There are thousands of new puppy dogs being bought across the UK every month and many of these purchases are by inexperienced first-time dog owners with little or no experience of owning a puppy or a new dog.

Subsequently many dogs are then given away to dogs homes or sold on because the inexperienced dog owner comes to learn that they can’t cope with the high octane and very high maintenance behaviour of the new puppy.
As it is often said, ‘a dog is for life’.

In reality most dogs live for at least one decade up to 14 years on average. As a rule of thumb 10 years can be expected for the majority of dogs to live if in good health.

Inexperienced dog owners, although well-meaning purchase a new puppy either on impulse or act in haste without seeking out a proper advice or research and this lack of understanding or preparation usually ends in tears when they have to give up the puppy or sell it on as it is more than they can manage.

Make no mistake if you are new to puppies, a puppy needs full time attention and company 24/7.

If you’re new to owning a puppy and have not actually bought one yet please bear in mind the following:

Assuming your puppy is eight weeks old then within its first three months its behaviour will be very taxing on most people unless it is house trained within the first six weeks or so. Failure to do so will lead to problems later!

Neglecting house training makes it harder later on, so the sooner the better is ideal.

From the very start, one of the very first things your puppy will do is pee on your floor as many times as 20 to 30 puddles per day.

The average puppy dog will eat four meals a day which usually consists of a puppy size dry mix biscuits which will result in the dog becoming thirsty and drink lots of water.

The amount of puddles you may find on your floor or carpets may be more than people did ever realise or can actually tolerate and unless cleaned away immediately will fragrant your house with the delightful aroma of ammonia not to mention the puppy running and sliding through it and distributing urine everywhere and all over itself and even you if you don’t get to it first.

Along with the daily puddles you’ll find you will have a few presents to clean up which will be a wet sticky mess and even worse if the puppy runs through it which it will.

This will go on constantly for several weeks unless you train your puppy ASAP to use paper and or the puppy litter tray as you slowly move it toward the rear door with the intention of guiding him/her to go outside.
This will take the average amateur/dog trainer/dog owner a few weeks at least to achieve.

Can you handle this? It gets worse!

Some inexperienced dog owners can’t handle any of this because they didn’t realise how messy the experience was especially with work and kids to tackle.

Within this period of eight weeks up to 15 weeks it is essential you train your dog to pee and poop outside.

The next problem is at eight weeks your puppy will have teeth like needles and nails like cats and they will be chewing anything and everything that they can chew especially if it is rip-able. Rip-able and tear-able things are the most attractive so giving them proper manufactured chewable toys will only work some as they are drawn to tear-able things like slippers and shoe laces.

Biting down into something and pulling it with their teeth seem to be very stimulating and may even alleviate what they feel in their gums and teeth and this does happen at eight weeks and slowly increases up to a period called the teething stage where they really will chew and destroy things as their teeth start dropping out to make way for the next set and it is during this period where they will rip and tear anything they can get their teeth into and that includes your slippers, shoes and trainers especially the laces, the bottoms of your drape curtains and any tassels hanging off anything such as the three-piece suite, table and chair legs and not to mention your television remote control will be nuked!

Newspapers and magazines will be torn to shreds and all this along with the dog pee puddles and poops will result in regular if not hourly cleaning throughout the day for the first 2 months.

Next is the night time whimpering which is a mixture of whimpering, wincing, whining, barking and at worst howling all combined to make a horrible distressed sound which will travel through the walls into your neighbour’s house just to set the cat among the pigeons and your relationship with them.

This natural separation anxiety is often temporary and they will grow out of it as long as there is no fixation or disturbance at this point otherwise it may become an ongoing problem when left alone. Not to mention this may result in you falling out with the neighbours even more than you already may have.

Lots of amateur and newly experienced puppy owners give their dogs up or sell them on for these very reasons because they didn’t expect it to be so much work. These are often the people who care more!

These things has exactly described will happen in your home when you purchase a puppy and in this order and they will happen with every dog owner for at least a couple of months and that’s providing you train your dog correctly through this period.

Some inexperienced puppy owners cannot accept the fact that the puppy needs round-the-clock attention and more than that is their need for around-the-clock company.

This is one of the reasons so many dogs are given up and this casual unprepared buying does nothing but cause problems for dogs behaviour and then transfer’s to new owners!

Contact your local vets as many now hold vet clubs where you can join and gain sound advice and guidance when buying and rearing a new puppy with all the help and support you may need!

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