# I'm so excited!!! Get my puppy tomorrow!!!



## Blacryan (Feb 11, 2009)

I just figured I would tell everybody, I am so excited my pup comes in tomorrow and I cant wait!!! I just want to go to sleep now and wake up and it be tomorrow night. lol. 

The last 2 or 3 days seem to have taken forever to go by! 

Anyways a quick puppy question.

So I plan on crate training my pup. But at night I am wanting to have him sleep on a doggy bed in my room. I plan to have the crate in my den where most people tend to be, and where he will be in his crate most often. Should I start out with moving the crate into my room at night so he can sleep in it or should I have him start sleeping on a doggy bed in my room?


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## Kayla's Dad (Jul 2, 2007)

I would start with the crate in the room. Unless you are planning on staying up all night to take him out when he moves around, you will want to make use of the crate to enhance your housebreaking training.

Once you are comfortable that he can make it through the night, then you can consider putting the doggy bed to use in your bedroom.

Congratulations on your new family member's homecoming. Can't wait for the pictures.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Keep the crate as close to you as possible at first. This will help your puppy feel more comfortable in his new home. Being all alone in a new house and a new place seems like a scary thing for myself and im a 25 year old guy let along a 8 week old puppy. Definitely keep that crate to you at first and plan on not getting much sleep either because youll be making a lot of trips outside.

Oh and one thing my breeder did was she gave me a piece of cloth with the scent of my pups mother to sleep with. I'd imagine the scent of her mother helped my lucy in the transition to her new home. Just something to consider.


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## Hobbes_86 (Feb 5, 2009)

Congrats! I also am getting my new pup today. 

Another route you can go is get a second crate to stick beside the bed. I picked one up off of Craigslist for $20. Granted its not going to fit him after he reaches 6 months…but it will do for now since his real crate cannot fit through the bedroom door.
In my experience, with mixed breeds, once they are sleeping through the night they never really needed a crate, they either slept at the foot on the bed or on the floor beside the bed. Hopefully my new guy will be the same.

Have a wonderful Gotcha Day!!


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

when my boy came home at 9 weeks his crate was set-up in the livingroom. his first night in his crate he whined for a hour, the second night he whined for 1/2 hour, the 3rd night he whined for 15 minutes. after the 3rd night no more whining. i couldn't beleive it. for the first week or two (2) one of us got up to let him out every 2 hours. we slowly increased his over night time in the crate.
at 4 months old he was out of the crate at night. for a while every night he would wake one of us up at 4:00am to go out. we always took him when he asked.

his first week home we would put him in crate for 5 minutes at a time. sometimes i sat where he could see me and sometimes i would go to another room and make noise or be quiet. during the course of the day we would crate him 6 or 7 times for 5 minutes or so each time. we slowly increased his time in the crate. then we started crating him and leaving the house for 5 or 10 minutes. again we slowly increased being in the crate with us not being in the house. when we entered the house we didn't acknowledge
him immediately. we left him in their for another 5 minutes or so. then when i let him out off the crate i would open the door a little and not let him charge out of the crate. now when he exits the crate he walks out slowly and then he does the "i'm glad to see you greeting". everytime i put him in his crate i would say "go to your crate" even though i was carrying him there. now i can say "go to your crate" and he goes right in. once he started going to his crate i would have him indifferent rooms of the house and say "go to your crate". i also had my neighbors knock on the door. once he was at the door i would say "go to your crate". this really comes in handy. when i tell my dog "go to your crate" he stays there with the door open untill i ask him to do something else. he stays there with people calling him to come out.

good luck with the new puppy.


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## Smith3 (May 12, 2008)

I wouldn't let him sleep in my room not in a crate for awhile, at least until he could sleep through the night. Would be pretty easy for him to meander to the other side of the room, go #1, then walk back and go to sleep.


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## triordan (Dec 5, 2008)

if he's going to sleep in your room i would get another crate...


