Let’s just get it out of the way – bringing a new puppy into your home is a huge deal no question about it! Your family is gaining a four-legged +1 that will be with you for the next 10 to 15 years, getting up to mischief, photobombing all your selfies, going on walks and adventures with you and probably sneaking onto the couch, or the bed when you’re not looking.
An event this important could use some proper planning and preparation. You’d certainly do it if you were bringing home a new human baby and if you think about it the steps you have to follow are quite similar.
The puppy needs a place to sleep, it needs to eat, it needs to go to the toilet, it needs entertainment and stimulation, supervision and guidance and last but definitely not least, it needs a kind and loving family to share its life with.
Over the next few articles we’ll outline our definitive guides to every aspect of starting off on the right foot with a new puppy. To begin with, let’s go over some things you should be doing to prepare for your pup’s arrival:
Get The Right Equipment
Make sure you have all the right equipment, a lead, collar, food and water bowls – we recommend stainless steel bowls which are much more hygienic than plastic. Water bowls should be placed one inside the house and one outdoors in the area where your puppy will be let out to play and go to the toilet.
Other handy items include, baby gates, playpens, tug toys, a longer 3m lead, a soft mat, or towel to use as a mobile bed (we’ll talk about mat training later in the series)
Food And Snacks
What you feed your puppy and how much of it will have a huge impact on their future. The wrong diet, or gaining weight too fast can affect skeletal development, or put too much strain on young joints leading to problems later in life.
We’re also learning a lot from current research about how diet can affect brain chemistry and hormonal balance and the role this can play in behavioral problems.
We strongly believe that raw feeding is the best choice and there is no age limit to when you can start. However, if you’re more comfortable sticking with kibble we recommend choosing a top quality brand which is grain free and high in protein. Please do some homework before you bring your puppy home – not all dog foods are created equal.
Besides choosing a good diet you’ll also need to stock up on chewy treats and training snacks – you should have these from the minute your puppy arrives home to help them settle in and bond with you. Please stick to natural healthy treat options and stay away from bleached rawhide chews and bulky carb and grain-filled dog biscuits. Have a look at the chews and treats section of our shop for a range of healthy options.
Medical Considerations
We don’t like to think about it, but things can go wrong with young pups and sometimes they can go wrong very quickly. If this is your first pup and you don’t have a vet find one now! Your vet should be friendly, knowledgeable and open to discussion when your pup is being treated. Your pup should be popping in for visits just to get to know the vet and get comfortable – Ask your potential vet if they will accommodate this – if they won’t, keep looking. Also make sure you also know where the nearest 24-hour vet is in case of an emergency.
Sign up for pet medical aid the minute you bring your pup home – if your pup gets sick, or injured the vet bills can pile up very quickly so unless you have a very healthy rainy-day fund you will need this.
Sleeping Arrangements
Ok let’s get rid of a big cause of stress for us.
Your new puppy is not a lawn ornament and it is not a cheap burglar alarm. If you need lawn ornaments and burglar alarms, we recommend plastic flamingos and something with sirens and beams.
Dogs are social animals that need and thrive on company. Your puppy especially needs your company to build a strong and lasting bond with you. That can’t happen when they’re out in the garden feeling excluded and quite likely frightened as well.
Your puppy’s bed should be indoors, clean, warm and comfortable. Ideally they should be confined in a space that is secure and not big enough for them to do toilet and sleep in (that will make them more inclined to ask to go out).
Children should never be allowed to bother the puppy in its bed and playtime happens when the pup is awake and brought out. If there is an older dog in the family it should have its own sleeping area away from the puppy. Do not let your pup push into the older dog’s sleeping area or think that bed sharing is ok – you are taking a huge risk that your puppy could test the older dog’s patience, or trigger a resource guarding reaction that will end in disaster.
For all of these reasons and more a crate really is first prize here – it’s a secure, safe bed with sturdy confinement, it’s easy to control access for children and dogs, it can be moved around the house and it’s a huge help during toilet training – check our series on crate training to see how it works!
Sharing Responsibilities
One thing your puppy desperately needs to adapt to our human world, which is simultaneously full of amazing things to explore and a long list of ‘things I’m not allowed to do’, is consistency.
Before your puppy arrives, sit down with the family and make sure that you have a clear set of rules. Is the puppy allowed on furniture, is it allowed on beds, is there a room it’s not allowed to go in?
You should also discuss how you will divide up supervision and toilet training duties. It may seem trivial but it’s a very good idea to make sure everyone knows who is on duty (so you will know who to blame when someone’s Nike’s turn up with chew marks on them – it’s not the puppy’s fault!)
This might be a good opportunity to decide who will take the lead in training classes (your puppy should bond with everyone in the family), but if there’s one particular person who will be the lead handler they should be working on building a strong relationship from day one.
Stay tuned for the next article in the series where we’ll take you through the do’s and don’ts of toilet training and how proper supervision and guidance will help you to teach your pup the ‘rules’ of the house in a calm and gentle way.