How We Are Preparing for Our NEW Puppy
We have 6 more weeks until we can welcome our new pup into our house and time couldn’t be moving any slower!
It wasn’t long after our senior dog died that we realized we didn’t want to wait to bring home a new puppy. I spent about two months searching before I was able to find a breeder – and here we are!
There are a few things that we are doing to help us prepare for this puppy. This is actually the first puppy that we’ve had because our senior dog was adopted after it’s owner passed away. (actually it was a family member)
PLENTY, plenty, plenty of puppy training research.
We are making sure that we have a plan in place the very first day we pick our puppy up. Plans that we have in place are schedules, crate training, potty location, and our chewing plan of action.
Deciding on the type of food/diet for our puppy.
Our breeder feeds all of her dogs a complete raw meat diet. We decided this just wasn’t a good plan for us so we needed a plan in place to slowly transition puppy to the diet we plan to use. What works for someone else won’t necessarily work for you. Take time to do your own research and look at your finances before deciding what’s best for your family.
Deciding on vet and pet insurance.
Most breeder contracts include that you must take your dog to the vet within a few days of taking him home or their health guarantee will be null and void. Even if you don’t have a contract it’s probably a good practice to maintain. We already know what vet we plan on using so I have moved on to comparing insurance quotes. It’s also a good idea to make an appointment at least a month ahead in case they are quite busy.
Locating a dog training academy.
Someone once said to me “a happy home is a home with a well-trained dog” and we are fully adopting this philosophy. Our past senior dog was already trained before he came to us and we knew right away that he had been professionally trained. We understand though that his training is only half of the job. OUR training is the rest! I’m excited to use this time that we are both training to bond with our puppy.
Having a plan in place to socialize our puppy.
Having your pup in school and around other puppies is a good way to jump-start socialization. But for a well-socialized dog that won’t be enough. If you are taking them to a training school they will usually give you a paper with a whole list of socialization goals to check off. However, if you aren’t going to a puppy school you can find lots of websites online that offer the same type of checklists. Can’t wait for our first day of school!
Not waiting until the last minute to load our Amazon cart with essentials.
Now we’re getting to one of my favorites… shopping! I started a shopping cart almost two weeks ago and I am constantly changing my mind on an item or thinking of something else I need to add. Give yourself plenty of shipping time too in case something comes in late!
Here is something fun – make a bucket list for your dog!
Pinterest has tons of ideas floating around. I’m currently working on ours and one of our goals is to visit 100 National and State Parks throughout our pup’s lifetime.
Preparing a binder for all our dog’s records.
This will be helpful if we move or change vets. When we travel this is something that we’ll take with us in case of an emergency. Things I am putting in my binder are: general information, emergency contact, vaccine log, all vet records, certifications, and last but not least, all the fun stuff like learned commands and bucket list goals.
And that’s what I am currently doing to prepare for our puppy! Is there anything else I should be doing? Let me know in the comments!
Great advice! The biggest struggle that I see with most new puppy owners is simply that they aren’t prepared. All of a sudden they have a puppy that demands SO much of their time and they don’t have the additional time to sort everything out. Getting a head start will allow you to just enjoy the process, make memories and focus on training a well-behaved pup.