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## thezinger (Nov 6, 2008)

we kept ours in her crate beside the bed. i actually elevated it to bed height so she could see us. 
if she ever whined i would just stick my finger through the gate and she would sniff and lick and fall back asleep. if she didnt fall asleep it ment it was time to take her out. lol which at first was like every 2 hours.

but after about a week we tried just letting her sleep on the bed or on her bed on the floor and she seemed to like that much better. she even figured out to scratch at the door when she wanted out really quickly. so we only had a few accidents. and they were all just because i didnt hear her scratch at the door to wake me up.

tho she still loves her crate. she'll go in there on her own sometimes and just lay down. so ill run and grab a treat to give her when she does. i think that helps them like it more. anytime she sees us getting ready to go out she'll run in there and wait.

i dont know if shes comfortable with just the crate or where it is. so i just left it in our room. but i moved it to the corner. shes 6 months old now.

i think what worked well was when i first got her, i hid treats in there, around her pillow and stuffy toys. i think it helps them in thinking this crate is a good place and a safe place. plus it keeps them busy for a while trying to sniff them all out.


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## SuzyE (Apr 22, 2005)

i crate all puppies ESPECIALLY GSD puppies!


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## joey62 (May 20, 2015)

Oh my god
I get my new German shepherd crossbreed on Friday
I am so excited but a little nervous
Will the dog like me and will I like her
I'm worried I will lose my commitment to her and get bored 
Give me answers and advice on how to look after a first dog


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## lexiz (Apr 4, 2015)

joey62 said:


> Oh my god
> I get my new German shepherd crossbreed on Friday
> I am so excited but a little nervous
> Will the dog like me and will I like her
> ...


I'm not sure you're ready for a puppy if you're already worried that you're going to get bored of her?


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## Bella67 (Jun 22, 2014)

joey62 said:


> I'm worried I will lose my commitment to her and get bored
> Give me answers and advice on how to look after a first dog


sigh. 
Don't get a dog if you're going to get bored or loose your commitment towards the dog. Are you prepared to take care of her for the next 8+ years? If not, get a cat or something.


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## wick (Mar 7, 2015)

As a first time puppy owner myself, my opinion is that if you are questioning these things (boredom and commitment) even in the slightest bit DO NOT GET THE PUPPY.


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## Kaimeju (Feb 2, 2013)

You know, sometimes people worry about their commitment to something because they are good people and would feel really guilty if they screwed things up. It is reasonable to feel anxiety about the responsibility. In the end, commitment is a choice you make, not a feeling you have. Commitment means sticking to it even if you are bored, sick, and tired of your puppy. You can worry about how you will cope with these emotions and still make the choice to BE committed.


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## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

OP--I'll just share my experience with 2 and crate training. With Titan, he was crate trained from day one. Didn't like the crate at first but he got used to it. He slept in there downstairs until he could hold going potty the while night, which was at about 4 months.. getting up periodically through the night After that I tested him in my room at night in a bed.. I picked everything up he could get into and just tested it out. He luckily did magnificent and didn't potty or destroy anything. That being said, hind site being 20/20 I would have started out his trial period with him being gated somewhere so he couldn't roam too far. 

With my next pup, I crate trained her from day one also, her crate being downstairs near the back door. She too loved her crate.. but would whine at night. So after the first night, I just layed downstairs with her on the couch, her in her crate, where she could see me.. I would set my alarm for 2 hours on the dot and take her out.. first week, 2 hours then tapered off from there. Basically if I woke up at my alarm and she was still sleeping, I would set my alarm for another hour from then. I knwo this sounds ridiculous, but I didn't want her messing in her crate and trying to get my attention and me sleeping through it. She eventually was able to sleep through the night and I then went upstairs back into my own bed. SHe never actually made it up to my room to sleep when she was a puppy because she was too investigative for me during the day and would get into everything. Titan wasn't so much. He had his moments as an adolescent but he truly did not destroy much or have interest in chewing things that weren't his toys. Athena, would put anythign in her mouth and I jsut didn't want something happening to her.

Joey--Is it just you? Family? If it is just you and you are worried about being bored... please reconsider. This is not something you can only take care of when you want to and put it away when you are bored with him/her. This will be a very frustrating road for you and your poor pup if you are already considering that as a possibility.


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## wick (Mar 7, 2015)

Kaimeju said:


> You know, sometimes people worry about their commitment to something because they are good people and would feel really guilty if they screwed things up. It is reasonable to feel anxiety about the responsibility. In the end, commitment is a choice you make, not a feeling you have. Commitment means sticking to it even if you are bored, sick, and tired of your puppy. You can worry about how you will cope with these emotions and still make the choice to BE committed.


