Last minute advice - picking puppy up 2 weeks earlier than planned..

I wanted my puppies to be cuddly dogs so they essentially spent their puppyhoods draped over me as well as on the furniture and bed with me. So it all depends on what you want from your adult dog. I wanted a cuddle bunny.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and my boy Bailey, a one year old nutcase.

You have had excellent advice and both The Happy Puppy Handbook and Total Recall are both brilliant books - and are read and re-read in our household all the time. Puppies are hard work but just sooooo cute and loveable. Be prepared for the biting and the mopping up of accidents. Take loads of photo's as everyone is right, puppyhood is so short.

We wanted Bailey to enjoy our cuddles and yes we now have a 28kg dog that joins us on the sofa and in bed for cuddles - but we love it and wouldn't have it any other way - if that is not what you want, and we are all different - then train that from day one. But the best part of my day is always the greeting I get from Bailey when I come home from work - prefer it to my OH's greeting tbh

Posting puppy photos are an absolute must by the way - we are all addicted to them! Good luck and enjoy your new addition to the family

 

Thanks, yes read happy puppy book. First injection booked for Sunday as well

 

My advice -
Go round your home as if you were preparing for a baby/ toddler and make sure all valuables , power cords , essentially anything that you dont want puppy to chew on or can do puppy any harm are safe and out of reach .
Even those of us who have been through the process of a new puppy before can make mistakes and I would hate you to be faced with having to rush puppy to the vets, like I had to after someone in the house left a paracetamol packet on a coffee table !! ( Bella did this at 12 weeks old - she chewed a packet of tablets and even though it only looked like she might have ingested half a pill she had to be rushed to the vets and have her stomach pumped ...poor thing )
Also as others have said take lots and LOTS of pictures as you really will regret not doing so and most of all have fun !

 

I have to agree here. It is possibly the best part of my whole day - coming home to Harley's welcome. She doesn't jump on me, we have worked hard at that but she is so happy, making little snorty grunty noises and we just love and cuddle for about 2 mins.

And we also have her on a leash when visitors arrive as she is only 5 months old but later she gets it taken off. If we didnt have the leash the visitors would get more than they bargained for from her

 

We also have a love and cuddle session. Snowie knows the drill. I put my bags down and I go sit on the stairs and he is all waggily and we kiss and he gets tickles and rubs and hugs etc and we chat a lot (probably sounds like rubbish!). And sometimes he gets his ball and we play with it (gentle inside style).

Cautionary tale: Initially my husband didn't get excited to see Snowie when he came home. Snowie learned not to get excited either, much to my husband's dismay - Snowie would simply ignore him. I pointed out to my husband that he did similar. When my husband started making an effort to greet Snowie, he was repaid in kind.

Regarding worrying about old granny. My mom is almost 80. When she visits, Snowie stands at the front door and wags his whole body. Then he bounds waggily down the garden steps to greet her. Never jumps up. Never body bashes. Just places his head under her hands and gazes up happily at her. My mother feels so welcome and just loves his greeting.

All of this has a lot of training behind it. Snowie didn't magically never jump up. But he also grew up.

"No touch, no talk, no eye contact." On every CM episode. Maybe for aggressive dogs, I don't know, I have no experience. But for friendly family dogs, really?!

 

Brilliant idea - he reads at night and is looking for a new book

 

Glasgow - you could say we are part of the U.K. but let's not get into that debate

 

Best of luck for collection day!

 

I was born in Bearsden!