At week 4 we went back to pick our boy with best friend and Alex in tow. It’s amazing how 3 grown, usually coherent adults, can turn into melting idiots in front of wheaten puppies. I had taken advice from friends on what to look for when choosing a puppy and of course that all went out of the window when Archie came trotting up to us, sat on my lap and fell asleep. I think your puppy chooses you rather than the other way around.

Preparation

The next 4 weeks seemed like a lifetime, but gave us plenty of time to puppy proof the house and garden. Of course you then go puppy mad and start buying beds, toys and books long before they are required, much like an expectant parent painting the spare room. It was like we were having a baby, telling all our friends. I think the best investments we made were – A Kong, Dolly the Sheep and a dog seatbelt, all of which you’ll see later.

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 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. 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. 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. 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! 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?

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...