I love this puppy <3 I'm not doubting myself anymore, I think I've done the right thing :-) She's gorgeous <3

She was 8 weeks old yesterday, and I've had her 6 days now. She's much quieter at night, though we're still not sleeping brilliantly! None the less it's much improved. I've reached the point of such exhaustion I'm not as jumpy which helps lol - to start with I was jumping awake with every little noise, determined to get her outside before she peed. Which was quite amusing on Saturday night - I woke up and of course me getting up woke her up. So I went to grab her to put her out, she squatted so I picked her up anyway and put her down outside expecting her to squat as she was that desperate....no, she ran back inside. So grabbed her again, by which time she'd started peeing again (I didn't realise) which ended up going all over my hand and lap before she stopped! This time shut the door before I put her down and she did do the rest outside....but not quite what I wanted in the middle of the night! No such incidents since, thankfully!

I left her for the first time on Sunday, she seemed to have settled quite well so I decided to take Elton to the show I'd entered him in, as we were first in the ring and it was only about 15 minutes drive. Dad was at home, so she wasn't completely on her own. On the whole she was really good :-) (and it was worth going as Elton won his class!)

On Monday some friends came over for lunch, and to meet madam! She was somewhat overawed when they first came in, but warmed up and by the time they left she was all over them :-) I have been warned to socialise her well, and someone with a puppy (7mos) from similar lines (I think his mother is Ria's grandmother) was telling me all about the problems they've been having with their dog and being scared of people. So I was a bit worried to see her initial reaction, but pleased with how it ended!

Tuesday was a big day for Ria - I put a collar on her for the first time (not amused!) and we went on our first big adventure, down the road to the post office :-) She hasn't even had her first vaccination yet, so she was restricted to my lap - much to her displeasure! As we walked down the road she wasn't sure of traffic, but I'd taken a toy and stopped to talk and play when I saw bigger vehicles approaching. She seemed to improve as she was out for longer, so hopefully she'll soon get over that! There was a white German Shepherd walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the road which she thought was rather interesting! She was very interested in the couple of people that walked by, but a bit wary. However, as we got down to where the post office is we met a man who stopped to talk to her and she was happily saying hello. Closely followed by an older couple who she also greeted enthusiastically, and then was actually pulling to get *to* people! So that was good.

After such a busy week I was very tired yesterday, so we didn't do anything eventful! I'm intending to try and book her in for her first vaccination tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

In general, I think she's doing well :-) Early days yet, but she's responding quite well to me (they are known for being a bit stand offish with strangers and that also made the first couple of days hard - she wouldn't respond to me at all). She seems to know her name now (makes a big difference!), and we're working on a nose to hand touch. Kooikers are known for adoration of food and putting on weight easily, and I can confirm she's no exception! I need to work on more toy drive, cos at the moment food wins every time. In play she isn't too bad at bringing things back at the moment, though I expect that'll change lol. She's pretty good about coming when I call her, though the word "come" has barely been introduced and doesn't mean a lot yet! House training is a work in progress, but for 8 weeks old she's not doing badly.

I'm trying not to stress about things and just to enjoy her! This is the first time I've ever had a very young puppy of my own (my family walked three guide dog puppies when I was 9-11yrs old - I don't remember much) and I really want to do my best by her, and especially make the most of that crucial <12 week period I've never had before. The youngest puppy I've ever had was Elton, who was 12 weeks old and came with his sister for me to "run on" the pair of them on behalf of their breeders - so a very different scenario, and I wasn't able to do half of what I wanted to do A) because he wasn't mine (he wasn't mine until he was just shy of 6 months old) and B) because I had the pair of them.

With Ria, the world is my oyster and I want her to be all that she can be :-) Hopefully I won't mess it up!

Although they're not a table breed her breeder starts her own dogs off on the table and then moves them to the floor once they're bigger, and I can't get down to her properly on the floor so we've been working on the table. She had no concept, and the first three times I put her on, she fell off (I caught her!), but she's now a bit steadier and I actually managed some semi-decent photos yesterday.