Tell me your honest experience with puppies

[cadburyegg]

We are hoping to get a puppy (specifically golden retriever) later this year. I have done a lot of breed research already and am aware of what to look out for regarding health etc.

I have 2 dc so I'm no stranger to waking up in the night and potty training but I imagine a puppy is slightly different 😂 but I'd like to know honestly what to expect, I have read a lot about them chewing everything, how long did your puppy take to potty train and sleep a reasonable stretch at night or is it a case of getting up every 2 hours for months on end?! What else did people struggle with, did you ever have regrets, presumably it's worth it in the end.

Tell me your honest stories, I want to go in with my eyes wide open. I am doing other research obvs 😊

The biggest shock we had was how much supervision they need and how long it is until they genuinely can be left alone and be ok with it. Over a year in our case. Not a nervous dog nor one prone to SA. Just age. Yes someone will say ‘mine was fine for four hours at 16 weeks’ or similar but they really can’t be. Biting was awful too. I mean draw blood launching with teeth. They grow out of that though (but it can come back in adolescence albeit mouthing and less savagery).

No sleepless nights because ours slept in our room. Toilet training was pretty quick.

But the feeling of being very tied was hard. It does get a lot better after the first year.

What you need to know about golden retriever puppies as that they are fluffy little land sharks.

They can't help it. They are bitey and they will follow you and bite you relentlessly. And they dig.

It will be over by the time they are 7 months old or so and it will seem like it never happened. Also, house training is very easy with retrievers.

One thing about puppies is that they naturally want to follow you when they are very young, so use that to work on recall, it comes naturally and it's the golden opportunity to teach it.

I don't have retrievers now, I have a different breed, but I might go back to retrievers later.

My dog is adorable and so will yours be - you probably don't need the pros so here are the cons:

Weeing and pooing until trained - puppies vary, mine cottoned on quickly but still has accidents at one year old;

Biting - can be a huge problem especially if you have children. They do grow out of it but their puppy teeth are sharp and can draw blood;

Being tied - you can't take dogs everywhere so think how you'll manage if you want to go out for a whole day without the dog;

Expense - vets' bills are the worst so consider insurance. You might also pay for a monthly programme for worms, fleas & ticks;

Puppy blues - lots of people regret having a puppy, despite loving them. They usually get over it as it becomes easier (and it does) but be prepared for it to happen.

Having a puppy is like having a baby but worse because there are places you can’t take them (supermarket, holidays, restaurants etc…) so you have to plan ‘who’s going to watch the puppy’ whilst you go out. Also puppies don’t wear nappies so with a baby the shit is somewhat contained, you will tread in puppy poo at least once, slip up on puppy piss and many of your favourite things and kids toys will be chewed up 😬.

some puppies are easier than others. I had a lab x that toilet trained in a day and never chewed anything up but he was high energy and totally loopy. I had another dog at the time which I think helped a lot. The other dog (staffie) was a nightmare puppy and destroyed many things and took ages to house train.

When our dog was a puppy he chewed everything …shoes, cushions, skirting boards, carpets… it was relentless & you’ll think ‘oh but just watch them’ but they’re quick and get into everything, be warned!

He dug up the garden, he once clambered through the kitchen window crashing everything around him when he decided that was for some reason the way back into the house, he also once bulldozed through the neighbours fence into their garden - I can laugh now but I was not laughing then!

A golden retriever is a lovely choice for a family pet, we have a Labrador and I love her to bits.

Potty training is a fairly small part of having a dog really (much like children!). The big change, for me anyway, is how tying the are. You might feel like you are tied with DC anyway but dogs have a completely different set of needs. You need to make sure they are walked and have had the right amount of stimulation before heading out with your DC for the day. Every. Day.

I found hiring a dog walker a couple of days a week and who could take our pup overnight for holidays etc. a huge help.

Good luck OP! They really are the best things ever and it does get easier, even by the time they are 1 it’s considerably easier than the puppy stage.

Oh, lastly, don’t go crazy buying ‘must have’ items. They really don’t need much other than the basics.

For us, the main "con" is how tying they are. You won't be able to wake up one morning and decide you want to go to the beach, or a theme park, or the zoo - because someone will need to be around for the dog. And it's something that lasts all their lives, whereas things like waking through the night, toilet training and teething are really a tiny part of dog ownership overall.

It's not just weekends either, work and school need to fit around the dog too - no more popping out for drinks or dinner, you need to get home for the dog. Don't get me wrong, I adore my dog and wouldn't swap him, but it's been a huge adjustment.

It's really something to think about as I read a lot of threads from people who resent being tied to the house because of the dog.

Dog trainer here - the first year will be really hard. You will cry. But if you put the time in with training by 18 months you should have a lovely family dog.

Key things
Progress is not linear. They generally listen ok initially, and then from six months to a year turn into delinquent teenagers and you think they've forgotten everything you've ever taught them. Mouthing issues can start again in this period.

