Episode #227 Survival Tips for The First Week Home with Your New Puppy

Today we're diving into one of the most exciting—and sometimes overwhelming—chapters of puppy parenthood: the first week at home.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to lay the foundation for a trusting, loving bond with your new dog. We’ll cover:

🐾 Building a Bond – Simple ways to help your puppy feel safe, secure, and connected to you from day one.
🛏️ Crate Training 101 – How to make the crate a calm, comforting place your puppy will love.
🚶‍♂️ Teaching Independence – Step-by-step tips to ease your puppy into being alone without fear.
🧸 Keeping Them Engaged – Toys, routines, and smart strategies to channel that puppy energy.
😴 Managing Expectations – Why patience, flexibility, and a sense of humor go a long way.

Whether you’re a first-time puppy parent or just need a refresher, this episode is packed with practical, professional advice to help you and your pup start off on the right paw.

💡 Bonus: Here's a link to our in-depth Crate Training class and THE FIRST WEEK TOGETHER learning module.

https://www.baxterandbella.com/the-crate-class

https://www.baxterandbella.com/step-by-step-programs

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Introduction
• 1:11 Creating Safety and Comfort
• 3:29 Setting Up a Puppy Zen Den
• 6:11 Building Trust Through Routine
• 8:08 Managing Expectations and Support
• 9:35 Episode Closing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I know when you bring that new puppy home, it's a little stressful, it's a little overwhelming and your schedule drastically changes. But I promise you can do this. Today we're talking all about those first few days home with your new puppy. Welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter Bella, the online puppy school. Here we are all about helping you create the best possible experience raising a puppy, from training tips to practical tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family. So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started. Hey, you guys, thanks for listening. I appreciate you being here.

Speaker 1: 0:48

We help a lot of people with their brand new puppies, and so we hear everything that's going on and we do it ourselves as well. So we understand those first few days. Yes, they're exciting. Yes, it's super fun to have this cute little puppy at your house, but we get it. It can be overwhelming and stressful. So today we have tips for you to help you through it.

Speaker 1: 1:11

The first week is all about creating a safe and loving environment for your new puppy. That's it really. Yes, we have to do house training because we need this puppy to go potty somewhere, but we really want you to focus just on creating safety. This puppy is going to feel a little stressed, a little anxious. They just left their mother, they just left their litter, mates and everything that's familiar to them. So it's really natural for them to feel nervous and because of that we need to help them feel safe and to relax. They'll sleep better, they'll listen better, they'll want to do things with you once they are relaxed. So to achieve this, we found these three things really helpful. First, stay close to them. Keep your puppy near you as much as possible for the first few days. If this means sitting on the floor with them, being in their exercise pen with them maybe you're sitting on the sofa and their crate is right next to you or they're cuddling with you in your lap Let them come to you. Don't force yourself on them. Let them come to you and offer them gentle pets and soothing words. This helps them associate you with safety and comfort. Okay, next, use familiar scents. So, if possible, bring home a blanket or a toy that smells like their litter.

Speaker 1: 2:27

I'm a huge fan of snuggle puppies. If you don't know what that is, check out my website Baxter and Bellacom, go to the products page and there's a snuggle puppy there. This is a stuffed dog that you can put a heart inside that beats, and a heating pack so it feels warm. This can be a huge comfort to a brand new puppy, because when you get up and walk away for a second, they still have something warm with a heartbeat next to it. Have you guys ever seen a puppy pile? It's when all the puppies you know they get on each other and they fall asleep, but they're all touching and they're literally piled on one another. That's what they're used to. And now they're in our home, where maybe they're the only puppy. Maybe we have an older dog, but that's not the same as a puppy, right, and everything smells new, everything looks new. They don't really have any source of comfort. So if you can bring something from their home into your home that smells like their home, that will be a great sense of comfort. So whether it's a snuggle puppy or a blanket, something that smells like mom and litter mates can be helpful.

Speaker 1: 3:29

Third is establish a routine. Puppies love consistency. They like patterns. So we want to feed, walk and play with your puppy at the same times each day, just to create a predictable environment. I like to create a very simple on the hour schedule. The top of the hour we get the puppy out, they go potty, we play, they get drinks. Maybe they have a little bit of a meal time or I use that food as a little mini training session, if they're up for it. They might not be, that's okay and then they can have some maybe time in the one room area where we have them. Maybe they can chew a little too or play with some toys, and then it's back in their pen or their crate for nap time. And then at the top of the hour you just repeat that. That can create a really nice simple routine for both you and the puppy that first week home. I know I said training, don't stress about that. If you don't want to do any training other than just building that bond and house training that first week, you're totally good. But they might be willing to do a simple sit to say please for you, just saying you might want to hand them a little piece of kibble for that, all right.

