First puppy for a first time owner

[BeSpunkyJoker]

Hello!

I am interested (and have been for a few years) in purchasing a puppy. Unfortunately, the last time we purchased one, we had to return him to the breeder due to the puppy having an illness that we were ill-equipped to take care of.

However, we did notice that during our short time with the 9 week old puppy, he had a very hyperactive nature. In other words, the puppy would only sleep for 15 minutes at a time before awakening and wanting to play for an hour or 2 . This happened all through the night for a week. As my husband and I are both working people, we found his schedule to be hard work to say the least. We're not afraid of hard work but we are wondering whether this is typical behaviour of a puppy that age?

Which leads me to my next question. How long does this behaviour last before they settle into a routine of sleeping through the night?

Lastly, would leaving the purchase of a puppy for an extra month until they are at least 12 weeks old make any difference whatsoever in terms of a regular sleeping routine?

Thank you very much for your help in advance!

I honestly can't believe you sent a puppy back to the breeder because it had blood in its' poo 😬

That's an incredibly common sign of stress in dogs and believe me, your puppy will have been incredibly stressed.

If you can't cope with such a minor, commonplace issue then I don't think you have any business getting a dog, let alone one like an English Bulldog that's basically a walking vet bill.

My puppy would eat her own poo if we weren't quick enough to stop her. Then she'd get diarrhoea and wake us up every two hours throughout the night whining to go out and poo again, nice dribbly ones and I'd have to clean her bum before I went to bed. She did this about once a week until she grew out of it at about 12 months old.

Are you sure you want a puppy?

My youngest dog had explosive green poo in the early hours of the morning as a pup. NOT an illness the breeder hadn’t told us about. She had found a rotting windfall apple in the garden.
Sorry but you don’t sound like you’re able to cope with all that having a dog entails.

I am fairly certain there is more to this story. Breeders don't take puppies back if they just have a bit of blood in their poo. Parvovirus is the more likely explanation.

English Bulldogs are walking vet bills, sorry to say. Blood in poo with a pup is pretty common (not normal) and usually easily sorted. Our young pup caught a virus at 4 months and required a vet stay for some extra tlc whilst they ruled out anything serious but given she was a fit and healthy little sod from a good breeder it passed and she is now a fit healthy 18 month old.

Puppies are brutal. You have to really want a dog to go through it. Yes they are very lively until they mature and some all their lives. That can be 18 months or 18 years.

Nobody really talks about how hard it is and I'd have concerns given your history. A very wise friend said you surrender your life to the puppy for the first year and then very slowly things get better.

Breeders do sell adult dogs. Responsible breeders won't breed a bitch repeatedly and they aren't pet hoarders so they do rehome them. I am on a Facebook group for UK chihuahua breeders and I see it not infrequently.

@JustGettingStarted decent breeders don’t breed from bitches until they are no use to them then get rid.

A good breeder will take a puppy back for any reason at any age. I expect the breeder very quickly realised the OP was not going to be able to deal with a pup, so took it back as the best course of action for the puppy. Blood in its poo or not.

You are making a huge leap to it being parvo.

I disagree.

i got an adult dog from a show breeder. She breeds a litter every couple of years, generally as a reciprocal agreement with other show people, so puppies generally go to show homes. Her bitches only ever have two litters, often only one if the pups aren’t quite top class standard.

my dog was one of hers that didn’t enjoy showing. So she felt he was better in a pet home. She also rehomes her bitches once they’re neutered, and any other dogs that she can’t show for whatever reason.

would she like to keep them all? Yes of course. But then she’d end up completely overcrowded, and what does she do with 10 dogs that don’t come on the show circuit with her?

So she prefers to find quality pet homes where they’ll live out their lives with all the attention and care they need. Better quality of life for all her dogs, the ones she keeps and the ones she doesn’t.

Sorry but in my breed the decent breeders only have a litter to keep a puppy from and breed the next generation. They love their dogs, breed quite rarely and never offload dogs once they are done making money from them. I would be very distrustful of any breeder that did.