Toilet training is intense. Your puppy must be supervised (not just in the same room, actually supervised), in a crate or tied to you to make sure toileting happens outside. For the first couple of months you'll probably need to get up once or twice in the night to take them out

Mouthing is normal, but painful. Bloody bites are not unusual (or directly a cause for concern). You will need to be very consistent in your response to stop it or it will continue as a game into adulthood which really hurts. Younger children are usually targeted more as they jump and squeal. Don't wear slippers, dressing gowns or flappy clothes.

Energy levels can be relentless. It's rare for a puppy four months or older to just chill out. You actively have to teach them to relax which is hard to do while doing something else.

The walking etc is what people think of as time consuming but actually it's teaching a totally different species how to coexist in a house that takes the time.

We have a Labrador so similar to a golden retriever and he basically toilet trained himself within a day or two. He’s only ever done one poo in the house on the first morning we had him and that was because I was faffing about putting my shoes on to go out with him and finding the back door keys. I soon learnt not to faff! He started a couple of wees in the house but we picked him up which stopped it, took him out and gave him a treat and he figured it out easily.

His recall has always be excellent too as his natural instinct is to bring things back to us.

He’s only chewed his toys too except for one random incident when he decided to gnaw a hole in the wall 🙈.

He also slept through the night straight away, so he wasn’t like a baby in that respect.

The only bad things were the biting with his needle puppy teeth, which was horrendous but stopped when his puppy teeth fell out and teaching him not to pull on the lead because even as puppies, they’re bloody strong!

Don’t underestimate the biting though, it really is as bad as people make out!

Oh I should add, the teenage stage is worse than the puppy stage between about 9 months and 1 year as they turn into absolute knobheads!

It’s all worth it though for the dog they turn out to be!

The first year of owning any dog is like 0-18 of a child you get everything potty trainer, teenage not listening, along with bitey land shark. Any adult dog is the result of the direct investment that is put in in that first year.
Well breed, well trained golden retrievers are lovely adult dogs skip any of those steps so poorly breed or not enough training and you will end up with problems.

Oh gosh, I honestly thought I was going insane with the tiredness, chewing and mess from ours. She was an utter horror for chewing - shoes, phone cables, skirting boards, her puppy beds, and I had barely turned my back on her. The first 6 months are relentless, and you really need your partner on board to give each other a break from it. It's like having a newborn baby all over again but worse. Best thing is to crate train from the get go because they need a safe space to retreat to if you have kids, and they can be put somewhere safe when the doorbell rings/phone rings and you can't watch them like a hawk.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/4969014-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-getting-a-golden-retriever

That'll help.

But for reference, I have a 14 month old Golden.

He was fully trained on basic commands (recall, sit, down - by eight weeks, leave, paw - for claw clipping by 10 weeks) as well as house trained 100% by ten weeks but knew to go outside from 9 weeks - just had a few accidents when I didn't get him out in time. Slept through the night solidly 8-4 or 9-5 from about 12 weeks.

That said, I spent about six weeks (13 weeks - about 20 weeks) wanting to sell the little scrotum as their mouthing IS awful. If you have young DC, you will need to monitor this carefully as when they are young they don't understand how harsh their bite force it. They DO have a soft mouth, but that comes with age. When they are puppies they don't understand how hard is too hard.

However, he is by far the most well tempered dog I have ever had.

All you really need to know is that all is forgotten once they look at you with those cute puppy eyes.

I don't know whether it was because I'd done lots of research so had realistic expectations of the puppy stage or if genuinely they were really easy pups.

Both came virtually toilet trained, slept through the night as soon as their bladders were capable and never really chewed anything they shouldn't, easily redirected if biting.

Yes, the first weeks were tiring as we were getting up in the night but I never felt like handing them back and that stage was soon over.

Two adults and no kids though, so we could always juggle supervision.

Both were off lead in appropriate places from their first walk, but we put a lot of effort into training from the day they came home onwards.

I'm actually quite sad I'm never going to have another puppy, as there's a lot about that stage I really liked.

I've raised several puppies in the last few years (all female, goldie or goldie cross)...

All of them slept through after about a week or so, as I crate trained (still got up quite early). It's important to do this properly and build up positive associations from the minute they arrive, there's plenty of info online about how to do this and they all loved their crate.

Potty training...needed full attention and putting out every time they move for the first few weeks. Use key word for toileting/No puppy pads. All largely potty trained by about 12 weeks, just the odd accident for a month or so after that.

Two were pretty cuddly and easy going with minimal biting/mischief making, one was an absolute shark and into everything.

All of them were lovely by about 6 months!

Could not have put it better myself.

Also please crate train. We always use one with ours until they are safe to stay out but also my youngest dog (22mths) has had multiple ops and the vets crate them. They told me he was the calmest in a crate and suffered no stress because of it.

Red Labrador owner here.