Speaker 1: 4:30

My next tip would be to create a safe haven for them. So they just came most likely, if they're a brand new puppy from a pen area where they slept on one side and they pottied on the other side and they had toys to play with and choose to play with. So I would create something similar at my house. I call it a Zen Den. So I set up an exercise pen. Their crate is attached to it or it's inside of it that the door opens, so they can come in and out of that as they please. I could put a little soft bed or blanket in there, if we want. If your puppy's scratching at it and trying to get it out of the way, you don't need that. But some really do appreciate a nice soft place to rest and then that's where they play, that's where they get their chew toys, that's where we leave them alone. Okay, and when I say alone, they're in that space by themselves for part of the day. But I could be sitting right outside of it reading a book, doing an email, prepping dinner, doing homework with my children, and that pen is close by. Again, I want to be close by.

Speaker 1: 5:24

Proximity is important, but that puppy is going to have some barriers in place that they're going to start to get used to. So we call it the puppy's bedroom. You're making them a nice area where they can't get into any trouble. That means that you don't have to scold them or get after them because, remember, we're trying to create that you're the safe person. So by putting them in a pen or using that crate throughout the day, they can't get into any sort of trouble and they have good chews to chew on and toys to play with if they want. And we are close by.

Speaker 1: 5:51

A lot of the puppy crying that happens in the first week is because they don't know how to be alone. So you'll find that if somebody just sits next to the pen and reads a book so we're not necessarily paying attention to the puppy, but we are close by it'll alleviate a lot of puppy crying as they start to feel safe in our home. Things you can do to help your puppy start to like their crate would be giving them daytime naps in there. When you know they're tired and they need a little break, sit next to them. Again, they're tired so they're more likely to fall asleep and you can just comfort them until they fall asleep in there. At nighttime I like to keep them next to my bed so they're in their crate, but it's right next to my bed. That way again, that proximity is close, they can smell me and hear me breathing and that can comfort them.

Speaker 1: 6:30

And then throughout that first week I'm going to start some coming and going. So days one to three, I stay really close and provide almost constant companionship by somebody in my family. Days four to six, we begin to come and go, come and go, come and go, step out of the room for short periods and come back, not making big deals about the coming or the going, it's just going about my business as usual. And the puppy starts to learn oh, I don't see her. Oh, she came back. Oh, I don't see her, she came back. And that trust begins to build. And then, day seven, I'm leaving the house for at least an hour. I'm making sure my puppy's in a safe space with toys and they've just had a potty break, and I go to the grocery store and then I get back and we let the puppy out all as well. And they start to learn okay, sometimes she leaves, but guess what, she always comes back. That trust is important.

Speaker 1: 7:14

Now recognize your puppy's also going to have some energy. They're going to need to move and play. Exercise pens are great for this. They can move around in that space. It's a little bigger than their crate, but then they can also go outside and explore if you have a private backyard, or just block off a one room area in your house to be kind of the play area when they're not in their crate or pen.

Speaker 1: 7:34

I love using some interactive toys. You can find the products that I like on my website, on my products page, and then rotate the toys. So don't just leave all the toys out, pull a couple toys out and then put those away and pull out two or three more toys later and just keep rotating them. It keeps it a little more exciting for your puppy. Now recognize they're not going to love toys at first. They're going to ignore probably everything at first because they are stressed. So don't worry if your puppy doesn't seem to like toys and they won't take food from your hand. That's just your sign that they are stressed from the transition. That will ease away doing the things that we've talked about today. So don't get rid of any of the toys yet. I promise you one day they will like them, but you can try them at first and if they're not interested, just don't panic. Okay, all right.

Speaker 1: 8:19

My last tip for you is to manage your expectations. We want to be patient and flexible. Okay, things are not always going to go as planned. You're going to be prepared. Hopefully you know what to do, you know what to expect, but we want to make sure that we are flexible and be able to help our puppy as they need help, because every puppy is unique. So I know it's going to be exciting, but it's also going to be somewhat exhausting and we want to expect disruptions. Right, our sleep's not going to be normal. It's going to be disturbed. This week. Accidents are probably going to happen. Yes, we want to minimize them, but if there's one or two or several, it's okay. We're going to get it under wraps.

Speaker 1: 8:55

Just keep being consistent. Take them out often, give them lots of potty breaks. Puppies potty a lot when they're up and moving. So every 20 minutes, set a timer. Take them to their potty area. This is going to require patience, right?

Speaker 1: 9:07

Remember your puppy's learning and adjusting. Lots of new things are happening that first week adjusting. Lots of new things are happening that first week. Celebrate the small wins and be forgiving of any setbacks that happen and then finally, seek support. Don't hesitate to ask us for help. Our entire program is built for new puppy parents. We want you to be successful at this. Join our program, get into our first week together learning module and then schedule a coaching call if you need additional help. All right, you guys have a great week. Thanks for listening and happy training. Thanks for tuning in to the puppy training podcast. I hope today's tips help you feel more confident and excited about raising your dog. Remember, with a little patience and consistency, you can create a loving bond and a well-behaved pup who's a joy to have in your family. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with fellow puppy parents. For more resources, visit Baxter and Bella online. Until next time, happy training.