Expectation: They’ll slot straight into your life

Reality: For a while, your life slots around them

The first few weeks with a puppy can involve a pretty serious reshuffling of your routine. There are meals to organise, toilet breaks to remember, training to tackle and seemingly endless reserves of puppy energy to burn.

For Tania and her partner, who brought Leo home at just eight weeks old, that initial adjustment was one of the biggest surprises.

‘The first month was big, just trying to handle his high energy,’ Tania says. ‘It was full on.’

The good news is that you do start learning from each other. You figure out when your puppy needs to eat, sleep, play and go outside. And they start understanding the rhythm of your household, too.

‘Once we got used to him and his ways, it was amazing,’ Tania says.

 

Expectation: Say goodbye to sleep

Reality: You might get lucky

Mention that you’re getting a puppy, and chances are someone will warn you about the sleepless nights.

And yes, bringing home a puppy can disrupt your beauty sleep. But Tania and her partner had a very different experience.

‘We crate trained him from the moment we brought him home, and he has been surprisingly easy at night,’ she says. ‘He doesn’t wake us until about 6 am, which is my wake-up time anyway!’

Establishing a consistent nighttime routine early can help your puppy understand when it’s time to settle down. Just remember that every dog is different – and an eight-week-old puppy may need time (and plenty of patience) to adjust to their new surroundings.

 

 

Expectation: Your beautiful home will stay that way

Reality: Welcome to puppy-proofing

There was one particularly significant detail about Tania and her partner’s timing.

‘We had just finished our home renovation, and decided now was the perfect time to add a family member!’ she says.

Of course, finishing renovating your home and getting an eight-week-old Golden Retriever don’t always go hand in paw.

Suddenly, their freshly renovated space needed to work for its newest – and most curious – resident, too.

That’s where puppy-proofing comes in.

Electrical cords, bins, plants, cleaning products, food, and anything small enough to be swallowed need to be moved safely out of reach. And some spaces might need to become no-go zones altogether.

For Tania and her partner, that meant introducing a few less-than-glamorous additions to their fresh new interiors.

‘We still have baby gates up to stop him from going into the bedrooms,’ Tania laughs. ‘They may be up for a little while longer, we suspect, at least until he’s out of the puppy phase.’

 

Expectation: You can leave your lunch unattended for 30 seconds

Reality: You absolutely cannot

Consider this your warning.

One day, Tania and her partner decided to recreate a favourite gourmet sandwich at home. They loaded bread with meats, toppings and pesto, toasted the sandwiches to perfection, and set them down on the kitchen bench…. for just a moment.

You can probably see where this is going.

‘A few seconds later, Leo had jumped up and taken both sandwiches!’ Tania says. ‘Bits of sandwich and pesto sauce ended up all over the kitchen and the rest of the house.

‘We were very cranky parents after that!’

But seriously: keep food and anything potentially harmful somewhere they can’t access – and don’t underestimate just how resourceful a determined puppy can be.

 

 

Expectation: Training happens at puppy school

Reality: Training happens all day, every day

Coming when called. Sitting instead of jumping. Waiting. Walking. Learning what’s theirs to chew, and what most definitely isn’t.

The trick is consistency. And patience. And figuring out what motivates your particular pup.

Fortunately, Tania discovered Leo’s currency very quickly. Food.

‘Being a Golden Retriever, he is quite easy to train,’ she says. ‘He is completely food-obsessed, so we taught him to sit, shake, stay and come really early on. Because all he wants is treats.’

Not every puppy will learn at the same speed or respond to the same reward. But working out what gets your dog’s attention – then reinforcing the behaviours you want consistently – can make training much easier.

Although, as the sandwich incident proves, a love of food has its downsides, too.

 

Expectation: Socialisation means meeting a few other dogs

Reality: It’s another part of the puppy routine

Puppy life isn’t all sit and stay.

Helping your puppy become comfortable with the world around them is another part of the experience – and for Tania and her partner, it’s something they’ve actively built into Leo’s week.

In addition to taking him to local dog training sessions, they have some extra help while they’re at work.

‘We have a fabulous dog trainer and walker who takes him out twice a week to a local, private dog park where he socialises with other dogs,’ Tania says.

And Leo’s transport?

‘He is picked up in a puppy minibus. It’s so cute!’

If work makes owning a puppy trickier during the week, support can make a big difference. Depending on your dog and circumstances, that could mean sharing responsibilities with family or working with a trainer.

Sadly, the puppy minibus isn’t always guaranteed.

 

Looking for more tips to make everyday life that little bit easier? You’ll find plenty more on The Peer Blog.