A-Day

Archie was the last puppy to leave out of the litter of 5 and it was a sad day for poor Jo and her children as this was their first and last litter. I felt like Cruella Deville taking him away in his little puppy crate after saying goodbye and lots of cuddles from the family. It can’t be an easy time, but we’ve promised to go back when he’s older and see the family, so mum and son can stay in touch and also phoned 3 days later to give an update. I can’t speak for other people, but I think Jo appreciated a call after a few days just to put her mind at rest that all was well.

The journey

As Alex couldn’t pick up Archie with me, I went alone and took a puppy crate for the journey which was wedged into the front seat. It was a 30 minute, high pitched barking journeyhome. He just didn’t like the puppy crate and wanted to be close to his new surrogate mummy of course. Who can blame him!

When we got home, Archie explored home and garden, new smells, doors, and environment. Patio doors were strange and he couldn’t understand how he could see outside, but not get through the glass. We must have watched and played with Archie for a couple of hours before he curled up and went to sleep on the carpet.

The first night

Before Archie arrived, Alex and I had discussed “the rules”... Where he would and would not be allowed in the house and the bedroom was off limits. We were going to have the perfect dog. We read all the books and every single one said leave them downstairs and under no circumstances go down….ok…we thought…no problem, we have a week off work together to do this! We had put together a huge puppy crate fit for a small pit-pony under the stairs. On the first night, we cuddled him and put him in the crate with the mummy blanket (a blanket rubbed on willow so it smelt of mummy for comfort), newspaper, a toy and water. We shut the door and crept upstairs as he started to yap..whimper...bark...bark louder..

We lay in bed at about midnight listening to the barking. He’s a puppy, how long can this last we thought…give it an hour and he’ll be asleep. I could still hear him with ear plugs in through the night. Basically we didn’t sleep at all on the first night and resorted to taking it in turns to nap on the sofa and play with the dog during the day. We went to see the neighbours and they were surprisingly sympathetic as the second night drew closer. On night 2, the constant barking continued for 7 hours solid until we went down in the morning at 6am, knackered and I have to say a little frayed around the edges! Alex and I were snapping at each other a little after 48 hours of no sleep and came to the conclusion that god made puppies so cute so that you don’t smother them on the 3rd day. Everyone we spoke to who had experience of having a puppy said that theirs had just whimpered or had barked for a few hours before going to sleep. What was wrong with ours? Were we bad parents?

After a conflab with friends and family we broke all the rules. We felt like failures on the 3rd night, but we had to keep our sanity! We brought Archie into the bedroom…Noooooooo, cry all the dog experts. Yes! I’m not advocating this route and if you can stick it out, it’s probably worth it in the long run. However, on the 3rd night, Archie slept in his bed with the fan on (this was the hottest week in July 06) and slept from 11pm – 6am without a whimper or any toilet accidents. 7 hours sleep felt like a lottery win. We have moved him to the landing now, with a master plan of eventually getting him downstairs, but it works for us and him!

There are a number of reasons not to have your dog in the bedroom and I have to say I did laugh when Alex said he didn’t want the dog to see him naked or to have an audience or interruptions when we wanted more intimate moments lets just say!…As it happens, the dog couldn’t care less and puts one paw over his eye.