Polly at Home #1

It seemed only right that Polly got her own feature on the blog, considering she takes up 24 hours of our day at the moment! I really want to document her puppy stages as in only one week she’s grown so much and before long she’ll be a fully grown Golden Retriever.

How has she settled? The first couple of days, Polly was finding her feet but bonding really well with us and loving exploring her new home (well, the first floor at least). The rest of the week has passed by in a blur but bit by bit, she has come into her own and is a confident and happy puppy that gets lots of attention and play time.

It’s been a massive adjustment on our part caring for a pet 24 hours a day, but we’re finally getting there. I might have got a bit emotional at times, worried I was being rubbish, then forgetting she is only a puppy after all and it will take a long time for her to settle into a routine. I feel the pressure that she is learning all the time, not only during training sessions and I’m worried I’m teaching her bad habits without even knowing it. Then I realise I’m putting too much pressure on myself too. Day by day I’m getting there folks. Here’s some more puppy positives:

1. Polly loves her food therefore responds well to training her the basic commands.

2. She’s nailed ‘sit’, ‘come’, ‘stay’ and ‘down’ but there’s a little extra work needed on all of those in different environments.

3. The little lady is one early riser (yawn) which means she sleeps through most of the night. We’re getting about 5 hours sleep now, a big improvement from last week.

4. That face.

5. She did brilliantly at the vets for her second injection, worming and microchipping.

6. She loves a belly rub.

7. She responds to Polly but not during her manic I WANT TO EAT YOUR WHOLE HOUSE phase. We’re working on this.

8. In only 5 days we’ll be able to take her outside for a small walk!

9. She warms my feet up when I’m sat on the couch.

10. She’s happy to see us when we walk through the door.