Your First Week With a New Puppy: A Day-by-Day Plan

The first week with a new puppy comes down to four routines, started on day one and repeated every day: toilet trips after every sleep, meal and play; a crate or pen that means rest; a vet visit within the week; and a little calm new experience every day. Everything else can wait. This plan belongs to the new puppy stage, and it links out to the full guides for each routine rather than repeating them.

Before the puppy comes home

Set up one small area, not the whole house. A crate for sleep inside a pen, like the MidWest 30-inch exercise pen, or a gated kitchen gives your puppy a place to rest and you a place to put him when you cannot watch.

Have ready:

• A crate sized for the adult dog with a divider, such as the MidWest iCrate.
• An enzyme cleaner for accidents, like Nature's Miracle, from our potty training shelf.
• Soft, small treats for rewarding outside, like Wellness Soft Puppy Bites.
• Two or three chew toys that bend, such as a Nylabone puppy chew.
• A washable bed for the crate, and an engraved ID tag for his collar.
• The breeder's or shelter's vaccination and worming record.

Our puppy-proofing guide covers the room itself.

For an hour-by-hour version of this week, the puppy schedule planner builds naps, potty breaks and meals around your own wake-up and bedtime.

The week at a glance

Treat the days as an order, not a deadline. If day three's crate work is not ready, day three lasts longer.

Day 1: arrival and the first night

Carry him straight from the car to the spot you want him to toilet, and wait. Reward the moment he finishes. Then go inside and keep the first evening quiet: his area, some food, a chew, and sleep. Visitors can come next week.

For the first night, put the crate beside your bed. A puppy who can hear and smell you settles faster, and you will hear him when he needs to go out. Expect at least one night-time toilet trip; keep it dark, quiet and brief.

Rule of thumb: The first night is not a training session. Keep him close, take him out when he wakes, and put him straight back.

Days 2 and 3: the toilet and crate routines

The toilet routine runs on events, not the clock: out after every wake-up, every meal, every play session and every hour or so in between. Our potty training schedule has the full routine, including what to do in the two seconds after he finishes.

For the crate, feed every meal in it with the door open. VCA's crate-training guidance is to close the door only after several good open-door sessions, and while the puppy is busy with a food toy. Our crate training guide takes it step by step.

Handling practice is a few seconds at a time, paid with food, so a paw held in your hand predicts something good.

Sleep is part of the plan

AKC puts puppy sleep at 18 to 20 hours a day, in naps of roughly thirty minutes to two hours. A puppy who is awake, bitey and frantic has often simply missed a nap. Put him in his crate or pen with a chew and let him sleep. Our puppy sleep schedule explains the pattern.

Day 3 onwards: handling, a few seconds at a time

Every puppy will need his paws, ears, mouth and collar handled for the rest of his life, by you, a groomer and a vet. AAHA's life-stage guidelines note research showing that gentle handling in a puppy's first weeks brings benefits later. You are picking that up where the breeder left off.

1. Touch one paw for a second, then give a treat.
2. Do the same with an ear, then his collar, then a gentle look at his mouth.
3. Stop while he is still relaxed. Two or three touches is a session.

If he pulls away or freezes, you went too fast. Go back a step.

Day 4: the first vet visit

Book the first check-up for the first week and bring every record you were given. Your vet will set the vaccine schedule. AAHA's 2022 canine vaccination guidelines call for at least three doses of the core combination vaccine between six and sixteen weeks, two to four weeks apart, so most puppies arrive partway through.

Questions worth asking:

• When is the next vaccine due, and what else does he need for where we live?
• Which worming and parasite products are right for him?
• When can he go to puppy class, and where is safe to walk him?
• Is his weight on track?

Days 5 to 7: the socialisation window is open

AVSAB says the first three months of life are the most important socialisation period, and that puppies should get socialisation before they are fully vaccinated. AAHA agrees there is no medical reason to delay puppy classes as long as sick animals are avoided and basic hygiene is practised. Our guide to the puppy socialization window covers the detail.

What good exposure looks like this week:

• New surfaces at home: a doormat, tiles, a towel.
• Household sounds at a distance: the vacuum, the washing machine.
• A calm visitor who sits on the floor and offers a treat.
• A short car ride, carried or crated.

What to skip for now:

• Dog parks and other busy, unsanitised places, which AVSAB names.
• Crowds or loud events.
• Forcing him towards something he backs away from.

Rule of thumb: A little, often, and on his terms. A puppy who hides has had enough, and the answer is distance, not more.

Day 7: review the week

At the end of the week, look at your notes. Are accidents falling? Is he settling in the crate for short spells? Is he sleeping well? Pick the one routine that is slipping and give it next week's attention. Throughout, use rewards rather than punishment: AVSAB's position on humane training recommends reward-based methods only, and a scolded puppy learns to hide accidents, not to stop having them.

Expect the week to feel slower than you planned. Most of the progress in these first days is invisible: a puppy learning where the door is, what the crate means and who you are.

What to ask yourself before week two

• Is someone always responsible for watching him when he is loose?
• Does he have a place to rest that nobody disturbs?
• Is puppy class booked?