I think it's important to know what you can realistically expect and not expect from a puppy. Too many people get a puppy with a set of standards already in place and they expect their puppy to fit them perfectly, but you can't do this (well, you CAN, but you SHOULDN'T). Every puppy is unique, you will never find two the same, so you shouldn't expect them to be the same. Expectations only lead to disappointment and they can even prevent you from loving the dog for what she/he is.
A purebred puppy may NOT fit the standards. Usually the better the breeder, the better the breed standards can be used as guidelines. But remember, they are still just that, guidelines, that are intended to give you a general description of what an ideal dog of that breed should be like . They don't tell you exactly what your puppy will be like. Even within a breed, puppies are different, they have their own quirks and when they grow up, they may still have their own quirks. This goes for comparing your new puppy to your old dog as well. If you had a wonderful, obedient, mellow, loving lab that recently passed away.....Cherish her memory. You can get another lab puppy, but don't expect your new puppy to be like your old dog.
Expectations should be monitored in training too. The only thing you CAN expect is that if you are dedicated, you will successfully train that puppy to perform the basic obedience commands and pass the CGC...You can't expect the puppy to be able to do this right at 6 months. You can expect that the puppy will become potty trained....You can't expect the puppy to be potty trained in a week.
You can't expect your puppy to be perfect either. I'm sure we've all seen, at least once in our lives, a young puppy that was as close to perfect as a puppy can get. Didn't nip or mouth, didn't chew every thing, potty trained in a week, loved to learn and picked up commands quickly etc etc. But you can't expect your puppy to be like that, a puppy like that is a very bad model for your expectations. Instead, imagine the worst behaved puppy possible, one that nips, one that takes forever to be housebroken, one that tears things up because that's more realistic. If your puppy isn't that bad, then be happy, be proud, give your puppy a hug and give yourself a pat on the back for doing a good job in training!
So the main point of this is to forget what you expect the puppy to be and what you want the puppy to be. Love the puppy for itself and treat it like it's the first dog you've ever raised (or like you have no clue what breed it is!). Forget your plans of taking that puppy to the nationals in competition, focus on a CGC first, then focus on novice....Just keep training, stay in the present, and go as far as you can.
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