Preparing for a puppy can be an overwhelming process, so we would like to help answer some questions that you may have in this section.

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Preparing for a puppy should begin with the preperation of time management. Begin assessing your daily schedule/lifestyle, and then factor in what your new system/routine will entail with your puppy in mind. Having a support system of friends or family who will be able to help watch your puppy when you are away/unable to watch them is also important. This allows you to factor in time for playing, training, socialization, exercise, and mental stimulation to avoid depressive slumps from innactivity, along with an emergency support system. You want to be able to have a new system/routine planned out Planning allows you to see what changes will be necessary for your morning work routine, post work routine/scheduling of social activities to be fit around your new puppy/routine.

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Setting Schedules and Developing a Routine for Your New Puppy - AKC

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/setting-schedules-and-developing-a-routine-for-your-new-puppy/

 

Once you begin to factor in the responsibilities/time necessary in order to raise your new puppy, we need to factor in the necessary locations that are accessable to you for taking your puppy to their first vet visit, along with an animal emergency centers. Locating animal emergency centers, calling them to ask about their associated emergency walk-in fees, along with distances to the locations is very inmportant. This allows you to have different emergency centers contact info on a board/file/chart for you to reference, to call and see who has the earliest/soonest option to have someone take a look at your pet, understand the rough costs between each facility for thier emergency fee, along with distance from you home. Having this on an emergency vet/pet hospital sheet for reference can make for calling different locations down a line very convenient when an emergency happens. Having a relationship with your vet, or multiple locations, such as animal allergy specialists is important. Seeking the best medical attention and having an emergency plan for when something goes wrong is always important.

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What to Expect at Your Puppy’s First Vet Visit - AKC

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/puppys-first-vet-visit/

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Puppy proofing your home will be a necessary step to avoid accidental injuries, along with damage/destruction to items that may be sentimental. Removing/covering/hiding open wires, baskets, books, or any item in the puppies proximity can be considered to be at play when it comes to being chewed or not. Tables, end pieces, chars, and other items are all teething options for new puppies, so keep a constant eye when you bring your new puppy home, along with removing any items from your living spaces that the puppy will be in that you do not want to be chewed ruined. Designated puppy areas such as a potty pad zone, designated crate location, play area/pen, 

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Preparing for a New Puppy - AKC

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/home-living/preparing-new-puppy/

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How To Puppy Proof Your Home (3 Simple Steps)

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/home-finances/reviews/how-to-puppy-proof-your-home

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Puppy-Proofing Checklist - Pet md

https://www.petmd.com/dog/puppycenter/adoption-getting-a-puppy/evr_dg_puppy_proofing_checklist

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The following checklist alone is mean to be utilized as a guide to what you will need in order to prepare for your new puppy. 

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Puppy Pads: Puppy training pads will be a necessity in the early states of your new puppy journey. Depending on the brand, size, and quantity of the pads, it can be best to buy a bunch of these up front, and get any discount you can for bulk buying them, and storing for when needed.

 

Dog walking/travel essentials. Taking your puppy on freequent walks is an amazing way to boost your puppies mood and overall happiness. Having the proper essentials necessary to take your puppy for walks will make leash training your puppy much easier. Poop bags, phanny pack or designated "puppy pack/bag", collapsable water bowls, water jugs/bottles, quality metal clip dog collar/harness, and a quality leash. Bringing treats along in a designated treat pack/phanny pack or jacket with a pocket or pouch designated for treats makes for training rewards easier to carry. Proper ID tags with your contact information is recommended. Purchasing multiple copies in case they fall off during play is beneficial. A back seat bucket for your pet to keep drool/accidents/hair off of the seats makes for a clean car/comfortable transit of your puppy. Boots for winter when it is cold, along with doggy vests/jackets are great for fall/winter.

 

Puppy food: Please check out our Types of diets page that goes over informartion pertaining kibble vs raw vs barf diets. In the early stages of your puppys life, we recommend Purina Pro Plan kibble. You may integrate biologically appropriate raw foods such as organs, fruits, vegetables, eggs, carbs, and protiens that are safe/appropriate over the course of 6-8 weeks until fully raw. Do not opt for a cheaper dog food. Cheaper dog food can cause health issues, which results in discomfort for your pup, increased vet bills, buying additional supplements that wouldnt be needed if you opted in to a higher quality diet resulting in overall better total health of your pup. Always look past the marketing image of a dog food bag, and learn how the lable reads with how much of a specific ingredient is in the kibble. We have info on this in the Types of Diets section of our website. If youre looking to add supplements, consider opting for a higher quality dog food/reviewing other food sources first. If your pup is already on a high quality kibble diet, proceed with additional supplements as appropriate. 

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Puppy toys: Puppy toys should indicate on the packaging that it is designated to be used by puppies, or at least be soft/low risk of splinters/choking. Smaller toys that are intended to be choke free, while allowing for teething are ideal. Interactive/stimulating toys can be a great way to interact with your puppy to avoid depressive slumps. Many stuffing filled toys will be ripped apart during the beginning phases. depending on your budget, or if you will chose to sew the stuffing holes each time a new one forms, or completely remove stuffing from certain types of toys, its something to be considered. More durable toys that dont involve soft, easy to tear fabrics are the way to go once they reach a certain age. Rubber toys like kong, rope toys, and stronger, tougher toys are ideal. Overtime you will come to know the diferent types of rubber and plastics that will not hold up and just be chewed into crumbles. This is why certain tyes of bones and hard toys end up being great options for these big chewers. 

