first day with your puppy

[greekblue]

I thought it would be nice if you could describe the first day your puppy came home. Was it fun, quiet, timid, scared, crying, how long time did it take to get used to you, did it come to you easily, etc.

Also, how was the first night with your puppy home?

[Rivsky]

Well I don't want to alarm you but that first night was HORRIBLE!!! We got next to no sleep cos of the whining and crying and carrying on - we started River off in his bed in the kitchen which he was quite happy in during his first day home, then the BF and took the doona to sleep on the kitchen floor with him then we took his bed next to our bed and by 6am I'd had enough and did the exact thing I shouldn't have - yep let him on the bed Now we can't get him off!!!

The first day though was absolutely great - I still remember the first time we put him outside and he was off exploring - not at all scared - he even started attacking one of the plants! Then it was back inside and he was quite happy running around checking things out finding his toys. My sister and nephew came over to visit and he run right up to them both - not a concern in the world!! Of course there was also LOADS of sleeping and many trips outside to the toilet and lots and lots of cuddles - it was just such a great day and I swear he just slipped right into our family without any problems at all.

[greekblue]

Thanks Rivsky,
trust me I expect anything the first night. And of course I know I am crazy, but I would not be able to sleep anyway from the excitement, so no sleep, no problem. I am awake at this moment 2:45am here because I am excited waiting for my puppy.

My breeder just sent me an email:
"Hi Louiza,
Niki is sleeping right now, she so cute and so sweet, loves to kiss
She has wonderful temperament."

Now, how can you sleep after that!
I can't wait to get a kiss from her
Gosh, this puppy will be spoiled! -- no, just kidding. She will be the most loved and the smartest, and most well behaved doggie around.

[qwertyasu]

but I would not be able to sleep anyway from the excitement,

I remember that.

1st day-A little more reserved than she would show herself to be in the following weeks but still spunky and curious. Cried ALOT the first 2 weeks!!

[greekblue]

Did she cry the day too, or just the nights?

[britishbandit]

Apart from the crying at bedtime in her crate, the first day with Tysa was simply amazing. I remember it all so clearly. She was a trooper, and ready to take on the world! HAHA Far from timid, she just wanted to play play play, bounding around like crazy, a little unsteady on her feet, and the occasional wipe out. She was super affectionate from day one, and wanting to explore the house and check out her new siblings. No fear at all, and she was instant best buds and glued to my other dog Harley. For naps she slept nearby, so content, and was a whiz for catching on to potty training. She was and still is such a character, and I was beaming from the second I picked her up. Lots of sleepless nights though for the first few months, she wasn't just a whiner in her crate, she screamed, yelped, howled, you name it, any sound she could make, she let it out! LOL But by 4 months of age, she was sleeping soundly during the night, and apart from when she's been sick, she hasn't had an accident in the house since that time either.

I didn't get PJ as a "puppy", he was around 7.5 months when I got him. And while he was already crate trained and the first night was just fine, it was a really tough first day with him. He was awesome, until feeding time, when I discovered he had serious food aggression. Actually, forget first day, the first few months were tough with him! I'd never dealt with a dog with food aggression before, and having a 90lb Rottie that I didn't know very well growling and snarling at me freaked my out like you wouldn't believe! But I have no regrets, me and my Peej worked through it, it took a while, a lot of work and a lot of patience, but we got through it, and he's been an absolute joy! Seriously though, both PJ and his previous owners lucked out finding me, as I'm sure many people wouldn't have bothered trying to work through such serious food aggression, especially not being told he had it prior to taking him. I'm still 100% sure that they lied to me, and that was the reason he was being dumped off.

[qwertyasu]

Did she cry the day too, or just the nights?

Anytime she was in the crate or alone. It was hard not giving in, at night though if she all of a sudden started crying I knew it was time for a potty break!

[Kuchi]

The first day was exciting. I drove to airport to pick him up. The people there let him out of the crate so he had free roam of their break room. He was so tiny and a puff.


