Puppy woes...Please help!

Hi there,
I´m not an expert but I´ll give you my 2 cents
As a puppy, your dog will do a lot of biting and chewing. What you are doing, by exchanging your hand for a chew toy is really good. We also did the puppy trick, where puppies are conditioned that when they play together and it gets too rough or hurts then the victim will squeak or yelp. Louder the yelp, more warning to stop. You can also yelp loudly, remove your hand and move away. This is a clear sign that the behaviour is not OK. A puppy also is not so good with peoples faces so 'accidents' do happen, but behave stronger when this happens.
Your puppy is also wanting to be around you ALL the time. Some people feel that you should start as you mean to go on and seperate your dog from the begining. This takes time and sore ears ( and a sore heart!) but you need to tollerate the puppies whining for hours if necessary. However with my dog, she was not seperated from me ( sleep next to the bed, came with to meeting etcetc) and now as a 2 year old she can happily stay alone at home. I felt that dogs are not seperate from their family ever, so why should we? So, 2 differing ideas, you need to find what works for you. You need to talk to the neighbours about the noise and say that it will not be for long. Maybe they will be more tollerant.

If you choose to seperate the dog...read a baby book. i.e ' how to get your baby to sleep' these books have great ideas for setting guidelines and drawing up a plan. If you leave your dog in the next room as he whines, and you return, then he thinks that the whining works etc etc. With my human baby I was SOOOO tough and consequent that the sleeping problem was absolutely over in 3 days and stays great. So try reading a human baby book for ways to send the right message.
I´m also sorry to tell you that having a new dog can be as hard work as a human baby. It will be about a year before you see major improvements! At the age of your dog mine was really the worst for me but after 10 months it got better, and then horrible till about 1 year...and now at 2 she is almost perfect! Keep trying, baby proof your house, laugh a lot at what a silly dog she is, enjoy the chaos, and keep trying to think up clever ways to keep sane
Dog owners make it sound easy! join a puppy play group and you can all laugh at how crazy it all is,
hope something helps...I´ll try and think of more,
Annie

Thank you so much for that response. I feel a bit better now, last night i thought i had adopted cujo. We're going to the vet tomorrow for his jabs so the vet will also be able to check him over and reasure me all is well.

I also read in a book that kittens are good companions for puppies. Don't know if this would be a good idea or if it would just add fuel to the fire?

Thank you for your post. I have found two dog trainers in my local area so i will definately check them both out.
Thanks again