Our First Week with a Puppy: The 10 Things That Got Us to Sunday
A ten-week-old puppy, a third-floor flat, no garden. The first seven days — night, morning, first walk and the vet — and the small things that made each calmer.
10 products8 min read
The box on the back seat
She came home in a cardboard box on the back seat on a Saturday in early October, ten weeks old, a spaniel cross with ears she had not grown into. We live on the third floor of a block with no garden and a lift that stops working when it rains, and everyone we knew had told us that was no place for a puppy.
We had read the lists, looked at the prices, and decided that a creature that would double in size by Christmas did not need the expensive version of anything. So we bought for four moments we were sure would happen — the first night, the first morning, the first walk and the first trip to the vet — and nothing else until we needed it.
This is how the week went, with the things appearing where we reached for them.
11 p.m. — the first night
The first night is the one every puppy book warns you about and the one nothing prepares you for. She cried from the moment the light went off. We had planned to be firm. We lasted eleven minutes.
The bed with a roof
The all-season house-style puppy bed, about $36, is a plush box with a pitched roof, two felt ears and an arched doorway, and it is the reason the crying stopped at all. We put it beside our bed with a hand hanging into the doorway, and somewhere around midnight she stopped looking for her mother and started treating the inside of it as hers. The cushion and the cover both unzip for the machine, which we tested on the second morning. It is sized for small dogs; she will outgrow it by spring, and we have made peace with that.
All-Season House-Style Puppy Bed (Removable Washable Cover)
$36.49
The tray that kept the pad where we put it
The silicone non-slip pee pad holder tray, about $14, is a flat grey tray with a raised lip and little magnetic tabs at the corners that pin a disposable training pad flat. Without it, a pad is a thing a puppy drags around the room and then wees next to. With it, the pad stayed in the hallway corner for a week, and the two accidents that happened at 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. on the first night happened on it. It rinses in the sink. Check the pad size before ordering — the tray comes in three, and a pad that is too small for it still slides.
Silicone Non-Slip Pee Pad Holder Tray (Magnetic Corners)
$13.65
We slept, in the end, from about one until the first grey light, which in October is a little after six. That is when the second moment arrived, in the form of a very awake puppy.
6 a.m. — the first morning
Breakfast, it turned out, was a contact sport. She ate from a cereal bowl, knocked over the water we had put beside it, walked through the puddle and then shook herself on the sofa. We did this for two mornings before the things we had ordered arrived.
The station she couldn’t tip over
The gravity-fed food and water dispenser, about $8, is a one-piece plastic station with a kibble hopper on one side and an upturned water bottle on the other, on a base wide and low enough that a ten-week-old cannot flip it. The water bowl refilled itself as she drank, which was often, and the floor stayed dry for the first time since she arrived. It is sold for cats and sized for one; a medium puppy will outgrow it in a few months, but at this price it has already earned its place in the hallway.
Gravity-Fed Food and Water Dispenser (One-Piece)
$8.49
The gloves that counted as a cuddle
The double-sided pet hair removal grooming gloves, about $13, are rubber gloves with soft nubs across the palm. You stroke the puppy, and the puppy is brushed without noticing. A proper slicker brush she treated as a chew toy; the gloves she leaned into. They also lift the hair off the sofa afterwards. They take loose hair, not mats, so a long-coated breed will still need a comb eventually.
Double-Sided Pet Hair Removal Grooming Gloves
$13.05
By Tuesday she had learned the lift, the stairs when the lift gave up, and the smell of the pavement outside the front door. The vet had cleared her for short walks on quiet streets after her second injection, and so on the third day we tried one.
Day three — the first walk
A first walk with a puppy is not a walk. It is forty minutes of standing on a pavement while a small animal eats a leaf, backs out of its collar and lies down in protest. We had bought three things for it, and all three turned out to matter.
The harness that didn’t come off
The TRUE LOVE no-pull reflective step-in harness, about $38, was the most expensive thing we bought and the one we’d buy again first. It has a clip on the front and the back, padded straps and four adjustment points, so when she pulled towards a pigeon the front clip turned her back towards us rather than letting her choke against a collar. The reflective trim was visible under the streetlights on the way back. Measure the chest behind the front legs before ordering — the sizes run small — and let it out a notch every fortnight, because she grew into the next hole before the month was out.
TRUE LOVE No-Pull Reflective Dog Harness (Step-In)
$38.01
The lead that let her sniff
The automatic retractable dog lead, about $15, gives five metres of tape with a thumb brake and a lock, and on a quiet residential street that length let her investigate a lamppost in circles without the lead ending up wrapped around all six of our legs. We lock it short near roads and let it out in the square. One honest note: a retractable lead teaches a puppy that pulling gets more lead, so for the actual training sessions we use a short fixed one. This is the sniffing lead.
