Bringing your puppy home
A practical guide to your first few days and weeks
Bringing a puppy home is exciting, but it can also feel a little overwhelming — for you and for them. Your puppy is leaving the familiarity of their littermates, their mum and the home they’ve known since birth. Everything is new: the smells, the sounds, the people, the routine. It’s completely normal for both of you to need a few days to find your feet.
The good news is that puppies are adaptable, and with a bit of preparation and patience, most settle in quickly. This page covers the practical basics for those first days and weeks — the things that make the biggest difference early on.
Preparing your home
Before your puppy arrives, it’s worth thinking about how to make your home safe and manageable for a small, curious animal that will chew anything it can reach.
Decide where your puppy will sleep, eat and toilet. Pick up anything at floor level you don’t want destroyed — shoes, cables, children’s toys, houseplants. Baby gates are useful for managing access to rooms and stairs, especially in open-plan homes. Set up a designated space where your puppy can rest undisturbed, such as a crate, playpen or a gated-off area of a room.
Have the basics ready before collection day: food and water bowls, a bed or blanket, a collar or harness, a lead, some age-appropriate chew toys, an enzymatic cleaner for accidents, and the food your puppy has been eating (switching food suddenly can upset their stomach, so any transition should be gradual over a week or so, after they’ve settled into their new homes).
The first night
This is often the hardest part. Your puppy has likely never slept without their littermates before, so expect some crying or whimpering — it’s completely normal and doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong.
Set your puppy up in their sleeping area with comfortable bedding and a toy or blanket that carries a familiar scent — from their mum, their littermates or the home they came from. A warm water bottle wrapped in a blanket can help in cooler weather. Some people find that soft background noise like a ticking clock or radio on low helps settle a restless puppy.
Where your puppy sleeps is up to you, but having them inside — ideally in or near your bedroom for the first few nights — means they’re close enough to feel your presence without needing constant interaction. A crate beside the bed works well for this. You can gradually move it to another room as your puppy becomes more confident and settled.
Young puppies can’t hold their bladder all night. You’ll likely need to get up at least once to take them outside to toilet — setting an alarm is better than waiting to be woken by crying, since you want to avoid accidentally teaching your puppy that vocalising gets a response. When you do take them out, keep it calm and quiet: straight outside, let them do their business, a gentle word of praise, and back to bed. No play, no fuss.
The first few nights may be rough, but it passes quickly. Most puppies settle into a routine within a week.
Crate training
A crate isn’t a cage! Done well, it becomes your puppy’s safe space. Dogs naturally seek out enclosed, den-like areas to rest, and a crate gives them somewhere quiet to retreat to when they’re tired or overstimulated. It also helps enormously with toilet training, since most puppies won’t toilet where they sleep.
Start by setting up the crate in a room where the family spends time — the kitchen, living room or bedroom. Leave the door open and let your puppy explore it on their own terms. Toss in a few treats or a favourite toy to encourage them. At this stage, there’s no closing the door — you’re just building a positive association with the space.
Once your puppy is happily going in and out, start closing the door for short periods while they’re occupied with a chew or a treat. Stay nearby. Gradually increase the time, and always let them out when they’re calm — not when they’re barking or whining. The goal is for the crate to feel like a reward, never a punishment.
A few practical points: the crate should be big enough for your puppy to stand up, turn around and lie down comfortably. A soft crate works well for young puppies, while metal crates with removable floors suit older dogs. And when the crate isn’t in use for settling or sleep, leave the door open so your puppy can come and go as they please.
Toilet training
Toilet training takes time and consistency, but it’s simpler than it seems. The basic principle is: get your puppy to the right spot as often as possible, and reward them when they go there.
Take your puppy outside after they wake up, after they eat or drink, after play, and roughly every 30 to 60 minutes in between. Go to the same spot each time and use a consistent cue word — something like “toilet” or “go wee.” When they go, praise them warmly and give a treat straight away. Timing matters — reward immediately after they finish, not once you’re back inside.
