If you had a new (as in 8 weeks, not newborn!) puppy arriving in 8 days and you had everything possible sorted (insurance/vet/puppy classes all sorted, equipment all bought, books all read cover to cover three times, YouTube thoroughly watched, children thoroughly briefed) how would you spend the last week?

I'm bubbling with excitement and this is just a bit of fun so nothing too serious

i would have lots lie ins and plenty home cooked meals
puppied are worse than newborns

and enjoey whats left of my saninty

Go out for meals, get loads of shopping in, move outside pot plants to somewhere safe,get the washing and ironing done, clear your diary, invite friends to come at regular intervals to meet and greet and finally take a final look at your reasonably tidy clean house with no chewed bits, because its all going to change

Oh dear, i should have said at the start that i have 3 kids, two of whom have some special needs, so sleep, meals out and tidy surroundings have already been gone for a decade

Ok, just the chewed bits then

ment to say not sure if anyone said to you the first night home and first week mother use to put hotwater bottle and clock in with pup at night it mimiks mums heartbeat and heat from mum and litter mates

Crawl around on your hands and knees looking for every trailing flex, and phone connection that is not puppy proofed. Tape down any lifting edges of carpet. Make sure your lower bookshelves only contain books that will not break your heart if they have their covers remodelled.
Have a really good day out, - somewhere where you will not be able to go to with a dog. Get plenty of sleep.

I actually gave in and bought a crate to go next to my own bed for early night times (plan is for dog to sleep in our room or on the upstairs landing going forward anyway), so we have the pen for downstairs and the crate for upstairs.  It's the soft sided sort (is XL size in the brand but will probably only work until dog is 6-7months or so, which should be long enough to be housebroken and okay in a bed i HOPE!) with a zip in the top.  My plan for the first few nights is to take him to bed when i go, put in a warm hot water bottle wrapped in his litter-smelling blanket so it will warm up and smell more, and if he needs reassurance in the night i can pop my hand in through the zip.  And i know people will say i'm making a rod for my own back, but I have looked at all the various schools of thought before deciding this, it's how i've parented all my kids (who are all very confident and self-assured having had reassurance whenever they needed it as babies) and it's MY back afterall

My dog was born in March and brought home in May.
She started off in a metal crate, but when the warm weather of Summer came she wanted to get out and stretch on the carpet to try and cool down. Sometimes she would go and lie on the lino in the ensuite.
i ended up putting the crate across the door to stop her waking the kids.
He'll soon be on your bed - there's nothing like poodle cuddles !!!

do not worry you are doing all right things
where abouts are you?? as you could come to shows and met and see other poodle owners

my pointers and 4 cats all sleep me now since my ex left me i would rather share my bed and sofa with pets its far nicer cuddles and company instead of 6ft 2in farting burbing idiot

Sounds a wise choice to me. Now just enjoy a few peaceful  days before puppy.

Haha description of your ex made me laugh!  We have a king size bed, which usually has me, hubby and 3yo in it, often 6yo too and very occasionally the 10yo across the bottom.  SO if the dog can find a spot he will get a prize!

I'm in South Lan, but i'm not planning on showing, will see how we get on at puppy classes first.  Also he can't go in conformation shows because......he's particoloured *stands back and waits for explosion*

he sounds so lovely sounds intresting colour
i.am from eaglesham but now live in north ayrshire
my ex is right idiot its so true what people say you are far better off with anaimls lol lest they di not lie cheat etc

Relax yourself with a massage or something - you might not be stressed now, but you certainly will be in a weeks time.

Jessica B i think actually i should go one step further and have an evening in a spa, don't you?  Or a spa weekend even! *nudges hubby so he can see this*

Also he can't go in conformation shows because......he's particoloured

Oh I'm so jealous. That's on the top of my list of "want to have one day". Just got too many dogs to consider it but oh, I can dream!

I was going to suggest that but I wasn't sure if you were willing to splash out :P

I actually gave in and bought a crate to go next to my own bed for early night times (plan is for dog to sleep in our room or on the upstairs landing going forward anyway), so we have the pen for downstairs and the crate for upstairs.

Poodlenoodle, good for you!  That old bit about the clock and the hot water bottle was outdated eons ago.  Those first nights are so terribly important in building trust.  A puppy loses everything it has known on the day it goes to its new owners, who are for the puppy complete strangers.  Leaving a puppy to sleep all alone (clock or no clock) is (for the puppy's feelings) tantamount to abandonment, and he will be miserable.  Next to your bed is the right place indeed, and - if I may advise - don't talk to your puppy once the light is out.  Just reach your hand in if it should fuss, conveying silently the message:  You are not alone, but at night it is time to sleep and nothing else.  And do not offer to take the pup out at 3 a.m.  If you plan well, your pup will get through the night just fine, and you are teaching it to control its bladder.

