We got a puppy! I still cannot believe that we got ourselves a puppy. Meet Whiskey our Golden Retriever pup and the fluff-ball who upgraded us from couple to family. Whiskey is about to be 18 weeks old and has been with us for 11 weeks. I know! I know! This article is way overdue. The thing is, even though, he looks adorable, life is not a bed of roses with a new puppy and the past weeks have been quite the adjustment. So here are a few things I believe anyone who is looking into getting a pup should know.
Getting ready
Getting a puppy is a huge responsibility as you take in a living, breathing creature that is completely dependent on you. For everything! Before we decided to get a puppy we talked for years about it. And even though we had tried to imagine what how it would impact our lives. I mean we even We also doggie playdates with friends who had dogs so we could ask them questions and experience what it would be like having a dog running through out garden or our house. Nothing, no book, no conversation was anything like reality. Raising a pup to become a decent adult dog is hard work. It takes consistency, patience and perseverance, so if your thinking on getting a puppy, make sure to be fully committed.
There are a million things you could buy your puppy but here’s what I felt are the top 10 things you need to survive the first few days:
- Food, best is to continue the breeder’s food plan before changing it up
- Bowls for water and food
- A plane collar, no harness as that encourages pulling
- A leash
- A crate for them to sleep in, this will also play a key role in getting them house trained
- A blanket to sleep on in its crate
- Poop bags
- Toys, start with the basics something plushy, something to bite and something to play with you
- Little training snacks
- Lots and lots of love and patience
The first two weeks, potty training
Love and patience will be particularly important in the first two weeks of getting your puppy. When you bring your puppy home it’ll take them a day or two to adjust to their new surroundings. At the same time potty training or house training kicks in immediately. This is an intense period in which you need to watch the little one like a hawk and proactively go outside with them and have them go potty. Yes, you need to give a name!
Also, when they are little they will not be able to hold it 8 hours through the night so you will have short or even interrupted nights. Dogs will never poop or pee where they sleep. Pro tip we got, that worked like a charm, is to use the crate to get your pup potty trained.
Now, I’ll be 100% honest with you. Those first two weeks are tough. You need to be extremely disciplined while you are sleep deprived. Not only will you have to stick to a tight schedule to get them house trained, puppies are also tiny land sharks. Yes, land sharks! In their first few weeks they mouth, which means they explore everything with their mouth, including your hands, your shoes and your clothes. It’s your job to teach them they cannot bite in any of that and should bite in their toys. Half way through our second week, no matter how cute our fluff-ball was, I thought: “oh shit what have we done, are we up for this?!” It does not matter how much you talked about what it takes to raise a dog, it hits you like an asteroid when he’s there. This is called the puppy blues. Don’t panic, we’ve all been there and you’ll get through it as well, just stick to the schedule!
Exploring the world, socialisation
Once your pup is house trained the real fun begins, socialisation. Up until’ 16 weeks these little fellas are sponges. It is your job to expose them to as many situations as possible so he can grow up feeling comfortable with them. Be mindful when they are still little and not fully vaccinated, of where and how far you venture. Until’ fully vaccinated you want to avoid places where lots of other dogs are. Rule of thumb is that they can walk 1 minute for every week they are old. At first we took a bag with us, so that we could carry our pup and he could continue to observe and sniff.
Becoming
A family
Our pup is now 18 weeks old now and happily exploring and venturing out with us. By being disciplined and playing with him on a regular basis we have started to form a trusted bond. This allows us to enjoy each other even more as we go on little adventures during the weekend. We still need to mind his energy levels and he still needs to sleep a lot, yet the whole family has found its balance in the new world which is pretty awesome!
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Whiskey transformed us from being a couple to being a family. Each weekend we go on little adventures, whether that’s a day trip or several days away.
