Need reality check on puppy phase

[Anonymous]

Don’t do it. As a current puppy owner (and lifelong dog owner) it is hard work and you need to be committed. If you have never owned a dog please do yourself a favor and get an older dog (maybe 2 years old?). On top of a full time job (although remote), 2 kids and a DH, a household to help run, etc I am also crate training, potty training, walking, ensuring dog gets sufficient play time, vet appointments - all activities which take time, patience and commitment. But, I knEw what I was signing up for. The puppy is a joy for our entire family but I can’t wait until this stage is over. I’m exhausted!

[Anonymous]

As long as you go in with the mindset that this is another child you're adding to the house that needs all it's needs satisfied you should be fine. Plan for late night wake ups, time at the dr., play time, cleaning up messes and puppy proofing your house.

That said, we've had our (mini labradoodle) puppy for about 5 weeks - he's slept through the night (11pm-7am) since the 2nd night, had about 10 accidents in the house (total) and now only nips the kids occasionally. He's worn out with about 10 minutes of outdoor play in AM and 10 minutes in PM.
Biggest thing is he's cost us about $350 in vet bills due to shots, parasite control, etc. ug - wasn't expecting that in first 5 weeks....

[Anonymous]

Another first time pandemic puppy owner here... it's hard. And way more expensive than I realized. Puppy has recurrent diarrhea and vet bills were over $1K in just the first month. Will be another $1K to have her spayed.
Training, equipment, food, toys and grooming add up. Puppy slept through the night right off, but when diarrhea hits we have to get up 2-3x per night. House training was not bad, honestly. I think we had less than a dozen accidents. What's harder is the energy and the destructive tendencies. The puppy ripped up berber carpet in no time flat. The need for constant vigilance is no joke. Everyone said it was like bringing home a baby but it felt more like bringing home a very self destructive toddler, and if you take your eyes off them you risk destroying your house or them hurting themselves. BUT, we're 2 months in and it has gotten so much easier. Routine is key. Crating is key. I'm not sure if we'll start with puppy again but we can't imagine not having her and it has been worth it.

[Anonymous]

What about these concierge services that will train your puppy for you - would that have been worth it? (It is obscenely expensive and so obviously for people for whom money is no object)- but it’s almost akin to hiring a night nurse. Farm out the most unpleasant aspects of the early stages.

[Anonymous]

I think the puppy phase is also different by breed. I’ve had mostly gsd and now have a Bernese and the bern was super chill by 5 months. Played and interacted like an adult dog. No chewing.

Both breeds are relatively smart (gsd really smart) so house training took a few days and both needed 2/3 walks a day and about 90 minutes of play time broken up into separate sessions during the day.

Normally we have 2 dogs (at least a year apart, not 2 puppies at once) and that is a breeze when you have an adult dog in the house. I went years without having to train puppies as the adult gsd pretty much did it for me.

[Anonymous]

What dogs have the easiest puppy phase? What about Goldens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What dogs have the easiest puppy phase? What about Goldens?

I think only a few breeds deviate from the typical puppy destruction/small bladder phase.

Giant breeds obviously grow WAY faster; so they sleep a lot and their bladders/ability to hold it through the night is quicker. They love to play like any puppy, but tire out pretty quickly and rest often and repeat play cycle. Obviously, when they chew/dig on anything they are not supposed to it will turn into a total loss. I am talking couches/mattresses etc. I grew up with Mastiffs and one 7 mos old dog literally destroyed an entire sectional sofa in less than 15 minutes because he liked chasing the filling in the cushions.

Large breeds are a mix, super smart breeds like poodles and german shepherds are probably easier to house train in my experience but still will eat shoes, destroy furniture etc. They also seemed to adapt to sleeping in a new place quickly and bonding with new owners.
Labs et al. are high energy pups and average/below average intelligence and may take longer in learning what not to chew on and house training; but varies greatly by the individual dog.

I do not have much small/medium dog experience other than mutts; but our full size 55lb mix seemed to take the longest to sleep through the night; but she was wicked smart and easy to house train; just had a small bladder so the nights were rough for 3 months or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What dogs have the easiest puppy phase? What about Goldens?

I think only a few breeds deviate from the typical puppy destruction/small bladder phase.

Giant breeds obviously grow WAY faster; so they sleep a lot and their bladders/ability to hold it through the night is quicker. They love to play like any puppy, but tire out pretty quickly and rest often and repeat play cycle. Obviously, when they chew/dig on anything they are not supposed to it will turn into a total loss. I am talking couches/mattresses etc. I grew up with Mastiffs and one 7 mos old dog literally destroyed an entire sectional sofa in less than 15 minutes because he liked chasing the filling in the cushions.

