On having a puppy.

Everyone loves puppies (apart from you, Jem) and, as such, people (ok, I) tend to forget just how much work it is owning one. It's not as simple as "pick up the poo, take him out for walks, get sleepy cuddles", as people (ok, I) think it should be. You have to learn about them so you can spot when they need these things. You have to have lightning quick reflexes for those nick-of-time moments. You have to shout at those cute little faces. It ain't right!

The rewards, however, far outweigh the drawbacks. Puppies are amazing. Yeah, they eat your shoes, and they don't understand the 50th consecutive "NO!", and they have very little regard for doing their business over the cracks in your nice, clean, wooden floor then kicking it throughout your house, but it's so rewarding when you get through a whole day and you're totally in sync.

This is, however, a massive responsibility and investment of time and energy. You have to be totally willing to drop everything you're doing at any given moment to tend to a puppy. You can't be sat writing a blog post and just ignore a whining puppy who needs to go out - you have to be up and at it! This goes for ANY time of day. Sleep is deprioritised, as are loved-ones, friends, cameras, code, video games, movies, TV shows and books (it's a testament to my literacy how low down books are on that list) and there's nothing you can do about it. This does have its advantages; you'll get ridiculously good at going from any position to standing, clothed, shoed and alert; you'll have a feeling of fulfilled responsibility and accomplishment; but, most of all, you'll be on the way to having a well-rounded, well-behaved, house-trained dog.

Anyway, enough of my indignant, week-old wisdom on raising a puppy. If you're thinking about it, please seriously think about the implications and the impact it'll have on your life. Puppies are cute, but they're so much more than that.

As a reward for wading through the wall of text, so uncharacteristic of this blog, have some pictures of Sudo, in chronological order.

6 weeks, 2 days.

6 weeks, 3 days

7 weeks

7 weeks, 6 days