Automatic Retractable Dog Lead (5 m)
$14.62
The small brown thing on the handle
The poop-bag dispenser with carabiner clip, about $3, is a silicone dispenser shaped like exactly what you think, with eyes, which clips to the lead handle and holds a standard roll. We would not have bought it for ourselves. It arrived in the same parcel as the lead, it has not left the handle since, and there has not been a single walk on which we forgot bags. It ships with one roll; refills are separate.
Poop-Bag Dispenser with Carabiner Clip
$2.75
The walk ended with her asleep on the pavement outside the front door and one of us carrying her up three flights, which is how we discovered what the fourth moment was going to need.
Day five — the vet, and the claws
The vet was across town, two buses away, on a Thursday morning. A puppy who has had her injections but not yet finished them is not supposed to be put down in a bus station, and a puppy who has just discovered walking is not supposed to be carried like a baguette for forty minutes either.
The backpack she rode in
The padded front carrier backpack for small dogs, about $20, is a soft carrier with padded shoulder straps and four leg holes, so the puppy rides on your chest facing forward with her legs dangling. She looked faintly embarrassed and then fell asleep against a jumper. It left both our hands free for bus doors and tickets. It is rated for small dogs only; check the weight limit, and expect to retire it once the puppy passes about seven kilos.
Padded Front Carrier Backpack for Small Dogs
$19.55
The vet was pleased with everything except the claws, which had been drawing blood from our forearms since Sunday. She showed us how to trim them, we nodded, and we went home and bought two things that meant we would never have to.
The board she filed her own nails on
The wooden dog nail scratch board, about $16, is a sandpaper board on a wooden frame with a drawer behind it that you put a treat in. The puppy scratches at the board to get the treat and files her own front claws in the process. It took her about four minutes to understand and she has not stopped since; the front claws went from needles to rounded in a week. It only does the front paws, and the sandpaper sheet needs replacing after a few weeks, but it turned nail care from a wrestling match into a game.
Wooden Dog Nail Scratch Board with Treat Box
$16.19
The grinder for the back feet
The quiet USB-rechargeable pet nail grinder, about $11, is a small rotary file with a plastic guard that only exposes a sliver of the nail, so you take a little off at a time and cannot catch the quick. It is quiet enough that she did not flinch at the noise, only at the idea. We manage one back paw per evening, with the other one of us holding a treat, and that has been enough. It is slow going on a wriggly puppy and we would not pretend otherwise.
Quiet USB-Rechargeable Pet Nail Grinder
$10.55
By Sunday she slept through, ate without flooding the hallway, walked to the square and back on a loose lead, and had claws that no longer punctured anything. We looked quite tired in the photos. She looked like she had always lived here.
What we’d leave at home
Everything in this story
All-Season House-Style Puppy Bed (Removable Washable Cover)
$36.49
Silicone Non-Slip Pee Pad Holder Tray (Magnetic Corners)
$13.65
Gravity-Fed Food and Water Dispenser (One-Piece)
$8.49
Double-Sided Pet Hair Removal Grooming Gloves
$13.05
TRUE LOVE No-Pull Reflective Dog Harness (Step-In)
$38.01
Automatic Retractable Dog Lead (5 m)
$14.62
Poop-Bag Dispenser with Carabiner Clip
$2.75
Padded Front Carrier Backpack for Small Dogs
$19.55
Wooden Dog Nail Scratch Board with Treat Box
$16.19
Quiet USB-Rechargeable Pet Nail Grinder
$10.55
Everything here comes to about $173. Prices in USD; they move a little from week to week.
Frequently asked questions
What do I actually need for the first week with a puppy?
Four things before the puppy arrives: a bed it can hide in, something to catch the accidents, a harness that fits, and a way to carry it. Everything else can wait a few days. Our full kit for a flat came to about $173; the four essentials were about $108.
Is cheap puppy gear good enough, or will I have to buy it all again?
Good enough for the first six months, which is how long most of it fits anyway. A puppy outgrows its first bed, first harness and first carrier whatever you paid for them, so the kit in this story is deliberately the inexpensive version. The one thing to spend on is the harness.
How do I choose a harness for a puppy?
Pick a step-in harness with a front clip and at least four adjustment points, and measure the chest behind the front legs before ordering. A front clip turns the puppy towards you when it pulls instead of letting it drag; adjustment points mean it lasts more than a month.
Can I walk a puppy before its vaccinations are finished?
Ask your vet, because it depends on the schedule where you live. Ours said quiet pavement was fine after the second injection but to keep the puppy off grass where other dogs go until a week after the last one. A front carrier is how we got around in between.
Do I need a playpen or a crate for a puppy in a flat?
We managed a week without either, using a closed door and a bed the puppy liked. In a small flat a crate is useful later for travel; a playpen takes up the floor you need to live on. Buy the bed first and see where the puppy chooses to sleep.