Bringing a new puppy home - surviving the first 24 hours.
When you have planned to introduce a new puppy to your household the first few days can set the tone for the future and give you a solid foundation.
We've just brought home, Rosie, a 9 week old Labrador pup to join our family.
Preparing Ahead.
Before you arrange to collect your puppy have everything you need for the puppy.
Here is a list of some puppy basics.
- Adjustable Collar and lead
- Collar Tags with contact info
- Food and water bowls
- High quality puppy food – speak to the breeder to ask what puppy has been fed on
- Poo bags
- Dog bed
- Suitable toys and treats
- Playpen and baby gates
- Crate
Travelling Home
How exciting – you are bringing home your new puppy but remember this will be a stressful time for your pup. Hopefully pup will have had a meal more than 1 hour before you arrive. Good breeders will give you a small amount of the food they have been using, the relevant paperwork and a blanket with smell of mum and the litter. We were given a lot of information from Rosie's breeder so we were really well informed.
Puppy should be secure in the car at all times and for a young puppy a travel crate is a safe mode of travel.
If the journey is long plan a safe place to stop to offer water and a toilet break for puppy.
Arriving Home
The first thing on arriving at home should be a visit to the garden to allow the puppy to go to the toilet this will help the start of toilet training. Even at this early stage use key words when your puppy goes to the toilet.
When you introduce your puppy to your house it’s an idea to limit the amount of rooms they have access to and supervise them at all times – however puppy proof you think your house may be! Rosie has found things that I didn't know were there.
If you have other pets introduce them carefully and again never leave them along together.
It’s very tempting to invite everyone round to meet you new puppy but it’s best to have a quiet few days letting them settle in and adjust to a new regime and surroundings.
Routine
Puppies like routine and it’s important to start as you mean to go on. You will have been told by the breeder about the feeding regime and it’s suggested that you continue with that.
At this time you are teaching your puppy to be part of your family and establishing a routine will help both you and puppy.
Toilet Training.
This has already started from the moment you arrived home by introducing puppy to the toilet area. Every time your puppy goes in the correct place reward him/her – I use verbal reward and within a few days you only need to go to that area, using the same words and puppy will relieve themselves.
Being a puppy is very tiring at this stage they will generally sleep for up to 15 hours a day but will having hourly toilet needs during the day. They possibly will wake you during the night to go out as well.
First Night and going to Bed.
You’ve already decided where your puppy is going to sleep – remember this must be a safe place. I personally use a crate to start with – this is puppy’s safe place with a bed, water and the blanket that I’ve brought home from the breeder.
I will have put puppy in the crate during the first day when sleeping so they are starting to realise that it’s a safe place.
When it comes to bedtime puppy will visit the garden and encouraged to relieve themselves. I will then put them to bed, turn the lights off and leave them. I generally find a time when the puppy is ready for a sleep naturally and this may vary each night.
The puppy may whimper to start with but it’s important that you only enter the room when the whimpering has stopped.
Don’t be tempted to let puppy sleep with you for just 1 night as they will expect that every night.
The next morning
As soon as you wake up the following morning the first thing is to take puppy out to allow them to relieve themselves.
Enjoy your new puppy becoming part of your family. 