Large breeds are a mix, super smart breeds like poodles and german shepherds are probably easier to house train in my experience but still will eat shoes, destroy furniture etc. They also seemed to adapt to sleeping in a new place quickly and bonding with new owners.
Labs et al. are high energy pups and average/below average intelligence and may take longer in learning what not to chew on and house training; but varies greatly by the individual dog.

I do not have much small/medium dog experience other than mutts; but our full size 55lb mix seemed to take the longest to sleep through the night; but she was wicked smart and easy to house train; just had a small bladder so the nights were rough for 3 months or so.

Look at the lists of "working/obedience intelligence". The lower the dog is the harder it is to potty train (usually). Dogs higher on the list will more likely need lots of stimulation and supervision to avoid destroying your house.

That said, my beagle mix had one potty accident ... so varies by dog too.

[Anonymous]

Border collies are one of the easiest dogs to train. But super high drive and require full time engagement/job to do or they will steal your car; drive to the country and find a flock of sheep to herd.
They normally do not even fill up the tank, which is a pia.

[Anonymous]

We are on week six with our Cockapoo, who is 14 weeks old. We couldn’t have done this if we weren’t both working from home and have a tween who is doing DL at home and super helpful. Puppy is not a breeze but waaaaay easier than my two kids were as babies. We all just started sleeping straight through from 10:30 pm to 6:30am. Still has accidents but they are predictable and have more to do with one of us forgetting to take him out 15 mins after he eats or not waiting long enough for him to go in the rain (he hates the rain). We are a pretty high energy family so someone is always ready to play with him outside. Yes he chews but he’s never unsupervised so he’s learning what he can and can’t chew. He was easy to crate train and we still use a pen when he can’t be supervised. I think the hardest thing is always keeping an eye on how he interacts with the 5-year-old. Because he’s still nippy and the younger kiddo can’t read him well and basically just wants to carry him everywhere. (It’s actually feeling far more difficult to teach my youngest when to leave puppy alone.) Overall it’s been about as difficult and sometimes easier than I was expecting. And I always thought I hated dogs. But I like this one.

[Anonymous]

We are week 4-5 with our German shepherd. The night waking was short lived...by 10 weeks we got up just once overnight and now (14 weeks) she has gone all night (7.5 hrs) for around a week now.

as someone else mentioned, the puppy nipping/bitting/chewing issues are totally normally but a lot of work

It pretty much reminds me of having a toddler except we can leave her home in her crate for up to 2-3 hours if needed...have to watch the puppy at all times when awake and out of her crate, gets into things, needs constant redirection/training/rewards etc. When she is out of her crate she is our main focus of attention (she goes in the crate for around 2hrs both AM and afternoon, and for awhile over the dinner hour plus overnight 10:30-6 or so)

I find it harder than I expected it to be, but after a month we are settling into a routine a bit which helps a lot. DH helps a lot (we take turns watching her when she is out of her crate). Our kids are 10 & 12 and also help- they can take her out for a potty break, watch/entertain her in the next room while I do something etc. It is a team effort and not something I’d want to do at this stage if DH wasn’t fully onboard and helpful (or if I had very young kids...toddlers etc)

[Anonymous]

I’m amazed at all the young dogs sleeping through the night. I’m posting because I’m awake at 2am having just let the dog out. At 14 weeks she never makes it through the night, which I thought was the norm (after reading that they can hold it one hour plus month in age).

[Anonymous]

I love my (now adult) dog but I will never ever EVER get another puppy again. An asshole puppy will destroy your life like an asshole baby. Property, sleep, finances...all will suffer. A puppy is a full-time job. FULL TIME. I mean, I guess if you're home all day every day, you can make it work. But if you regularly have to be out of the house for several hours at a time...just no. It's not like a new car that you want to break in yourself...get one that's already been around the block a few times.

[Anonymous]

there is no easy puppy phase
we have a 3 1/2 year old golden doodle who is the sweetest, most intelligent, sneaky, barky, jumpy dog who eats all kinds of crap.

He is still hard work despite a lot of training and learning and I suspect he will stay this way until he pops.

[Anonymous]

I have a 10 month old golden and he’s still a lot of work. He house trained pretty quickly and sleeps 11-7 but he’s high energy and needy and eats everything in site. He also digs a lot in our yard and gets super dirty. Basically, he’s a huge PITA ans I can’t wait until he matures, but he’s also a love.