As most of you know, who follow us on Instagram, my family brought home a new puppy last week. Yes, I’m now 22 weeks pregnant and have a 10 week old puppy on my hands lol! It’s funny how timing works out…we definitely did not plan for this to happen. TBH I had somewhat given up on the idea that I was going to get pregnant and there was a waitlist open for 2 new puppy litters from a breeder our neighbor used. I begged my husband and said we needed to get on the waitlist ASAP or it would fill up. He agreed…and later that same week I got a positive pregnancy test! I didn’t want to get off the waitlist in case I had a miscarriage or something, so we stayed on it and here we are.
Luckily we have 4 months before baby girl is due and Daisy will be 6 months by then and hopefully well adjusted to our family and going with the flow!
TRANSITIONING TO PUPPY LIFE
I’ve had a puppy before…I got Bailey when he was 10 weeks old in college. It’s a blur, but I honestly don’t remember being stressed out by puppy life. We love Daisy so much, but right now she is a lot more work than I think we expected and I’ve been feeling pretty anxious about how this will all work out once baby girl arrives in June.
Our mornings used to be very calm and chill. Quinn is very easy in the mornings and I was able to wake up early, work out, drink coffee, and get us both ready for our day. Enter Daisy…she is on FIRE at 6am! She has so much energy first thing in the morning and is chewing like crazy while we are just trying to get up and moving. I know once I’m able to take her for a good walk first thing in the morning and tire her out this will get better, but right now we are finding it challenging to manage her puppy energy in the mornings.
Everyone keeps saying the first month is the hardest, and week 2 is already going better than week one, so I’m staying positive and know it will all be worth it!
We are committed to putting in the energy these first few months of getting her trained and acclimated so she is a good pup moving forward. It takes a lot more work than I think most people realize…you see all the cute puppy pics on social media and think it’s all rainbows and butterflies, but puppies are a ton of work! I just want to be honest and share both sides to puppy life 😉
I’m finding this website super helpful for puppy training tips. She has a podcast that covers a lot of different topics and are short and easy to listen to. Her Instagram has a lot of great cheat sheets. My friend also told me this is a good dog podcast.
POTTY TRAINING
Thank god labs are quick learners because I hate potty training. I hated potty training Quinn and I’m not loving the potty training process with miss Daisy. She’s already getting the hang of it and will go to the door if she needs to go out, but we have to be on her like a hawk right now. We let her out first thing in the morning, right before bed, 10-15 minutes after she drinks water, and 30ish minutes after eating a meal. By keeping this strict schedule we have really minimized accidents the past few days.
KIDS + PUPPIES
A lot of people get a puppy for their kids…I remember begging my parents for a puppy my entire childhood. You think it’s going to be this instant unbelievable adorable connection and love fest between the pup and child. Not exactly! Daisy is super nippy and excited around Quinn. She thinks Quinn is a little playmate for her and jumps, nips, and is excited around Quinn. Obviously the nips hurt Quinn because of Daisy’s razor sharp shark teeth, so my husband and I have to always be near by to help Quinn teach Daisy how to play nicely. Quinn will also run, squeal, and be hyper around Daisy which only excites her more and makes their play time together more challenging. I know one day they will be the best of buds, but it’s a challenging dynamic right now. I got this toy that they both love to play together and it helps keep distance between them, so Quinn doesn’t get nipped.
CRATE TRAINING
She sleeps in her crate at night and sometimes for naps when I need to run an errand or workout. Right now she is waking up 1-2 x to potty at night and is UP UP at 6am. She whines a little when going in sometimes, but eventually settles down and takes a snooze. If she’s going in the crate during the day I try to make it special, so I give her a Kong filled with frozen greek yogurt or peanut butter. At night we don’t put bones or a Kong in with her… just 1-2 stuffies to sleep with.
Alright Daisy girl, you have until June to get your act together before baby sister comes and rocks our world!
I’d love any and all puppy tips and tricks you all have for me…drop them in the comments section!
xx, A
