Congratulations on your new baby! My Josephine just turned 6 months old.... and like you I didn't think I was going to survive the first week much less month! This forum is an excellent resource with lots of loving EB parents on it with lots of good advice learned the hard way a lot of the time.
This is what I found worked for Josie, and your puppy will let you know what works for him as well. Josie sleeps in a crate in my bedroom so I can hear her, she can hear us and know she is not alone but she is safe while I am sleeping. Puppies are BABIES. They don't know chewing on the electric cord will hurt them, or not to pee on the floor. They also get scared they have just lost everything they know and will look to you for comfort and attention. Give him lots of snuggles and love to reassure him that you will always be there for him. The first night home Josie cried and cried so I got up with her and held her on my chest so she could hear my heartbeat. She settled down and fell asleep. She needed this done a few times that first week.
At first she woke me up every 2 hours all night long, just like a newborn human. I would take her outside, give her a snuggle then put her back in her crate. I was sooooo tired those first weeks, I thought many times I can't do this, but over time 2 hours became 3 then 4 then a whole night through. When that happens the angels sing and the sun shines and you look in the mirror in the morning and think not bad. Josie still likes to get up early, around 6 am, but my husband is up early too so I simply get up take her outside then deposit her with Daddy for some cuddles and playtime while Mommy goes back to bed for another hour or so.
Get an xpen or even a baby playpen, it will save your sanity and your house. When you can't have EYES ON, puppy goes in the playpen. Make it a safe fun place for him to be. A few safe toys, chew bone, water, etc. i never put pee pads down as from past experience they just tear them up and eat them. Your puppy needs to go out every hour, like clock work. His bladder is very tiny and he doesn't realize yet that he can hold it. Over the next few weeks start with every hour then when he makes a few days with no accidents go to an hour and 15 do a few more days or a week then add a bit more time. It really helps to keep a book, game or something near where you want him to go since at first he will explore and play not realizing you want him to go potty. Watch him and learn his signs for getting ready to go then praise him like there is nothing greater in the planet than his going then and there. Those first couple of months I spent so much time watching and waiting for her to go potty I felt kind of weird being so obsessed with her bodily functions but you kind of have to be to get control of them. It's helpful to have a command that you always use when he is about to go. We use Go Potty Josie. She will squat on that command now. So pick a command and say it every time he gets ready to go potty. There will be setbacks. I had the hardest time with Josie getting excited during play time and leaking a little piddle, she didn't even seem to realize she was doing it. To control this we changed where and how she was played with and we would take her outside more frequently so her bladder was empty.
There is A LOT of trial and error, what works form on puppy doesn't always work for another. You will learn your puppies signals, likes, dislikes and needs and eventually it gets easier. I would highly recommend removing anything and everything you don't want, peed on, chewed on, puked on, etc from the vicinity because trust me the one thing you don't want any of that to happen to it's a guarantee it will. I still have baby gates on all my stairs, rooms shut off so she can't go into them, etc. The world is a huge wonderful place for your puppy to explore and he has time to go slowly and start small like one or 2 rooms then slowly expand his world. He needs to learn this is my home aka crate so I don't potty here, then this room is my crate so I don't potty here, then these 2 rooms are my crate so I don't potty here, until he understands the whole house is his crate and he only potties outside it.
Good luck, backtrack a bit and start over setting up a schedule and boundaries, and you will do just fine. It's okay to be overwhelmed every new mother is and that's what you are a new fur mommy with a new fur baby. Cherish every moment they grow so fast!
Terry
to EBN!
. Jack and Josie have been home for 7 nights. Jack could care less. He just wants to sleep lol. Josie needs a lot of comforting. I lay next to her crate while she falls asleep. Sometimes it takes a minute sometimes 10. Just me being close has been enough 99% of the time to help her relax and go to sleep. Both my pups love human touch and being held so I understand that she really is anxious right now.
