Day 1 - Unreal

I have a puppy. Tera is home with me. This thought is so unreal at the moment, that I still half expect to wake up at any moment.

The trip

The trip back home could not possibly have gone any better.
She let out a few cries in the first few minutes, afterwards she settled and fell asleep on my lap for almost the rest of the trip. My plan was to keep her in the footwell, but she wanted to be with me so badly, that I decided to go with my instincts and, when she stopped whining and trying to climb up, pick her up and put her on my lap. For the 2.5-hour drive home, we stopped twice– the first one a few minutes in to make sure the whining wasn't a need to go to the toilet, and the other one because we needed a toilet break ourselves. Tera was only interested in being with me at those moments. Back in the car, she was asleep within a few minutes.
When we were home, she did wee outside, but quickly wanted to go back to me again.
After my friend left and we were alone in the house, I realised a few things:
- I have a dog
- I HAVE A DOG!
- What do I do?
- I forgot my coat at the breeder's house, a two and a half hour drive away.

Cloud K9

I will say this now: no amount of reading or YouTube videos can prepare you for this. Pups on YouTube are mostly trained by trainers that can adapt to dozens of possibilities and know what they are doing– while I have only theory to go on.
I quickly saw that she did have a food drive (she was only fed once in the morning today) and readily took treats from me. I was happy that I immediately got my clicker, and started to charge my marker. I tried some food luring, and managed to lure a sit. Nothing 'official', yet, only trying the theory out. I also started with the crate training. Within few minutes she was inside, eating a few treats.
After a while, she climbed on my lap and tried to fall asleep. Since I insist on following my own rules, I picked her up and wanted to put her in the crate. She turned around and walked out. And again. And again.

Stress

Now what? I cannot make the first impressions with the crate a bad one– I will regret that for a long time. The crate has to be awesome from day one.
Eventually I decided to 'force' her into the crate anyways and close the door before she could bolt out. Then my training kicked in; interrupt the whining with a "no" marker and gently– but firmly– tap on the crate to slightly startle her. This successfully quieted her down, and after about a minute of trying to figure out what to do, she settled down. Then I opened the crate and gave her a scratch and told her that she was a good little lady. Eventually the tiredness won, and she fell asleep.
Accasionally she woke up for a moment, due to some new noise, but stayed calm and fell asleep again. Win.
Once she was asleep, I noticed how stressed I was myself. Even though the outcomes were better than I could wish for, it lacked structure for me. This crate-session allowed me to regain my thoughts and prepare to follow the plans I made.
The new plan for today: charge the marker, crate- and toilet training. Most important for me is that I stay relaxed myself and have fun with my pup.
Tera was exhausted, and snoozed for around 3 hours. Once I relaxed a bit myself, a wave of tiredness came over me. The idea of laying next to her crate and falling asleep was tempting, but I wanted to be ready when she wakes up and needs a toilet before she starts to whine.

Just in time

When she was awake, and started to calmly nibble on the toy she got from the breeder, I decided it was time to take her outside, she had not been to the toilet for 4 hours, so she should be ready to go. Within 3 seconds of her stepping out of the crate, she started to squat– and righ on time I scooped her up to take her outside. Valuable lesson: pick her up out of the crate and take her outside immediately– no sniffing or stretching, lead on and outside.
After a wee and a poo, and me acting like a fool praising a pup for going to the toilet, we went back inside and played around a bit and continued charging her marker. I snuck a few reps of her looking at me in there as well. Once I feel like she understands the marker, I will move to that to teach her her name. She was obviously very hungry, so I decided to cut the training short and feed her in the crate. After playing around with her a bit more I introduced her to her place bed. It was scary at first, a little bit of whining, but once she understood that I wouldn't allow her to go off of her own accord, she settled and almost fell asleep on the spot. I picked her up and put her back in the crate; she still didn't want to go in, but without whining, she looked at me confused and started to lay down. Loads of praise and cuddles followed. I knew she was tired, but I think she just wanted to be with me longer or fall asleep next to me again. Like a small child that does not want to go to bed yet. Since it was already evening, I decided to slowly but surely start my preparations for going to bed. She is as relaxed in the crate as can be, and doesn't care if I leave the room for a bit, but I have a feeling...