Thanks for your replies girls =)

Thank you so much for the tips, esp. the feeding part, I never thought about that...I guess the whole time we have talked about a 'dog' and you know feeding it table scraps etc... we both have sort of missed the whole 'puppy' bit, and that it will take a bit of work to get to that stage =),
oh and MD I wanted to name it Odin!! I've always wanted a dog called Odin...dont know if we will cause DH isnt 100% on it =P
I'll look into puppy school, cause i think my having never had a big dog before, and my last dog was a puppy 15 years ago, and DH's longer we might learn just as much as the dog =) I do want to make sure its obedient from as early as possible, just so i know i can control it on walks etc.. and plus when we get our little kiddlets =)
thanks MD and Christy! I'm sure I'll be bugging your with questions as it gets closer =)