Raising a puppy is not that hard.

Hey! I got you with a clickbait title! Now that you’re here, I’m gonna backtrack a little.

Raising a puppy is its own kind of hard! But it’s probably not what you’re building it up to in your head.

READ THIS IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING GETTING A PUPPY.

This sub has (rightfully so! I’m not upset about it) been a sea of puppy blues and frustration. I decided about 4 months ago that I wanted my first puppy as a graduation present and I was going to research every aspect I could. Naturally I found this sub really quickly and got SO MUCH GOOD ADVICE.

The funny thing is that I was not nervous for adolescent puppy. I was terrified of what a brand new 8 week old puppy would be like. I read post after post saying that sleep will be nonexistent, the house will smell like pee, the barking will be nonstop, you won’t have a life, etc… and up until the day I picked my little girl up, I was so scared of regretting my decision and taking her back to the breeder within a week.

I’m a single mom, I work full time, and I’m a full time student (well- I graduate next week!). I have had 4 weeks with my Brittany (breed, not name) and I’m relaxing on my couch as I type this. I’m not a frazzled mess. I have never cried over the pup from frustration like I thought I would.

I live in an apartment. I go on dates. I go into the office to work. My life, aside from being a little more sleep deprived than usual, is not all that different.

My pup sleeps in her crate 18ish hours a day, is housebroken, only wakes up once during the night, and is VERY RESPONSIVE to training. Is this because I did so much research and had a puppy plan from day 1? Maybe. Maybe I just got a dog with an awesome temperament and I’m doing this on easy mode. I don’t know and I don’t particularly care.

Things will get harder as she gets older, I’m sure of it. But in the meantime, I survived my first month! And YOU CAN TOO! Do your research. Get the puppy.

(This is not a brag post, this is just my way of saying “it’s not always so awful!”)