What do you wish you'd known before getting your first dog?

[NewMaltese]

Hello, I'm new to The Doghouse area of mn!

I'm collecting our first ever dog on Friday, an 11wo female Maltese.

I'm excited but completely overwhelmed with all the info and advice out there. My anxiety is off the scale 🫣

What do you wish you'd known before your puppy arrived?
What one thing would you have done differently?
Are there any products that you found invaluable?
Any products/advice you wish you'd ignored?

🥰

my first dog?
trained better, and for longer

I don't have a dog, but I wish all dog owners would pay more attention to the fact that THEY are responsible for the ultimate destination of every single one of their dog's turds, from the day it comes home in the pet carrier to the day it finally leaves. Seems there's not a country walk anywhere in this land that is not festooned with little plastic bags full of dog shit.

Same as @HelenWheels.
Consistency is key, things take longer than you think.
Read Easy Peasey Puppy Squeezy and join the Dog Training and Advice group on Facebook.
And socialization- take your puppy lots of places so they get used to all sorts of different noises and experiences whilst they are young.
And puppy blues is a real thing- it can feel very overwhelming.
But it's worth it!

As above re training. Also, the meeting other dogs and socialising thing. It's good for them to do that, but with limits. My dog (4) is very friendly, wants to meet all other dogs and gets a bit over excited at times.

You get out what you put in. The more time you devote to consistent training, the better a life you'll have with your dog. And just like toddlers, positive reinforcement beats punishment every time. Find out what motivates your dog (food, praise, being close to you) and lean into that. Good luck!

That puppyhood might last longer than you expect!!
We have an 18 month old Weimaraner and are still looking at another year before he starts to settle down (despite knowing the breed well!)

Expect to say everyday 'this is why we can't have nice things' when you've been through three remote controls in a week because someone always forgets to put it away

That you will feel miserable at least once in the early days but you DO end up with a lovely dog.
Routine helps, the bitey ness and lunging at your face is not aggression but exuberance. And suddenly one day you realise they haven’t done it for a while.

They don’t speak English.

Your bond isn’t immediate. They have no idea who you are, so you have to show them kindest and gentleness and what not to do, so they learn you’re the person they can trust. It doesn’t happen overnight.

if you have children, be firm that they cannot wake a sleeping puppy. The puppy should have a space where they can get away from being touched. The children shouldn’t pick up (thus cannot drop) the puppy or chase her (will teach her to run away - they should get her to chase them if they’re playing).

obvs you are a lot older and hopefully will have considered this but…
we got a family dog when I was about 14. A few months later I still recall how upset I was when I realized that this dog, who I loved so dearly, would eventually die, almost certainly before me.
That realisation was worse than her eventual (peaceful, old age) death.

I’ve not had a dog since and the fact that they die is a major put-off tbh.

They can be hard work, even bring you to tears. But with time and patience the chewing, digging, nipping, pooing and weeing indoors stops, well mostly 😁. Mental stimulation is as important as physical.

I have a Maltese mix, and my biggest regret is not being firmer with not allowing jumping up at people when she was a puppy. You will get a lot of attention when you're out and about with a cute small white puppy , the puppy will jump up in excitement and will get positive reinforcement from the human who thinks it's adorable. Then 2/3 years down the line it's so hard to untrain!

The question is more what wouldn’t I do different!

research the breed properly is the first thing. Understand what to expect from your breed and adjust your expectations accordingly. I don’t know a single dog that doesn’t have an issue of some sort!

Don’t overwhelm them by exposing them to all these new things thinking you’re ’getting them used to it’. No, it’s overwhelming. Take it slow and steady.

Learn dog etiquette. Don’t let your dog run up to those on lead because it’s a friendly pup. The other dog may not be friendly.

Research and invest in a good trainer. Take pup to classes, don’t rely on YouTube. Much more effective to train in person.

This…

What do you wish you'd known before your puppy arrived? That 'socialising' does not mean letting your dog meet and be patted by every person going and, likewise, doesn't mean your dog doesn't need to greet every dog it sees.

What one thing would you have done differently? Not allowing people to greet my youngest (Golden Retriever so naturally everyone wants to say hi). I often did say no, but people pushed it and I should have been way more robust - I just didn't want an argument.

Are there any products that you found invaluable? Nope. Most of them are gimmicks!

Any products/advice you wish you'd ignored? Puppy training classes - did it for my most recent dog and honestly, waste of time, money and energy. Mumsnet loves them. I hate them. Think they're overpriced, the 'trainers' often know little about dog behaviour, the things you learn are actually better taught in your house and then out on a walk rather than in a random room etc. Half the time there are too many puppies in one room to adequately learn things (really you need to learn them first without distractions and then move on to learning them with distractions, otherwise you reinforce bad behaviour and get frustrated with your puppy when it fails). If you do decide to go to puppy training classes, then ask your local vet for a recommendation - don't be fooled by snazzy websites etc.

I thought the puppy classes were excellent. But I would have made my DH attend so that he knew why I was teaching the puppy certain things.

Worked on leaving the dog on its own, earlier. She cried whenever we left a room so it got worse if we stepped out the house. A year down the line and I'm baffled about next steps and DH has no clue either other than he expects we should just be able to leave the dog.

So lowering expectations too.

Thank you - I work from home so will be able to spend a lot of time on things like this throughout the day 🥰

Yes it's a real hate of mine too.
I've already looked at biodegradable poo bags, but am also going to Google sustainable ones after work, to see what's available

Great advice, thanks so much. I've just ordered that book on your recommendation 😀
Also ordered a puppy brainteasers book too, to give ideas of how to keep them mentally stimulated x

Thanks. A few neighbours and friends have small dogs so will definitely get them involved when she's old enough. One of my friends has one the size of a horse, so that's going to be interesting

Great, thanks so much 😍

Erk 😬😬😬

Oh great advice, esp re chasing, thank you!

Honestly this has been something that has put me off for many years 🥲

What do I wish I had known?

That when you talk to them your voice will automatically go 10 octaves higher, particularly when praising them in the initial toilet training stage. You have no control over it, it just happens. Resulting in you never being able to make eye contact with your neighbours ever again.

You can't reinforce training enough

I would echo what @Melsy88 said. We were v good when ddog was a puppy at jumping up but as he got older, we stopped reinforcing it so much and he immediately went back to doing it. Don't underestimate how many people will stoop down to pat the dog completely uninvited!

Thanks so much. I've been googling mental stimulation ideas, and have bought a brain teasers book for her 😅