He wanted to be held right away, so of course I did, but he also needed to learn that he won't be carried everywhere. We went on a lot of walks and lots of playtime. The first night was bad... he wouldn't stop crying in the crate, he was let out every 3 hours for potty. The next night was bad too, still crying all night long. After that he didn't cry as much, he still cried when I left for a little while.
He doesn't cry anymore, mostly because I know how to tire him out now, and he's used to the the crate.

[keekers]

you will be a great dogowner greek blue- very prepared.. that is awesome! our first night was long & she cried & we felt so bad but whatever you do dont bring her out of the kennel. we both took time off so one of us would be home daily for the first few weeks & i think that made a big difference. we kept taking her out every few hours & she was pottytrained right away-i can only remember one accident.. one of us would stay up tethered to her late at night before going into crate like until midnight so if she had to go, we'd be ready to take her out. it is exhausting the first few days but totally worth it if you somewhat stick to the "rules". this board helped me a lot with puppy questions! good luck- they grow up so fast! : )

[rebel906]

When i got my first puppy Rocko (Male), i thought i was prepared, had bowls, blanket, crate, bed, toys, chew toys, food i had the lot but nothing can prepare you for the first day as you don't know what to expect.

The first day i was excited got up early to go and get my puppy i was waiting for for four weeks, when he arrived he was soooo excited he wet the rug expected. I think after he realised he wern't going to see his littter mates he started crying, whinning and a puppies cry is so high pitched, and for being an inexperience owner i thought something was wrong so i kept getting up and checking to make sure he was ok.

Because they are so cute i used to sit there to get him to sleep and as soon as i moved he woke up. That was a very sleepless night for the whole house.
The next day i remembered i had a t- shirt that i gave to the breeder to get the mothers scent on so that night i put it in his bed and i never heard a peep out of him for the whole night.

My second puppy went so smoothly as i used everything i learnt previously.

I time the puppy will get used to you and it will become alot more easier as the day goes by however it does depend on how badly the puppy has separation anxiety.

Good Luck and the joy of owing a puppy is a lot more rewarding even if you do have some sleepless nights.

[Ritz459]

The first three days or so you won't mind the sleepless nights as you are excited about your new puppy....and then after that, you'll have moments of, "What sickness struck me to make me want to get a puppy!" LOL

Sadie's first night was wonderful. We picked her up from Michigan around noon and arrived home around six o'clock that evening. She slept the whole car ride home; she was the calmest puppy I'd ever seen. When we got home she just took everything in stride. Played around a bit until about eleven, and then we put her in her crate and went to bed. She was fine in her crate, no crying or whatnot because she was in a crate, but we had to be right next to her or she WOULD cry. So the first week I slept downstairs on the floor by her crate. I got up three or four times with her in the middle of the night to take her out to potty and once or twice she wanted to stay up to play, but I just placed in her in the crate with a chewbone, shoved my fingers between the bars, told her to lay down, and then I fell asleep. LOL
A tip for taking the puppy outside in the middle of the night; don't talk to them. That wasn't hard for me because I was a walking zombie, but I only muttered what was neccessary for her training: "outside" when we headed outside, "park" when she pottied, and quiet praise after the fact. Then it was back inside and "crate". Any attempts to play were ignored. She soon realized that getting up in the middle of the night was NOT to play, but to go outside, do her business, and then go back to sleep.
I had to stay up with her for about two weeks (until she was nine weeks old) and then I was able to sneak upstairs after her first potty break. Towards the end of her being nine weeks, she was holding it through the night.

Chloe was pretty easy to adapt to after raising Sadie, although Chloe was much more dominant. She whined and cried a lot at first if we left a room and she couldn't follow, but some training took care of that. She learned in the first day that she was supposed to sit and stay for her food. She was ten weeks when I brought her home, so she was sleeping through the night. I don't crate her (either out in her kennel or gated off) and she sleeps in a gated off portion of my room right by my bed, so the first night was easy. I kept my arm dangling off my bed so she would know I was there and got up way to early to take her out to go pee.
We had some interesting moments as she was getting used to different things in the house, she had previously been a barn dog, but all was well and went smoothly.

