Will I be able to do anything non-puppy the first couple weeks?

I need to stay off the computer.....I keep waffling back and forth between "OMG what are we thinking" (reading this board and the lab FB group I joined) and "awwww, how cute!" (seeing the new pics the breeder put up last night). Part of it is that I'm not really even a dog person, I don't dislike dogs, I could take 'em or leave 'em. We're more doing it for the kids, our 16yo was devastated when our beagle passed this fall and our 7yo could really benefit from a best friend who will keep him active and confident (while he's not autistic he has some traits similar to those with very high functioning autism). And of course the husband has been looking forward to a big dog for awhile. I'm sure I'll fall in love with him too, but man it's gonna be a long, what? 2 years? till we get past the crazy puppy stage. The upside is with all the walking I'll be doing (between trips to the backyard and eventual walks around the neighborhood) I should be able to drop these last 10 pounds pretty quickly, right?

 

Just to manage expectations: you’ll probably have to keep that dream till your pup is old enough for proper walks! My husband had grand ideas of running with the dog. Until the breeder said: definitely not until he’s fully grown - about 18 months. Bad for the joints.

I got so fat in my pup’s first few years! I spent a lot of time watching him play with other pups or training him, but no long walks or vigorous exercise for me. Only now, he’s 6 yo, and trusted off lead and we can do a good amount of exercise every day. I’m very fit now, but I had to wait till my dog was fully grown and had decent recall (the latter my own fault, I didn’t know how to train for it).

 

I managed to live relatively normal life when I had my pup, the worst is you have to keep watching them in case they eat the electrical wires, pee or poo etc. I still manage to take the adult Labradors out for a walk and do shopping etc. Puppies sleep a lot and I used a crate then, so he would snooze in the crate and I would zoom round cleaning! The early morning waking is a bit hard, but within two weeks Rourke was sleeping through to 8am. I would say the first six months are the worst as the pups seem to want to play in the evening when I wanted to settle down and read or watch TV. However, you have children who I am sure will be delighted to keep the pup amused, but no rough play ever!

 

You know, a lot of what we have said sounds terrible but we all still have our dogs. They do grow into lovely people and none of us would be without them now.

 

I lost loads of weight with my last puppy. Living in an upside-down house and frequent trips outside meant I burnt a lot of calories every day running up and down those bloomin' stairs!

 

I put a stone on when I got Stanley the walking him every day convinced me that I could eat twice as much and not go to the gym.

Then I split my trousers at work and OH had to bring me some new ones