Care Guides

Everyone plans for the puppy arriving. Almost nobody plans for the third night, which is when the novelty has worn off, you have not slept properly since Friday, and there is a small amount of urine in a place you have not found yet.

The first week sets more patterns than any other week you will spend with this dog. Not because puppies learn everything in seven days, but because whatever routine you fall into by accident becomes the routine you then have to undo. A bit of structure early saves months later.

Before the puppy walks in

Pick one room to be the base. Something with hard floors, ideally a kitchen or utility room, gated off so the puppy is not free to roam the whole house. A puppy given the run of a home cannot be supervised properly and will be house-trained more slowly.

Set up the crate in that room, or in your bedroom if you plan to sleep near the puppy — which most people should for the first week, because a puppy alone in a dark kitchen crying all night is both miserable and counterproductive. Add water, a couple of chew-safe toys, and nothing you mind losing.

Do a final scan at puppy eye level. Cables, shoes, plant pots, medications in low cupboards, and the gap behind the washing machine. Puppies find all of it.

Day one: keep it dull

The temptation is to invite everyone over. Resist it. A puppy that has just left its litter and travelled in a car has had a very big day already.

Carry the puppy to the toilet spot in the garden before going inside. Give it time and praise anything that happens. Then let it explore the base room at its own pace. No forced handling, no passing around, no toddlers picking it up.

Offer the same food the breeder or shelter was using, in the same amount and roughly the same schedule. Changing diet on day one on top of everything else is how you end up with diarrhoea by Wednesday. If you want to change food, start the transition after a week and do it gradually over another week.

Expect the first night to be rough. A crate beside your bed, a hand hung down where the puppy can smell you, and a middle-of-the-night toilet trip is the realistic version. Two or three nights of this is normal.

Toilet training from the first hour

The schedule matters more than any technique. Take the puppy out after waking, after eating, after playing, and every hour or so in between while awake. Young puppies genuinely cannot hold it long.

Go to the same spot each time, stand still, and wait quietly. When it happens, praise immediately and give a small treat right there — not back inside, because the puppy will not connect the two.

Accidents are inevitable. Do not scold; you will only teach the dog to hide from you when it needs to go. Clean thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaner, because ordinary detergent leaves scent markers that draw the puppy back to the same spot.

A rough guide for bladder capacity is one hour per month of age plus one, so a two-month-old puppy needs a trip roughly every three hours overnight. That is a guide, not a rule, and daytime frequency is much higher.

Sleep is a real requirement

Puppies need 16 to 20 hours of sleep a day. This surprises people, and the consequence of missing it is a puppy that gets frantic, mouthy, and impossible in the evenings.

Most overtired puppies look wired, not sleepy. Biting hands, racing around, ignoring cues. The fix is almost always a nap in the crate, not more exercise. Enforced quiet time — crate, covered, lights low — for an hour or two several times a day makes an enormous difference to behaviour.

Build a rhythm: wake, toilet, play or training, food, toilet, nap. Repeat. Predictability calms puppies.

Handling and socialisation, gently

The window for easy socialisation closes around 16 weeks, so week one starts the clock. Before full vaccination, carry the puppy outside rather than walking it on public ground. Sit on a bench and let it watch traffic, buggies, cyclists, and people from your arms. Novel sights and sounds at a safe distance are exactly the point.

At home, get the puppy used to being handled. Touch paws, look in ears, lift lips to see teeth, run hands over the body. Short, frequent, paired with treats. The dog who tolerates a vet exam at three years old is made in these sessions.

Also start teaching alone time. Even five minutes in the crate with a stuffed chew while you are in another room begins the work of preventing separation problems. A puppy that is never alone in week one learns that being alone is abnormal.

What to teach and what to skip

Week one is not for sit-stay-heel. Focus on three things: responding to its name, coming to you when called in the house, and settling calmly.

Name training is thirty seconds — say the name, puppy looks, treat. Ten times a day. Recall is the same in a hallway. Settling means rewarding the puppy for lying down quietly rather than only paying attention when it is doing something.

Bite inhibition starts now too. When teeth touch skin, stop the interaction immediately, stand up, disengage for ten seconds, then resume. Redirect onto a toy. Puppies bite; the goal in week one is teaching that biting ends fun, not that biting is forbidden by shouting.

Book the vet

Schedule a check-up in the first few days. Bring the paperwork from the breeder or shelter. Discuss the vaccination schedule, worming, flea prevention, microchip registration, and neutering timelines. Ask about local puppy classes and get on a waiting list — good ones fill up.

Make the first visit a positive one if you can. Treats in the waiting room, a friendly weigh-in, no drama.

By Sunday

If, at the end of week one, the puppy is eating, sleeping in the crate with reasonable protest, mostly toileting outside, and starting to look at you when you say its name — you are exactly where you should be. Nothing about this stage is meant to feel polished. It is meant to feel like a lot of laundry and a slowly emerging routine.