage but they come out of the other side of that. I’ve never had an issue with biting/mouthing. I get accused of animal cruelty for saying it on here, but the second one of the pups has bitten me or the kids I’ve bopped it on the neck or gave it a hard shake by the scruff (like the parents would). I’ve got an American bulldog, a pit bull, a Rhodesian ridgeback and a collie and none of them bit more than 2-3 times as puppies. People baffle me on here writing posts about their how their children have been terrorised for weeks on end by their dogs biting them none stop and they’re getting injured and traumatised. Squealing loudly and putting your puppy in time out does bugger all which is what people seem to advise on here.

I spoke too soon, it got harder

Ohh,what a lovely puppy.try to enjoy your puppy.one day you will look back and say to yourself: oh,I miss my lovely naughty puppy sometimes.the first year is quite hard work,be patient,it will definately get better.

Ohh how sweet! What breed?

I have a 9 month old staffy and he was/is a dream. Settled from day one overnight

Taught him to ring a bell for toilet so fully house training by 10 weeks

Out of cage day and night by 5 months old

Left alone for 3 hours and just sleeps

I was mega paranoid about getting some kinda of nightmare puppy but it never transpired he has been perfect

Recall went a bitty off around 7/8 months but that's back again too

No all puppies are hard work