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You brought your puppy home. Get through the first night.

It’s your first night with your brand new puppy and you are both very excited. The puppy is frightened and so are you. It’s perfectly normal that you both want to stay close to each other in tough times and the first night is one such occasion. Your puppy is separated from his mother, and you got yourself a baby. However, don’t let your emotions take control over you.

Puppy’s place is not in your bed. At least not at night when you sleep in it. There’s no problem if your puppy (and later an adult dog) sleeps in your bed during the day, but it’s important to keep him away at night. The reason behind this is quite simple—canines have a hierarchy. Wolves from the bottom of hierarchy piramide don’t sleep together with the chief wolf. In your family you are the chief. Your puppy is not. In fact all members of your family should be at some point chiefs to your puppy. This is very important to understand for better living later when dog becomes more stubborn and self-conscious.

Now that you know what you should’t do, let’s see how to survive through the first night. If your breeder gave you a rag from under puppy’s mother, it will be of tremendous help. If not, then prepare a few old unwashed shirts or any part of your clothes which has your smell. It will help the puppy feels safe and cosy, and give him a sense of being near you. Also it's advisable to give him plenty of old rags so the puppy can dig and make his place more comfortable.

Be sure the puppy has performed everything outside, before retiring to bed. Also make sure he’s not hungry. But don’ feed the puppy once you place him in his bed. This will just awake him and you don’ want a chierful puppy at 3AM. Generally, a good practice is to play a lot with a puppy during the day, so he becomes really tired in the evening.

If there is trouble for your puppy to fall on sleep and he wants to climb into your bed, place his bedding near your bed. To calm him down, just speak to him gently, but don’t touch him. Let him know you are near, but don’t get him used to the physical contact. In the morning, get up early and go outside, so he doesn’t make a mess in your bedroom.