Now I will certainly get crucified from all those who do this differently, but I can only say that I do have 100% success with this method, and my puppy-buyers can hardly believe it!  FWIW...

Haha you're one day too late for the first night Nimue.  As i was we picked him up quite late he got his supper late, so i stayed up with him until midnight (he slept from 10.30pm) then took him out.  I was expecting him to poo but he didn't.  After his midnight wee took him up to bed with his stinky from-mum toy and he settled right away.  He was crying at 2am so i took him and he did a wee immediately then back to bed and settled in a few moments.  He cried again at 6.20am so i took him again and we just got up then (only 40 minutes early for me).  I'll plan tonight better (going to go to bed at 10.30 so if he's sleeping i am too!) but he's not nine weeks until Monday and he peed LOTS at 2am and 6am so i don't mind taking him if he needs it.  But i'm not waking myself up to offer, he can let me know!

He's asleep at my feet right now.  He's pretty perfect TBH, glad to have a wee mad 10-15 minutes in the garden (as a prize for pooing there we played call-and-treat with him, me and two kids, he loved dashing across the lawn for his treat to the next person who called him and kept the only clicker in my hand to keep the timing right) but settles easily in between and is coping fine with my autistic 3yo who is running up and down and shouting at times - puppy opens an eye every now and then, looks at him, stretches out a bit and goes back to sleep.  Very confident and calm.

That's one lucky puppy!

> ......he's particoloured *stands back and waits for explosion* <

Soooooo jealous. 

Yeah, i feel sorry for all you other dog owners now, because he is undoubtedly the handsomest and cleverest boy in the world.

Second night was a breeze, wee and poo at 10.30pm, off to bed, out for a wee at 3.30am (which i initiated because my 3yo got in bed with me for a cuddle and i knew IF the puppy needed to go out the 3yo would object very loudly (he has autism and struggles to understand language at times) once he was being cuddled, so decided to take the dog out first), then slept until 8AM!!!!  Then out for a wee, in for breakfast and out again for another wee and a poo and a big play with his brother and sister.  Now he's asleep on my feet.  So he even gave me a lie in for Sunday!

He isn't mad keen on his food.  He's on Eukanuba, but the breeder did say they weren't that keen before we collected him and told me how to gradually change.  I gave him a mixed breakfast (5/6ths Eukanuba, 1/6th Orijen - i'm going even slower than suggested, 1/6th change every second day)) and he daintily picked the orijen out and has left the rest.  He has scrambled egg last thing and he devours that and is a good weight (saw vet yesterday for new-puppy check and to join their scheme for cheaper treatments) so i'm not worried.  I expect all the treats he's been given will have killed his appetite for kibble a bit anyway.  (as an aside, the portions of eukanuba are massive!  He's supposed to be on 350g/day!  At his weight on origen he'd only get 170g ish!).

Yeah, i feel sorry for all you other dog owners now, because he is undoubtedly the handsomest and cleverest boy in the world.

Why don't you start a 'random filming' video diary of these early months, its simple enough, just take a camera, just a low cost job, and click on-off....on off...for minuts or seconds, just plain whimsical operation, completely at random for as long as your out, no need to frame random clips, just join them via a PC video editor when you get back & upload to youtube which you can make non viable to others simply by using the 'private'.......when they are joined up they do make sense & you can burn them onto DVD & play on TV.

Keep them in dated vid folders, in a week or less you hardly recognize a pup with the speed of growth.....it's not that long when such brilliant, ultra cheap technology, was not available & theres plenty of members on here who had to pay around £5-7 for a 36 shot film, get the 36 individual shots developed for about the same price and end up with drawers full of still photos which we hardly ever look at. The average digi pocket camera shoots 20fps (frames per sec), thats 20 still images + you simply take more composed still shots with a digi same as you could with film cameras.

Just a thought.
.

Hethspaw i have already started something like this - we are filming him running down the garden path towards the camera most days, then when he's one i should be able to montage them together into an ever-bigger boy dashing down the path   He's sooooo sweet.  I'm about to post in behaviour though because i'm a rookie and need tips...

poodlenoodle

He sounds adorable.  Please could you tell me where you live so I can come and collect him when you're not looking?

 

Oh I would JeanSW but we've moved, I'm not sure where to....