First week update...

So it has been a whole week tomorrow since I bought Lana home and it feels like she has been part of the family forever!

I have to say I am totally amazed how her training has come along with each day. I have been trying to pick my battles so not to overwhelm her, so toilet training and getting her used to crate have been my main priority this week.

In her puppy home she shared a house with 3 adult dogs, a cat, kitten, 3 small children and was the last pup of 8, I was warned that she followed the kitten a lot and therefore house trained herself with the litter tray, which made sense since for the first few days she kept peeing/pooing on the door mat! Now when I take her outside she actually goes on command to 'Go Pee' which I embarrassingly am overly excited about I don't get too excited though as we still have the odd daily accident in the house...my son discovered why I made the rule of no puppy on beds when he had to clean up poo off his bed lol...but on the whole, toilet training is coming along.

She took to her crate at night fairly well, first few nights she whinged for a few minutes but soon settled, was taking her out every few hours for toileting. Up until a couple of days ago I was having to lift her into the crate, but one night I made her walk in herself....she did this low growling noise all the way in and humpfed herself down which was hilarious, now she happily trots herself in and once the light goes off she settles down and we are down to a 2am/3am toilet break. She gets left alone for a few hours in the morning while I go to work, but it is all quiet when I return until she hears me moving about, she knows that until she is sitting quietly the crate door doesnt get opened.

I had to be out all day today so left my 16 yr old in charge, I was quite anxious as he is quite computer orientated but he made good use of the crate and there were no accidents at all so was very proud of them both

So all in all it has been a fairly good week. Obviously there is a lot of work ahead, she is extremely excitable and a biter, also it is all cute to snuggle together on my nice leather sofa when she is this tiny, but I really don't want her on the furniture so need to start on that pretty soon I guess.

I did have her on Baker's Complete but she had the trots quite badly, the vet gave me a free bag of JamesWellbeloved puppy food and that seems to have improved, I am researching into the RAW diet, but want to read more about it and think about that for the future.

Sorry for the long winded post...but it's been a busy week lol.

Here is Lana, exhausted after all my demands on her...bless

that looks like after a day with our pup

That is a great update and huge progress! On the beds and sofa, I wonder if you will ever break that habit

Aww it's great news she's settled in & showering you all in staffy love. She sounds like she's coming on nicely keep up the good work all of you & thanks for the update

great news thanks for keeping us updated

Great news, glad it's going well

Sounds like she's doing really well, just carry on with it and introduce new things to train her with and she'll keep on learning and improving. Love the pic

Aw this is a wonderful post! I'm glad things are going so well with Lana! Its truly amazing how quickly you love them. I remember after 1 week of having Gwen I couldn't even imagine our life without her. They are so much work but at night when Gwen hops into our bed and snuggles herself into me all the hard work is worth it! Keep up the good work and please continue with your updates!

Great update glad to hear Lana is being a good puppy. Great pic

Fantastic progress. Clever girl.
I can sympathise with the 2/3 am toilet visits, I was exhausted for a few weeks.
By the way it's the law......staffies are allowed on the settee LOL. I've never allowed any of my dogs on the furniture but staffie cuddles are irresistable. We have a throw for Bacchus's part of the sofa and he's not allowed up unless it's in place.
If you use the " yelp and stop all interaction" technique as recommended by the experienced guys on this forum, the biting will soon stop.
Great pic. but need more.

Thats fantastic news, well done on the progress

Well done Lana you little star

Lovely pik!