I agree being anxious about the commitment is normal, since it is a HUGE commitment... But if the poster (or anyone) is the type of person who "gets bored and loses commitment" towards things they shouldn't get a puppy because puppies are extremely extremely tedious and take 110% commitment... And will most likely become boring or annoying to them. 

This is exactly why so many puppies around 7 months are brought to shelters or returned because individuals don't realize it's not as easy as it is portrayed. People should not be on the fence about their commitment or future commitment... And boredom should never play into the factoring at all... Don't get a dog if you think you might get bored of it, it is not a guitar or pet parakeet it's a dog who becomes strongly bonded and dependent on us and shouldn't be toyed with.


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## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

Kaimeju said:


> You know, sometimes people worry about their commitment to something because they are good people and would feel really guilty if they screwed things up. It is reasonable to feel anxiety about the responsibility. In the end, commitment is a choice you make, not a feeling you have. Commitment means sticking to it even if you are bored, sick, and tired of your puppy. You can worry about how you will cope with these emotions and still make the choice to BE committed.


You make a very valid point. I hope that is the case. I guess I can equate it to me wondering if I'd be a good mom.. to a fur baby or a human baby or the many times I have wondered if Titan was happy with my house or if I'm doing enough.


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## wick (Mar 7, 2015)

wyoung2153 said:


> Kaimeju said:
> 
> 
> > You know, sometimes people worry about their commitment to something because they are good people and would feel really guilty if they screwed things up. It is reasonable to feel anxiety about the responsibility. In the end, commitment is a choice you make, not a feeling you have. Commitment means sticking to it even if you are bored, sick, and tired of your puppy. You can worry about how you will cope with these emotions and still make the choice to BE committed.
> ...


I completely agreed that if this is the case you are totally right, I just read the post differently (and probably overreacted) All of what you say is totally correct, I just took his post in a different light, I hope that I didn't make you feel like I was attacking your post at all. I also worry all the time whether I'm a good mom!


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## Kaimeju (Feb 2, 2013)

wick said:


> I completely agreed that if this is the case you are totally right, I just read the post differently (and probably overreacted) All of what you say is totally correct, I just took his post in a different light, I hope that I didn't make you feel like I was attacking your post at all. I also worry all the time whether I'm a good mom!


That was basically the gist of it. I agree if someone is TRULY on the fence about committing to a dog, it's a bad idea. But, as someone who has dealt with depression most of my life, I also know that I sometimes think horrible, horrible things about myself that are unrealistic, and depression/anxiety are common problems affecting a large percentage of the population. I have often had "invasive thoughts" about neglecting my animals or being a bad owner, so I wanted to make sure that wasn't the case here. It just seemed like a very odd thing to say "I'm excited about a puppy! Hope I don't get bored," so I thought it might make sense to leave room for the possibility that it was an anxiety thing and not actually believing you will get bored with a new dog!


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## wick (Mar 7, 2015)

Kaimeju said:


> wick said:
> 
> 
> > I completely agreed that if this is the case you are totally right, I just read the post differently (and probably overreacted) All of what you say is totally correct, I just took his post in a different light, I hope that I didn't make you feel like I was attacking your post at all. I also worry all the time whether I'm a good mom!
> ...


That's very thoughtful and insightful of you, I also have battled with depression (and anxiety) my whole life so I understand what your saying completely. When I read it I just was reminded of how my boyfriend thought he really wanted a puppy but didn't realize what it meant until we brought him home... And if I hadn't been there Wick you'll have been returned for sure!

I think that a lot of people (like myself) that have never had a puppy of their own don't realize how much work it is (again me) and that really worried me when I saw him questioning his commitment so I didn't think of anything else. Personal experience overshadowed any empathy


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## lexiz (Apr 4, 2015)

As someone who as also struggled with depression and anxiety, I have questioned myself so many times. Will I be a good pet parent? Do I have what it takes to give my puppy everything that she will need? To me, I view that differently than "getting bored" of a puppy. I hope that person is seriously viewing his/her commitment and will make the best decision for the puppy.


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