Hi everyone.  I've been visiting this site for a while in preparation for getting my puppy.  TOMORROW.  We are all very excited (although not sure the cats are excited as the humans).  We have lots of pets and tomorrow we collect Libby the 9wk old springer spaniel.  She will be my first dog (as an adult), although I had a gsd as a child and OH has been bought up with labs.
We are surrounded with people who are dog owners and/or breeders and have done a fair bit of research, but any advice from you lot in the know would be most appreciated.
Thanks
animal lover

A new puppy, how exciting! Congratulations!

Don't hesitate to post if you have any concerns as there are a lot of people here who can & will help you.  You could also post to let us know how gorgeous she is, and how she is obviously the very best pup in the whole wide world :-)

We are in the same boat.  Picking up Cassie, our 8 week old SBT tomorrow.  So excited, but also very nervous, Im like a husband waiting for his wife and new born child to come home.......tidying, cleaning, preparing............OMG.................

Cant wait, hope she settles in ok......................

how is your puppy, have you had Staffs before? I remember the anticipation waiting to pick up our Staff, she is now 11 months old and things havent been the same. They really are the most loving dogs you can have and they give you so much fun.  The puppy stage was wonderful, she was so cute, the only bit we didnt like was the biting stage but we got through that!  let us know what he/she is like

Lucky old you, animal lover,
Best wishes for tomorrow.  You have just bought a fur factory, a tear jerking heart stopping, mischievious, mud spreading, hole digger.  In fact you have just bought the 'PERFECT' dog.

The best advice I can give you is to take lots of photo's every month, especially for the first year of his/her life, as they grow so fast and you cant go back and recapture the 'Puppy days' once they have gone.  I started a dogs photo album for mine, the first pictures at the age of just 4 weeks old, were taken when we went to see him at the breeders with his litter mates.  I took more photos of him every month.  Now each time we look at the pictures we are amazed at the changes over the first few months.   The 'Gas-bucket' is now a 4 year old puppy, and my best friend.
:D   ;)
Good luck Animal Lover, You've made the best investment you will ever make.
Harry C.

Well come on then, animal lover, tell us.    Have you got your pup?   What's she like?  What is her name?
:)   :D   :p

Harry C.

She's great.  She has settled in really well.  Even gets on with the cats.  First night was fine.  She was put in the crate at 11.30 and 'went thru the night!'.  Bless.  However, 2nd night was not so fine, as she has taken to howling and whining when left alone whilst in the crate.  OH slept on a put-u-up next to her last night, and she was fine for 8 hours. Only a couple of mishaps indoors and now she takes herself outside in the garden via the catflap when she needs to go to the toilet.  Not that she will fit thru it for very much longer.
Libby isn't 9 weeks as we were told, she's actually 11.  Can't work out why the breeder lost the 2 weeks but there you go.  She's lovely and we all love her lots!

ours is great.what a bundle of fun (AND TEETH!).  We (my partner and I) are so madly in love with her already.  She has taken well to doing the do outside, a bit of recall (to the sound of a bell and "Come" and a treat), wont stay still for 2 seconds until she has had a mad hour....then she is calm and very relaxed, even to the point she will come up to us and sit on our laps, and quietly play with  her toy.......................... BUT THE MAD NIPPY PERIOD...............JESUS !!!       OUCH !!!!!!!!!!!  OUCH !!!!  OUCH !!!   lol, but suppose its all part of having the toddler around .

We are both exhausted, Cassie is fine and loving it.

congratulations Darrens-here on your new baby, I loved the way Giorgia would just drop on the floor and fall asleep in seconds,
but the biting,it hurts like mad doesnt it , they say its their way of 'tasting' the world.
Giorgia used to chew on fingers and so we taught her what was acceptable and what wasnt. The chewing was ok but the bitiing was a different matter,as I said it was the worst thing in puppyhood but we managed to stop it or did she grow out of it!? They do learn so quickly in days even