Many new dog owners report experiencing a bout of anxiety, frustration and exhaustion—sometimes called the “puppy blues”—after bringing a puppy home, a study published in Puppy blues: Study reveals hidden emotional toll of adopting a new … found.

The research aimed to probe the emotional strain that can accompany early puppy care and drew on responses from more than 100 new dog owners, most of them in Finland. The lead author, doctoral researcher Aada Ståhl at the University of Helsinki and Folkhälsan Research Center, and a team of co-authors set out to document how those first weeks and months affect owners’ mood and attachment. These emotional challenges are not limited to puppies alone, as new pet owners frequently struggle with common challenges faced by new pet owners such as underestimating the time, financial commitment, and long-term responsibility required for daily care, training, exercise, and companionship.

Ståhl worked with Milla Salonen, Emma Hakanen, Salla Mikkola, Sini Sulkama, Jari Lahti and Hannes Lohi on the paper. Their analysis highlighted three recurring feelings—anxiety, frustration and exhaustion—that many owners reported while they were caring for a young puppy. According to the study summarized by PsyPost, nearly half of surveyed dog owners reported experiencing significant negative emotions during their puppy’s early months.

“A few years ago, I noticed on dog-related social media forums that new puppy owners often reported anxiety, frustration, and a loss of attachment to their puppies, often comparing it to the ‘baby blues’ some parents experience,” Ståhl said. The study gave researchers a structured way to test whether those anecdotes reflected a broader pattern among new owners. About 10% of participants indicated that they faced these feelings at a severe level, complicating the joy typically expected during puppy ownership.

Participants described how the emotional strain could make it difficult to bond with a puppy at a time when owners expect joy and connection. To alleviate such feelings, new dog owners are encouraged to acknowledge and discuss their emotions, establish a self-care routine, and seek support from friends, family, or professionals, including trainers, as outlined in strategies to cope with ‘puppy blues’.

The authors noted that the arrival of a puppy is typically framed as a positive life change, yet for a group of respondents the early period after adoption triggered significant negative emotions. “The arrival of a puppy is generally seen as a positive life change, yet for some people, it triggers significant negative emotions,” Ståhl added, summarizing a primary tension the team observed between expectation and lived experience. The paper also recorded a retrospective shift: the longer the interval since puppyhood, the more positively people tended to remember those early challenges.

That pattern—challenging early months followed by warmer recollection later—suggests emotional recovery or reframing over time, the authors wrote. The study contributes to a small but growing research area examining how pet acquisition affects owners’ mental health in the short term.

Researchers placed the findings in the context of owner experience rather than veterinary or behavioral outcomes, focusing on owners’ reported feelings and memory of the puppy period rather than measures of animal welfare. The paper’s results were summarized in an article by PsyPost, which highlighted the prevalence of anxiety and exhaustion among respondents.

The authors listed on the study include Ståhl and colleagues Salonen, Hakanen, Mikkola, Sulkama, Lahti and Lohi, and the work was affiliated with the University of Helsinki and Folkhälsan Research Center. Together, their paper documents an emotional pattern that many new owners recognize from forums and personal experience.

The study’s publication in npj Mental Health Research makes the findings available to clinicians and researchers who track the intersections of human mental health and pet ownership. For now, the paper offers a descriptive account of early ownership emotions and a reminder that new-pet adjustment can be complex for some people.

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Original reporting: view the original article.