Hello, I have a 6 month old lab who I brought home at 8.5 weeks old. It's been a roller coaster ride. He's a pure bred rascal but he's my rascal. I've fallen in love with him so there's no going back. I'd wanted a lab puppy for decades. I'd read widely and thought I was prepared. Ha! The reality was nothing like I expected. He had no manners, no morals, no loyal love for me. For much of the first few weeks if I'd had a time machine I would have been delighted to have gone back and never have met him. I was convinced he was aggressive. He used his teeth strategically to get his own way. If he didn't want to be lifted out of car, or didn't want to be touched to untangle his lead from his paw, or didn't want me to hold the treat he was eating for him he would bite. He drew blood twice. He would growl FEROCIOUSLY while pulling at my trouser leg or my neighbour's trouser leg. He growled at me once for lifting him out of car. If I dared to tell him 'no' e.g. for chewing skirting boards he would look at me with a look in his eyes that scared me. I had nightmares every night for weeks about the big bad aggressive adult dog I was sure he would become. People reassured me that 3 month old puppies are rarely to never agressive. But they hadn't seen him in action! I was convinced I'd adopted a 'wrong un'. But I was wrong. He was being a normal puppy. In between all his 'aggressive acts' he would sleep in my arms, sit calmly at my feet in cafes, greet strangers with adoration, sleep pressed into my back. For 95% of time I felt a calm, loving fondness for him. Slowly at first and then all at once I fell in love with him. A few things helped me when I was convinced he was aggressive. My sister told me she'd worried the same about her lab who is now the calmest, gentlest most beautiful, trustworthy dog imaginable. I read The Happy Puppy book which reassured me that puppies growl FEROCIOUSLY in play. I took him to Dogs Trust Puppy School where a brilliant trainer explained to me that puppies are like toddlers who have no idea how to control their emotions. That puppies can behave the ways I'd described when over tired, over stimulated, when playing too hard. She used an analogy of bucket of water to describe over stimulation. She said some things add water to the bucket like new experiences, meeting new people, play. Other things take water out of the bucket like sleep, chewing, licking, peace and quiet. It was my job to manage the bucket so it never overflowed. I had to balance the excitement with calm. @Cavalierchaos I joined mumsnet to share this with you. I know how hard it is to have dream of dog be nothing like reality. I too had thoughts of returning my puppy sometimes in those first few weeks and couldn't see a way out. Everyone I knew knew I had him. I felt like a failure. I know now I wasn't. I have no idea how it's such a 'well kept secret' that puppies can be absolute horrors for most of their waking hours. That the puppy blues are real and hit hard. I guess it's because so many of us keep the lows of puppydom to ourselves. My puppy is still a pure bred rascal. Today alone when I left him home-alone for 90 minutes he counter surfed my desk and shredded everything on it. He had a bit residual poo stuck to his rear end during a walk which he licked off. He took his lead in his mouth when we got home from walk and refused to let go, trying to entice me into a game of tug of war. But he's also looked at me with love in his eyes, showed pure unbridled joy on walks, played with football like it was the most fun thing ever, hasn't barked once, has greeted me with wagging tail, obeyed almost every sit, stay, leave it and come here instantly and enthusiastically, he's been the only soul who's wanted to be by my side all day long. He's filled my heart to overflow with love. He literally destroyed my 'Perfect Puppy' book soon after I brought him home. He'll never be the perfect 'guide dog' type dog I dreamed of. And that's finally OK. Like all dogs, he's a unique individual and I love him fiercely, (but that fiercer kind of love takes time to develop, at least for me). One of the greatest things about dogs is that they're so trainable. I know that I can fix the counter surfing for example - hopefully! Those first few weeks and months can be so hard. So exhausting, getting up through night, clearing up accidents, always on go, trying in vain to communicate with a stranger of another species, everyone else saying how cute he is and how he's made them want a puppy too when you know the truth and are only partly joking when you say 'you can have mine'! I kept mostly quiet about my occassional puppy regrets and when I did speak of them I down played them. Everyone knew how much I'd wanted a puppy and I couldn't bring myself to tell them how I felt sometimes. It's life changing getting a dog. Now if I had a time machine I would still get him. But I'd want to go back knowing what I know now and do it all again calmer and with less worry. Another thing that helped me was speaking to vet who reassured me he had a fantastic temperament and his behaviours were all normal. With hindsight I think my puppy was stressed and over-stimulated for much of his early weeks in new home. I agree with other posters that if you hang on in there it will definately get better. There will be ups and downs. I still have down days with puppy where he seems to ignore me unless I have chicken in my hand. Where I'll feel so much love for him I have tears in my eyes, reach out to touch him and he'll move away. It's probably only been the last few weeks where he's started to consistently show true bond with me e.g. to show joy when I praise him, to look up to my face to check in with me on lead walks, to enjoy being stroked by me more than anyone else, to react with concern and staying close when I slip. I think I can see glimmers of the adult dog he'll become - calm, gentle, loyal, quietly sensitive, relatively independent, joy loving - nothing like the one I feared when I worried about his 'early puppyhood aggression'. I've gotten to know him and mostly understand him. I can see clealy now just how much of an intelligent, emotional, sentient, thinking soul he truly is. To say it's not all roses (then and now) is an understatement. But now, at least, the good puppy days far outweigh the bad puppy days. Best wishes x