7 Things You Need to Have When Taking Your New Puppies Home

What an exciting and potentially stressful time, when you are bringing your cute little puppy home for the first time. Placed in a small box or sitting in your lap in the car as you drive home. You start to wonder, do I have everything that I need? Did I get the right food, toys, etc? This list is designed to help you answer those questions and to temper some of the stress and anxiety you might have in getting a new puppy.

1. Crate. You will need one, to train and teaching them to sleep.

Crating your puppy will be necessary to part of your training and acclimating your puppy to their new environment. A crate should be ready and waiting as soon as you bring your puppy home.

The crate offers several advantages when training- Teaching your puppy where and when to sleep – Used for either a time-out or rest time (your puppy is going to sleep)

Placing the Carte When considering a location for your crate, you will want to consider the following items. – Is this a location that at night is going to provide an isolated environment? Will the sunshine in the morning on this location? If so, it might wake your puppy up early. I like to recommend keeping the crate in your laundry room, as it typically doesn’t have windows and can have the door shut at night.

Other considerations Don’t force your puppy into the crate, but use treats to encourage and train them that this is a safe place. The first time you introduce your puppy to the container, don’t lock him in but allow him to go in and out, so he becomes comfortable with his new environment.
Recommendation:

This crate has two entrance, so you can use it turned in either direction.

2. Collar and Leash – This Step is Important

A collar and leash are important steps when considering how to train your puppy. At PuppyPals we recommend the Gentle-Leader Head Collar. These are specifically designed to help you train your dog while causing little or no damage to your dog’s throat (unlike traditional choke collars).

Let me state that there are a lot of various opinions on this subject, so I encourage you to do your homework.

3. Something to Chew On

It is hard to say what your dog is going to like the best, so this pack below is a great start that gives them several options to start. Your dog will chew on fingers and anything they can get in their mouths. It is important that you keep a variety of toys available, as it is hard to say what they will respond to. Toys that squeak or make noise can be a good play toy. Toys that are soft yet provide some resistance are good for teething.

Great for teething

Great for general playing

4. Baby Gates and General Gates

When you bring your puppy home, you shouldn’t provide them access to the whole house. Pick a spot that is going to be easy to clean (from pee or poop) and that is close to all the action so they aren’t left alone.

General Gate, good for outdoor play and room segmentation

General Gate good for doorways

I like this gate, as it allows for one handed opening and can self close.

5. Grooming Tools – Keep Them Looking Their Best

Golden-doodles have a thick coat and need to ensure proper grooming.

I like this brush for several reasons,
1. It has a wide handle
2. It has a larger brushing surface
3. The brush teeth have a soft edge, protecting the puppy from the harsh points that other slicker brushes have.

Also, you will need something to get out of the harder matted areas. Typically called a Dematting Comb, I have found the best version is this longer teethed version. The smaller curved ones, do well for dogs with shorter hair, but not long-haired dogs. Dematting should not be painful and you will not want to pull and pull, but use this brush to get out the tangles.

6. Food…. Don’t Forget to Feed Them

At Puppy Pals we use the following puppy food (also available at Costco). Nature’s Domain brand.

7. Pee Spray

Accidents are going to happen.

In the first couple of months, your puppy will have accidents. I like using concentrates, as you are going to go thru a good amount of it. As it is expensive the best option is to use a concentrate and put it into a spray bottle.