Extreme puppy blues - don't know what to do

[ThrowawayName987]

We're 10 days in with our first puppy. We've planned this for months, chose the breed and breeder carefully, had a deposit on him since he was a week old, travelled a four hour round trip to see him twice and then to collect him - we had thought this through so carefully. And he's perfect - calm, content, and a great fit into our family.

So why do I feel like I've made the biggest mistake of my life? I keep imagining the relief I would feel if we returned him to the breeder. I can no longer think of a single positive reason to own a dog, and I just want to disappear. I had terrible pregnancy and postnatal depression with my first child, and I'm back there again. Feeling incredibly low and very dark.

Please can someone tell me if this is normal? Should we return him? He's the sweetest, gentlest little thing - I want what's best for him. My children (4 and 7) already adore him and would he devasted if we didn't keep him I feel totally trapped.

Please be kind with me, I already feel like a monster.

Gently, I don't think the puppy is the problem. I'd get a GP appointment booked to discuss how you're feeling.

I'm a dog trainer and new clients regularly talk about these kinds of feelings. It's such a big commitment and can feel like such a big change the puppy blues are very normal and very real.
In my experience whippets are quite challenging & bitey puppies but great adults - perfect balance of being happy to go for a walk and then chill at home.
I'm obviously biased but I would advise going to some local training - it means you can get ahead of any issues before they're a struggle but also for a lot of people just the emotional support of having someone there to help and seeing other people dealing with their puppies can be a really good thing.
At the same time - if you did decide to re-home it doesn't make you a terrible person. I really hate the narrative of rehoming a dog being the worst thing in the world (as someone who has had lots of rescues and foster dogs) - sometimes people are incredibly responsible and do everything right and it's just not the right dog for them. If you did decide to re-home though I would do it while he's still a 'puppy' as it can be much harder past 6 months to find homes.

I know exactly how how you are feeling. I felt the same and we unfortunately gave our pup back after 3 days. We felt better to do sooner rather than later. I just felt relief. It absolutely triggered post natal depression and feelings of being trapped/no sleep/tied to someone else's routine. Am now looking at refining a dog but actually I'm still not sure owning a dog is right for me right now as I think it too would trigger pnd - similar but less intense feelings of lack of freedom and always having to plan around dogs needs. So difficult as I adore dogs. Anyway so sorry you feel so bad. Good luck with what you decide to do x