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Puppy treats: Healthy treat options are always ideal. Having a soft/chewy option, that is healthy is recommended. Be concious with your approach to providing treats, as they are a great tool during the training process, and should be used as rewards and methods to introduce obedience, companionship, and a bond/connection with your dog by inducing focus and response to verbal/physical commands. Healthy treads such dog friendly vegetables, organs, meat, and fruit. Making your own treats at home with items like oats, yogurt, fruit, peanut butter, and other dog friendly options can be cost saving/healthier options.
 

Food/water bowls: Puppy water/food bowls should be raised/elevated. Please see image below. You want to have raised bowls for your bullies that get higher as they age. Raised bowls can be wood or metal, and range from 6-16 inches. It is best to start using a raised bowl from an early age to keep good posture and stand correct while eating. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Crate: Proper crate training when done correctly is an amazing way to help your puppy understand where to use the bathroom, when to use the bathroom, and also have a safe place/space that is designated strictly to them. Proper crate training allows for your puppy to help them understand bladder control, while understanding where to go immediately after waking from a nap, to allow them to re-visit that designated batroom spot to avoid accidents in the house. Crate trainging your puppy to be left alone without you around, in a quite house should be done in incraments, to allow your puppy to alleviate some of the seperation anxiety. Having a smaller crate in the beginning stages of your puppies journey allows for them to need to hold thier bladder/stool when in thier cage, to help them not use the free space in thier cage as a bathroom when they first need to go. This instills the understanding that they should not be using their crate as a bathroom. Accidents happen, and there will be times that you need to clean the crate. having a ZEP professional spray bottle for indoor crate cleanng is beneficial. 

 

 Crate Training - AKC

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/how-to-crate-train-your-dog-in-9-easy-steps/

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How to crate train a dog or puppy

https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/crate-training-101

 

Crate training puppies - pet md

https://www.petmd.com/dog/puppycenter/potty-training/evr_dg_crate_training_for_puppies

 

 

Cleaning products: Pet friendly accident/stain removal products with a scub are ideal. If you have carpet, opting to play off of the carpet would be ideal in the beginning stages. If you chose to play on carpet, understand that depending on the age of your puppy, they may not be able to old their bladder for longer than a specific timeframe. This timeframe can range 5-15 mimutes, 15-30 minutes, and longer depending on the age of your puppy, how much they ate/drank, and how excited/fast thier metabolism is going due to excitement/play. The older they get, the more control they will have. This is why crate training is important, and monitoring how much water is provided to your puppy, to judge the timing of when they should be placed on the potty pads. Puppies will generall urinate on the pads once they sniff the smell of urine, so keeping used potty pads in the beginning of triaing is ideal, but changing them out is necessary. Pet friendly sanitation wipes/spray products for the hard floors is ideal. You will likely experience some accidents that will be cleaner, and messier than others. Having designated cleaning rags/shop rags from a place like Home Depot can be beneficial to avoid paying for paper towells.

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Medical supplies: Having your own medicial supplies that are pup focused can be beneficial in case you have some sort of emergency or issue you need to/are able to treat at home, before visiting your local vet, so forth you need to. A specific storage contaier filled medical supplies is always nice to have on hand. Having your pups medications, flea/tick, and any associated topical treatements in its own storage container/section is also beneficial.

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Dog bed: Dog beds in the early stages of puppy growth have certain things to consider. If you are crate/potty training your puppy in the early stages, keeping a smaller sized cage without a bed is ideal due to the likelyhood of freequent accidents. Dog beds such as a Kong Mat can be ideal, although making sure they dont chew it overnight and have an accident on it will not be gauranteed, and will likely take place. With that said, a small dog bed for your new puppy may not be used as freequentlydue to the puppy being more excited about venturing around vs staying in thier bed, along with going through crate training. Some beds are cloth-like and are full of foam or stuffing. Depending on the type of inserts/material the bed is made from, the means of being able to clean the bedmay not be so easy, so forth your puppy has an accident on it, or it eventually ends up beginning to stink.

 

We mention this due to what happens over time when your dog gets larger, they still may have accidents on it when playing or venturing around the house, accidental leakage of semen or tinkle during sleep, drool, sweaty feet/glands, dirt and dead skin build up in the fabrics, that will all add an odor. Depending on how large the bed is, the inner material, and its capability of being easily washed, you will want to consider what will be the easist long term option to avoid having the large, expensive, now smelly dog bed that is difficult to clean. We have different beds where the inner pillow is surrounded by a material that is waterproof and machine washable, along with the outer cover bei machine washable. Having a cover over the inside pillow/material is a great way to save on stink. Very large blankets that can be used as a means of nesting when added into the cage is a great option, and is what we like to do. We purchase velvet plush blankets from online or a department store, and then add them to the cage. Our pups nest themselves into a nice cloud of blankies, and adjust themselves as needed. They voluntarily enter the crates to nap/snooze, sometimes in the same crate together due to how comfortable they are.
 

Beauty supplies: We have never had a single issue giving our babies a bath, and we hope that all of our customers get to experience a seamless beauty routine for your bullies. We use an electric nail grinder for thier nails, which work as a spinning nail file that has replacement sandpaper for gringing down the nails vs clipping. We use a furminator brush for thier hair brushings. We use Multipurpose Pet & Animal De-shedding Bathing Grooming Gloves in the shower with high quality shampoo. K-9 tooth brush and tooth paste to avoid yellowing of teeth/plaque build up. Chew toys that allow for adding in tooth paste work very well to scrape plaque build up off of the tooth.
 

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