• She came to us toilet trained, has never weed in the house except randomly one evening two weeks ago where she weed 4 times in 3 hours in the living room
• she’s always slept through the night since day 1
• i wfh and I’ve got her into a really good routine of her meals, her walks and her naps which she has in her crate. She goes to doggy daycare 1 day a week.

she’s incredibly food led which makes her very trainable but the training is hard work. Constant. Every time she does something. It’s really draining. They can very easily train themselves bad habits because anything with any kind of food reward (cat poo, counter surfing, stealing food…) is instantly reinforced. You can also really easily reinforce bad habits.

she’s my first dog and I am really looking Forward to her not being a puppy anymore. She’s 6 months old- I think we’ve got a few more months yet. Sometimes I have to remind myself the positives because it is incredibly tiring, tying and expensive. I can’t really leave her alone and I can’t really work with her loose in the house/room because she’s just always into everything. She doesn’t settle unless she’s in her crate, until the evening when she cuddles up to whoever is on the sofa.

that being said, I love our walks, I like her company and I know after the hard work she will be a lovely dog. And she’s my Ds’s best friend and it’s so lovely seeing him love her.

House training was the easiest bit for us, the biting was the most difficult and prolonged for us. He is past the teenage stage now and he's relaly in tune with us now and us with him.

I say I wouldn't get another pup but I'd probably do it all again and hope the 2nd one wasn't as insane. Well at least we'd be bloody prepared next time!

I'm cutting and pasting from two previous posts because you do forget! Our gorgeous boy is now 3 and I love him so much as a dog but I also don't forget how hard it was at first. The few things I would definitely do differently now:

If only I'd known how much boy racer exhausts would spook him I would have tried to gently expose him to his much more.

As our vet dentist bill will attest, I would now avoid ostrich bones 😐

I'm so, so, so glad our pup is happy using a crate - it's made things like enforced rest so much safer and easier compared to what I've seen others had to handle, travel in car so, so, so much safer and easier etc etc. We rarely ever close the door on it but having the option to do this and he's fine with it really makes things more straightforward.

From previous posts:

Lead walking remains an on going challenge! He's better walking to heel off lead than on.

Something I simply did not anticipate is how much motorbike/ boy racer spluttering exhausts would terrify him. For some reason, over the last year they have suddenly proliferated and they totally spook him (and I now hate them with a passion, too). He's not a big fan of fireworks but he gets over them more quickly then the booming, banging exhausts. So try to build up the exposure to any and all kinds of noises your dog might get exposed to.

We did get a Tuffies bed - it's brilliant. Wish I'd got him it much earlier.

I'm so, so glad we kept his crate - it's his den and he still loves to sleep there at night and mooch off when he's had enough of fuss, we only ever pop him in (maybe once a month if that) and close the door if someone visits that's really uncomfortable around dogs but for taking him to the vets, taking him in friend's car that has a dog box, dog walker van with crates it's been really helpful.

Though our pup was cute as hell, I love him even more as a dog. ♥️

Wishing you a lovely start to your pup journey.

Link to previous suggestions https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/4336840-Newboy-arriving-Saturday-some-questions

How old are your children?

Puppies and small children look great in the ads, but in real life their needs and natures don't always get along quite so well.

Puppies are high need and the adopting family needs to be aware of that. The whole family needs to know how to accommodate the puppy, not the other way around.

I don't know whether it's more a boy puppy thing (it seems like it from people I know) but ours never had a teenage twat stage.

Puppies are hard work and a big commitment to do it properly - your freedom will be curtailed for a while - but your investment in those early months will pay off. My dog is a delight but if I ever got another dog I would seriously consider an already trained adult.

That said - puppies are super cute and worth it. Just a massive hassle but it will pass

We have a golden retriever 8 months now. She's a very calm and happy dog
Things we did..
..simple commands and training from day 1
..had on a thin long house line to communicate with her to instill boundaries so she's never bitten and wasn't allowed to mouth our hands
...redirected to chew toys instead of hands, furniture or child's toys
...crate trained and made sure she had plenty naps for at least first 5 months, needed to sleep 16 to 20 hrs a day. I think this really helped with calmness and not getting over tired
...walked her round the garden boundary frequently (as well as playing) not allowing her to go near the fence or into the bushes. She can now be let out on demand without supervision and she doesn't stray despite having a rickety fence.
...Still do training exercises now daily as fun which keeps her mind going.

Biggest thing I think is there's pretty much always someone at home with her. She can be left no problems for a couple of hours either in her crate or in the dining area if the house. She would manage for longer but we've not needed to yet.
She's a brilliant dog. I'm a first time dog owner and my husband laughs at my transformation into a soppy dog lover.

excellent advice here

just one thing i did with mine, 7pm after a long day of work/walks/exercise trainig etc - 7pm is down time, tea and chill. They are allowed on the sofa on a blanket but its chill time. No running after balls and being a nuisence!