The Nightmare First 30 days of a Puppy

 As you might have seen in my previous posts, from well over a month ago now, I got a German Shepherd puppy. I ended up taking a break from my blog and YouTube when I brought her home because she has been too much work to maintain my previous balance. But now that she is more settled, I am getting better sleep, and some of my peace of mind is restored, I am going to make a commitment again to update more frequently again. Starting now with talking about my first 30days with this monster.

I had no plans on getting a puppy, but after meeting the (then) 6week old cutie in October and crying about it, my mom said she could be my Christmas present. Rolling around to November when she was 8 weeks old she came home to us. This began a three day and night crying fit where the cute little puppy I thought I was getting turned into a horrible regret. She came home on a Saturday and I did not more than an hour maximum until almost two weeks in. I regretted her deeply.

My three cats that I already have are still upset over the whole matter. They barely came downstairs unless she was locked away in her crate. When she finally stopped crying 24/7, it was that she would only cry if I was out of sight, she could not hear me, and if I was not actively holding her. As you might guess, that meant I was forced into holding her while talking if I wanted any silence. It also meant that I had to work my normal 8 hour job from home while sleep deprived and holding a puppy I wasn't even sure I wanted at that point.

It is really hard to admit that I regretted getting a puppy for those reasons. But honestly I thought the difficulty would not be the fact that my puppy would be inconsolable for literal days. I had blindly assumed that she would cry for 20 or 30 minutes and then be tired and go to sleep. I figured the hard work into a puppy would be training not her teething meaning she gets nippy. It's safe to say I had unrealistic expectations of what a puppy would be like.

Three weeks into her coming home she was sleeping most of the night, enough to were I bought a baby monitor so I could finally sleep in my own bed again. I had slept on the couch near her crate, which was fully covered so she can sleep in darkness, so I could hear her and not have to worry about going up and down the stair case in the middle of the night. It has definitely been nice being able to sleep in my own bed again.

She has also gotten better in the sense that I understand her ques better. She whines and can't sleep at night because she's thirsty or hungry. If we're playing a lot, she needs to go out every hour. But if she's just relaxing on her dog bed, I can wait until she gets playful again or closer to 3 hours if it's a middle of the day nap. She knows some of the rules I have set, like waiting until I say it is okay to come out of her crate or pen. She knows sit and down with hand signals. Overall we are getting more in sync. She has two big walks a day, everyday, unless we spend the afternoon out at the beach. Things are almost perfect now.

I want to make it clear that I don't regret getting Sappho. She is a perfect puppy and I love her deeply. I ranted on and on because I have spent the last 30 days living a sort of nightmare that I feel I was not prepared for, even with research. My Puppy is not quite like what I had read about. Which is why I felt regret, unprepared and like I made a mistake. But that just goes to show that every puppy is different. I wouldn't change it for the world, but I am happy that the first 30 days are completely over and I look forward to when I can reflect on the next 30 days and see that growth too.

Til next time,

Sydney