Talk to me about the first few days….

[Citygirlrurallife]

And another one! Bringing our puppy home on Monday, probably be back around 1-2pm

we have a crate and a pen set up in our living room/kitchen (he’s used to a pen but not a crate so I don’t want to force crate training on him too quickly) and I’m going to sleep on a blow up mattress with him for at least the first few nights.

I know we should take him outside to wee often (every hour?) and reward heavily when he does so, use opportunities for basic training but generally get to know him and let him know his surroundings.

when it comes to food, what did everyone do at first in terms of mealtimes? As soon as you get up (after a wee break)? Then what like lunchtimeish, late afternoon, and a bit before bedtime? Is there a certain time between meals although I’m aware he’ll also get lots of treats through training and games etc, but as he’s a puppy do treats go on top of meals at first?

anyone care to give me a bit of insight as to what those first few days look like? He’s 10weeks old and will be having his first jabs on Friday - PROMISE to post pictures when we get him!

To raise a happy, confident pup you should sleep in the same room for at least 6 months, maybe longer.
They may look like they cope alone, but it can cause confidence problems later down the line.

Only ever reward what you want, never punish what you don’t want.

It’s hard and relentless and can feel like you don’t get much back from them for a while.

Congratulations on your pup!

The breeder should give you his current feeding schedule and ideally a bag of the food he's weaned on or at least let you know so that you can purchase your own bag. My pup is currently 10wks too (had her 2 weeks) and she gets fed at 7am/1:30pm/7pm.

My puppy sleeps next to my bed in her own bed, there's 2 puppy pads on the floor in front of it and then I have the bottom blocked off so that she can't run round the room. She's only had 1 wee during the night since I got her. She has a crate in the front room for day naps. Be prepared for crying in the crate even though he's used to being in a pen.

He will be a little land shark so make sure there are plenty of toys to distract him with so that he doesn't nibble fingers and toes

Have read easy peasy puppy squeezy so def on the train of thought of reward never punish and try to get puppy to do what you want them to do not what you don’t want them to do!

unfortunately the puppy can’t go upstairs to bedrooms in our house but we’ll figure out the sleeping situation

def looking for a general idea of what the first day or two particularly with feeding will look like

Don’t be daft! Our dog has never slept in the same room as us and he’s certainly not lacking in confidence 😂.

My best advice is prepare to have your life turned upside down and to wonder what on earth you have done! It starts to get better after about 12 weeks and by the time they’re 1 you’ll have a lovely dog 🥰.

Don’t expect too much too soon or it’ll just stress you out.

We fed our pup as soon as he’d been out for a wee in the morning, lunchtime, about 4pm and about 7pm while we are our tea.

Start training him to recall straight away while he still naturally wants to stay close to you and don’t be scared to let him off his lead.

Oh god and yes, prepare for the biting!

We only used crate at night, he cried first 15 minutes, then slept till around 3 am. He was directly below us in lounge so I could hear him move about. I did feed 4 times a day, as suggested, but soon dropped to 3 times a day, as that really helped with nighttime 💩. Practice walking with lead in garden, just a couple of minutes to get puppy used to it. Is Friday the earliest you can see vet? Puppies have to have 2 sets of vaccines, then wait a week before you can start walking outside. Take some blankets when you collect puppy to rub on mum and siblings so when he sleeps he can smell them. My breeder fed goats milk to puppies and I carried on with this. We started puppy classes as soon as we could and the amount of cooked chicken needed for treats was a full meal.

Expect chaos!! And a lot of cuteness

Our breeder gave us the times and amount she’d been feeding him so we stuck with that - mine was reluctant to eat so I hand fed him for the first few days until he was happy to eat from his bowl.

Puppies wee a lot, we went out as soon as he woke up, after he’d played, after he’d eaten. Pretty much every 20 minutes when he was awake and he’d go more often than not.

And don’t worry if you feel a bit down, the puppy blues are very very real but do pass quickly. Go easy on yourself for the first few weeks and just concentrate on getting to know them.

Thanks for all this! Our breeder will be giving us food and treats so therefore I assume a feeding schedule too, and blankets from mum.

yeah Friday is the earliest they can get us in but we have a wee garden at least - we’re signed up to puppy socialisation classes but haven’t found actual training ones

my aunt suggested getting ski gloves for the children while biting is a thing and we’re teaching it not to be - anyone else done this?

Enforced naps!! Every one to two hours.

Don't worry if you feel overwhelmed and scared. It can hit hard. Gets better over time.

The biting will be a mixture of play biting (remove them from the situation / ignore / give them something else to bite) and fear biting (ie if they are nervous about something, in which case try to be understanding and totally calm even if the biting feels personal).

Don't feel the pressure to do everything perfectly. It's just like with babies, social media can make you feel like you're doing everything wrong.

Ps: don't forget to eat. I lost over a stone within four weeks! Still haven't put it back on and she's ten months old now!

Start as you mean to go on. If you don't want an adult dog on the sofa or upstairs don't let the puppy on the sofa or upstairs. Get them used to a lead, and when you can walk them a treat bag and frequently rewarding good behaviour certainly pays off. If you think about it do you really want to walk a dog that tows you down the road or with no recall for 14/15 years, a walkbis far more enjoyable with a dog that can walk on a loose lead and recall well.

@ClaireandTed thar is really friendly and lovely advice!!

errrrr….how does one enforce a nap? I was always crap at that with my babies and toddlers!

