finished week 6 with our first ever puppy and here are the things nobody warned me about that i wish someone had

We brought home Otis (yellow lab, now 14 weeks) six weeks ago and i have entered the part of new puppy life where i can finally see straight. Wanted to write this down because everything i read before getting him was either generic "puppies are work!" content or doom posts from people in week 2 who hadnt slept. Here is the actual honest list.

Thing 1: the regression at 11 weeks is real and it is unhinged. Otis was doing great with potty training, sleeping through the night, learning his name, and then at exactly 11 weeks (the day we hit 30 days home) he forgot all of it. Forgot the word "outside," peed on a rug he had never peed on, woke up at 3am crying for 4 nights in a row. The books mention this in like one sentence. It deserves a chapter. It lasted maybe 5 days and then he came back, but i was convinced i had broken him.

Thing 2: socialization is not just exposing him to stuff, it is exposing him to stuff at the right level. I spent the first 2 weeks dragging him to busy places thinking i was checking boxes. He was overstimulated and started getting reactive at squirrels and bikes. A trainer told me to back off and do calm exposure, just sit on a bench 50 feet from the action and let him watch. Total reset. The intensity matters as much as the variety.

Thing 3: bite inhibition gets worse before it gets better. Around week 4 home he started biting harder, not softer. I kept yelping and turning my back like the internet said and it was making it worse. Switched to redirecting onto a frozen kong and ending play sessions before he got over threshold. Different dog inside of a week. Some of this you cant trainer-book your way through, you have to read your specific puppy.

Thing 4: the witching hour from 6pm to 8pm is a documented thing in human babies and it is also a thing in puppies. He turns into a piranha for two hours every evening. Tired puppies bite more, not less. Enforced nap in the pen between 5 and 6 saved my marriage.

Thing 5: nobody warned me how much i would love this little chaos demon. I am 38, i have wanted a dog my entire adult life, and i was honestly worried in week 2 that i had made a mistake. Six weeks in i would lay down in traffic for him. The hard part is real and the love hits you when you are not expecting it.