I got my first puppy in December. I was completely unprepared for the amount of work and energy it takes to raise a puppy. My husband and I had a hard enough time making sure we were consistent between the two of us in dealing with the puppy, whether it was training, housetraining, correcting, etc. I can't imagine doing that with small children as well, because you need to be *very* consistent in everything in dealing with the puppy.
If it were me, I'd give the puppy back or find a home for it through Craigslist where you can interview/screen potential homes more strictly and get an older dog that is already trained and is already good with kids. But it also depends on your kids and how good they are at working with the puppy...and how long you're willing to deal with a zoo. It took about a month for our puppy to start being like a "real" dog where she started going to the door when she needed to go out, never nipped, was doing well with sit/down/heel/coming when called, but we also got her at 10 weeks, not 8. I would imagine that would take longer if everyone wasn't able to treat the puppy the same way to really emphasize the training.
What I'm saying is that I think you can do it, but it would probably be easier if you went with an older dog that is already trained. So it's up to you to decide how much you want *this* dog and if you want to live with a zoo for long enough to get it to be a real member of the family.
If it were me, I'd give the puppy back or find a home for it through Craigslist where you can interview/screen potential homes more strictly and get an older dog that is already trained and is already good with kids. But it also depends on your kids and how good they are at working with the puppy...and how long you're willing to deal with a zoo. It took about a month for our puppy to start being like a "real" dog where she started going to the door when she needed to go out, never nipped, was doing well with sit/down/heel/coming when called, but we also got her at 10 weeks, not 8. I would imagine that would take longer if everyone wasn't able to treat the puppy the same way to really emphasize the training.
What I'm saying is that I think you can do it, but it would probably be easier if you went with an older dog that is already trained. So it's up to you to decide how much you want *this* dog and if you want to live with a zoo for long enough to get it to be a real member of the family.