Jeez @Imsupertangirl are you mad?
I've never slept with any of my puppies. They sleep with me now as adults.
Crate train from the get go. I wouldn't sleep next to it (I'm sure the breeder doesn't so why start now?)
Routine is very important. Take the dog out at set times during the day, last time out then pop in crate (with blanket smelling of mum, a toy and water). I would then take pup out at some point overnight then get up quite early in the morning to take him out. I never used puppy pads as I think that just trains them to go in them rather than outside.
During the day I would pop pup in the crate if things are getting boisterous and puppy needs a break or if you go out. If you do go out be sure to take dog out first for toilet then put in crate and walk out the door. DO NOT do the 'aw poor baby I'll be back soon awww don't cry I'll see you soon'. Just leave and return without fuss.
Once pup gets jabs you can take him for little walks to socialise. It takes a while for them to realise they can do their business on these walks - for ages we'd walk then come home and my dog would then toilet in the garden, but they get it eventually. Once reliable house trained you can stop putting the dog in the crate when you go out and eventually not at night either, though you might want to keep it out with door open if they treat it as their bed.
So basically: routine, no fussing on leaving and returning, reward good behaviour ignore bad (distract). Use the crate as a den and cosy home not as punishment.
I've had several dogs and all were house trained quite quickly and none had separation anxiety.

I didn't crate train our puppy back in January. I made it snuggly and denlike, put the brewer's soft toy and a few little treats in and that was it. He slept in it and was in it if he couldn't be immediately supervised. He still sleeps in it at night. Don't feed within three or four hours of bedtime if you want clean nights. Mine are fed at 6 and 6, with an extra feed at noon when very young, before six months. He will need letting out much more often than once an hour and you need to go with him. I got up at 2 at night, put him on a lead, minimal interaction, then gradually pushed the night wee back by a quarter of an hour a night until he could go right through to 6. The first few weeks are knackering.

...breeder's...

After she'd been awake an hour or two she would get frantic and bitey- I would instantly put her in her crate and say 'in your crate' - in the early days she'd resist a little and snap her head round to bite me 🤣 and then she'd bark or whine for about thirty seconds then collapse and sleep! For the early weeks I sat watching her and hardly moved because she always woke if I moved 🤣 I'm so glad those days are over! I don't need to enforce naps any more. I do occasionally use the crate if I go out but only when I know she is exhausted and she goes in on request.

Another thing I'd advise is to look into 'capture calm'. There's a kikopup video on YouTube about it. We found it invaluable. I massively overstimulated our puppy in the early weeks. Totally my fault. Capturing calm turned everything around.

We are 2 weeks in with our spaniel puppy. He hates sleeping. But pups need 18-20 hours! Crate worked to force him to stay still and to stop the hyper biting etc but he was distressed so now I put him on his lead and tie it to the kitchen table. He sleeps better and I can make a coffee in peace. It's been 2 weeks of hell tbh 😭 getting better every day though

Honestly I regretted it so, so, much for a loooong time. She is a particularly full on puppy and even her trainer said she was very tricky for first time owners. But now, she's becoming more of a good girl and it's so lovely to see.

OP hope this isn't scaring you! It will be worth it x

We’re almost a week in with river pup, our first pup.

what I’ve learnt is you can’t take their eyes off them, for a second (unless asleep). They’ve inquisitive little beings. Ours was frantic for the first couple of days, but has become more settled.

Plan easy meals (for yourself) as your routine will be totally thrown. Take time off to look after them.

I’m laying here feel shattered from a poor night sleep, but he’s adorable even so.

Their bladders are quite weak, so you need to take them outside immediately on waking. There will be accidents in the house.

Lol @ClaireandTed no, I have very very low expectations. Honestly I’m looking forward to in 2 years time when I have a lovely companion and have to keep imagining that moment and putting in the work so we get there!!!

@Citygirlrurallife how did the first week go, OP?

Good luck! We picked oour puppy up 4 weeks ago and it's been soooo hard!! She is crate trained and sleeps brilliant in her crate in the kitchen now, 9:30-7am and doesn't mess in there. While they're little feed four smaller meals each day but make sure you remove any signs of food by 5:00. It'll give them at least a fighting chance at not messing in their crate. Put a puppy pad in the crate as they're bound to see and mess at some point (ours only messed twice)
Take them straight out for a wee every time they come out of crate / every time they wake and about every 30 minutes and reward well when they do it outside.
We had the crate in our bedroom for two nights, then on the upstairs landing for two then downstairs in the hall for two then in the kitchen and that worked for us, good luck.
Also, be prepared for doggy blues. I kept crying wondering what the hell we'd done and people keep telling me it gets easier but we're not there yet and he's 4 months old. It's really hard

@OopsUpsideYerEad its all going well - the ups and downs are def all around my worries I’m not doing the right things but we’ve had him a month now and learning what is best for him by doing. He’s utterly lovely though which makes the sleeplessness easier (our main thing we still need to crack because I’m a total soft touch)

That’ll be my killer as well - would you mind telling me what happens to cause the sleeplessness? Is it that he cries so you get up and go to him? or toileting? That’s the one thing that’s making me nervous - nighttimes. Even though I’ve had three dogs previously, I can’t remember how we conquered nighttimes!

I’m a soft touch basically!!! And a light sleeper, he actually doesn’t need to go to the loo in the night anymore and we have him in the crate but he does cry a few times and I always go to him (I’m on the sofa in the next door room having gradually migrated there), I probably go
to him way sooner than others would though but we’re just taking it super slowly