Post by @junothedeal

We got told, more than once, that we shouldn’t have done it. And yes, the 3am potty trips were rough. But you expect that one. What nobody warns you about is what it does to the two of you ❤️‍🩹 For two months, we stopped dating each other. No dinners out. No evenings that were just ours. Nowhere we could go together without planning the whole thing around him. Every bit of our attention went to Juno. If you’re doing this with a partner, have that conversation BEFORE the puppy comes home. Who’s doing what. What you’ll each give up. How you’ll get time back together. 🏠 The office Month one, one of us was working from home every single day, because the other couldn’t and we didn’t want him left alone. But we didn’t just sit beside him all day. That month was when we practiced micro separations. Building it up slowly, on purpose. We used month one and two so that when we did go back, being alone wasn’t something new and frightening. 🎒 We gave up going anywhere without him Everywhere we went for those first two months, he came. That window for socialising is short, so we took it seriously. But it means you can’t just go places. A lot of things simply came off the table for a while. 😴 And we gave up sleep and our routine Under 12 weeks their bladder is tiny, so someone is getting up at 3am. That part is just the deal. A puppy with a full time job is hard. Some weeks it genuinely felt like a second job 😅 But here’s what nobody tells you 👇 It doesn’t stay hard. Because a puppy isn’t asking you to be home all day. A puppy is asking what happens next. Once ours could answer that, the chaos just stopped. No accidents. No crate screaming. No separation anxiety. The loop became life, for him and for us. 🔑 And if your setup doesn’t look like ours You still have options. Leave for the first few weeks. Staggered start times. A midday walker or sitter. Daycare a few days a week. A neighbour who’s home. ⚠️ But we’ll say the harder thing too If there’s no leave, nobody nearby, no budget for help and no way home midday, an 8 week old puppy isn’t the right call right now. Wait for the right time or adopt an older dog.