🐶 Your Puppy’s First Day Home — Step by Step Guide

🐶 Your Puppy’s First Day Home — Step by Step Guide

🚗 1. Before bringing puppy home

Have these ready before pickup:

  • 🛏️ Bed/crate or playpen

  • 🚽 Pee tray + pee pads (Provided!)

  • 🍚 The same puppy food they were eating at the shop (Provided!)

  • 💧 Food & water bowls (Provided!)

  • 🧸 A few safe toys/chews (Provided!)

  • 🧴 Enzymatic urine cleaner (Provided!)

  • 🧻 Puppy wipes (Provided!)

  • 🦮 Collar/harness + leash (Provided!)

  • 🏠 Allocate a quiet, puppy-proofed area for them to play in when they are outside the playpen

Don't plan a big welcome party. Your puppy has just left a familiar environment and may be tired or overwhelmed.

🏠 2. Go straight home

For the first trip home, keep things as calm as possible.

If possible, avoid stopping at dog parks, pet cafés, grooming salons or other places where many dogs visit, especially while your puppy is still completing its vaccinations.

Once you arrive home, don't immediately let the puppy explore the entire house.

🚽 3. Take puppy to the pee tray first

This is one of the most important steps.

Before allowing your puppy to explore, place them on their pee tray.

Give them a few minutes to sniff around.

If they pee:

Praise: “Good Boy/Girl!” → small treat 🎉

This immediately establishes the location of their toilet.

If they don't go, that's okay. Bring them back to the tray again after eating, drinking, sleeping and playing.

🏡 4. Start with a small area

For the first few days, give your puppy limited access to the home.

A playpen or puppy-proofed room, rather than access to the entire home, is ideal.

A large house gives a young puppy too many opportunities to have accidents and get into trouble.

💧 5. Offer water

Give your puppy access to fresh drinking water.

Don't deliberately restrict water to reduce accidents. Young puppies need regular hydration.

It's normal for your puppy to drink more or less than expected initially because of the excitement and change in environment.

🍚 6. Feed the same food initially

For the first few days, keep the puppy on the food they are already accustomed to.

Don't immediately introduce treats, toppers, supplements and a completely different diet all at once.

If you want to change their food later, do it gradually over several days.

😴 7. Let puppy sleep!

This is something many new owners underestimate.

Your puppy may sleep a LOT during the first day.

They've just experienced:

  • Leaving their littermates

  • Travelling

  • A new environment

  • New smells

  • New people

  • A completely different routine

So if your puppy sleeps after arriving home, let them sleep. ❤️

You don't need to constantly entertain them.

👨👩👧 8. Keep introductions calm

If there are children or multiple family members, introduce them one at a time.

Ask everyone to:

  • Sit calmly

  • Let puppy approach them

  • Avoid grabbing or chasing puppy

  • Avoid passing puppy around like a toy

  • Give puppy somewhere quiet to retreat

Your puppy should learn:

“My new home is safe.”

🐕 9. If you already have another dog

This is especially important for puppies that haven't completed their vaccination course.

Don't simply put the puppy down and let the resident dog overwhelm them.

Instead:

  1. Ensure the resident dog is healthy and appropriately vaccinated.

  2. Keep the first interaction calm and supervised.

  3. Let them sniff and investigate each other naturally.

  4. Keep interactions short initially.

  5. Give the puppy a separate resting area.

  6. Don't leave them together unsupervised.

Because your puppies are still in the vaccination process, owners should also avoid contact with unfamiliar dogs and potentially contaminated environments until their veterinarian advises that their vaccination protection is adequate.

🧸 10. Have a little playtime

After puppy has settled, had some water and possibly eaten, you can have a short, gentle play session.

Don't overstimulate them.

A few minutes of:

  • Toy play

  • Gentle interaction

  • Sniffing

  • Simple training

is plenty.

🐾 11. Start training immediately — but keep it fun

You don't need to wait until your puppy is older.

Start with simple behaviours:

Name → eye contact → “Good!” → treat

Then gradually introduce:

  • Sit

  • Come

  • Leave it

  • Quiet

  • Gentle handling

  • Crate/bed

  • Pee tray

Keep sessions 1–3 minutes at first.

🚽 12. Take puppy to the pee tray frequently

Don't wait for an accident.

Bring them to the tray:

⏰ After waking
🍚 After eating
💧 After drinking
🎾 After playing
😴 Before sleeping
👃 Whenever they sniff/circle/wander off

When they get it right:

Praise + treat immediately.

Accidents are normal. Don't punish them.

🌙 13. Prepare for bedtime

Before bedtime:

  1. Short play session

  2. Calm down

  3. Pee tray

  4. Into bed/crate

  5. Lights down

  6. Keep the environment quiet

Your puppy may cry during the first few nights.

That's normal — they're suddenly sleeping without their littermates.

The goal is to teach them that their sleeping area is safe, rather than immediately turning bedtime into a long play or cuddle session every time they make noise.

🌃 14. Expect some crying and accidents

The first night may not be perfect.

Your puppy may:

  • Whine

  • Wake up during the night

  • Pee in the wrong place

  • Eat less than usual

  • Be extra clingy

  • Seem unusually sleepy

A new puppy is experiencing a huge transition.

Give them time to settle into their new routine.

Sleep + toilet routine + food + gentle play + short training = a great first day.

🚨 And one important thing: know when to call the vet

A little stress after going home can be normal, but you should contact your veterinarian promptly if your puppy has repeated vomiting or diarrhoea, refuses food/water, has significant lethargy, difficulty breathing, bloody stool/vomit, or otherwise seems seriously unwell.

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