The first couple of weeks the puppies actually aren't that bad; they just sleep a lot. Their rutine is pretty much sleep, pee, play, pee, eat, pee, sleep and then it starts all over again. Not to hard. After the second or third week is when it gets interesting as they sleep less and get into things more. LOL

Oh, and some more words of wisdom: Don't let the puppy do anything you wouldn't want her full grown self doing.

When we first got Sadie, I held her in my lap everytime we drove in the car as she was so little, cute, and cuddly (and the floor of the van was ew, gross). Well, early imprinting pays off, because when Sadie hit 65-70lbs, she still thought it was her duty to sit on my lap in the car.
I learned from my mistake and made Chloe ride in the back seat. LOL

If the cute little puppy jumps up on you, just picture it as a 100lb+ dog jumping up on you...not so cute. Instill good manners from the very first and you'll have a well behaved dog.

[Punkygirl0101]

I have had a ton of first days with my puppies..and of course I got a couple of my dogs as adults.

Lets see.

Harry-I was 7 years old, I remember when we picked him up from the breeders house. He was so playful, and fit in perfectly right away with the other dogs (We had an older dachshund, and an older toy poodle at the time).

Bradley-We got him at about 4 weeks old, from a very bad byb. He was very small, and very young. He cried the entire night.

Elliot and Daggett were born here. Their first night wasn't great because Daggett didn't want to come out, and when she did..she wasn't breathing.

Cartman-We got him at about 8 weeks of age. He was so perfect his first night..didn't make a peep..but now hes a BIG baby, and has major separation anxiety.

Charlotte-We had gotten her a couple months after our dachshund Janet was killed by a car..and she was cuddled and fondled over that entire day. lol

Jannah-We had gotten her after our 13 year old dachshund died. She died the same year Janet was killed. And she was and still is my little baby!

Bjorn-Me and my friend rescued him from a neglectful home, and his first day included a bath which he hated, and me trying to beg my mom into letting me keep him. (he was #10)

Bob and Reese-They were born here as well, to Jannah. Their first night here was full of kisses and lots of milk lol.

[IceyBlueSibes]

Hmmm..

Sheiba - It was fun. We took her for a walk when my mom came home with her, and we met her and Sarge on neutral area (Sarge was very territorial). We came back to the house, and first thing the two of them did was start racing around the backyard. It was shocking because Sarge normally didn't play with dogs. But the two of them were buddies for as long as Sarge was around. Sheiba was so depressed when Sarge was no longer here. She was a little mischevious... went through a chewing phase but nothing drastic.

Denali - Oh she was SO much fun! But a brat at the same time! She was the youngest we'd gotten so far. 3 months old... she was very very playful, into everything but had to adjust sharing her toys with the other two. She still doesn't really share very well, but she did well for a while!

Ike - He wasn't really a puppy when we brought him home. But the first night we had him, he thought he was supposed to be playing so he kept my mom up all night trying to play with Boo. Cause anytime he came over, that's all he'd do and then he would go home. So it took about a week or two for him to adjust to our schedule.

Kelso - He was very timid and shy when we first brought him home. It took him a little while to come out of his shell, and when he did he was so funny. He was always trying to find shoes. But he listened well about it, and is probably one of the most well behaved puppies I've ever had.

Lugar - Play, play, play, play play is all he did his first night. And that's all he's done really ever since then. lol

[greekblue]

Thank you all for sharing; it was fun to read.

Kuchi, your dog as a puppy was an adorable little furry ball
Soooo Cute!!
The other person who got Niki's brother picked up his dog today and sent me pictures of his boy. He is gorgeous, HUGE, and looks ready for any mischief

[Doglover1988]

Lucy was a ball of energy when I brought her home. Her first day she spent at school since a person at school gave her to me. She was 15 weeks old at the time. We ended up having to put her crate outside in the greenhouse because she spent the entire day in the class yelping and crying. When I finally got her home I was so exited. I played with her all day and took her on walks. She was a good girl that night because she was already crate trained from her previous home.