I am picking up my puppy on Jan 20th and have been doing a lot of reading and checking out the forums but cannot find the answer for my question. Normally Friday nights me and my friends get together for dinner. My friend lives right down the street from me. I was wondering if bringing my new up around 10 or so people the first night is to much? -Josh
I think it would be very overwhelming for a pup, especially on their first night. Pups do need a lot of sleep in their first few months and if they get overtired they can get more 'bitey / hyper'. I would slowly build up the number of people in a room and also set ground rules about 'playing' with the pup. Remember that what may be cute with a small pup isn't so cute with a big dog. For example, pup jumping all over a friend licking their face........most people would say it was cute - but try having a 25kg lab doing it.....most people wouldn't find it so cute.
Yes, I think it's too much. We give the pups two days quiet before taking them anywhere. They need to explore their new environment and find their bearings. For the first week we just carry them outside once or twic a day to have a look round at new sights and people, then gradually build it up. ...
I'd skip that first Friday, stay home and keep my brand new puppy company. Let him/her settle in with me for about a week (2 or 3 days at least) so he knows he's mine and I'm his. Oban came to us Dec 8 though, so two weeks later at 10 weeks old he got massive people socializing with Christmas visiting and a few known family and friends' dogs as well. He seemed to be thrilled with it all but another puppy might be overwhelmed.
Thanks for the responses. I assumed it would be best to skip but also want to take advantage of socialization opportunities when I have them. Maybe I will have a couple people come over Sunday for the NFL Playoffs keep it small.
I didn't bring Quinn to anyone's house for the first couple weeks until she was settled and had friends and family come to us (everyone wants to see the new puppy!). One thing to think about is that they pee frequently and have lots of accidents at first so you may not want your pup wandering around somewhere that wouldn't be appreciated! Quite a few of our friends actually asked us if she would pee on their new floors/rugs if we brought her over - the answer was always I couldn't make any promises