It isn’t “offloading once they are done making money” off them. Showing isn’t for profit, it’s a hobby. If a dog isn’t suited to the show world, then better they go to a pet home.

if a breeder only breeds to keep a puppy, what do they do with the rest of the litter? A breeder will always have more dogs than they can practically keep, whether they offload them as puppies or after their show career is over.

breeding the next generation to keep a puppy would mean one litter every 10 years or so?

horses are bought and sold if they are no longer suited to the home they’re in, but that’s not a problem.

I 100% agree with your post. Breeders which move on bitches when they are no longer available for breeding are not good breeders.

@Runningbird43 Good breeders only breed a litter when they have people on a waiting list for the puppies. So they do not off load the pups, they have people waiting for them.

All pups should go to good pet homes - those homes may choose to show, may already do, or the same for working their dogs - but the most important part is the dog is treated well as a family member, so a pet home.

I work and show my dogs, I have bred a small number of litters (single figures over 30 years), but first and foremost they are pet dogs.

In other words, the puppy would only sleep for 15 minutes at a time before awakening and wanting to play for an hour or 2 . This happened all through the night for a week. As my husband and I are both working people, we found his schedule to be hard work to say the least.

A whole week, you say? If you think that was "hard work", you have no business getting another dog.

Get a cat.

Totally agree. This is normal. Do not get another puppy.

Having a puppy is like having a newborn, albeit the puppy sleeps through and grows up quicker. But it IS hard work. Please don’t get a dog. You don’t have the knowledge, skills, or patience for a puppy or a dog

That's an absolutely massive leap.

Nobody sends a Parvo-infected puppy to a new home and then says "oh don't worry, I'll just take them back".

@fieldsofbutterflies I'm in a breed specific club and exactly that happened last year, admittedly it wasn't a good breeder, but they took over responsibility for very expensive care and a puppy who was going to spend their socialisation period in a vet.

We're all making a leap, all OP has said is the puppy had an illness they weren't equipped for, and blood in its stool. Because it's the doghouse, most posters are choosing to make the assumption that OP is irresponsible, uninformed and shouldn't ever consider owning a dog.

@BellsAndFootfalls if the puppy did have parvovirus or some other serious illness, then that should really have been included in the post as the reason for sending it back.

I also don't think anyone has been unduly harsh - OP's comments are mostly about the puppy not sleeping and having lots of energy and it being hard work - I mean, that's 100% normal for any puppy and anyone who's done even thirty minutes of research should know that.

To me, the posts just come across as being quite cold and detached and I wonder if that's what's upset people.

I appreciate what you're saying @fieldsofbutterflies, OP didn't give us much to go on and if it was something serious it's a huge drip feed. But I do think lots of posts on the doghouse are unduly harsh most of the time.

@BeSpunkyJoker if you are still reading, get a copy of Steve Mann's book Easy Peasy Puppy Squeasy and read it cover to cover before you consider another puppy. A puppy that sleeps for 15 mins and is awake for 2 hours throughout the night for a week is not normal, that would break me. Most puppies don't want to be alone at night, were you trying to get your puppy to sleep in another room? Setting up their bed right next to yours so you can soothe them during the night initially will help everyone get more sleep. Make sure you look into the right breed, if you're both working full time a working breed isn't going to work, short-nosed breeds are more expensive (vet bills and insurance) etc etc

Puppies are hard work. I mean, really, really hard work.
I say it takes a good 8-10 months to start feeling like you have cracked a lot of the puppy behaviours.

Bulldogs are notorious for health problems, so you need to be prepared for that.

I think you're ill prepared for having a puppy or dog, you don't seem to know anything about them.
Bulldogs are also a really poor choice as they are so poorly bred. You really need to research what you're doing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61799718

What @Jifmicroliquid said
Also as a childminder some new parents may not take the place due to you having a dog.

But I do think lots of posts on the doghouse are unduly harsh most of the time.

Totally agree with you there - I do think most of the responses here have been fairly tame though! I've certainly read much worse 😬

Looks like you jumped ship at the first problem. You don't just give it back it's yours Don't get another you will look for a reason to return it in no time. They don't sleep for ages and a bulldog will have loads of health problems because they arnt meant to be ! Flat nosed dogs can't breathe properly. Find a hobby