Watch for signs that your puppy needs to go: sniffing the ground, circling, wandering off or suddenly becoming restless. If you catch these early, you can get them outside before an accident happens.
When accidents do happen — and they will — clean the area thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaner to remove the scent. Don’t scold or punish your puppy; it doesn’t help them learn where to go, and it can make them anxious about toileting in front of you, which makes outdoor training harder. If accidents are frequent, the answer is almost always more toilet breaks and closer supervision.
If you need an indoor option — for apartment living or overnight — a puppy potty with real or artificial turf works better than pee pads, which can look and feel too much like rugs and towels.
Feeding
Your puppy will come home with a supply of the food they’ve been eating (unless they’re being transported to you). If you want to change to a different brand or type, do it gradually over seven to ten days, mixing a little more of the new food in each day. A sudden switch can cause stomach upset.
Young puppies generally eat three to four meals a day, moving to two meals as they get older — your vet can advise on the right schedule and portion sizes for your puppy’s breed and size. Feed at regular times rather than leaving food out all day. Routine mealtimes make toilet training easier, since what goes in on a schedule tends to come out on a schedule.
Your puppy’s kibble can also be used as a treat when training. There’s no need for any of the ‘fancy’ treats yet.
Make sure fresh water is always available.
Mouthing and chewing
Puppies explore the world with their mouths. Mouthing — grabbing, nibbling and chewing on your hands, clothes, furniture, and anything else in reach — is completely normal behaviour, not aggression. They do it because they’re curious, because they’re teething, and because it’s how they played with their littermates.
That said, it’s important to teach them that teeth on skin isn’t part of the deal with humans. When your puppy mouths you, stop all movement and interaction. Turn away or stand up, tuck in your hands and wait for them to settle. If they persist, calmly leave the room for a moment. When they’re calm, return and redirect to an appropriate chew toy. Consistency is everything — if everyone in the household responds the same way, your puppy learns quickly.
A few things that help: keep plenty of chew toys within reach so you always have something to redirect to. Use longer toys for tug games so your hands stay well away from their teeth. And remember that mouthy puppies are often overtired puppies — if the mouthing escalates and they can’t seem to settle, they probably need a nap.
Sleep and rest
Puppies need far more sleep than most people expect — somewhere between 16 and 20 hours a day. If your puppy is bitey, hyperactive or can’t seem to calm down, the most likely explanation is that they’re overtired.
Build rest into the daily routine. A rhythm of play, toilet break, short training or interaction, then a nap in their crate or quiet area works well. Don’t feel guilty about letting your puppy rest — they need it, and learning to settle independently is one of the most important skills they’ll develop.
Gradually introduce short periods of alone time even when you’re home, so your puppy learns that being on their own is safe and normal. This helps prevent separation anxiety later on.
Your first vet visit
Book a check-up with your own vet within the first few days of bringing your puppy home. This gives your vet a baseline for your puppy’s health and is a good opportunity to discuss vaccination schedules, parasite prevention, desexing, diet, and anything else you’re unsure about.
It’s worth making early vet visits as positive as possible — bring treats, keep it relaxed, and if your vet’s clinic allows it, pop in for a friendly visit before any needles are involved. Puppies who have good early experiences at the vet tend to be much calmer about it for the rest of their lives.
Your puppy will need its second vaccination at 10 weeks of age. If you haven’t already organised pet insurance, you can chat to your vet about the best options.
What to expect in the first few weeks
Every puppy is different, but here’s a rough sense of how things tend to unfold.
In the first few days, your puppy may be quieter or more unsettled than usual as they adjust. Some eat less, some sleep more, some cry at night. This is all normal. Keep things calm, stick to a routine, and give them time to find their bearings.
By the end of the first week, most puppies are noticeably more confident. They’ll be learning the layout of the house, starting to understand where they eat, sleep and toilet, and bonding with the people and pets around them.
Over the following weeks, you’ll start to see your puppy’s personality emerge more clearly. This is also when the real work of toilet training, crate training and basic socialisation picks up pace. It’s a lot, but it gets easier — and the effort you put in now pays off for years to come.
